Lisa Sabin-Wilson, Cory Miller, Kevin Palmer, Andrea Rennick, and Michael Torbert
8 BOOKS IN 1
• WordPress Basics
• Setting Up the WordPress Software
• Exploring the WordPress Dashboard
• Publishing Your Site with WordPress
• Examining SEO and Social Media
• Customizing the Look of Your Site
• Using and Developing Plugins
• Running Multiple Sites with WordPress
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Book Details
Price
|
2.50 |
|---|---|
Pages
| 916 p |
File Size
|
50,866 KB |
File Type
|
PDF format |
ISBN
| 978-0-470-87701-2 |
Copyright©
| 2011 by Wiley Publishing, Inc |
Lisa Sabin-Wilson (WordPress For Dummies, BuddyPress For Dummies,
WordPress Web Design For Dummies) has 8 years experience working with
the WordPress platform, having adopted it early in its fi rst year of release in 2003.
Lisa is the owner of a successful design studio, E.Webscapes (http://ewebscapes.com),
and a WordPress Web hosting company, BlogsAbout
(http://blogsabout.com), and is a regular speaker on topics related to
design and WordPress at several national conferences. Additionally, she
hosts WordPress workshops around the country, teaching people how to use
the WordPress platform to publish their own sites on the World Wide Web.
You can fi nd Lisa online at her personal blog
(http://lisasabin-wilson.com) and Twitter (@LisaSabinWilson).
Cory Miller is a former newspaper journalist and public relations practitioner,
turned freelance web designer, turned full-time entrepreneur. In
January 2008, Cory founded iThemes (http://ithemes.com), a provider
of premium WordPress themes, and in the summer of 2009, he and his team
launched WebDesign.com (http://webdesign.com), a premium provider
of web design training with WordPress. You can fi nd Cory online on his personal
blog: http://corymiller.com and on Twitter: @CoryMiller303.
Kevin Palmer is the founder of Social Media Answers, a consulting fi rm
that helps companies create and foster a social media marketing strategy,
improve their SEO, and drive traffi c through organic and paid marketing in
the B2B and B2C spaces. Kevin has successfully helped Internet startups and
Fortune 500 companies. Kevin resides in Portland, OR and is attempting to
prove you are never too old to play ice hockey. You can read Kevin’s blog
at http://socialmediaanswers.com/blog and follow him on Twitter (@kevinpalmer).
Andrea Rennick is self-taught in all things WordPress since 2005. She is
also a mom of four homeschooled, mostly grown children, and grandmother
to one. She thinks if she can do it, you can, too. When not building things
with WordPress or writing about how to do things with WordPress, she’s
usually quilting. Often, Andrea populates the WordPress support forums
with answers to your questions about WordPress, particularly her area of
expertise: WordPress Multisite. She also runs a multisite resource Web site,
WordPress Must Use Tutorials, at http://wpmututorials.com.
You can find Andrea online at her personal blog (http://ronandandrea.com)
and Twitter (@Andrea_R).
Michael Torbert is the developer of the popular WordPress All in One SEO
Pack plugin and owner of Semper Fi Web Design (http://semperfiwebdesign.com).
Michael’s expertise includes WordPress plugin development
and best SEO practices.
Introduction
WordPress is the most popular blogging software on the planet.
Between the hosted service at WordPress.com and the self-hosted
software available at WordPress.org, millions of bloggers use WordPress
today! That’s impressive. And with WordPress, you can truly tailor a blog to
your own tastes and needs.
With no cost for using the benefits of the WordPress platform to publish
content on the Web, WordPress is as priceless as it is free. WordPress
makes writing, editing, and publishing content on the Internet a delightful,
fun, and relatively painless experience whether you’re a publisher, designer,
developer — or just blogging as a hobby.
How This Book Is Organized
This book is divided into eight minibooks containing information on topics
related to WordPress, including installing WordPress on a Web server, creating
customized themes and plugins, and extending the functionality of the software.
Book I: WordPress Basics
This book gives you a complete understanding of the WordPress software,
including a brief introduction into blogging and such blogging technologies
as RSS, comments, trackbacks, and archiving content. Additionally, you
explore the differences between using WordPress as a blogging platform and
a full-blown content management system.
Because WordPress is an open source project, it is good for users to have
a basic understanding of open source and the licensing involved; therefore,
this book also helps you understand GPL and open source basics.
After the introduction into WordPress, blogging, and licensing, you read
about WordPress development and release cycles, important for any user
because they affect the future of your WordPress-powered Web site. You
also gain an understanding of WordPress versions and are introduced to the
famous and helpful WordPress user community.
Book II: Setting Up the WordPress Software
This book is a must read for those wanting to wrap their head around
some of the more technical aspects of getting a WordPress site running. It
introduces you to a basic understanding of PHP and MySQL, the programming
software that runs the framework of your Web site. You also discover
information about domain name registration, obtaining a Web server from
a Web hosting provider, and the basic Web hosting requirements to run
WordPress. From there, you discover all the information you need to know
about FTP, or File Transfer Protocol, a technology included in almost all Web hosting accounts.
