WordPress® for Dummies®, 2nd Edition

Book description

Bloggers love WordPress! If you're ready to start using this free blogging software, WordPress For Dummies, 2nd Edition is just what you and your blog need to make a splash.

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.

Table of contents

  1. Copyright
  2. About the Author
  3. Author 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. Easy to set up and use
        2. 1.1.2. Extend WordPress's capabilities
        3. 1.1.3. Take 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
        3. 1.2.3. Running a network of blogs with WordPress MU
    2. 2. WordPress Blogging Basics
      1. 2.1. This Crazy Little Thing Called Blog
      2. 2.2. Dipping Into 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 profile: Tell us a little about yourself
          1. 3.4.3.1. Personal options
          2. 3.4.3.2. Name
          3. 3.4.3.3. Contact Info
          4. 3.4.3.4. About Yourself
          5. 3.4.3.5. My Picture
      5. 3.5. Getting Help
    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. 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 Administration Panel
      1. 7.1. Logging In to the Administration Panel
      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 Administration Panel
      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
        8. 7.5.8. Miscellaneous
      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 and popular characters
          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
      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
      3. 13.3. Using Your Own Header Image
      4. 13.4. Changing Font Styles, Colors, and Sizes
      5. 13.5. Finding Additional CSS Resources
    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
        3. 14.1.3. Tweaking the layout
      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. Optimizing Your WordPress Blog
        1. 14.8.1. Planting keywords in your Web site
        2. 14.8.2. Optimizing your post titles for search engine success
        3. 14.8.3. Writing content with readers in mind
        4. 14.8.4. Creating categories that attract search engines
        5. 14.8.5. Using the <ALT> tag for images
      9. 14.9. Finding CMS Resources
    4. 15. Deciding to Bring in the Pros
      1. 15.1. Checking Out the Types of Blog Professionals
        1. 15.1.1. Designers
        2. 15.1.2. Developers
        3. 15.1.3. Consultants
      2. 15.2. Hiring a Professional
        1. 15.2.1. Finding professionals
        2. 15.2.2. Auditioning your prospects
          1. 15.2.2.1. Blog design practices: What to look for
          2. 15.2.2.2. Looking at the pro's virtual résumé
        3. 15.2.3. Making contact
        4. 15.2.4. Agreeing on the contract
  12. VI. The Part of Tens
    1. 16. Ten WordPress Web Sites Used As a CMS
      1. 16.1. New Music Nation
      2. 16.2. AlexKing.org
      3. 16.3. Mosaic Consulting, Inc.
      4. 16.4. CSS Collection
      5. 16.5. b5media
      6. 16.6. Hot Air
      7. 16.7. MommyCast
      8. 16.8. Jane Wilson-Marquis
      9. 16.9. Weblogs at Harvard Law School
      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 Pak
      5. 17.5. WordPress Mobile Edition
      6. 17.6. WP-DB-Backup
      7. 17.7. WP Ajax Edit Comments
      8. 17.8. cformsII
      9. 17.9. Google XML Sitemaps
      10. 17.10. WordPress.com Stats
    3. 18. Ten Free WordPress Themes
      1. 18.1. Cutline
      2. 18.2. Tarski
      3. 18.3. SandPress
      4. 18.4. xMark
      5. 18.5. Stargaze
      6. 18.6. Revolution Two Themes
      7. 18.7. iTheme
      8. 18.8. Redoable
      9. 18.9. Una
      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 Blogware
        3. A.4.3. Importing from DotClear
        4. A.4.4. Importing from Greymatter
        5. A.4.5. Importing from LiveJournal
        6. A.4.6. Importing from Movable Type and TypePad
        7. A.4.7. Importing from Textpattern
        8. A.4.8. Importing from WordPress
        9. A.4.9. Importing from an RSS feed
      5. A.5. Finding Other Import Resources

Product information

  • Title: WordPress® for Dummies®, 2nd Edition
  • Author(s):
  • Release date: February 2009
  • Publisher(s): For Dummies
  • ISBN: 9780470402962