Aaron Brazell
 |
| Wordpress Bible |
Aaron Brazell is the Lead Editor of Technosailor.com and the CEO of Emmense Technologies,
LLC, a WordPress consultancy company located in the greater Washington, D.C. area. He has been
an active member of the WordPress community since 2004 as a developer, user, and consultant.
He advises small- and medium-sized businesses (and on occasion, an enterprise or non-profit organization)
on innovative WordPress solutions and guides them in strategy and business decisions
pertaining to their online endeavors.
He is a frequent public speaker, engaging with the WordPress community at WordCamps around
the United States, as well as at marketing, social media, and other industry events. He is the lead
organizer of WordCamp Mid-Atlantic, a WordPress community conference catering to the Greater
Capital region, which includes Maryland, D.C., Delaware, and Northern Virginia. He believes in
challenging conventional thinking and assumptions, and as a result, often takes actions that are
provocative, strategic, and unconventional in an effort to move dialogue and popular opinion forward.
In addition to his work with WordPress and social media, Aaron is an avid photographer and
sports fan (his favorite teams are the Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Ravens), and has one son,
Devin Michael. He currently lives in Bethesda, Maryland.
About the Technical Editor
Mark Jaquith is a lead developer on the WordPress project and does full-time WordPress
consulting and development through his company, Covered Web Services (http://coveredweb
services.com). He specializes in custom plugins, performance, scaling, and security. Mark has
been contributing to WordPress since 2004, and proudly dropped out of college in 2005 to do
what he loves: enabling millions to easily publish their content on the Web. When he’s not working
on WordPress or Web publishing projects, he enjoys photography, philosophy, and films.
Preface
WordPress, by most accounts, is the most popular self-hosted blogging platform in the
world. WordPress.com is the second most popular hosted blogging platform in the
world. The ecosystem built on openness and extensibility has helped the software
thrive and overcome other rivals that, in some cases, have been around longer than WordPress has.
Developers now have the means to take a platform that was built for blogs and turn it into much
more robust applications for content management, contact management, e-mail management, and
more. I have yet to find something WordPress cannot be made to do with custom plugins and
intuitive theming.
There are many books on WordPress available when you go to your local bookstore. Even if the
books are not currently in stock, it’s elementary to have them ordered or delivered directly to your
home from Amazon.com. However, most of these books cover only a portion of WordPress or
examine WordPress from a singular perspective. Until now, there has never been a book that covers the topic holistically and exhaustively and for all levels of expertise.
If you’re a newbie just getting involved with WordPress, you should find value in these pages in
the form of tutorials and tips. I cover the user interface and plugin management throughout this
book and have endeavored to write in such a way that the least technical reader can still grab the
concepts that are at work.
If you’re a developer and have been hacking around with WordPress for years, you will also get
value out of this book. With the extensive reference charts and appendixes, it will become the
book that sits next to your computer and becomes a bit worn and dog-eared with torn pages from
you picking it up over and over again.
Of course, designers have the opportunity to grasp the principles at work behind themes and templates, template hierarchy, and template tags. Design is much more than simply creating an elegant user interface in Adobe Photoshop and calling it a day. It’s also using the tools that WordPress provides to create usable, smart themes that bring the power of WordPress to the reader.
WordPress Versioning
There is, of course, the question of versioning for this book. WordPress maintains a (rough) fourmonth release cycle for major releases. During the development of the next major release, there are typically security fixes that are released in the form of “dot releases.” During the process of writing, I have been asked about what version of WordPress this book will cover.
Fortunately, 90 percent of WordPress stays the same. Part of the guiding principles of WordPress
core development is maintaining backward compatibility unless it is absolutely mandatory that it
be changed. To that end, it doesn’t really matter for what version I wrote this book.
During the process of editing this book, WordPress 2.9 was released. That is the version this book
is based upon. However, it is likely that WordPress 3.0 will be released around the time this book
goes to print. Never fear. Though there will be new features in WordPress 3.0 that will not be covered in this book, the bulk of the software will remain intact and version neutral.
Getting the Most Out of This Book
The chapters in this book are organized into eight parts. Each part is a selection of chapters that all relate to each other in some way. You probably will not want, or need, to read the book from cover to cover, though I would be flattered if you did. Instead, you will find that different parts of the book address different levels and experiences with WordPress and you should feel free to flip back and forth to find the answers you need at different times.
For example, Part I, “Getting Started with WordPress,” contains the initial introductory stuff that
describes installing WordPress and basic steps to getting a WordPress blog off the ground, as well
as background information to help you understand the philosophies that have guided the development of the software.
Part II, “Working with Plugins,” gets more technical by examining plugins and describing the plugin application programming interfaces (APIs) in WordPress. This is the part that developers will likely use often to understand how to write new plugins for WordPress.
