How This Book Is Organized
This book is divided into eight minibooks containing information on topics related to WordPress, including installing WordPress on a Web server, creating customized themes and plugins, and extending the functionality of the software.
Book I: WordPress Basics
This book gives you a complete understanding of the WordPress software, including a brief introduction into blogging and such blogging technologies as RSS, comments, trackbacks, and archiving content. Additionally, you explore the differences between using WordPress as a blogging platform and a full-blown content management system.
Because WordPress is an open source project, it is good for users to have a basic understanding of open source and the licensing involved; therefore, this book also helps you understand GPL and open source basics.
After the introduction into WordPress, blogging, and licensing, you read about WordPress development and release cycles, important for any user because they affect the future of your WordPress-powered Web site. You also gain an understanding of WordPress versions and are introduced to the famous and helpful WordPress user community.
Book II: Setting Up the WordPress Software
This book is a must read for those wanting to wrap their head around some of the more technical aspects of getting a WordPress site running. It introduces you to a basic understanding of PHP and MySQL, the programming software that runs the framework of your Web site. You also discover information about domain name registration, obtaining a Web server from a Web hosting provider, and the basic Web hosting requirements to run WordPress. From there, you discover all the information you need to know about FTP, or File Transfer Protocol, a technology included in almost all Web hosting accounts.
After discovering some of the more geeky aspects of Web servers and programming languages, you start to get your hands dirty by digging in and installing WordPress on your Web server by using two different installation methods. Find out some great tips and tricks to improve the performance of your WordPress Web site and discover what it means to upgrade WordPress when new versions of the software are released.
This book also contains vital information about securing your WordPress installation against hackers and malicious Internet users. Additionally, we provide information on making a secure backup of your WordPress Web site and restoring the backup in the event of a disaster or if you simply want to transfer your WordPress Web site to a different hosting provider.
Book III: Exploring the WordPress Dashboard
This book takes you on a guided tour of the WordPress Dashboard, from logging in to the tools and features you use on a regular basis to administer your site. You discover how WordPress makes customizing your Dashboard to create a unique work space optimized for how you work easy to accomplish.
You explore the different tools and features available within the WordPress Dashboard, including a comprehensive run-through of how to configure the settings for optimal performance and to create a great user experience on your Web site.
In this book, you find out how to deal with comments and discover how to tackle comment spam; run a multi-author blog where you invite others to publish with you, build link lists to your favorite resources and Web sites, and discover ways to archive your content with categories and tags.
Book IV: Publishing Your Site with WordPress
This book takes you through the mechanics of publishing content with WordPress. You write a new post on your blog and discover the options for posting to your site, including categorizing and tagging your post, using post excerpts, setting discussion options, and creating a unique work space for your publishing efforts.
From there, you dig into more detail by discovering how to save drafts of your posts, edit existing posts, and even schedule posts for a future publishing date. In this book, you also get the differences between a blog post and a static page, taking you toward using WordPress as a content management tool, not just a blogging platform.
After discovering the ways and wonders of publishing content, you dig into how to include multimedia files on your site, including photos, photo galleries, videos, and audio files for a more interactive experience.
You work with custom fields for your site to make publishing unique information easier, and you discover a great feature in WordPress called Custom Post Types that allows you to create different content types for publishing such items as dedicated photo galleries, video blogs, podcasts, and more.
Book V: Examining SEO and Social Media
Most site owners are very interested in how to attract more traffic to their sites through search engine optimization and networking through popular social-media sites, such as Twitter and Facebook. This book takes a multifaceted approach to search engine optimization and social-media involvement.
You discover how to improve your social-media reach by making it easy for visitors to share your content on social-media networks. This book also helps you determine which social networks to participate in by helping you discover your niche, find influencers on the Internet, and involve users in what you're doing.
In this book, you use WordPress to create a social-media hub in your WordPress Dashboard by creating a one-stop social-media shop and using several different tools to stay aware of your brand and online reputation.
You obtain practical information on creating content that is search engine aware; that is, helping search engines discover and list your content and Web site in the various search engine directories and databases. We show you how to take advantage of the built-in features that make WordPress SEO ready, and provide the tools, plugins, and tips you can use along the way. This book also takes you into understanding the importance of site analytics and setting goals for optimal site performance in search engines and traffic.
Book VI: Customizing the Look of Your Site
Read this book if you're at all interested in customizing the look, feel, and layout of your site with WordPress themes. This book starts by taking you through a comprehensive and in-depth look at the default WordPress Twenty Ten theme and using its features to customize the presentation on your site.
If the default Twenty Ten theme isn't quite what you're looking for, this book takes you through the method of searching for, finding, previewing, installing, and activating one of thousands of free WordPress themes available to every WordPress user.
If you are ready to really dig in and get your hands dirty, this book gives you the details needed to tweak the look of existing themes, as well as a comprehensive look into the structure of a WordPress theme, including the information and tools you need to create your own theme from scratch.
As if that weren't enough, this book polishes off the topic of WordPress themes and customization with more advanced practices for creating WordPress themes, including parent/child theme relationships, WordPress template tags and parameters, adding new templates, using hooks, actions, and filters, and enhancing themes with built-in features.
Finally, this book takes you through the concept of WordPress theme frameworks, including how they work and why you might want to use them. We give you some great references on where to find some fantastic frameworks, too.
Book VII: Using and Developing Plugins
Plugins are to WordPress what that cool new App is to your iPhone; they're not completely necessary but they make the experience a lot more fun by extending the functionality of your WordPress Web site. This book starts by explaining what plugins are, the circumstances under which you want to use plugins, and how plugins can improve your visitors' experiences on your site.
After introducing the basics (including how to find, explore, and install plugins on your WordPress site), this book explores plugin options and settings and how you can navigate your way through different plugin setups.
For the very brave, this book takes you through the mechanics of modifying existing plugin base code to customize a plugin to do what you want it to do. From there, you create a basic plugin from scratch and discover plugin development best practices, including security concepts, naming techniques, localization, optimization, and tips from the pros on how to avoid common mistakes and pitfalls when developing plugins for the WordPress software.
As a bonus, this book looks at the WordPress API, how to use a plugin template, digging into actions and hooks and how you can avoid re-inventing the wheel by using already present filters and hooks. The last four chapters of this book contain some pretty geeky stuff should you be up for the challenge!
Book VIII: Running Multiple Sites with WordPress
Very new to the WordPress software (as recent as 2010), is the ability to run multiple sites with one installation of WordPress. This book takes you through setting up the multisite feature built into the WordPress software and includes circumstances under which you would use the multisite feature to determine whether it's right for you.
This book starts out with setting up and configuring the multisite feature after you install WordPress on your Web server and gives you the Web server configurations you need to run the multisite feature successfully on your site.
With the multisite feature set up, you become more than just a mere site owner; you become what WordPress calls a super admin! Super admins can access various features and settings that help you run the multisite feature on your Web site. If the multisite feature interests you at all, this book is a must read, providing you with practical tips, tricks, and advice. Running a multisite installation of WordPress is a lot different from running a regular WordPress installation on your site, so read this book to discover what you need to know.