After discovering some of the more geeky aspects of Web servers and programming
languages, you start to get your hands dirty by digging in and
installing WordPress on your Web server by using two different installation
methods. Find out some great tips and tricks to improve the performance of
your WordPress Web site and discover what it means to upgrade WordPress
when new versions of the software are released.
This book also contains vital information about securing your WordPress
installation against hackers and malicious Internet users. Additionally, we
provide information on making a secure backup of your WordPress Web site
and restoring the backup in the event of a disaster or if you simply want to
transfer your WordPress Web site to a different hosting provider.
Book III: Exploring the WordPress Dashboard
This book takes you on a guided tour of the WordPress Dashboard, from
logging in to the tools and features you use on a regular basis to administer
your site. You discover how WordPress makes customizing your
Dashboard to create a unique work space optimized for how you work easy
to accomplish.
You explore the different tools and features available within the WordPress
Dashboard, including a comprehensive run-through of how to configure the
settings for optimal performance and to create a great user experience on
your Web site.
In this book, you find out how to deal with comments and discover how to
tackle comment spam; run a multi-author blog where you invite others to
publish with you, build link lists to your favorite resources and Web sites,
and discover ways to archive your content with categories and tags.
Book IV: Publishing Your Site with WordPress
This book takes you through the mechanics of publishing content with
WordPress. You write a new post on your blog and discover the options for
posting to your site, including categorizing and tagging your post, using post
excerpts, setting discussion options, and creating a unique work space for
your publishing efforts.
From there, you dig into more detail by discovering how to save drafts of
your posts, edit existing posts, and even schedule posts for a future publishing
date. In this book, you also get the differences between a blog post and
a static page, taking you toward using WordPress as a content management
tool, not just a blogging platform.
After discovering the ways and wonders of publishing content, you dig into
how to include multimedia files on your site, including photos, photo galleries,
videos, and audio files for a more interactive experience.
You work with custom fields for your site to make publishing unique information
easier, and you discover a great feature in WordPress called Custom
Post Types that allows you to create different content types for publishing
such items as dedicated photo galleries, video blogs, podcasts, and more.
Book V: Examining SEO and Social Media
Most site owners are very interested in how to attract more traffic to their
sites through search engine optimization and networking through popular
social-media sites, such as Twitter and Facebook. This book takes a multifaceted
approach to search engine optimization and social-media involvement.
You discover how to improve your social-media reach by making it easy
for visitors to share your content on social-media networks. This book also
helps you determine which social networks to participate in by helping you
discover your niche, find influencers on the Internet, and involve users in
what you’re doing.
In this book, you use WordPress to create a social-media hub in your
WordPress Dashboard by creating a one-stop social-media shop and using
several different tools to stay aware of your brand and online reputation.
You obtain practical information on creating content that is search engine
aware; that is, helping search engines discover and list your content and
Web site in the various search engine directories and databases. We show
you how to take advantage of the built-in features that make WordPress SEO
ready, and provide the tools, plugins, and tips you can use along the way.
This book also takes you into understanding the importance of site analytics
and setting goals for optimal site performance in search engines and traffic.
Book VI: Customizing the Look of Your Site
Read this book if you’re at all interested in customizing the look, feel, and
layout of your site with WordPress themes. This book starts by taking
you through a comprehensive and in-depth look at the default WordPress
Twenty Ten theme and using its features to customize the presentation on your site.
If the default Twenty Ten theme isn’t quite what you’re looking for, this book
takes you through the method of searching for, finding, previewing, installing,
and activating one of thousands of free WordPress themes available to
every WordPress user.
If you are ready to really dig in and get your hands dirty, this book gives you
the details needed to tweak the look of existing themes, as well as a comprehensive
look into the structure of a WordPress theme, including the information
and tools you need to create your own theme from scratch.
As if that weren’t enough, this book polishes off the topic of WordPress
themes and customization with more advanced practices for creating
WordPress themes, including parent/child theme relationships, WordPress
template tags and parameters, adding new templates, using hooks, actions,
and filters, and enhancing themes with built-in features.
Finally, this book takes you through the concept of WordPress theme
frameworks, including how they work and why you might want to use them.
We give you some great references on where to find some fantastic frameworks, too.
Book VII: Using and Developing Plugins
Plugins are to WordPress what that cool new App is to your iPhone; they’re
not completely necessary but they make the experience a lot more fun by
extending the functionality of your WordPress Web site. This book starts
by explaining what plugins are, the circumstances under which you want to
use plugins, and how plugins can improve your visitors’ experiences on your site.
After introducing the basics (including how to find, explore, and install
plugins on your WordPress site), this book explores plugin options and settings
and how you can navigate your way through different plugin setups.