In Part III, “Working with Themes and Template Tags,” I talk about the aspects of WordPress that
have to do with themes and templates. If you have an Adobe Photoshop layout and need to hack it
up into a WordPress theme, this is the series of chapters you’ll want to get into. It is most suited
for designers who need to understand how the WordPress theme system works.
Part IV, “Creating Content,” is going to be the go-to series of chapters for the newbie who just
wants to use WordPress to write or create content. This is not a super-technical part, and it doesn’t
assume that the reader is changing his theme. It does, however, describe the concepts and principles behind using the WordPress Admin and creating content.
No blogger wants to be caught with a hacked site because she did not keep up to date with
upgrades and security fixes. To that end, Part V, “Keeping Up with the Joneses: Maintenance and
Upgrades,” is all about maintaining your WordPress blog, and provides suggestions, routines, and
concepts behind the maintenance and upgrade routine. It also covers caching, an essential topic for anyone who owns a blog that receives, or will receive, a large amount of traffic.
In Part VI, “Alternate Uses for WordPress,” I stretch the bounds of what WordPress can do. Hopefully by reading this part, you will be inspired to find alternate uses for WordPress and will see that WordPress is not just for blogging. I look forward to seeing how WordPress is used in new and creative ways.
In Part VII, “Looking at the WordPress Ecosystem,” I bring everything full circle by talking about the surrounding community and ecosystem around WordPress. It seems that there is a new venture or product released around WordPress regularly. Many of these are associated with WordPress.com and Automattic, the owner of WordPress.com and patron of the WordPress project.
Part VIII, “Appendixes,” includes all of the appendixes that are important corollary pieces to this
book. In some cases, such as with Appendix A and Appendix B, they are reference guides that will be popular among developers who purchase this book. Other appendixes include articles that I have written for the WordPress Bible that describe an aspect or use of WordPress that is not necessarily relevant as “chapter material” but add to an understanding of the greater WordPress community.
My favorite appendix? Appendix F, “WordPress in Government.” Did you know that the
United States intelligence community has more than 7,000 WordPress blogs across 14 different
intelligence agencies? Exactly... who knew? And they aren’t the only ones using WordPress in federal, state, and local governments around the world.
world. WordPress.com is the second most popular hosted blogging platform in the
world. The ecosystem built on openness and extensibility has helped the software
thrive and overcome other rivals that, in some cases, have been around longer than WordPress has.
Developers now have the means to take a platform that was built for blogs and turn it into much
more robust applications for content management, contact management, e-mail management, and
more. I have yet to find something WordPress cannot be made to do with custom plugins and
intuitive theming.
There are many books on WordPress available when you go to your local bookstore. Even if the
books are not currently in stock, it’s elementary to have them ordered or delivered directly to your
home from Amazon.com. However, most of these books cover only a portion of WordPress or
examine WordPress from a singular perspective. Until now, there has never been a book that covers the topic holistically and exhaustively and for all levels of expertise.
If you’re a newbie just getting involved with WordPress, you should find value in these pages in
the form of tutorials and tips. I cover the user interface and plugin management throughout this
book and have endeavored to write in such a way that the least technical reader can still grab the
concepts that are at work.
If you’re a developer and have been hacking around with WordPress for years, you will also get
value out of this book. With the extensive reference charts and appendixes, it will become the
book that sits next to your computer and becomes a bit worn and dog-eared with torn pages from
you picking it up over and over again.
Of course, designers have the opportunity to grasp the principles at work behind themes and templates, template hierarchy, and template tags. Design is much more than simply creating an elegant user interface in Adobe Photoshop and calling it a day. It’s also using the tools that WordPress provides to create usable, smart themes that bring the power of WordPress to the reader.
WordPress Versioning
There is, of course, the question of versioning for this book. WordPress maintains a (rough) fourmonth release cycle for major releases. During the development of the next major release, there are typically security fixes that are released in the form of “dot releases.” During the process of writing, I have been asked about what version of WordPress this book will cover.
Fortunately, 90 percent of WordPress stays the same. Part of the guiding principles of WordPress
core development is maintaining backward compatibility unless it is absolutely mandatory that it
be changed. To that end, it doesn’t really matter for what version I wrote this book.
During the process of editing this book, WordPress 2.9 was released. That is the version this book
is based upon. However, it is likely that WordPress 3.0 will be released around the time this book
goes to print. Never fear. Though there will be new features in WordPress 3.0 that will not be covered in this book, the bulk of the software will remain intact and version neutral.
