WordPress® For Dummies®, 3rd Edition

WordPress® For Dummies®, 3rd Edition

Released August 2010
Publisher(s): For Dummies
ISBN: 9780470592748

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Book description

The bestselling guide to WordPress, fully updated for newest version of WordPress

WordPress, the popular, free blogging platform, has been updated with new features and improvements. Bloggers who are new to WordPress will learn to take full advantage of its flexibility and usability with the advice in this friendly guide.

Previous editions have sold nearly 50,000 copies, and interest in blogging continues to explode.

  • WordPress is a state-of-the-art blog platform that emphasizes aesthetics, Web standards, and usability

  • WordPress For Dummies, 3rd Edition covers both the free-hosted WordPress.com version and WordPress.org, which requires users to purchase Web hosting services

  • Written by an expert who works directly with the developers and cofounder of WordPress

  • Shows readers how to set up and maintain a blog with WordPress and how to use all the new features

Like its earlier editions, WordPress For Dummies, 3rd Edition helps bloggers quickly and easily take advantage of everything this popular blogging tool has to offer.

Table of contents

  1. Copyright
  2. About the Author
  3. Author's Acknowledgments
  4. Publisher's Acknowledgments
  5. Foreword
  6. Introduction
    1. About This Book
    2. Conventions Used in This Book
    3. What You Are Not to Read
    4. Foolish Assumptions
    5. How This Book Is Organized
      1. Part I: Introducing WordPress
      2. Part II: Using the WordPress Hosted Service
      3. Part III: Self-Hosting with WordPress.org
      4. Part IV: Flexing and Extending WordPress
      5. Part V: Customizing WordPress
      6. Part VI: The Part of Tens
    6. Icons Used in This Book
    7. Where to Go from Here
  7. I. Introducing WordPress
    1. 1. What WordPress Can Do for You
      1. 1.1. Discovering the Benefits of WordPress
        1. 1.1.1. Getting set up the fast and easy way
        2. 1.1.2. Extending WordPress's capabilities
        3. 1.1.3. Taking part in the community
      2. 1.2. Choosing a WordPress Platform
        1. 1.2.1. Choosing the hosted version from WordPress.com
        2. 1.2.2. Self-hosting with WordPress.org
    2. 2. WordPress Blogging Basics
      1. 2.1. This Crazy Little Thing Called Blog
      2. 2.2. Dipping In to Blog Technologies
        1. 2.2.1. Archiving your publishing history
        2. 2.2.2. Interacting with your readers through comments
        3. 2.2.3. Feeding your readers
        4. 2.2.4. Tracking back
        5. 2.2.5. Dealing with comment and trackback spam
      3. 2.3. Moving On to the Business of Blogging
  8. II. Using the WordPress Hosted Service
    1. 3. Getting Started with WordPress.com
      1. 3.1. Creating a WordPress.com Account
      2. 3.2. Navigating WordPress.com
      3. 3.3. Using the WordPress.com Dashboard
        1. 3.3.1. Right Now
        2. 3.3.2. Recent Comments
        3. 3.3.3. Incoming Links
        4. 3.3.4. Your Stuff
        5. 3.3.5. What's Hot
        6. 3.3.6. QuickPress
        7. 3.3.7. Recent Drafts
        8. 3.3.8. Stats
      4. 3.4. Setting Important Options Before You Blog
        1. 3.4.1. Setting your General options
        2. 3.4.2. Adjusting your Date and Time settings
        3. 3.4.3. Setting your public profile: Tell us a little about yourself
          1. 3.4.3.1. Basic details
          2. 3.4.3.2. Contacts
          3. 3.4.3.3. Photos
          4. 3.4.3.4. Links
          5. 3.4.3.5. Verified External Services
          6. 3.4.3.6. Current Gravatar
        4. 3.4.4. Setting your personal preferences
          1. 3.4.4.1. Personal Options
    2. 4. Writing and Managing Your Blog
      1. 4.1. Ready? Set? Blog!
        1. 4.1.1. Inserting media files into your post
          1. 4.1.1.1. Adding an image
          2. 4.1.1.2. Using audio, video, and other media files
        2. 4.1.2. Refining your post options