For the very brave, this book takes you through the mechanics of modifying
existing plugin base code to customize a plugin to do what you want it to
do. From there, you create a basic plugin from scratch and discover plugin
development best practices, including security concepts, naming techniques,
localization, optimization, and tips from the pros on how to avoid
common mistakes and pitfalls when developing plugins for the WordPress software.
As a bonus, this book looks at the WordPress API, how to use a plugin template,
digging into actions and hooks and how you can avoid re-inventing
the wheel by using already present filters and hooks. The last four chapters
of this book contain some pretty geeky stuff should you be up for the challenge!
Book VIII: Running Multiple Sites with WordPress
Very new to the WordPress software (as recent as 2010), is the ability to
run multiple sites with one installation of WordPress. This book takes you
through setting up the multisite feature built into the WordPress software
and includes circumstances under which you would use the multisite feature
to determine whether it’s right for you.
This book starts out with setting up and configuring the multisite feature
after you install WordPress on your Web server and gives you the Web
server configurations you need to run the multisite feature successfully on your site.
With the multisite feature set up, you become more than just a mere site
owner; you become what WordPress calls a super admin! Super admins can
access various features and settings that help you run the multisite feature
on your Web site. If the multisite feature interests you at all, this book is a
must read, providing you with practical tips, tricks, and advice. Running a
multisite installation of WordPress is a lot different from running a regular
WordPress installation on your site, so read this book to discover what you
need to know.
Table of Contents
Introduction ................................................................. 1
About This Book ..............................................................................................1
Foolish Assumptions .......................................................................................1
Conventions Used in This Book .....................................................................2
What You Don’t Have to Read ........................................................................2
How This Book Is Organized ..........................................................................3
Book I: WordPress Basics .....................................................................3
Book II: Setting Up the WordPress Software ......................................3
Book III: Exploring the WordPress Dashboard...................................4
Book IV: Publishing Your Site with WordPress ..................................4
Book V: Examining SEO and Social Media ..........................................5
Book VI: Customizing the Look of Your Site .......................................5
Book VII: Using and Developing Plugins .............................................6
Book VIII: Running Multiple Sites with WordPress ............................7
Icons Used in This Book .................................................................................7
Where to Go from Here ...................................................................................8
Book I: WordPress Basics .............................................. 9
Chapter 1: Exploring Basic WordPress Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
Introducing the World of Blogging ..............................................................12
Understanding Blogging Technologies .......................................................13
Archiving your publishing history .....................................................14
Interacting with your readers through comments ..........................15
Feeding your readers...........................................................................16
Tracking back .......................................................................................18
Dealing with comment and trackback spam ....................................18
Using WordPress as a Content Management System ...............................19
Chapter 2: Exploring the World of Open Source Software. . . . . . . . . .23
Defi ning Open Source ....................................................................................24
Understanding WordPress Licensing ..........................................................27
Applying WordPress Licensing to Your Projects ......................................28
Chapter 3: Understanding Development and Release Cycles . . . . . . .33
Discovering WordPress Release Cycles .....................................................33
Upgrading your WordPress experience ............................................34
Understanding the cycles of a release ..............................................35
Finding WordPress release archives .................................................36
Keeping Track of WordPress Development ...............................................37
Downloading Nightly Builds .........................................................................39
Chapter 4: Introducing the WordPress Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41
Finding Other WordPress Users ..................................................................42
Finding WordPress news and tips on community Web sites .........42
Locating users on social networks ....................................................42
Users Helping Users ......................................................................................43
WordPress support forums ................................................................43
WordPress user manual ......................................................................44
WordPress mailing lists ......................................................................45
Discovering Professional WordPress Consultants and Services .............45
WordPress designers ..........................................................................47
Developers ............................................................................................48
Consultants ...........................................................................................49
Contributing to WordPress ..........................................................................50
Participating in Live WordPress Events .....................................................51
Chapter 5: Discovering Different Versions of WordPress . . . . . . . . . .53
Comparing the Two Versions of WordPress ..............................................53
Choosing the hosted version from WordPress.com .......................55
Self-hosting with WordPress.org........................................................57
Hosting Multiple Sites with One WordPress Installation .........................60
Discovering WordPress VIP Services ..........................................................62
Book II: Setting Up the WordPress Software ................. 65
Chapter 1: Understanding the System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67
Establishing Your Domain ............................................................................67
Understanding domain name extensions .........................................68
Considering the cost of a domain name ...........................................68
Registering your domain name ..........................................................69
Finding a Home for Your Blog ......................................................................70
Getting help with hosting WordPress ...............................................72
Dealing with disk space and bandwidth ...........................................72
Chapter 2: Using File Transfer Protocol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77
Introducing FTP Concepts ............................................................................77
Setting Up FTP on Your Hosting Account ..................................................78
Finding and Using Free and Easy FTP Programs .......................................81
Connecting to the Web Server via FTP .............................................81
Transferring fi les from point A to point B ........................................85
Editing fi les by using FTP ....................................................................85
Changing fi le permissions ...................................................................86
Chapter 3: Introducing PHP and MySQL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .89
Understanding How PHP and MySQL Work Together ..............................89
Exploring PHP Basics ....................................................................................90
Trying Out a Little PHP .................................................................................92
Managing Your MySQL Database ................................................................94
Chapter 4: Installing WordPress on Your Web Server . . . . . . . . . . . . .99
Installing the WordPress Files .....................................................................99
