WordPress For Dummies (For Dummies (Computers))
by Lisa Sabin-Wilson
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Book Summary Information
Author: Lisa Sabin-WilsonForeword: Matt Mullenweg
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-11-12
ISBN: 0470149469
Number of pages: 408
Publisher: For Dummies
Book Reviews of WordPress For Dummies (For Dummies (Computers))
Book Review: +1/2 -- A beginner's guide to WordPress (Version 1.0)
Summary: 3 Stars
Having previously obtained a domain and WordPress installation, and having blogged for a month before buying this book, some of the material was rendered to remedial reading. Still, WordPress is sufficiently rich and flexible that there was considerable material left to learn, and this book called my attention to details I'd glossed over in exploring on my own. In the end I picked up some valuable tips and shortcuts, but didn't greatly expand upon what I was able to teach myself. Tech-savvy users can teach themselves WordPress from the product, its documentation and a variety of advisory sites, but many will find this book form to be a comforting and convenient format for introductory information.
Personally, I like to have manuals, guides or documentation in physical form to read away from the computer. I like to mark a document with post-its as I read, and I find a professionally edited book to be helpful. On the other hand, keeping a book up-to-date with rapidly changing software like WordPress is a difficult task. A few weeks after I purchased this book, WordPress.org released version 2.7 with a revamped user interface. The result is that many of the pictures and directions in the book no longer directly matched the latest version of WordPress. This didn't invalidate the information in the book, but it meant that I had to be a bit more resourceful in connecting the text and pictures to my installation. A new edition of the book is due in February, and assumedly it will catch up to WordPress 2.7.
* What vs. Why
My main disappointment with this book is that it features a great deal more "what" than "why." The text and pictures provide an extensive tour through the details of the user interface, but insufficient conceptual context. For example, on pages 126-127 is an explanation of how to get your blog indexed, but no discussion of why you might opt-in or out. Similarly, on page 127 the book explains that you can have uploads organized in month/year folders, but doesn't explain why you might or might not choose this option. Page 130 provides an explanation of how categories can be organized as parent-child, but not why this is of value. Are both parent and child served up as links? