book

Smashing WordPress: Beyond The Blog

Name: Smashing WordPress: Beyond The Blog
Author: Thord Daniel Hedengren
ISBN: 9780470684153

by Thord Daniel Hedengren

February 2010

Beginner to intermediate

322 pages

8h 40m

English

Wiley

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Copyright
About the Author
Publisher's Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part 1: The WordPress EssentialsPart 2: Designing and Developing WordPress ThemesPart 3: Developing WordPres PluginsPart 4: Beyond the BlogPart 5: WordPress ToolboxStart Thinking, Get Publishing!
I. THE WORDPRESS ESSENTIALS
1. ANATOMY OF A WORDPRESS INSTALL
1.1. The Basic Install1.1.1. Using an External Database Server1.1.2. Other Database Settings1.1.3. A Few Words on Installers1.2. Moving the WordPress Install to a Different Directory1.3. Hacking the Database1.3.1. Where Everything Is1.3.2. Fixing Issues by Hacking the Database1.4. Backing Up1.5. WordPress and Switching Hosts1.5.1. When Export/Import Won't Work1.6. How to Make a WordPress Install More Secure1.6.1. Users and Passwords1.6.2. Server-side Stuff1.7. Summary
2. THE WORDPRESS SYNTAX
2.1. WordPress and PHP2.2. Themes and Templates2.2.1. About the WordPress Core2.3. Using the Template Tags2.4. The Include Tags2.5. Passing Multiple Parameters to a Template Tag2.5.1. More on Parameters2.6. Conditional Tags2.7. Summary
3. THE LOOP
3.1. Understanding the WordPress Loop3.1.1. The Basic Loop3.1.2. A Few Words about WP_Query3.2. Using the Loop3.2.1. About Those Sticky Posts3.2.2. Putting query_posts() to Good Use3.2.3. Alternatives to the Loop3.3. Multiple Loops3.3.1. Featured Posts with Multiple Loops3.3.2. Three's a Charm, But Four Loops Are Way Cooler3.4. Custom Fields3.4.1. Posting Header Images3.5. Now You Get to Build Something
II. DESIGNING AND DEVELOPING WORDPRESS THEMES
4. THE WORDPRESS THEME ESSENTIALS
4.1. Theme Basics4.1.1. The Basic Theme4.1.2. A Few Words about the Code4.2. A Closer Look at Notes Blog Core4.2.1. The Stylesheet: style.css4.2.2. Theme Top: header.php4.2.3. The Main Template: index.php4.2.4. Side Order: sidebar.php4.2.5. Soapboxing: comments.php4.2.6. Wrapping Up: footer.php4.2.7. Wait, There's More!4.3. Template Files4.3.1. Which Template File is Used When?4.3.2. Template Hierarchy4.3.3. Page Templates4.3.4. The 404 Template4.4. Using functions.php4.4.1. Setting the Default Width4.4.2. Inserting Promotions with functions.php4.5. Widgets, and When to Use Them4.5.1. Declaring Widgets4.5.2. Multiple Widget Areas4.5.3. Customizing Widgets4.6. Making Comments Look Good4.6.1. Threaded Comments4.6.2. Author Highlighting4.7. Custom Fields4.7.1. Common Usage4.7.2. The Usability Factor4.8. Developing a Core Theme4.9. Releasing a Theme4.9.1. Theme Checklists4.9.1.1. Development Issues4.9.1.2. Things the User Will Notice4.9.1.3. Formatting4.9.2. Commercial Themes and the GPL License4.9.3. Submitting to wordpress.org4.9.3.1. Colors4.9.3.2. Columns4.9.3.3. Width4.9.3.4. Features4.9.3.5. Subject4.10. Moving Onward with Themes

5. THE CHILD THEME CONCEPT
5.1. The Brilliance of Child Themes5.1.1. How Child Themes Work5.1.2. Event Child Themes5.2. A Few Words on Theme Semantics5.3. The Flipside of Inheritance5.3.1. Common Issues to Observe5.4. Managing Several Sites Using Child Themes5.4.1. Don't Forget about functions.php5.5. What about Theme Frameworks?5.6. Taking Themes to the Next Level
6. ADVANCED THEME USAGE
6.1. Outlining the Theme6.1.1. My Three Steps6.1.1.1. Style by Category, Sort by Tag6.1.1.2. Carefully Consider Custom Fields6.1.1.3. Build with Pages6.2. Individual Styling Techniques6.2.1. Styling the Posts6.2.2. Body Class Styling6.2.3. Sticky Posts6.3. Mastering Action Hooks6.3.1. Hooking On6.3.2. Creating Your Own Action Hooks6.4. Using Taxonomies6.5. Theme Option Pages6.5.1. Creating a Simple Admin Page6.5.2. Issues with Theme Options6.6. Multiple Language Support6.6.1. Working with Language Files6.6.2. The Naming Issue6.7. Conditional Design6.8. Working with RSS Feeds6.8.1. The WordPress Feeds6.8.2. Build a Custom Feed URL6.9. Basic SEO Implementations6.10. Trimming WordPress on the Theme Side6.11. Some Final Words on Themes
III. DEVELOPING WORDPRESS PLUGINS
7. ANATOMY OF A WORDPRESS PLUGIN
7.1. Plugin Basics7.2. Hooks and How to Use Them7.3. Creating Your Own Template Tags7.4. The Pluggable Functions7.5. Must-have Functionality7.5.1. Plugin Settings7.5.2. Database Content and Uninstalling7.5.3. After Uninstalling7.6. Adding Widget Support7.6.1. Dashboard Widgets7.7. Things to Consider When Using the Database7.8. Backwards Compatibility7.9. Plugins and WordPress MU7.9.1. Developing Plugins for WordPress MU7.9.2. Site-wide WordPress MU Plugins7.10. Good Practice for Releasing Plugins7.11. This Is Really All You Need
8. PLUGINS AND FUNCTIONS.PHP
8.1. When to Use a Plugin8.2. The Issue with Speed8.3. When to Use functions.php8.4. Planning Your WordPress Site
IV. BEYOND THE BLOG
9. WORDPRESS AS A CMS
9.1. What Is a CMS?9.1.1. Why WordPress?9.2. Things to Consider When Using WordPress as a CMS9.2.1. Don't Forget the Manual9.3. Trimming WordPress to the Essentials9.3.1. Tweaking the Admin Interface9.3.2. Your Own Admin Theme9.3.3. Unblogging WordPress9.3.3.1. Template Files9.3.3.2. Lingo9.4. Static Pages and News Content9.4.1. Finding the Perfect Setup9.5. Putting Widgets to Good Use9.5.1. Making Widgets a Little More Dynamic9.6. Managing Menus9.7. Custom Shortcodes9.7.1. Spiffing up Text with Pullquotes9.7.2. Shortcode Tidbits9.8. Integrating Non-WordPress Content9.9. Taking the CMS One Step Further
10. UNCOMMON WORDPRESS USAGE
10.1. The Job Board10.1.1. The Theme10.1.1.1. The Header and Footer Templates10.1.1.2. The Front Page10.1.1.3. Single Post View10.1.1.4. Listings and Other Results10.1.1.5. Finally, the Stylesheet10.1.2. Receiving the Jobs10.1.3. Further Development10.2. WordPress as an FAQ-like Knowledge Base10.2.1. Adding the Functionality10.2.2. Further Enhancements10.3. WordPress and E-Commerce10.3.1. Running a Web Shop on WordPress10.3.2. Selling Digital Products10.3.3. Building for E-Commerce10.4. The Portfolio Site10.4.1. Designing a Portfolio10.4.1.1. The Design Category10.4.1.2. The Writing Category10.4.1.3. The Announcement Category10.4.1.4. Services and Contact Pages10.4.1.5. The Code10.4.2. WordPress and One-page Designs10.5. Building a Links Site10.5.1. Some Thoughts about Usage10.5.2. Mixing Links Posts with Traditional Content10.6. The Gallery10.6.1. The Category Template10.6.2. About the Photosets10.6.3. Other Uses10.7. You Can Build Anything You Want
11. ESSENTIAL WORDPRESS PLUGINS
11.1. Content-focused Plugins11.2. Media Plugins11.3. Administrative Plugins11.4. Spam and Comment Management Plugins11.5. Social Networking Plugins11.6. Subscription and Mobile Plugins11.7. SEO and Search Plugins11.8. Code and Output Plugins11.9. Do You Need a Plugin?
V. WORDPRESS TOOLBOX
12. DESIGN TRICKERY
12.1. Tag-based Design12.1.1. The Alternative: Custom Fields12.2. Improving the Menu12.2.1. Proper Use of WordPress Pages12.2.2. Sliding Doors12.2.3. Using Links for the Menu12.3. Placing Ads Within the Loop12.3.1. Beware of the Ad Rules12.4. 404s That Help12.5. The WordPress JavaScripts12.6. Making WordPress Your Own12.6.1. A Custom Login Form12.6.2. Admin Themes12.7. Polishing a WordPress Site
13. EXTRA FUNCTIONALITY
13.1. Tabbed Boxes13.1.1. Smart Usage13.1.2. To Tab or Not to Tab13.2. Displaying RSS Feeds13.2.1. The Built-in Parser13.2.2. When to Use the Widget Solution13.2.3. Multiple Feeds with SimplePie13.3. Sending e-Mail with WordPress13.4. Adding a Login Form13.5. Print That Blog13.6. Adding Some More
14. FUN WITH IMAGES
14.1. Working with Image Galleries14.2. Styling the Gallery14.2.1. Better Browsing with Lightbox14.2.2. Using Outside Scripts and Systems14.3. Random Image Elements14.3.1. Random Images from Your Galleries14.3.2. More Random Image Options14.4. Making the Most of Image-sharing Services14.4.1. Posting from Flickr14.4.2. The Flickr Slideshow14.5. Beware the Clutter
15. INTEGRATING THE SOCIAL WEB
15.1. Show off Your Twitter15.1.1. Your Tweets15.1.2. Display a Twitter Search Result15.1.3. Twitter Site Extensions15.1.3.1. Site Enhancers15.1.3.2. Buttons, Widgets, and Counters15.1.3.3. URL Shorteners15.2. Lifestreaming with WordPress15.2.1. Setting up a Lifestream15.2.1.1. The Built-in RSS Way15.2.1.2. Use a Lifestreaming Plugin15.2.1.3. Feed the WordPress Database15.2.2. About Those Cronjobs15.3. Social Web Submit Buttons15.3.1. Using Plugins15.3.2. Hacking Your Own Submit Links15.4. Pimping the Comments15.4.1. Hosted Comment Solutions15.4.2. Unified Logins15.5. About Building Great Sites