Using Fantastico to install WordPress ............................................100
Installing WordPress manually ........................................................104
Chapter 5: Confi gurations for Optimum Performance and Security . . .115
Discovering the Confi guration File ............................................................116
Securing the confi guration fi le .........................................................116
Exploring main confi guration settings ............................................117
Moving the /wp-content directory ...................................................122
Tweaking the confi guration fi le for optimization...........................123
Using a Caching System for Speed and Performance .............................126
Minifying JavaScript, CSS, and HTML ..............................................126
Using a content delivery network ....................................................128
Using plugins to make caching easier .............................................129
Editing Files and Testing Performance with WordPress Tools .............129
Choosing the text editor that’s right for you .................................130
Notepad (Windows)...........................................................................131
Notepad++ (Windows).......................................................................132
TextMate (Mac) ..................................................................................134
Understanding and choosing a Web browser ................................134
Discovering different browsers and tools ......................................134
Understanding cross-browser compatibility .................................139
Chapter 6: Upgrading WordPress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .141
Getting Notifi ed of an Available Upgrade .................................................141
Backing Up Your Database .........................................................................144
Upgrading WordPress Automatically ........................................................145
Upgrading WordPress Manually ................................................................147
Chapter 7: Backing Up, Packing Up, and Moving to a New Host . . .151
Migrating Your Existing Blog to WordPress .............................................151
Movin’ on up .......................................................................................152
Preparing for the big move ...............................................................153
Converting templates ........................................................................154
Moving your blog to WordPress ......................................................155
Importing from Blogspot, er Blogger ...............................................156
Importing from LiveJournal ..............................................................157
Importing from Movable Type and TypePad .................................159
Importing from WordPress ...............................................................160
Importing from an RSS feed ..............................................................161
Finding other import resources .......................................................163
Moving Your Web Site to a Different Host ................................................163
Creating a backup and moving manually ........................................163
Using a plugin to back up and move to a new host .......................165
Book III: Exploring the WordPress Dashboard ............. 167
Chapter 1: Logging In and Taking a Look Around. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .169
Logging In to the Dashboard ......................................................................169
Navigating the Dashboard ..........................................................................170
Right Now ............................................................................................172
Recent Comments ..............................................................................175
Incoming Links ...................................................................................176
Plugins .................................................................................................177
QuickPress ..........................................................................................178
Recent Drafts ......................................................................................179
WordPress Blog ..................................................................................179
Other WordPress News .....................................................................181
Chapter 2: Customizing Your Dashboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .183
Arranging the Dashboard to Your Tastes ................................................183
Removing Dashboard Modules ........................................................185
Changing the Dashboard layout ......................................................185
Finding Inline Documentation and Help ...................................................187
Creating Your Own Workspace .................................................................188
Chapter 3: Exploring Tools and Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .191
Confi guring the Settings ..............................................................................191
General ................................................................................................192
Writing .................................................................................................196
Reading ................................................................................................198
Discussion ...........................................................................................200
Media ...................................................................................................206
Privacy.................................................................................................208
Permalinks ..........................................................................................209
Creating Your Personal Profi le ..................................................................214
Setting Your Blog’s Format .........................................................................217
Posts ....................................................................................................217
Media ...................................................................................................217
Links ....................................................................................................218
Pages....................................................................................................218
Comments ...........................................................................................219
Appearance .........................................................................................219
Plugins .................................................................................................220
Users ....................................................................................................221
Tools ....................................................................................................221
Chapter 4: Managing Users and Multiple Authors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .223
Understanding User Roles and Capabilities .............................................223
Allowing New User Registration ................................................................225
Adding New Users .......................................................................................226
Editing User Details .....................................................................................228
Managing a Multi-Author Site .....................................................................229
Tools that help authors communicate ............................................230
Tools to promote author profi les ....................................................231
Tools to manage multi-author blog posts .......................................232
Chapter 5: Dealing with Comments and Spam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .233
Deciding to Allow Comments on Your Site ..............................................233
Positive aspects of allowing comments ..........................................233
Exploring reasons to disallow comments .......................................234
Interacting with Readers through Comments ..........................................235
Tracking back .....................................................................................236
Comment and trackback display .....................................................236
Managing Comments and Trackbacks ......................................................238
Dealing with Comment and Trackback Spam ..........................................240
Tackling Spam with Akismet ......................................................................241
Chapter 6: Building Link Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .247
Organizing Your Links .................................................................................247