Getting the Most Out of This Book
The chapters in this book are organized into eight parts. Each part is a selection of chapters that all relate to each other in some way. You probably will not want, or need, to read the book from cover to cover, though I would be flattered if you did. Instead, you will find that different parts of the book address different levels and experiences with WordPress and you should feel free to flip back and forth to find the answers you need at different times.
For example, Part I, “Getting Started with WordPress,” contains the initial introductory stuff that
describes installing WordPress and basic steps to getting a WordPress blog off the ground, as well
as background information to help you understand the philosophies that have guided the development of the software.
Part II, “Working with Plugins,” gets more technical by examining plugins and describing the plugin application programming interfaces (APIs) in WordPress. This is the part that developers will likely use often to understand how to write new plugins for WordPress.
In Part III, “Working with Themes and Template Tags,” I talk about the aspects of WordPress that
have to do with themes and templates. If you have an Adobe Photoshop layout and need to hack it
up into a WordPress theme, this is the series of chapters you’ll want to get into. It is most suited
for designers who need to understand how the WordPress theme system works.
Part IV, “Creating Content,” is going to be the go-to series of chapters for the newbie who just
wants to use WordPress to write or create content. This is not a super-technical part, and it doesn’t
assume that the reader is changing his theme. It does, however, describe the concepts and principles behind using the WordPress Admin and creating content.
No blogger wants to be caught with a hacked site because she did not keep up to date with
upgrades and security fixes. To that end, Part V, “Keeping Up with the Joneses: Maintenance and
Upgrades,” is all about maintaining your WordPress blog, and provides suggestions, routines, and
concepts behind the maintenance and upgrade routine. It also covers caching, an essential topic for anyone who owns a blog that receives, or will receive, a large amount of traffic.
In Part VI, “Alternate Uses for WordPress,” I stretch the bounds of what WordPress can do. Hopefully by reading this part, you will be inspired to find alternate uses for WordPress and will see that WordPress is not just for blogging. I look forward to seeing how WordPress is used in new and creative ways.
In Part VII, “Looking at the WordPress Ecosystem,” I bring everything full circle by talking about the surrounding community and ecosystem around WordPress. It seems that there is a new venture or product released around WordPress regularly. Many of these are associated with WordPress.com and Automattic, the owner of WordPress.com and patron of the WordPress project.
Part VIII, “Appendixes,” includes all of the appendixes that are important corollary pieces to this
book. In some cases, such as with Appendix A and Appendix B, they are reference guides that will be popular among developers who purchase this book. Other appendixes include articles that I have written for the WordPress Bible that describe an aspect or use of WordPress that is not necessarily relevant as “chapter material” but add to an understanding of the greater WordPress community.
My favorite appendix? Appendix F, “WordPress in Government.” Did you know that the
United States intelligence community has more than 7,000 WordPress blogs across 14 different
intelligence agencies? Exactly... who knew? And they aren’t the only ones using WordPress in federal, state, and local governments around the world.
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ISBN
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Table of Contents
Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxiii
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxiv
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxvii
Part I: Getting Started with WordPress 1Chapter 1: Learning About WordPress . .. . . . . . .3
A Brief History of WordPress ................................................................................................3
The creation of WordPress ..........................................................................................4
The WordPress ecosystem emerges .............................................................................6
The future of WordPress .............................................................................................6
Leveraging the WordPress Community .................................................................................6
Support .......................................................................................................................7
Support forums .................................................................................................7
The WordPress Codex .......................................................................................7
IRC ....................................................................................................................7
Development ...............................................................................................................7
Hackers mailing list ...........................................................................................8
Testers mailing list .............................................................................................8
Trac ...................................................................................................................9
WordPress by the Numbers ..................................................................................................9
10 Things You Need to Know About WordPress .................................................................11
Speed up the back-end with Google Gears ................................................................12
Generate content with an offline editor .....................................................................12
Benefit from built-in SEO features .............................................................................13
Widgetize your blog for a unique experience ............................................................15
Install themes, plugins, and core upgrades automatically ..........................................16
Turn your blog into a social network ........................................................................16
Extend WordPress with plugins ................................................................................16
Provide context with the WordPress taxonomy .........................................................17
Import your blog from any platform .........................................................................17
Take advantage of multiple feeds ...............................................................................18
Understanding Open Source and the General Public License ..............................................18
Summary ............................................................................................................................20
Chapter 2: Installing and Configuring WordPress . . . . . 21
System Requirements ..........................................................................................................22
Choosing a Web Server .......................................................................................................24
Apache ......................................................................................................................24
Lighttpd ....................................................................................................................25
Litespeed ...................................................................................................................25
Nginx ........................................................................................................................26
Internet Information Services ....................................................................................27
Optional modules .....................................................................................................28
Apache mod_rewrite .......................................................................................28
eAccelerator for PHP .......................................................................................29
APC for PHP ....................................................................................................31
SSH2 module for PHP .....................................................................................32
FTP for PHP ....................................................................................................33
Installing WordPress ...........................................................................................................33
Configuring the database ...........................................................................................33
Uploading your files ..................................................................................................35
Summary ............................................................................................................................37
Chapter 3: WordPress, SEO, and Social Media Marketing . . . . . 39
Understanding the Basics of Search Engine Optimization....................................................40
Canonical URLs .........................................................................................................40
Google searches ...............................................................................................41
Google Webmaster Tools .................................................................................42
Steps for setting up proper canonical URL redirection .....................................43
The Meta tag boost ....................................................................................................44
Meta keywords tag ...........................................................................................44
Meta description tag ........................................................................................45
Title tag ...........................................................................................................45
The All in One SEO plugin ........................................................................................47
Home Title ......................................................................................................47
Home Description ...........................................................................................47
Home Keywords ..............................................................................................48
