Table of Contents
Book II: Setting Up the WordPress Software
Book III: Exploring the WordPress Dashboard
Book IV: Publishing Your Site with WordPress
Book V: Examining SEO and Social Media
Book VI: Customizing the Look of Your Site
Book VII: Using and Developing Plugins
Book VIII: Running Multiple Sites with WordPress
Chapter 1: Exploring Basic WordPress Concepts
Introducing the World of Blogging
Understanding Blogging Technologies
Archiving your publishing history
Interacting with your readers through comments
Dealing with comment and trackback spam
Using WordPress as a Content Management System
Chapter 2: Exploring the World of Open Source Software
Understanding WordPress Licensing
Applying WordPress Licensing to Your Projects
Chapter 3: Understanding Development and Release Cycles
Discovering WordPress Release Cycles
Upgrading your WordPress experience
Understanding the cycles of a release
Finding WordPress release archives
Keeping Track of WordPress Development
Chapter 4: Introducing the WordPress Community
Finding WordPress news and tips on community Web sites
Locating users on social networks
Discovering Professional WordPress Consultants and Services
Participating in Live WordPress Events
Chapter 5: Discovering Different Versions of WordPress
Comparing the Two Versions of WordPress
Choosing the hosted version from WordPress.com
Self-hosting with WordPress.org
Hosting Multiple Sites with One WordPress Installation
Discovering WordPress VIP Services
Book II: Setting Up the WordPress Software
Chapter 1: Understanding the System Requirements
Understanding domain name extensions
Considering the cost of a domain name
Getting help with hosting WordPress
Dealing with disk space and bandwidth
Chapter 2: Using File Transfer Protocol
Setting Up FTP on Your Hosting Account
Finding and Using Free and Easy FTP Programs
Connecting to the Web Server via FTP
Transferring files from point A to point B
Chapter 3: Introducing PHP and MySQL
Understanding How PHP and MySQL Work Together
Chapter 4: Installing WordPress on Your Web Server
Installing the WordPress Files
Using Fantastico to install WordPress
Chapter 5: Configurations for Optimum Performance and Security
Discovering the Configuration File
Securing the configuration file
Exploring main configuration settings
Moving the /wp-content directory
Tweaking the configuration file for optimization
Using a Caching System for Speed and Performance
Minifying JavaScript, CSS, and HTML
Using a content delivery network
Using plugins to make caching easier
Editing Files and Testing Performance with WordPress Tools
Choosing the text editor that's right for you
Understanding and choosing a Web browser
Discovering different browsers and tools
Understanding cross-browser compatibility
Chapter 6: Upgrading WordPress
Getting Notified of an Available Upgrade
Upgrading WordPress Automatically
Chapter 7: Backing Up, Packing Up, and Moving to a New Host
Migrating Your Existing Blog to WordPress
Importing from Blogspot, er Blogger
Importing from Movable Type and TypePad
Finding other import resources
Moving Your Web Site to a Different Host
Creating a backup and moving manually
Using a plugin to back up and move to a new host
Book III: Exploring the WordPress Dashboard
Chapter 1: Logging In and Taking a Look Around
Chapter 2: Customizing Your Dashboard
Arranging the Dashboard to Your Tastes
Finding Inline Documentation and Help
Chapter 3: Exploring Tools and Settings
Creating Your Personal Profile
Chapter 4: Managing Users and Multiple Authors
Understanding User Roles and Capabilities
Allowing New User Registration
Tools that help authors communicate
Tools to promote author profiles
Tools to manage multi-author blog posts
Chapter 5: Dealing with Comments and Spam
Deciding to Allow Comments on Your Site
Positive aspects of allowing comments
Exploring reasons to disallow comments
Interacting with Readers through Comments
Managing Comments and Trackbacks
Dealing with Comment and Trackback Spam
Chapter 6: Building Link Lists
Displaying Link Lists on Your Site
Chapter 7: Creating Categories and Tags