Adding new links ................................................................................249
Editing existing links..........................................................................254
Displaying Link Lists on Your Site .............................................................254
Chapter 7: Creating Categories and Tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .257
Archiving Content with WordPress ...........................................................257
Building categories ............................................................................260
Changing the name of a category ....................................................261
Creating new categories ....................................................................263
Creating and Editing Tags ..........................................................................265
Book IV: Publishing Your Site with WordPress ............ 269
Chapter 1: Writing Your First Post. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .271
Composing Your Blog Post .........................................................................271
Refi ning Your Post Options ........................................................................276
Publishing your post .........................................................................278
Being your own editor .......................................................................281
Creating Your Own Workspace for Writing ..............................................282
Adjusting screen options ..................................................................282
Arranging post modules ....................................................................284
Chapter 2: Examining the Difference between Posts and Pages . . .287
Understanding the Difference between Posts and Pages .......................287
Creating the Front Page of Your Web Site ................................................288
Creating the static page ....................................................................290
Setting page options ..........................................................................290
Assigning a static page as the front page .......................................292
Adding a Blog to Your Web Site .................................................................294
Chapter 3: Uploading and Displaying Photos and Galleries . . . . . . .297
Inserting Images into Your Blog Posts ......................................................297
Adding an image from the Web ........................................................298
Adding an image from your computer ............................................299
Aligning your images .........................................................................302
Inserting a Photo Gallery ............................................................................303
Chapter 4: Exploring Podcasting and Video Blogging . . . . . . . . . . . .309
Inserting Video Files into Your Blog Posts ...............................................309
Adding video from the Web ..............................................................310
Adding video from your computer ..................................................311
Inserting Audio Files into Your Blog Posts ...............................................312
Podcasting with WordPress .......................................................................313
Keeping Media Files Organized ..................................................................315
Chapter 5: Working with Custom Fields. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .319
Understanding Custom Fields ....................................................................319
Exploring the Custom Fields Interface ......................................................320
Adding Custom Fields to Your Template File ..........................................323
Entering the code in the template fi le .............................................324
Getting WordPress to check for your Custom Field ......................326
Exploring Different Uses for Custom Fields .............................................328
Chapter 6: Using WordPress as a Content Management System . . .333
Creating Different Page Views Using WordPress Templates .................333
Uploading the template .....................................................................334
Assigning the template to a static page ..........................................335
Creating a Template for Each Post Category ...........................................337
Pulling in Content from a Single Category ................................................338
Finding the category ID number ......................................................339
Adding the <query_post> tag ...........................................................339
Using Sidebar Templates ............................................................................341
Custom Styles for Sticky, Category, and Tag Posts .................................342
Working with Custom Post Types .............................................................344
Optimizing Your WordPress Blog ..............................................................350
Planting keywords in your Web site ................................................351
Optimizing your post titles for search engine success .................352
Writing content with readers in mind .............................................353
Creating categories that attract search engines ............................354
Using the <ALT> tag for images .......................................................354
Book V: Examining SEO and Social Media ................... 357
Chapter 1: Exposing Your Content. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .359
Understanding the Three C’s of the Social Web ......................................359
Content ................................................................................................360
Communication ..................................................................................362
Consistency ........................................................................................364
Making It Easy for Users to Share Your Content .....................................366
Determining Where You Need to Participate ...........................................370
Finding Infl uencers ......................................................................................372
Leveraging Twitter for Social-Media Success ..........................................376
Building your Twitter account by using automated tools ............376
Updating Twitter from your WordPress blog.................................378
Engaging with Facebook .............................................................................379
Chapter 2: Creating a Social-Media Listening Hub . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .381
Exploring Reasons for a Social-Media Listening Hub ..............................382
Eavesdropping on yourself ...............................................................382
Keeping tabs on your brand .............................................................382
Exploring Different Listening Tools ...........................................................383
Monitoring with Google Alerts .........................................................384
Tracking conversations with Social Mention .................................386
Listening to blogs with BlogPulse ....................................................388
Checking rank with Technorati ........................................................388
Connecting conversations with BackType .....................................389
Searching communities with Boardreader .....................................389
Staying on top of conversations with Twitter Search ...................390
Microblog searching with Twingly ..................................................391
Creating Your Own Personal Monitoring Mix ..........................................392
Grouping your monitoring results ...................................................393
Cleaning and combining your feeds ................................................394
Editing the Dashboard to Create a Listening Post ..................................400
Chapter 3: Understanding Analytics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .403
Understanding the Importance of Analytics ............................................403
Exploring the Options to Track Data ........................................................404
Understanding Key Analytics Terminology .............................................407
Signing Up and Installing Google Analytics on Your WordPress Site ...409
Signing up for Google Analytics .......................................................410
Installing the tracking code ..............................................................412
Verifying that you installed the code properly ..............................414
Installing and confi guring the Analytics plugin..............................414
Using the data from the plugin .........................................................417
Using PostRank with WordPress ...............................................................418