Canonical URLs ...............................................................................................48
Rewrite Titles ..................................................................................................48
Title Formats ...................................................................................................48
Use Categories for META Keywords ................................................................49
Dynamically Generate Keywords for Posts Page ...............................................49
Noindex Options .............................................................................................49
Autogenerate Descriptions ...............................................................................49
Additional Headers ..........................................................................................49
Leveraging Social Networks to Extend Your Blog ................................................................50
Facebook...................................................................................................................50
Facebook Photos for WordPress ......................................................................51
WP-FacebookConnect .....................................................................................51
Twitter ......................................................................................................................52
Twitter Tools ...................................................................................................52
TweetMeme .....................................................................................................54
Summary ............................................................................................................................55
Chapter 4: Finding Help in the WordPress Support System . . . . . 57
Using the WordPress Codex ...............................................................................................58
Staying in the Loop with Mailing Lists ................................................................................60
wp-hackers................................................................................................................60
wp-testers..................................................................................................................60
wp-docs ....................................................................................................................61
wp-pro ......................................................................................................................61
wp-xmlrpc ................................................................................................................61
wp-polyglots .............................................................................................................62
wp-svn ......................................................................................................................62
wp-trac......................................................................................................................62
Finding Help in the WordPress Support Forums ................................................................62
Understanding the support forum layout ..................................................................63
Installation ......................................................................................................63
How To and Troubleshooting ..........................................................................63
Plugins and Hacks ...........................................................................................64
WP-Advanced .................................................................................................64
Your WordPress ..............................................................................................64
Miscellaneous ..................................................................................................64
Requests and Feedback....................................................................................64
Alpha/Beta .......................................................................................................64
Posting in the support forums ...................................................................................65
Summary ............................................................................................................................66
Part II: Working with Plugins 67Chapter 5: Extending WordPress with Plugins . . . .. . . . . 69
Understanding WordPress Hooks .......................................................................................70
The anatomy of a hook ..............................................................................................70
Theme hooks ............................................................................................................71
Writing Your Own Plugin ...................................................................................................72
Extending the WordPress Admin ........................................................................................73
Creating an admin interface ......................................................................................74
Adding an admin panel to the WordPress Admin navigation menu ...........................75
Creating unique nonces for plugin form security .......................................................78
Processing data and interacting with the database .....................................................79
Loading JavaScript libraries .......................................................................................80
Preparing JavaScript with wp_enqueue_script() ..............................................80
Creating new Dashboard widgets ..............................................................................81
Creating Events with Actions ..............................................................................................82
Modifying Content with Filters ...........................................................................................83
Using Multi-Argument Hooks .............................................................................................85
Localizing Plugins ...............................................................................................................86
Enabling plugin code for translation ..........................................................................87
Providing a textdomain for the plugin .......................................................................91
Generating a POT file for translators .........................................................................92
Summary ............................................................................................................................94
Chapter 6: Widgetizing WordPress . . . . . . . . 97
Using Widgets in WordPress ...............................................................................................97
Building Widgets with the Widget API ..............................................................................100
Building a new widget plugin ..................................................................................101
Creating a control interface for the plugin ...............................................................103
Saving configuration data ........................................................................................104
Putting it all together ...............................................................................................105
Replacing existing widgets .......................................................................................107
Widgetizing Your Theme ..................................................................................................109
Declaring sidebars ...................................................................................................110
Integrating widgetized sidebars in themes ...............................................................112
Summary ..........................................................................................................................114
Chapter 7: Understanding the WordPress Database Class . . . . . 115
Examining the Schema and Properties of the Database Class .............................................116
The database properties ...........................................................................................116
show_errors ..................................................................................................116
suppress_errors .............................................................................................117
last_error .......................................................................................................117
num_queries .................................................................................................117
last_query ......................................................................................................117
col_info .........................................................................................................117
queries ..........................................................................................................117
prefix .............................................................................................................117
ready .............................................................................................................118
posts ..............................................................................................................118
postmeta ........................................................................................................119
users ..............................................................................................................120
usermeta ........................................................................................................120
comments ......................................................................................................121
commentmeta ................................................................................................121
links ..............................................................................................................122
options ..........................................................................................................123
terms .............................................................................................................123
term_taxonomy .............................................................................................123
term_relationships .........................................................................................124
