Level 2 — Code

WordPress is not magic. It is code — and you can learn that code on this site, safely. Work in this order. Each language does a different job:

• HTML — the structure: headings, paragraphs, links, images. Every page you have built is secretly HTML underneath.
• CSS — the looks: colors, spacing, sizes, layout.
• JavaScript — the behavior in the visitor’s browser: things that move, react, and update without reloading.
• PHP — the engine on the server: WordPress itself is PHP. It builds each page and talks to the database.
• MySQL — the filing cabinet: the database where every page, post, user and setting actually lives.

Where you will work

• See the HTML: edit any page, click the three-dot menu → Code editor. That is the real HTML you have been making with blocks. Change a word, update, view.
• Try CSS: Appearance → Customize / Editor → Additional CSS (or the child theme’s style.css). This site runs a child theme — your CSS lives there, so a theme update can never erase it. That is why professionals use child themes.
• Small, safe code: Snippets → Add New (Code Snippets plugin). Short pieces of PHP or JavaScript you can switch on and off like a plugin — and if one errors, the plugin catches it and turns it off instead of breaking the site. Training wheels that are also a real tool.
• See the database: ask your teacher to walk you through the tables the first time — wp_posts holds your pages, wp_users your users, wp_options your settings. Find a page you wrote, in the table, with your own eyes.

The golden rule of code here

Snapshot before you edit. Change one thing at a time. Check the site after each change. When it breaks — and in code, it will — you will know exactly which change did it, and Query Monitor (top bar) will usually tell you the line. One change, one check: that rhythm is programming.