Chapter 4: Search Engine Optimization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .421
Understanding the Importance of Search Engine Optimization ............421
Outlining the Advantages That WordPress Presents for SEO ...............422
Understanding How Search Engines See Your Content ..........................424
Using links as currency .....................................................................426
Submitting to search engines and directories ...............................427
Optimizing Your Blog under the Hood .....................................................428
Metadata .............................................................................................428
Robots.txt ...........................................................................................428
Researching Your Niche .............................................................................428
Creating Search Engine Strategies .............................................................430
Setting up your blog ..........................................................................430
Improving your blog’s design ...........................................................431
Dealing with duplicate content ........................................................434
Creating an editorial SEO list/calendar ...........................................434
Establishing a routine for publishing posts on your site..............434
Creating a link-building strategy ......................................................436
Chapter 5: Exploring Popular SEO Plugins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .437
Exploring Must-Use Plugins for SEO Best Practices ................................437
All in One SEO Pack .....................................................................................438
XML Sitemap Generator for WordPress ...................................................440
Redirection ...................................................................................................442
Yoast Breadcrumbs .....................................................................................443
WP-Page Navi ...............................................................................................443
Robots Meta .................................................................................................445
Book VI: Customizing the Look of Your Site ................ 447
Chapter 1: Examining the Default Theme: Twenty Ten . . . . . . . . . . . .449
Exploring the Layout and Structure ..........................................................449
Customizing the Header Image ..................................................................453
Customizing the Background Color ..........................................................456
Including Custom Navigation Menus ........................................................459
Enhancing Your Web Site with Widgets ...................................................462
Adding widgets to your sidebar or footer ......................................464
Using the Text widget ........................................................................466
Using the RSS widget .........................................................................467
Chapter 2: Finding and Installing WordPress Themes . . . . . . . . . . . .471
Getting Started with Free Themes .............................................................471
Understanding What to Avoid with Free Themes ...................................473
Installing a Theme .......................................................................................475
Browsing the free themes .................................................................477
Previewing and activating a theme ..................................................478
Exploring Premium Theme Options ..........................................................480
Chapter 3: Exploring the Anatomy of a Theme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .485
Starting with the Basics ..............................................................................486
Understanding the Stylesheet ....................................................................489
Exploring Template Tags, Values, and Parameters ................................490
Understanding the basics .................................................................491
Using parameters ...............................................................................492
Customizing common tags ...............................................................494
Digging deeper into the WordPress Codex.....................................494
Creating New Widget Areas ........................................................................495
Registering your widget ....................................................................495
Displaying new widgets on your site ...............................................496
Simplifying customization with functions ......................................497
Exploring common problems ...........................................................497
Examining the Main Index and The Loop .................................................498
Header template .................................................................................500
Sidebar template ................................................................................505
Footer template ..................................................................................506
Examining Other Template Files ................................................................506
Customizing Your Blog Posts with Template Tags .................................507
Putting It All Together .................................................................................508
Connecting the templates .................................................................508
Using additional stylesheets ............................................................515
Chapter 4: Customizing Your Theme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .517
Changing Your Background Graphic ........................................................518
Uploading an image for background use ........................................520
Positioning, repeating, and attaching images ................................521
Changing Your Header Graphic .................................................................523
Considering the image dimensions .................................................525
Uploading a header image ................................................................525
Personalizing Your Theme with CSS .........................................................527
CSS selectors ......................................................................................529
CSS IDs and classes............................................................................530
CSS properties and values ................................................................531
Understanding Basic HTML Techniques ..................................................532
Changing Basic Elements for a Unique Look ............................................533
Background colors and images ........................................................533
Font family, color, and size ...............................................................533
Borders ................................................................................................535
Finding Additional Resources ....................................................................536
Chapter 5: Understanding Parent and Child Themes. . . . . . . . . . . . . .537
Customizing Theme Style with Child Themes .........................................537
Creating a child theme ......................................................................538
Loading a parent theme’s style ........................................................540
Customizing the parent theme’s styling .........................................541
Using images in child theme designs ..............................................543
Modifying Theme Structure with Child Themes ......................................548
Overriding parent template fi les ......................................................549
Adding new template fi les.................................................................549
Removing template fi les ....................................................................552
Modifying the functions.php fi le ......................................................552
Preparing a Parent Theme ..........................................................................553
Chapter 6: Digging into Advanced Theme Development . . . . . . . . . .555
Getting Started with Advanced Theming .................................................555
Finding a good starting point ...........................................................556
Customizing the theme to your needs ............................................556
Adding New Template Files ........................................................................557
Creating named templates ................................................................557
Creating and using template parts ..................................................559
Exploring content-specifi c standard templates .............................561