tables .............................................................................................................124
field_types .....................................................................................................124
charset ...........................................................................................................125
collate ............................................................................................................125
real_escape ....................................................................................................125
Adding Data to MySQL with WordPress ...........................................................................125
Inserting new data into MySQL ...............................................................................126
Updating data in MySQL safely ...............................................................................126
Retrieving Data from MySQL with WordPress...................................................................127
Retrieving a single value from a table ......................................................................127
Retrieving a column of data .....................................................................................128
Retrieving a row of data ...........................................................................................128
Retrieving a full data set ..........................................................................................128
Performing other queries .........................................................................................129
Preventing SQL Injection ..................................................................................................129
Summary ..........................................................................................................................131
Chapter 8: Dissecting the Loop and WP_Query . . . . . . . 133
Defining the Loop .............................................................................................................134
Wrangling the Loop with Plugins ......................................................................................137
Discovering query hooks .........................................................................................137
Altering the query with hooks .................................................................................139
Developing Custom and Multiple Loops ...........................................................................141
Using query_posts() and rewind_posts() .................................................................142
Instantiating a new Loop with WP_Query ...............................................................142
Using variables to alter the query ............................................................................143
Examples of WP_Query in action ............................................................................146
Featured stories .............................................................................................146
Future posts ..................................................................................................146
Display only sticky posts ...............................................................................146
Using Loops Strategically ..................................................................................................148
Summary ..........................................................................................................................149
Part III: Working with Themes and Template Tags 151Chapter 9: Using Free or Premium Themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Understanding the User Experience ..................................................................................153
Typography .............................................................................................................154
White space ............................................................................................................154
Fixed or fluid width ................................................................................................155
Sidebars ..................................................................................................................156
Finding and Implementing Free Themes ...........................................................................156
Finding and Implementing Premium Themes ...................................................................159
Summary ..........................................................................................................................161
Chapter 10: Understanding the Template File Hierarchy . . . . 163
Looking at the Minimum Necessary Template Files ..........................................................164
style.css ...................................................................................................................164
index.php................................................................................................................166
Understanding the Common Template Files .....................................................................168
header.php ..............................................................................................................169
footer.php ...............................................................................................................171
sidebar.php .............................................................................................................172
comments.php ........................................................................................................173
single.php ...............................................................................................................176
archive.php .............................................................................................................177
page.php .................................................................................................................177
search.php ..............................................................................................................178
functions.php ..........................................................................................................178
screenshot.png ........................................................................................................178
Enhancing the User Experience with Template Files .........................................................179
attachment.php .......................................................................................................179
image.php, video.php, audio.php, and application.php ..........................................179
author.php ..............................................................................................................180
tag.php ....................................................................................................................181
tag-{slug}.php .........................................................................................................181
category.php ...........................................................................................................181
category-{x}.php......................................................................................................181
date.php ..................................................................................................................182
year.php, month.php, day.php................................................................................182
home.php ...............................................................................................................182
404.php ..................................................................................................................183
Developing Custom Template Files ...................................................................................183
Summary ..........................................................................................................................184
Chapter 11: Adding JavaScript and CSS to Themes . . .. . . 185
Examining the jQuery and Prototype Frameworks ............................................................186
jQuery .....................................................................................................................186
Prototype ................................................................................................................191
Comparing the frameworks .....................................................................................192
Leveraging WordPress’ JavaScript Libraries .......................................................................193
Prototype: script.aculo.us ........................................................................................193
Prototype: TinyMCE................................................................................................194
jQuery: Autosave .....................................................................................................195
jQuery: hoverIntent .................................................................................................196
jQuery: Farbtastic ....................................................................................................196
jQuery: jQueryUI ....................................................................................................197
Examining WordPress Plugins that Use JavaScript Effects .................................................197
jQuery Reply to Comment ......................................................................................198
Social Bookmarks ....................................................................................................198
WP Conditional Digg This Badge ............................................................................198
WPTouch iPhone Theme ........................................................................................198
Looking at Theme Styles ...................................................................................................199
Queuing styles ........................................................................................................199
Using JavaScript to style elements ...........................................................................200
Summary ..........................................................................................................................202
Chapter 12: Dissecting the Comment Loop, Template Tags,and Theme Best Practices . . . . . 203
Using Hooks in Themes ....................................................................................................204
Common hooks ......................................................................................................205
