WordPress: Visual QuickStart Guide, Third Edition

Book description

WordPress: Visual QuickStart Guide, 3E uses a visual approach to teach the essential elements of WordPress, one of the world's most popular publishing platforms. This book gives readers the tools they need to create beautiful, functional WordPress-powered sites with minimal hassle. Using plenty of screenshots and a clear, organized format, authors Jessica Neuman Beck and Matt Beck walk new users through the installation and setup process while providing valuable tips and tricks for more experienced users. With no other resource but this guide, readers can set up a fully-functional and well-designed WordPress site that takes advantage of all the features WordPress has to offer.


This new, fully updated version covers all the key new and improved features of WordPress, including: using the Theme Customizer; adding custom headers and backgrounds; adding content in new ways such as posting from your desktop or mobile device, as well as importing from another WordPress blog or other blogging services; and new ways to work with media, such as editing images, using video and audio, and creating image galleries. There is also a completely new chapter on menus, which covers menu setup and adding and editing menus.

Table of contents

  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Page
  3. Special Thanks to
  4. Table of Contents
  5. Introduction
    1. Blogs Explained
    2. Anatomy of a WordPress Blog
    3. What’s New in This Edition
    4. WordPress.org Versus WordPress.com
  6. 1. First Steps
    1. Setting Up WordPress
    2. Using an Installer
    3. Setting Up a Database
    4. Installing WordPress
    5. Putting It All Together
  7. 2. Getting Familiar with WordPress
    1. How WordPress Works: An Overview
    2. Finding Your Way Around the Dashboard
    3. Default Content
    4. Upgrading WordPress
    5. Putting It All Together
  8. 3. Settings
    1. General Settings
    2. Writing Settings
    3. Reading Settings
    4. Discussion Settings
    5. Media Settings
    6. Permalinks
    7. Putting It All Together
  9. 4. Managing Accounts
    1. Configuring Your Account
    2. Managing User Accounts
    3. Putting It All Together
  10. 5. Setting Up a WordPress Theme
    1. Using the WordPress Default Theme
    2. Choosing a New Theme
    3. Using the Theme Customizer
    4. Custom Headers and Backgrounds
    5. Putting It All Together
  11. 6. Widgets and Plug-ins
    1. Widgets versus Plug-ins: What’s the Difference?
    2. Adding and Activating Plug-ins
    3. Using Widgets
    4. Updating Plug-ins
    5. Putting It All Together
  12. 7. Adding Content
    1. Adding Posts
    2. Adding Pages
    3. Editing Posts and Pages
    4. Setting Up and Using Categories
    5. Using Tags
    6. Other Ways to Add Content
    7. Putting It All Together
  13. 8. Menus
    1. Setting Up Menus
    2. Adding Menus to Your Site
    3. Editing Menus
    4. Putting It All Together
  14. 9. Working with Media
    1. Using the Media Library
    2. Editing Images
    3. Creating and Managing Image Galleries
    4. Using Audio and Video Files
    5. Putting It All Together
  15. 10. Managing Comments
    1. Enabling and Disabling Comments
    2. Moderating Comments
    3. Fighting Spam with Akismet
    4. Putting It All Together
  16. 11. Getting Fancy with Themes
    1. Customizing Your Theme with CSS
    2. Adding a Favicon
    3. Editing the Functions File
    4. Putting It All Together
  17. 12. Advanced Theme Development
    1. Anatomy of a WordPress Theme
    2. Building a Theme from Scratch
    3. Working with Template Files
    4. Working with Template Tags
    5. Using the Loop
    6. Putting It All Together
  18. 13. Custom Content Types
    1. Setting Up a Custom Post Type
    2. Using Custom Taxonomies
    3. Putting It All Together
  19. 14. One Installation, Multiple Blogs
    1. Setting Up a Network
    2. Administrating a Blog Network
    3. Putting It All Together
  20. 15. More Ways to Customize WordPress
    1. Setting Up and Using Jetpack
    2. Monetizing Your Site: Ad Integration
    3. Using Google Fonts
    4. RSS Feeds
    5. Putting It All Together
  21. 16. Best Practices
    1. Search Engine Optimization
    2. Setting Up a Sitemap
    3. Speeding Up Your Site
    4. Using Stats to Evaluate Traffic
    5. Backing Up Your Data and Files
    6. Putting It All Together
  22. A. Troubleshooting
    1. Nothing Happens
    2. Overwriting Changes
    3. Updates
    4. Admin Access
    5. Commenting Problems
    6. Where Do I Go for Help?
  23. B. Online Resources
    1. WordPress Information
    2. Other Resources
  24. Index

Product information

  • Title: WordPress: Visual QuickStart Guide, Third Edition
  • Author(s):
  • Release date: October 2013
  • Publisher(s): Peachpit Press
  • ISBN: 9780133522778