Using page templates ........................................................................563
Adding Theme Support for Built-In Features ...........................................564
Adding support for custom menus ..................................................565
Adding support for custom post types ...........................................572
Adding Support for Custom Taxonomies .................................................583
Adding support for post formats .....................................................584
Adding support for post thumbnails ...............................................592
Exploring Theme Options ...........................................................................595
Understanding theme options basics .............................................596
Building a simple theme options page ............................................596
Using theme options in the theme ...................................................600
Chapter 7: Using Theme Frameworks to Simplify Customization . . .601
Understanding Theme Frameworks ..........................................................602
Discovering Popular Frameworks .............................................................602
Theme Hybrid.....................................................................................602
Carrington ...........................................................................................603
Thematic .............................................................................................604
Genesis ................................................................................................605
iThemes Builder .................................................................................606
Headway ..............................................................................................607
Common Framework Features ...................................................................608
Theme functions ................................................................................608
Hooks ...................................................................................................609
Child themes .......................................................................................610
Layout options ...................................................................................610
Styling ..................................................................................................610
Customizing Theme Frameworks ..............................................................611
Book VII: Using and Developing Plugins ..................... 613
Chapter 1: Introducing WordPress Plugins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .615
Extending WordPress with Plugins ...........................................................615
Identifying core plugins ....................................................................616
Distinguishing between themes and plugins ..................................618
Finding free plugins to use on your site ..........................................618
Comparing free and premium plugins.............................................623
Evaluating plugins on the fl y ............................................................624
Getting Started with Popular Free Plugins ...............................................627
All in One SEO Pack ...........................................................................627
Subscribe to Comments ....................................................................629
AJAX Edit Comments .........................................................................629
Twitter Tools ......................................................................................630
Contact Form 7 ...................................................................................632
Chapter 2: Installing and Activating Plugins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .633
Installing WordPress Plugins via the Dashboard ....................................633
Manually Installing Plugins .........................................................................638
Upgrading Plugins .......................................................................................639
Upgrading automatically ...................................................................640
Upgrading manually...........................................................................642
Activating and Deactivating Plugins .........................................................642
Uninstalling Plugins .....................................................................................644
Uninstalling automatically ................................................................644
Uninstalling plugins manually ..........................................................646
Chapter 3: Exploring Plugin Options and Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .647
Discovering Global and Page/Post Specifi c Settings ...............................647
Advanced Plugin Confi guration .................................................................649
WP Super Cache .................................................................................649
WordPress.com Stats ........................................................................652
Widget Settings ............................................................................................654
Setting Up a Test Site ..................................................................................660
Finding Technical Support .........................................................................662
Chapter 4: Modifying Existing Plugin Code to Your Liking. . . . . . . . .663
Troubleshooting Plugin Problems .............................................................663
Locating Plugin and Theme Confl icts .......................................................666
Exploring Plugin Interaction with WordPress .........................................669
Understanding action hooks ............................................................669
Understanding fi lter hooks ...............................................................671
Identifying Functions within a Plugin ........................................................673
Identifying Functionality and Output ........................................................674
Editing Plugin Files ......................................................................................677
Chapter 5: Creating Simple WordPress Plugins from Scratch . . . . .681
Understanding Plugin Structure ................................................................681
Inspecting WordPress’s default plugins .........................................682
Knowing the requirements ...............................................................683
Following best practices ...................................................................684
Creating Your First Plugin ..........................................................................686
Setting up the plugin fi les .................................................................686
Adding the plugin header .................................................................687
Testing the plugin ..............................................................................687
Fixing Problems ...........................................................................................688
White screen of nothingness ............................................................688
Unexpected output error ..................................................................689
Filtering Content ..........................................................................................690
Setting up the plugin structure ........................................................691
Testing the fi lter .................................................................................692
Replacing contractions in your content .........................................694
Creating Shortcodes ....................................................................................697
Setting up the plugin structure ........................................................697
Building a simple shortcode .............................................................698
Using shortcode attributes ...............................................................700
Adding content to shortcodes .........................................................701
Adding Widgets ............................................................................................704
Coding a simple widget .....................................................................704
Adding an options editor to a widget ..............................................707
Building a Settings Page ..............................................................................714
Setting up the plugin structure ........................................................714
Adding a new Admin menu entry.....................................................716
Creating a settings form ....................................................................717
Confi guring default settings..............................................................723