        3. 4.1.3. Publishing your post
      2. 4.2. Organizing Your Blog by Subject
        1. 4.2.1. Creating categories and subcategories
        2. 4.2.2. Filing posts in categories and subcategories
      3. 4.3. Creating and Categorizing Your Blogroll
        1. 4.3.1. Creating link categories
        2. 4.3.2. Adding new links to your blogroll
      4. 4.4. Managing and Inviting Users
        1. 4.4.1. Managing authors and users
        2. 4.4.2. Inviting friends to WordPress.com
      5. 4.5. Managing Comments and Comment Spam
        1. 4.5.1. Setting discussion options for your blog
          1. 4.5.1.1. Default Article Settings
          2. 4.5.1.2. Other Comment Settings
          3. 4.5.1.3. E-Mail Me Whenever
          4. 4.5.1.4. Before a Comment Appears
          5. 4.5.1.5. Comment Moderation
          6. 4.5.1.6. Comment Blacklist
          7. 4.5.1.7. Comment Reply via E-mail
          8. 4.5.1.8. Subscribe to Comments
          9. 4.5.1.9. Subscribe to Blog
          10. 4.5.1.10. Avatars
        2. 4.5.2. Viewing comments
        3. 4.5.3. Managing comment spam with Akismet
      6. 4.6. Creating a Static Page
      7. 4.7. Setting Up Your Front Page
      8. 4.8. Publishing a Public or Private Blog
      9. 4.9. Establishing Trust Relationships with OpenID
    3. 5. Enhancing Your Blog with Themes, Widgets, and Upgrades
      1. 5.1. Changing Your Blog's Look
      2. 5.2. Widget Wonder: Adding Handy Tools to Your Sidebar
        1. 5.2.1. Selecting and activating widgets
        2. 5.2.2. Using Text widgets
        3. 5.2.3. Using the RSS widget
      3. 5.3. Upgrading Your Hosted Service (For a Fee)
      4. 5.4. Naming Your Domain
  9. III. Self-Hosting with WordPress.org
    1. 6. Setting Up Blogging Base Camp
      1. 6.1. Establishing Your Domain
        1. 6.1.1. Understanding domain name extensions
        2. 6.1.2. Considering the cost of a domain name
        3. 6.1.3. Registering your domain name
      2. 6.2. Finding a Home for Your Blog
        1. 6.2.1. Getting help with hosting WordPress
        2. 6.2.2. Dealing with disk space and bandwidth
          1. 6.2.2.1. Managing disk space
          2. 6.2.2.2. Choosing the size of your bandwidth pipe
      3. 6.3. Transferring Files from Point A to Point B
      4. 6.4. Installing WordPress
        1. 6.4.1. Setting up the MySQL database
        2. 6.4.2. Uploading the WordPress files
        3. 6.4.3. Last step: Running the install script
    2. 7. Understanding the WordPress.org Dashboard
      1. 7.1. Logging In to the Dashboard
      2. 7.2. Navigating the Dashboard
        1. 7.2.1. Right Now
        2. 7.2.2. Recent Comments
        3. 7.2.3. Incoming Links
        4. 7.2.4. Plugins
        5. 7.2.5. QuickPress
        6. 7.2.6. Recent Drafts
        7. 7.2.7. WordPress Development Blog
        8. 7.2.8. Other WordPress News
      3. 7.3. Arranging the Dashboard to Your Tastes
      4. 7.4. Setting Options in the Dashboard
      5. 7.5. Configuring the Settings
        1. 7.5.1. General
        2. 7.5.2. Writing
        3. 7.5.3. Reading
        4. 7.5.4. Discussion
          1. 7.5.4.1. Default Article Settings
          2. 7.5.4.2. Other Comment Settings
          3. 7.5.4.3. E-Mail Me Whenever
          4. 7.5.4.4. Before a Comment Appears
          5. 7.5.4.5. Comment Moderation
          6. 7.5.4.6. Comment Blacklist
          7. 7.5.4.7. Avatars
        5. 7.5.5. Media
        6. 7.5.6. Privacy
        7. 7.5.7. Permalinks
      6. 7.6. Creating Your Personal Profile
      7. 7.7. Setting Your Blog's Format
        1. 7.7.1. Posts
        2. 7.7.2. Media
        3. 7.7.3. Links
        4. 7.7.4. Pages
        5. 7.7.5. Comments
        6. 7.7.6. Appearance
        7. 7.7.7. Plugins
        8. 7.7.8. Users
        9. 7.7.9. Tools
    3. 8. Establishing Your Blog Routine
      1. 8.1. Staying on Topic with Categories
        1. 8.1.1. Changing the name of a category
        2. 8.1.2. Creating new categories
      2. 8.2. Link Lists: Sharing Your Favorite Sites