Archiving Content with WordPress
Changing the name of a category
Book IV: Publishing Your Site with WordPress
Chapter 1: Writing Your First Post
Creating Your Own Workspace for Writing
Chapter 2: Examining the Difference between Posts and Pages
Understanding the Difference between Posts and Pages
Creating the Front Page of Your Web Site
Assigning a static page as the front page
Adding a Blog to Your Web Site
Chapter 3: Uploading and Displaying Photos and Galleries
Inserting Images into Your Blog Posts
Adding an image from your computer
Chapter 4: Exploring Podcasting and Video Blogging
Inserting Video Files into Your Blog Posts
Adding video from your computer
Inserting Audio Files into Your Blog Posts
Chapter 5: Working with Custom Fields
Exploring the Custom Fields Interface
Adding Custom Fields to Your Template File
Entering the code in the template file
Getting WordPress to check for your Custom Field
Exploring Different Uses for Custom Fields
Chapter 6: Using WordPress as a Content Management System
Creating Different Page Views Using WordPress Templates
Assigning the template to a static page
Creating a Template for Each Post Category
Pulling in Content from a Single Category
Finding the category ID number
Custom Styles for Sticky, Category, and Tag Posts
Working with Custom Post Types
Optimizing Your WordPress Blog
Planting keywords in your Web site
Optimizing your post titles for search engine success
Writing content with readers in mind
Creating categories that attract search engines
Using the <ALT> tag for images
Book V: Examining SEO and Social Media
Chapter 1: Exposing Your Content
Understanding the Three C's of the Social Web
Making It Easy for Users to Share Your Content
Determining Where You Need to Participate
Leveraging Twitter for Social-Media Success
Building your Twitter account by using automated tools
Updating Twitter from your WordPress blog
Chapter 2: Creating a Social-Media Listening Hub
Exploring Reasons for a Social-Media Listening Hub
Exploring Different Listening Tools
Tracking conversations with Social Mention
Listening to blogs with BlogPulse
Connecting conversations with BackType
Searching communities with Boardreader
Staying on top of conversations with Twitter Search
Microblog searching with Twingly
Creating Your Own Personal Monitoring Mix
Grouping your monitoring results
Cleaning and combining your feeds
Editing the Dashboard to Create a Listening Post
Chapter 3: Understanding Analytics
Understanding the Importance of Analytics
Exploring the Options to Track Data
Understanding Key Analytics Terminology
Signing Up and Installing Google Analytics on Your WordPress Site
Signing up for Google Analytics
Verifying that you installed the code properly
Installing and configuring the Analytics plugin
Using the data from the plugin
Chapter 4: Search Engine Optimization
Understanding the Importance of Search Engine Optimization
Outlining the Advantages That WordPress Presents for SEO
Understanding How Search Engines See Your Content
Submitting to search engines and directories
Optimizing Your Blog under the Hood
Creating Search Engine Strategies
Dealing with duplicate content
Creating an editorial SEO list/calendar
Establishing a routine for publishing posts on your site
Creating a link-building strategy
Chapter 5: Exploring Popular SEO Plugins
Exploring Must-Use Plugins for SEO Best Practices
XML Sitemap Generator for WordPress
Book VI: Customizing the Look of Your Site
Chapter 1: Examining the Default Theme: Twenty Ten
Exploring the Layout and Structure
Customizing the Background Color
Including Custom Navigation Menus
Enhancing Your Web Site with Widgets
Adding widgets to your sidebar or footer
Chapter 2: Finding and Installing WordPress Themes
Getting Started with Free Themes
Understanding What to Avoid with Free Themes
Previewing and activating a theme
Exploring Premium Theme Options
Chapter 3: Exploring the Anatomy of a Theme
Exploring Template Tags, Values, and Parameters
Digging deeper into the WordPress Codex
Displaying new widgets on your site
Simplifying customization with functions
