A really great new feature in WordPress is the ability to create custom post types. This allows you to write very little code, and create entire sections on your site using built in WordPress features and UI. Here is a really really basic overview on how to get started creating a custom post type.

All of the code below can be put inside your functions.php page in your theme folder.

It all starts with the function register_post_type:

register_post_type ( $post_type, $options );

The $post_type is the name of the custom post type you want to associate it as. For example we will create a custom post type called Events like the below code:

$options = array
(
    'label' => 'Events',
    'singular_label' => 'Event',
    'public' => TRUE,
    'show_ui' => TRUE,
    'capability_type' => 'post',
    'hierarchical' => TRUE,
    'rewrite' => array( 'slug' => 'events' ),
    'query_var' => TRUE,
    'supports' => array( 'title', 'editor', 'author' )
);

register_post_type ( 'events', $options );

The description and other options can be found on the register_post_type function page at WordPress’ website.

Now you will have a custom post type in the backend of your WordPress theme.