        1. 8.2.1. Organizing your links
        2. 8.2.2. Adding new link loves
        3. 8.2.3. Editing existing links
      3. 8.3. Examining a Blog Post's Address: Permalinks
        1. 8.3.1. Making your post links pretty
        2. 8.3.2. Customizing your permalinks
        3. 8.3.3. Making sure that your permalinks work with your server
          1. 8.3.3.1. Creating .htaccess files
          2. 8.3.3.2. Working with servers that don't use Apache mod_rewrite
      4. 8.4. Discovering the Many WordPress RSS Options
      5. 8.5. Blog It!: Writing Your First Entry
        1. 8.5.1. Composing your blog post
        2. 8.5.2. Dressing up your posts with images, video, and audio
        3. 8.5.3. Refining your post options
        4. 8.5.4. Publishing your post
        5. 8.5.5. You are your own editor
      6. 8.6. Look Who's Talking on Your Blog
        1. 8.6.1. Managing comments and trackbacks
        2. 8.6.2. Moderating comments and trackbacks
        3. 8.6.3. Tackling spam with Akismet
  10. IV. Flexing and Extending WordPress
    1. 9. Media Management: Images, Audio, and Video
      1. 9.1. Inserting Images into Your Blog Posts
        1. 9.1.1. Aligning your images
        2. 9.1.2. Inserting a photo gallery
      2. 9.2. Inserting Video Files into Your Blog Posts
      3. 9.3. Inserting Audio Files into Your Blog Posts
      4. 9.4. Keeping Media Files Organized
    2. 10. Making the Most of WordPress Plugins
      1. 10.1. Finding Out What Plugins Are
        1. 10.1.1. Exploring Manage Plugin page
        2. 10.1.2. Discovering the one-click plugin upgrade
      2. 10.2. Getting the Most out of the Plugins Included with WordPress
        1. 10.2.1. Akismet
        2. 10.2.2. Hello Dolly
      3. 10.3. Using Plugins: Just the Basics
      4. 10.4. Installing Plugins Manually
        1. 10.4.1. Finding and downloading the files
        2. 10.4.2. Reading the instructions
      5. 10.5. Uploading and Activating Plugins
        1. 10.5.1. Uploading the files
        2. 10.5.2. Activating the plugin
      6. 10.6. Setting Plugin Options
      7. 10.7. Uninstalling Plugins
      8. 10.8. Understanding the Open Source Environment
    3. 11. Finding and Installing WordPress Themes
      1. 11.1. Getting Started with Free Themes
        1. 11.1.1. Finding free themes
        2. 11.1.2. Previewing themes
        3. 11.1.3. Downloading themes
      2. 11.2. Activating a New Theme
      3. 11.3. Browsing and Installing Themes from the Dashboard
      4. 11.4. Deciding to Use Premium Themes
  11. V. Customizing WordPress
    1. 12. Understanding Themes and Templates
      1. 12.1. Using WordPress Themes: The Basics
        1. 12.1.1. Understanding theme structure
        2. 12.1.2. Connecting templates
      2. 12.2. Contemplating the Structure of a WordPress Blog
      3. 12.3. Examining the Anatomy of a Template Tag
      4. 12.4. Getting Familiar with the Four Main Templates
        1. 12.4.1. The Header template
          1. 12.4.1.1. Using bloginfo parameters
          2. 12.4.1.2. Creating title tags
          3. 12.4.1.3. Displaying your blog name and tagline
        2. 12.4.2. The Main Index template
          1. 12.4.2.1. The Loop
          2. 12.4.2.2. The big if
        3. 12.4.3. The Sidebar template
        4. 12.4.4. The Footer template
        5. 12.4.5. Other templates
      5. 12.5. Customizing Your Blog Posts with Template Tags
      6. 12.6. Putting a Theme Together
      7. 12.7. Using Tags with Parameters for Sidebars
        1. 12.7.1. The Calendar
        2. 12.7.2. List pages
        3. 12.7.3. Bookmarks (blogroll)
        4. 12.7.4. Post archives
        5. 12.7.5. Categories
        6. 12.7.6. Getting widgetized
      8. 12.8. Checking Out Miscellaneous but Useful Template Tags
    2. 13. Tweaking WordPress Themes
      1. 13.1. Styling with CSS: The Basics
        1. 13.1.1. CSS selectors
        2. 13.1.2. Classes and IDs
        3. 13.1.3. CSS properties and values
      2. 13.2. Changing the Background Color