wp_head() .....................................................................................................205
wp_footer() ...................................................................................................206
comment_form ..............................................................................................206
Additional hook suggestions ...................................................................................207
Implementing Scripts in Themes .......................................................................................208
Using Template Tags to Make Themes Dynamic ...............................................................209
Using bloginfo() to access blog metadata .................................................................210
Using template tags in the Loop ..............................................................................214
Using Loop template tags outside the Loop .............................................................218
Creating Conversations with Threaded Comments and Paged Comments .........................218
Personalizing the Reader Experience with Avatars .............................................................222
Summary ..........................................................................................................................224
Part IV: Creating Content 225Chapter 13: Navigating the Content Production Experience . . . . 227
Customizing Your Workspace ...........................................................................................227
Leveraging the Elements of Content Creation ....................................................................228
Using the title strategically ......................................................................................229
Designating an excerpt ............................................................................................230
Enhancing searchability of content ..........................................................................231
Adjust the title slug .......................................................................................231
Use “bold” font to enhance importance..........................................................232
Add descriptive text to videos and podcasts ..................................................232
Write well .....................................................................................................233
Looking at categories and tags: What’s the difference? .............................................234
Search implications .......................................................................................234
Architectural implications ..............................................................................235
Managing categories ......................................................................................235
Managing tags ...............................................................................................238
Publishing and scheduling posts .............................................................................240
Using custom fields .................................................................................................241
Hacking Your Experience: Getting the Most Out of Writing ..............................................242
Using the visual text editor ......................................................................................242
Using Full Screen mode ..........................................................................................243
Using the Press This bookmarklet ...........................................................................244
Summary ..........................................................................................................................245
Chapter 14: Using Offline Editors . .. . . . . . . 247
What Is XML-RPC? ...........................................................................................................247
WordPress-supported remote protocols ..................................................................248
Blogger API ...................................................................................................248
MetaWeblog API ...........................................................................................249
Movable Type API .........................................................................................250
WordPress XML-RPC API ..............................................................................250
The bundled XML-RPC library ................................................................................252
AtomPub and the upcoming standard of remote management ................................252
Understanding XML-RPC Security Risks ...........................................................................252
Looking at Offline Blog Editors .........................................................................................255
Windows Live Writer (Windows)............................................................................255
BlogDesk (Windows) ..............................................................................................257
MarsEdit (Mac) .......................................................................................................260
Ecto (Mac)...............................................................................................................262
Drivel (Linux) .........................................................................................................263
ScribeFire (All) ........................................................................................................264
Summary ..........................................................................................................................266
Part V: Keeping Up with the Joneses: Maintenance and Upgrades 267
Chapter 15: Performing Automatic Upgrades . . . . . 269
Meeting the Minimum Automatic Upgrade Requirements .................................................270
Disabling the “Upgrade Nag” .............................................................................................270
Performing Automatic Upgrades .......................................................................................275
Using SSH for Automatic Upgrades ...................................................................................276
Using SSH with keys ...............................................................................................277
Using constants to bypass credentials ......................................................................278
Summary ..........................................................................................................................279
Chapter 16: Moving to WordPress and Backing It Up . . . . . . 281
Moving a Blog to WordPress .............................................................................................281
Blogger ....................................................................................................................283
Blogware .................................................................................................................286
DotClear..................................................................................................................287
LiveJournal ..............................................................................................................288
Movable Type and TypePad ....................................................................................289
WordPress...............................................................................................................293
Importing Tags into WordPress ........................................................................................299
Converting categories to tags ...................................................................................299
Importing Ultimate Tag Warrior tags ......................................................................300
Looking at Backup Routines ..............................................................................................301
File backups ............................................................................................................301
MySQL backups ......................................................................................................301
Using mysqldump .........................................................................................301
Using phpMyAdmin ......................................................................................302
Backup scripting .....................................................................................................303
Summary ..........................................................................................................................305
Chapter 17: WordPress Maintenance and Security . . . . . . 307
Upgrading WordPress .......................................................................................................307
Upgrading manually with FTP ................................................................................308
Debugging problems with FTP upgrades .................................................................311
Re-upload files ...............................................................................................311
Check the error log ........................................................................................311
Roll back to a previous version ......................................................................312
Choosing an FTP Client ....................................................................................................313
Windows FTP clients ..............................................................................................313
WS_FTP Professional ....................................................................................314
FileZilla .........................................................................................................314
Mac OS X FTP clients ..............................................................................................315
Transmit ........................................................................................................316
Fetch .............................................................................................................316
Practicing Sound WordPress Security ...............................................................................317
Data sanitization ......................................................................................................318
Casting variables ............................................................................................318
Sanitizing HTML entities for XML .................................................................318
