While a local development environment and a code editor are the foundational pieces of developing for WordPress, there are other community tools and resources that you may find useful.
If you are developing a WordPress theme, the WordPress.org Theme Test Data provides an option to import XML files containing dummy data for testing your themes. This lets you see how your theme performs with different types of content and layouts.
You can install the Theme Check plugin, which tests your theme for compliance with the latest WordPress standards and practices.
Similar for plugin developers there is the Plugin Check plugin, which tests your plugin to ensure that it’s up to the base required standards from the WordPress Plugin Review team.
There are also a number of plugins that can help with debugging your code. These include:
- Debug Bar which adds a debug menu to the admin bar that shows query, cache, and other helpful debugging information.
- Query Monitor which enables debugging of database queries, PHP errors, hooks and actions, block editor blocks, enqueued scripts and stylesheets, HTTP API calls, and more..
There is also Log Deprecated Notices which logs incorrect function usage, deprecated file usage, and deprecated function usage in your plugin or theme.
You will learn more about each of these tools in future lessons.