Overview

GO BEYOND THE BLOG

Smashing WordPress shows you how to utilize the power of the WordPress platform, and provides a creative spark to help you build WordPress-powered sites that go beyond the obvious. You will learn the core concepts used to build just about anything in WordPress, resulting in fast deployments and greater design flexibility.

Inside, WordPress expert Thord Daniel Hedengren takes you beyond the blog and shows you how WordPress can serve as a CMS, a photo gallery, an e-commerce site, and more.

YOU WILL LEARN:

THE ANATOMY OF A WP INSTALL AND HOW WORDPRESS ACTUALLY WORKS
HOW TO BUILD BEAUTIFUL WORDPRESS THEMES - INCLUDING CHILD THEMES
HOW TO CREATE CUSTOM LOGIN FORMS AND ADMIN THEMES
HOW TO USE THE LOOP TO CONTROL CONTENT, AND EVEN USE ALTERNATIVES TO THE LOOP
HOW TO INTEGRATE THEME OPTIONS
HOW TO BUILD PLUGINS - INCLUDING WIDGET FUNCTIONALITY
HOW TO BUILD YOUR WORDPRESS PROJECTS FOR SEO
INTEGRATE WORDPRESS WITH THE SOCIAL WEB
HOW TO CREATE AMAZING NAVIGATION
HOW TO USE CONDITIONAL CONTROL ELEMENTS

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