Using KSES to filter unsafe content................................................................319
Escaping and encoding HTML .......................................................................319
Escaping and encoding HTML attributes .......................................................320
Escaping and encoding JavaScript .................................................................320
Sanitizing URLs .............................................................................................320
Preventing SQL injection ...............................................................................321
File permissions ......................................................................................................321
Unix file permissions .....................................................................................321
WordPress file permissions ............................................................................323
Summary ..........................................................................................................................324
Chapter 18: Caching Strategy to Ensure WordPress Scales . . . . . 325
Understanding Caching ....................................................................................................325
Using WordPress Caching Mechanisms ............................................................................326
WordPress object cache...........................................................................................327
wp_cache_add() ............................................................................................327
wp_cache_delete() .........................................................................................328
wp_cache_get() .............................................................................................328
wp_cache_replace() .......................................................................................329
wp_cache_flush() ..........................................................................................329
The WP Super Cache plugin ...................................................................................330
Memcached and the Batcache plugin .......................................................................332
Optimizing PHP with Opcode Caching .............................................................................333
eAccelerator ............................................................................................................333
APC.........................................................................................................................336
Caching MySQL with HyperDB and the Query Cache .......................................................338
MySQL query cache ................................................................................................338
HyperDB .................................................................................................................339
Harnessing the “Cloud” .....................................................................................................339
Summary ..........................................................................................................................342
Chapter 19: Understanding WordPress Roles and Capabilities . . . 343
Looking at WordPress Roles and Capabilities ....................................................................343
User levels ...............................................................................................................347
Adding and removing custom capabilities ...............................................................348
Checking capabilities in plugins ..............................................................................348
Using the Role Manager Plugin .........................................................................................350
Summary ..........................................................................................................................352
Part VI: Alternate Uses for WordPress 353Chapter 20: Using WordPress for Alternative Blogging . . . . . . 355
Photoblogging with WordPress .........................................................................................356
What is a Photoblog? ...............................................................................................356
Examples of notable photoblogs ..............................................................................356
ThomasHawk.com ........................................................................................356
The Fine Arts Photoblog ................................................................................357
Lens ..............................................................................................................357
Great WordPress photoblog themes ........................................................................358
Monotone ......................................................................................................358
StudioPress Black Canvas ..............................................................................359
Nautilus ........................................................................................................360
Using EXIF data in a photoblog ...............................................................................362
Implementing a Twitter-style Blog ....................................................................................371
Using Press This for a Tumble Blog ...................................................................................372
Summary ..........................................................................................................................375
Chapter 21: WordPress as a Content Management System . . .. . . . 377
Using WordPress as a Content Management System .........................................................377
Understanding Enterprise WordPress Needs .....................................................................378
Single sign-on authentication ..................................................................................378
Lead generation and CRM integration .....................................................................380
WordPress support .................................................................................................381
Conveying a Consistent Message and Brand ......................................................................382
Understanding When a Blog Is Not a Blog ........................................................................384
Custom content types..............................................................................................387
Summary ..........................................................................................................................388
Part VII: Looking at the WordPress Ecosystem 389Chapter 22: Leveraging WordPress MU and Multi-Blog Functionality . . . 391
Installing and Configuring WordPress MU ........................................................................392
Installing WordPress MU ........................................................................................392
Configuring WordPress MU ....................................................................................394
Wildcard DNS configuration .........................................................................395
Apache Wildcard Vhost configuration ...........................................................396
Converting a WordPress Blog to WordPress MU ...............................................................396
Admin panel ...........................................................................................................399
Blogs panel ..............................................................................................................399
Users panel .............................................................................................................400
Themes panel ..........................................................................................................400
Options panel .........................................................................................................402
Upgrade panel .........................................................................................................403
Understanding WordPress MU Plugin Nuances ................................................................403
Blog ID ....................................................................................................................403
WordPress MU database schema .............................................................................405
Site configuration tables ................................................................................405
Blog-specific tables ........................................................................................408
Adapting to WordPress MU ..............................................................................................409
Activating plugins site wide .....................................................................................409
Constructing image permalinks ...............................................................................410
Using WordPress MU with different domains ..........................................................410
Summary ..........................................................................................................................410
Chapter 23: Adding User Forums with bbPress . . . . . . 411
Installing bbPress ..............................................................................................................411
Finding bbPress Plugins ....................................................................................................416
Understanding the bbPress Theme System ........................................................................417
Summary ..........................................................................................................................419
Chapter 24: Creating Your Own Social Network with BuddyPress . . . . . 421
What Is BuddyPress? .........................................................................................................421
Activity Stream ........................................................................................................422
Blog tracking ...........................................................................................................423
bbPress integration ..................................................................................................423
Friends ....................................................................................................................424
