What Skill Sets are Needed to Customise GD Well

Hi,

I’ve tried working with developers for my GD website but I have a limited budget and don’t like the idea of having to go to them every time I need something. Also I prefer more control and to know what’s going on at the backend.

I picked up HTML and CSS and managed to make it look the way I want but I realise that I need more to be able to make my website more functional.

My question is, what skills do I need to learn to be able to make full use of the flexibility and power of the GD plugin?

In particular, these are the things I want to do
1) order my filters alphabetically,
2) make dropdown selections for parent filters,
3) integrate GD > Post Directions into the icon under GD > Post Address

Is Javascript enough? Or do I need more?

Thank you!