        1. 13.2.1. Creating a custom background
        2. 13.2.2. Changing the background using CSS
      3. 13.3. Using Your Own Header Image
      4. 13.4. Creating Custom Navigation Menus
        1. 13.4.1. Adding the Custom Menu feature to your theme
        2. 13.4.2. Building custom navigation menus
      5. 13.5. Changing Font Styles, Colors, and Sizes
    3. 14. Beyond Blogging: WordPress as a Content Management System
      1. 14.1. Creating the Front Page of Your Web Site
        1. 14.1.1. Creating the static page
        2. 14.1.2. Assigning a static page as the front page
      2. 14.2. Adding a Blog to Your Web Site
      3. 14.3. Defining Specific Templates for Static Pages
        1. 14.3.1. Uploading the template
        2. 14.3.2. Assigning the template to a static page
      4. 14.4. Creating a Template for Each Post Category
      5. 14.5. Pulling In Content from a Single Category
        1. 14.5.1. Finding the category ID number
        2. 14.5.2. Adding the <query_post> tag
      6. 14.6. Using Sidebar Templates
      7. 14.7. Custom Styles for Sticky, Category, and Tag Posts
      8. 14.8. Working with Custom Post Types
      9. 14.9. Optimizing Your WordPress Blog
        1. 14.9.1. Planting keywords in your Web site
        2. 14.9.2. Optimizing your post titles for search engine success
        3. 14.9.3. Writing content with readers in mind
        4. 14.9.4. Creating categories that attract search engines
        5. 14.9.5. Using the <ALT> tag for images
    4. 15. Hosting Multiple Sites with WordPress
      1. 15.1. Considering Web Hosting Services
      2. 15.2. Enabling the WordPress Network Feature
        1. 15.2.1. Preparing Your Web Server
          1. 15.2.1.1. DNS (domain name server)
          2. 15.2.1.2. Apache mod_rewrite
          3. 15.2.1.3. Virtual Host
          4. 15.2.1.4. PHP (PHP Hypertext Processor)
      3. 15.3. Setting Up the WordPress Network
      4. 15.4. Exploring the Super Admin Dashboard Menu
        1. 15.4.1. Configuring network options
        2. 15.4.2. Exploring the Network Admin Page
        3. 15.4.3. Discovering the Sites Page
        4. 15.4.4. Using the Users Page
        5. 15.4.5. Enabling network themes
        6. 15.4.6. Updating Your Network
      5. 15.5. Using Plugins within Your Network
  12. VI. The Part of Tens
    1. 16. Ten Great Sites That Use WordPress as a CMS
      1. 16.1. Harvard Gazette
      2. 16.2. Icon Dock
      3. 16.3. Mosaic Consulting, Inc.
      4. 16.4. CSS Collection
      5. 16.5. Queensryche
      6. 16.6. Streamy Awards
      7. 16.7. MommyCast
      8. 16.8. Mendocino Beauty
      9. 16.9. John James Jacoby
      10. 16.10. E.Webscapes Design Studio
    2. 17. Ten Popular WordPress Plugins
      1. 17.1. WP Print
      2. 17.2. Subscribe to Comments
      3. 17.3. ShareThis
      4. 17.4. All in One SEO Pack
      5. 17.5. WPtouch iPhone Theme
      6. 17.6. WP-DB-Backup
      7. 17.7. WP Super Cache
      8. 17.8. In Chapter 2, I explain the relationship between PHP and MySQL.Twitter Tools
      9. 17.9. Google XML Sitemaps
      10. 17.10. WordPress.com Stats
    3. 18. Ten Free WordPress Themes
      1. 18.1. Hybrid
      2. 18.2. designPile
      3. 18.3. Elegant Grunge
      4. 18.4. P2
      5. 18.5. Stargaze
      6. 18.6. Carrington Blog
      7. 18.7. iTheme
      8. 18.8. Redoable
      9. 18.9. Corporate
      10. 18.10. Gridline Lite
    4. A. Migrating Your Existing Blog to WordPress
      1. A.1. Movin' On Up
      2. A.2. Preparing for the Big Move
      3. A.3. Converting Templates
      4. A.4. Moving Your Blog
        1. A.4.1. Importing from Blogspot/Blogger
        2. A.4.2. Importing from LiveJournal
        3. A.4.3. Importing from Movable Type and TypePad
        4. A.4.4. Importing from WordPress
        5. A.4.5. Importing from an RSS feed
      5. A.5. Finding Other Import Resources

Product information

  • Title: WordPress® For Dummies®, 3rd Edition
  • Author(s):
  • Release date: August 2010
  • Publisher(s): For Dummies
  • ISBN: 9780470592748