Groups ....................................................................................................................424
Private Messaging ....................................................................................................425
Comment Wire .......................................................................................................425
Extended Profile ......................................................................................................426
Configuring BuddyPress ....................................................................................................426
General Settings ......................................................................................................427
Base profile group name ................................................................................428
Full Name field name ....................................................................................428
Disable BuddyPress to WordPress profile syncing..........................................428
Hide admin bar for logged out users ..............................................................428
Disable profile picture uploads ......................................................................428
Allow non-friends to post on profile wires .....................................................428
Disable user account deletion ........................................................................428
Disable global forum directory ......................................................................429
Default user profile picture ............................................................................429
Component Setup ...................................................................................................429
Forums Setup ..........................................................................................................430
Profile Field Setup ...................................................................................................430
Comparing BuddyPress and WordPress Development ......................................................431
Looking at BuddyPress Theme Concepts ...........................................................................432
Extending BuddyPress ......................................................................................................435
Summary ..........................................................................................................................436
Chapter 25: Using BackPress as a Development Framework . . . . . 437
Defining BackPress ............................................................................................................437
Developing with BackPress ...............................................................................................438
Including BackPress in your PHP project ................................................................440
Understanding the BackPress facilities .....................................................................440
class.bp-log.php ............................................................................................441
class.bp-roles.php ..........................................................................................441
class.bp-sql-schema-parser.php .....................................................................441
class.bp-user.php ..........................................................................................441
class.bpdb.php ..............................................................................................441
class.bpdb-multi.php .....................................................................................441
class.ixr.php ..................................................................................................441
class.mailer-smtp.php ....................................................................................441
class.mailer.php .............................................................................................442
class.passwordhash.php ................................................................................442
class.wp-ajax-response.php ...........................................................................442
class.wp-auth.php .........................................................................................442
class.wp-dependencies.php ...........................................................................442
class.wp-error.php .........................................................................................442
class.wp-http.php ..........................................................................................442
class.wp-object-cache.php and class.wp-object-cache-memcached.php .........442
class.wp-pass.php ..........................................................................................443
class.wp-scripts.php ......................................................................................443
class.wp-styles.php ........................................................................................443
class.wp-taxonomy.php .................................................................................443
class.wp-users.php ........................................................................................443
Solving BackPress Dependencies .......................................................................................443
Summary ..........................................................................................................................445
Chapter 26: WordPress.com and the Automattic Products . . .. . . 447
About Automattic .............................................................................................................447
After the Deadline ...................................................................................................448
Akismet ...................................................................................................................448
Gravatar ..................................................................................................................449
IntenseDebate .........................................................................................................450
P2 Theme ................................................................................................................450
PollDaddy ...............................................................................................................450
VideoPress...............................................................................................................451
VIP ..........................................................................................................................451
Taking a Look at Automattic’s Propriety Products .............................................................452
WordPress...............................................................................................................452
BuddyPress .............................................................................................................452
bbPress....................................................................................................................452
BackPress ................................................................................................................452
WordPress app for iPhone .......................................................................................453
WordPress app for BlackBerry .................................................................................454
Using WordPress.com Themes ..........................................................................................454
Getting Your Plugin Included in WordPress.com ..............................................................456
Buying Premium WordPress.com Features ........................................................................458
Custom CSS ............................................................................................................458
Disk space upgrades ................................................................................................458
Domain mapping ....................................................................................................459
No-ads ....................................................................................................................460
Unlimited Private Users ...........................................................................................460
VideoPress...............................................................................................................460
Summary ..........................................................................................................................460
Chapter 27: Leveraging Automattic Products . . . . . 461
Obtaining a WordPress.com API Key ................................................................................461
Using Akismet to Kill Spam ..............................................................................................462
Verify Key ...............................................................................................................463
Comment Checking ................................................................................................464
Submit Spam ...........................................................................................................465
Submit Ham ............................................................................................................465
Making Use of WordPress.com Stats .................................................................................467
Engaging Readers with IntenseDebate ...............................................................................469
Crowdsourcing with PollDaddy ........................................................................................472
Summary ..........................................................................................................................474
Part VIII: Appendixes 475Appendix A: WordPress Hook Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477
Appendix B: Template Tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527
Appendix C: What About PHP 5? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 573
Appendix D: WordPress Hosting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 579
Appendix E: WordPress Vendors and Professional Services . . . . . . . . . . 589
Appendix F: WordPress in Government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 601
Appendix G: WordPress in Major Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609
Appendix H: The General Public License . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 617
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 623
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