IMPORTANT: WordPress 5.9 Update
Due for release on 25th January 2022
WordPress 5.9. introduces Full Site Editing (FSE). This is an advanced set of features that allow you much more control over the entire site look and feel. For beginners, I don't recommend you enable FSE.
FSE is only enabled in WordPress if you install and activate a FSE-enabled block theme. The new WordPress default theme is called Twenty Twenty Two and is FSE-enabled. If you install this theme (or any other FSE enabled theme), you will lose some areas of the Dashboard, e.g. Customize, Widgets, Menus that are discussed in this book, because those elements are then handled by the FSE tools.
For the purpose of learning WordPress, I recommend you avoid FSE-enabled themes for now. They will make learning WordPress core much more difficult.
Follow the book by installing the theme recommended in the book and you'll quickly master the basics of WordPress. When you are comfortable with that, you can then go and install an FSE-enabled theme to explore the new Site Editing features.
There is so much to learn with FSE that will take you way beyond Beginner status that I am planning an entirely new book just to cover WordPress FSE.
Free Gutenberg Course
I have created a short mini-course on using Gutenberg, the new WordPress page builder. The course will help you understand how the editor works, and how to fix simple issues like wrapping text around images.
Free Blogging Course
A complete course for beginners who want to create a blog. This course includes my own techniques for always having new exciting stuff to talk about, so you never get writer's block.
