Learning path for new Pinegrow users

Tips & Tricks
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I’ve heard a few people say that they needed some guidance on learning Pinegrow and what they should focus on. While Pinegrow has a ton of documentation and great tutorials, it can be hard to figure out where to start. This was my stab at giving a little guidance to someone in a Facebook group yesterday. I would love it if other people could share resources or the order in which they think tutorials might be most helpful (preferably Pinegrow’s own tutorials).

Quote below:

The best place to start is with the tutorials they built into the product. That should at least give you a taste of the interface.

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From there, I’d just create a few static html sections and pages. Get used to how things are laid out and the general flow.

I don’t think I have any playlists or tutorials that go into design other than this one:

Most of the tutorials on Pinegrow’s site use Bootstrap or Tailwind to speed up the process, but then you miss out on how to handle CSS in the app. It’s a gap that they or I need to fill.

When you are ready, you’ll need to decide whether you want to focus on blocks, block themes, or classic themes. I suggest starting with a simple block plugin to get the hang of them because you’ll eventually want custom blocks regardless of which theme path you take. Both Pinegrow and my channel have lots of tutorials that touch on block themes. This is the only video of mine that I think is dedicated to the subject, though.

Create a Native WordPress Block Plugin Using Pinegrow Web Editor

Then, you’ll need to decide whether to head down the Block Theme route or the Classic Theme route. IMHO, classic themes are easier and more straightforward, but Block Themes are going to smack us all in the face at some point.

Pinegrow’s Crewting a Custom WooCommerce Theme course is a great starting point for classic themes, even if you aren’t planning to use WooCommerce. The topics covered and the things you’ll learn will help you understand both Pinegrow and WordPress at a deeper level.

My Building a WordPress Classic Theme with Pinegrow course heavily leans on Pinegrow, so you might want to watch it if you are trying to learn the product. The block theme video series doesn’t even touch it until the upcoming seventh video. And even then, it’s more of a passing mention than any real tutorial.

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Adam this is great! :grinning: :grinning: :grinning:

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Agree, I watched this on 3 or 4 times… and then finally followed along and did it. It is pretty intense stuff but regardless of your final workflow… I think it is incredibly helpful to get a really good understanding of the foundational concepts and what is under the hood. Particularly if you plan to use a Block based theme.

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I urgently want to mention the video series created by @matjaz and dedicated to our WooCommerce add-on.

Even if you are not interested in this add-on or WooCommerce, this video series is full of tips that will broaden your horizons!

Make sure not to miss this series!

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Absolutely! This is a great series. I’ve added it to the main topic.

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This looks great! Watching now. Question, I am just getting started building out and I was looking for a tutorial on how to create search and filters for CPT’s will the section on this series on Search and Filters also translate to CPTS? Thanks for sharing.

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Does anyone know if there are any tutorials on how to make a membership site? LIke Facebook Layout For Example, Favorites, Feed with comments etc.

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A Membership site is opening up a whole massive can of worms, and not something that most people should ever consider coding themselves. There are specialized plugins for membership sites, with large teams and tons of funding, that still struggle to get it right.

If you are talking about integrating with a membership plugin to display the protected data, then it’s really a matter of looking into their documentation to see what it requires. Some need shortcodes, some use block visibility, some use custom templates.

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Hey Adam, thanks for your insight! It’s led me to revisit Buddy Press for my social platform project. Despite the progress I’ve made, the end still feels distant. Buddy Press, with its modular blocks, seems promising This journey began over two years ago with the Buddy Boss Theme and a hefty load of over 100 plugins, leading to numerous conflicts (I really had no idea what i was doing then LOL). But now, equipped with more knowledge, I’m considering incorporating Buddy Press to finally bring this project to fruition. I will report back and any other suggestions of modular or custom plugins for a social site would be much appreciated. I think this was the wake up call i needed. Although I have been able to get a “social site” type set up going it has been quite challenging and it seems I am nowhere near the finish line.

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Awesome stuff Adam. In all honesty, I still get lost after years of using and tutorials like this help us old people. As person in their 60’s (not saying how far in, lol), my ole’ mind needs tutorials that are easy to follow. Appreciate your hard work.

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(I am in my 55th year) Beyond the cool tutorials about Pinegrow and WordPress that I appreciate and highly recommend, I personally believe that - whatever you consider in the field of web development - it is important to have a good understanding of the basics of HTML and CSS, as well as some knowledge of Javascript.

It is incredible to see what is possible when the structure of a template is well thought out and when CSS techniques are used wisely.

note: We are in 2024, the use of the AI assistant is also often helpful in explaining a concept or providing an example.

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The CSS Grid Video Series is really good. I watched it today and while it is a few years old it is super helpful and I think relevant. The best explanation i have had yet on CSS Grid. I think this one is pretty foundational and timeless.

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The legendary summer nights series :grin:

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