Adding settings functions .................................................................724
Creating the MSP_Form class ...........................................................724
Testing the plugin ..............................................................................728
Chapter 6: Exploring Plugin Development Best Practices . . . . . . . . .731
Attending to the Basics ...............................................................................731
Creating a readme.txt File ..........................................................................735
Internationalizing or Localizing Your Plugin ............................................737
Using GetText Functions for Text Strings .......................................737
Creating the POT fi le .........................................................................738
Chapter 7: Plugin Tips and Tricks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .741
Using a Plugin Template .............................................................................741
Making Your Plugin Pluggable ...................................................................744
Enhancing Plugins with CSS and JavaScript .............................................745
Calling stylesheets within a plugin ..................................................745
Calling JavaScript within a plugin ....................................................749
Custom Post Types .....................................................................................750
Using Custom Shortcodes ..........................................................................753
Adding Functionality to Profi le Filters ......................................................755
Correcting Hyperlink Problems .................................................................757
Book VIII: Running Multiple Sites with WordPress ...... 759
Chapter 1: An Introduction to Multiple Sites. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .761
Exploring the Merge from Multiuser to Network ....................................761
Understanding the Difference between Sites and Blogs .........................762
Discovering When You Should Use the Network Feature ......................763
Setting Up the Optimal Hosting Environment ..........................................765
Checking out shared versus dedicated hosting .............................766
Exploring subdomains versus subdirectories ...............................766
Choosing Linux, Apache, MySQL,
and PHP server snvironments ......................................................767
Adding a virtual host to the Apache confi guration .......................768
Chapter 2: Setting Up and Confi guring Network Features . . . . . . . . .771
Enabling the Network Feature ...................................................................771
Exploring the Difference between Subdirectories and Subdomains ....772
Installing the Network on Your Site ..........................................................774
Disabling the Network .................................................................................777
Dealing with Common Errors .....................................................................778
Chapter 3: Becoming a Network Admin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .779
Exploring the Network Admin Menu .........................................................779
Managing Your Network .............................................................................782
Settings ................................................................................................782
Sites .....................................................................................................788
Users ....................................................................................................791
Themes ................................................................................................794
Plugins .................................................................................................794
Updates ...............................................................................................796
Stopping Spam Sign-Ups and Splogs .........................................................797
Chapter 4: Management of Users and Access Control . . . . . . . . . . . .799
Setting Default User Permissions ..............................................................799
User registration ................................................................................800
Controlling access to sites ................................................................801
Importing users ..................................................................................803
Changing Defaults ........................................................................................804
Site-specifi c sign-up ...........................................................................805
Changing roles on sign-up ................................................................805
Locking down menus .........................................................................806
Exploring Default Site Settings ...................................................................807
Private blogs .......................................................................................807
Enabling plugins .................................................................................808
Chapter 5: Using Network Plugins and Themes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .809
Using One Theme on Multiple Sites ..........................................................810
Enabling themes for individual sites ...............................................812
Installing themes for network use ...................................................814
Setting the default theme for sites ...................................................815
Gathering and Displaying Network-wide Content ...................................816
Adding Posts from Network Sites ....................................................816
Listing network sites .........................................................................816
Displaying user comments ...............................................................818
Sitewide tags and categories ............................................................820
Using and Installing Network-wide Plugins ..............................................822
Discovering Handy Network Plugins .........................................................824
Chapter 6: Using Multiple Domains within Your Network. . . . . . . . .825
Introducing Domain Mapping ....................................................................825
Parking or pointing domains ............................................................826
Domain name server records ...........................................................829
Installing the Domain Mapping Plugin ......................................................830
Obtaining your IP address ................................................................831
Mapping a domain to a site ..............................................................831
Mapping a Large Volume of Domains .......................................................833
Apache confi guration ........................................................................834
Hiding the original installation domain...........................................836
Setting Up Multiple Networks ....................................................................838
Index ....................................................................... 841
Bookscreen
About This Book
Because WordPress is free and accessible to all, however, doesn’t make
it inherently easy for everyone. For some, the technologies, terminology,
and coding practices can be a little intimidating or downright daunting.
WordPress All-in-One For Dummies eliminates any intimidation about using
WordPress. With a little research, knowledge, and time, you’ll soon have a
blog that suits your needs and gives your readers an exciting experience
that keeps them coming back for more.
WordPress All-in-One For Dummies — a complete guide to WordPress —
covers the basics: installation and configuration, the Dashboard, publishing
content, creating themes, and developing plugins. Additionally, WordPress
All-in-One For Dummies provides advanced information about security, the
WordPress tools, using the multisite features, and optimizing your blog for
search engines.
What You Don’t Have to Read
WordPress All-In-One For Dummies is eight books in one. Each minibook
could easily stand alone, but combined, they give you a comprehensive
WordPress reference guide.
This book isn’t designed to be read from cover to cover, unless you want to!
Reading the entire book from start to finish will surely give you an excellent
and comprehensive understanding of WordPress. However, there may be
aspects of the WordPress software that you are already familiar with and
can safely ignore; whereas, you may feel you need to read other sections of
the book to get the information you need. Feel free to take what you want
and leave the rest!
You can also flip to the comprehensiveindex of this book to find out what
information is covered or search for the topics you want to read about.