Professional blog designer Lisa Sabin-Wilson shows you how to use all the latest upgrades to WordPress and helps you decide whether to use the Wordpress.com hosted service or self-host your blog with WordPress.org. Whether you're just venturing into the blogosphere or you want to shift an existing blog to WordPress, WordPress For Dummies, 2nd Edition will help.

Explore theme development and learn where to find free WordPress themes Extend WordPress through plug-ins, CSS, custom fields, and more Find out about archiving, interacting with readers through comments, tracking back, and handling spam Get the scoop on domain registration, Web hosting providers, basic tools like FTP, and more Create a unique blog theme and presentation by using template tags with CSS Sign up for WordPress.com, log in, set options, and create a profile Install WordPress.org, set up a MySQL database, explore RSS feeds, and organize a blogroll Discover the secrets of creating a blog that draws readers Get tips on wonderful widgets, upgrades, and plugins you can add to make your blog extra cool Learn how to use the Dashboard, manage comments, and make permalinks work with your Web server With WordPress For Dummies, 2nd Edition on hand, it's easy to make the most of the free software and build a blog that stands out in a crowd.

How to Theme WordPress: From Blank to Beautiful in 2 Hours

Whether you are learning how to theme WordPress for your own use, or to offer your theme design services for hire, or to even build a brand of WordPress themes to distribute to the masses, this DVD shows you how to get started theming the popular WordPress and to get results quickly.

In just a matter of 2 hours, you will learn the process of going from a blank page in your web browser to a fully-functional WordPress theme, including how to integrate your own unique graphics.

Sit and watch as Aleks Monahan from the WEB|CMS Squad teaches you tremendously valuable information that will build your skills and open doors to new opportunities. No need to spend days or weeks trying to figure out all pieces of the puzzle.

WordPress is one of the most popular CMS platforms in today's Web 2.0 world, and its popularity is only increasing. Not only is WordPress popular, but also WordPress custom theming projects are bid anywhere from $200 to $2,000 or more on the freelance networks, and those who have the WordPress theming skills guard their knowledge like Fort Knox. Join those who can, and start theming WordPress today.

• Install and get your WordPress blog running.
• Set up your site to ensure it can easily grow with you and your readers.
• Be the master of user accounts.
• Manage your site with the WordPress Dashboard and extend its capabilities with plug-ins.
• Make the most of images.
• Work with pages, templates, and links and—of course—publish your posts.
• Deal with comments—if you even want readers commenting at all.
• Find a theme—or build one yourself.
• Maintain your site and fix common problems.
  

Covers domain names, web hosting, installation, setup, themes, plugins, comments, getting visitors to your site, generating income from your site, and much more. Everything you need to create a profitable blog starting today.

In this DVD, Kenton Newby shows you the exact process you need to follow in order to get your Wordpress(R) blog setup in minimal time, how to customize your new site with the free layouts, how to add additional features to your site using free plugins, and how to deal with commetnts and avoid comment SPAM. Plus you'll learn a handful of free yet powerful secrets for getting visitors to your new site and some practical ways you can use your site to earn an income - topics rarely covered in most of the books that are available on the subject of blogging and you get to watch the whole process right on your DVD player.

Easy Guide to Blogging Volume 1 covers:

• The very best sources for domain names and web hosting and exactly what to look for to avoid headaches down the road
• How to do a simple "one-click" installation of Wordpress(R) - no technical skills required, just fill out a form and click the button
• Little-known tips for setting up your site's options to make your new blog easy to manage
• How to find free themes (website templates) that allow you to change the look of your site
• How to find free plugins (addons) to add more functionality to your site
• Free, proven strategies for getting visitors to your site and how to keep them coming back
• Practical methods you can use to turn your blog into an additional income stream
• And much more...

If you're an experienced blogger, this disc is probably too basic for you. But if you're brand new to blogging, interested in learning or just got started, you'll find this DVD to be a valuable resource to help you get the most out of your blog. You'll quickly see how having your own blog can be a tremendous asset to any online business, an offline business looking to boost its online presence or just a fun way to share your knowledge and interest with like-minded people all over the web.

Once you view this video, you'll understand just how easy it is to create and run your own profitable blog site using Wordpress(R).

If you can write WordPress plug-ins, you can make WordPress do just about anything. From making the site easier to administer, to adding the odd tweak or new feature, to completely changing the way your blog works, plug-ins are the method WordPress offers to customize and extend its functionality. This book will show you how to build all sorts of WordPress plug-ins: admin plug-ins, Widgets, plug-ins that alter your post output, present custom "views" of your blog, and more.

WordPress Plug-in Development (Beginner's Guide) focuses on teaching you all aspects of modern WordPress development. The book uses real and published WordPress plug-ins and follows their creation from the idea to the finishing touches, in a series of carefully picked, easy-to-follow tutorials. You will discover how to use the WordPress API in all typical situations, from displaying output on the site in the beginning to turning WordPress into a CMS in the last chapter. In Chapters 2 to 7 you will develop six concrete plug-ins and conquer all aspects of WordPress development.

Each new chapter and each new plug-in introduces different features of WordPress and how to put them to good use, allowing you to gradually advance your knowledge. This book is written as a guide to take your WordPress skills from the very beginning to the level where you are able to completely understand how WordPress works and how you can use it to your advantage.

What you will learn from this book

• Get to know the WordPress code base, WordPress's plug-in architecture, and the plug-in application programming interface (API) and learn how to hack it
• Master the WordPress database and the API - access and manipulate data, handle user roles and permissions, posts, and so on
• Hook into the rest of WordPress using actions and filters
• Change the way your WordPress backend looks by customizing menus, submenus, and the plug-in admin panel
• Integrate AJAX and jQuery into your plug-ins to dynamically generate content
• Hook directly to WordPress edit pages and use AJAX to generate fast searches
• Integrate your plug-in with WordPress panels and the tinyMCE editor
• Access and work with third-party APIs like Flickr
• Implement localization support for users of other languages
• Maintain and manage your plug-in using SVN and publish it to the WordPress Plugin Repository
• Handle security issues and make your plug-ins safer to use

We cover the development of six plug-ins from start to finish:

• Digg-this: Adds a Digg This button to each post.
• Live Blogroll: Adds a recent posts popup for each blog in your blogroll.
• The Wall widget: Displays comments on the sidebar without reloading the page.
• Snazzy Archives: Presents your site archives in a unique visual way.
• Insights: Access your articles and Flickr images from within the WordPress edit page.
• Post Types: Provides pre-defined post templates to quickly add a photo or a link to your blog.

This is a Packt Beginners Guide, which means it focuses on practical examples and has a fast-paced but friendly approach, with the opportunity to learn by experiment and play. Each chapter builds a practical plug-in from the ground up using step-by-step instructions. Individual sections show you how to code some functionality into your plug-in and follow up with a discussion of concepts.

Who this book is written for

This book is for programmers working with WordPress, who want to develop custom plug-ins and to hack the code base. You need to be familiar with the basics of WordPress and PHP programming and believe that code is poetry; this book will handle the rest.

WordPress is an open-source personal publishing platform that is easy to use, flexible, and highly customizable. Although used primarily for publishing blogs, WordPress can easily be used to create and maintain complete Web sites.

Taking the average blogger further than blogspot can, WordPress allows bloggers to create more complicated sites with their open-source technology, rather than blogger which is limited by HTML changes to their templates.

This easy-to-follow, step-by-step guide shows you how to install, use, and customize WordPress to get the most from the software. Includes tips that explain why certain techniques are better than others, how to watch for potential problems, and where readers can find more information.