Examining the Main Index and The Loop
Examining Other Template Files
Customizing Your Blog Posts with Template Tags
Chapter 4: Customizing Your Theme
Changing Your Background Graphic
Uploading an image for background use
Positioning, repeating, and attaching images
Considering the image dimensions
Personalizing Your Theme with CSS
Understanding Basic HTML Techniques
Changing Basic Elements for a Unique Look
Chapter 5: Understanding Parent and Child Themes
Customizing Theme Style with Child Themes
Loading a parent theme's style
Customizing the parent theme's styling
Using images in child theme designs
Modifying Theme Structure with Child Themes
Overriding parent template files
Modifying the functions.php file
Chapter 6: Digging into Advanced Theme Development
Getting Started with Advanced Theming
Customizing the theme to your needs
Creating and using template parts
Exploring content-specific standard templates
Adding Theme Support for Built-In Features
Adding support for custom menus
Adding support for custom post types
Adding Support for Custom Taxonomies
Adding support for post formats
Adding support for post thumbnails
Understanding theme options basics
Building a simple theme options page
Using theme options in the theme
Chapter 7: Using Theme Frameworks to Simplify Customization
Understanding Theme Frameworks
Discovering Popular Frameworks
Book VII: Using and Developing Plugins
Chapter 1: Introducing WordPress Plugins
Extending WordPress with Plugins
Distinguishing between themes and plugins
Finding free plugins to use on your site
Comparing free and premium plugins
Evaluating plugins on the fl y
Getting Started with Popular Free Plugins
Chapter 2: Installing and Activating Plugins
Installing WordPress Plugins via the Dashboard
Activating and Deactivating Plugins
Chapter 3: Exploring Plugin Options and Settings
Discovering Global and Page/Post Specific Settings
Chapter 4: Modifying Existing Plugin Code to Your Liking
Troubleshooting Plugin Problems
Locating Plugin and Theme Conflicts
Exploring Plugin Interaction with WordPress
Identifying Functions within a Plugin
Identifying Functionality and Output
Chapter 5: Creating Simple WordPress Plugins from Scratch
Understanding Plugin Structure
Inspecting WordPress's default plugins
Setting up the plugin structure
Replacing contractions in your content
Setting up the plugin structure
Adding an options editor to a widget
Setting up the plugin structure
Chapter 6: Exploring Plugin Development Best Practices
Internationalizing or Localizing Your Plugin
Using GetText Functions for Text Strings
Chapter 7: Plugin Tips and Tricks
Enhancing Plugins with CSS and JavaScript
Calling stylesheets within a plugin
Calling JavaScript within a plugin
Adding Functionality to Profile Filters
Book VIII: Running Multiple Sites with WordPress
Chapter 1: An Introduction to Multiple Sites
Exploring the Merge from Multiuser to Network
Understanding the Difference between Sites and Blogs
Discovering When You Should Use the Network Feature
Setting Up the Optimal Hosting Environment
Checking out shared versus dedicated hosting
Exploring subdomains versus subdirectories
Choosing Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP server snvironments
Adding a virtual host to the Apache configuration
Chapter 2: Setting Up and Configuring Network Features
Exploring the Difference between Subdirectories and Subdomains
Installing the Network on Your Site
Chapter 3: Becoming a Network Admin
Exploring the Network Admin Menu
Stopping Spam Sign-Ups and Splogs
Chapter 4: Management of Users and Access Control
Setting Default User Permissions
Exploring Default Site Settings
Chapter 5: Using Network Plugins and Themes
Using One Theme on Multiple Sites
Enabling themes for individual sites
Installing themes for network use
Setting the default theme for sites
Gathering and Displaying Network-wide Content
Adding Posts from Network Sites
Using and Installing Network-wide Plugins
Discovering Handy Network Plugins
Chapter 6: Using Multiple Domains within Your Network
Installing the Domain Mapping Plugin
Mapping a Large Volume of Domains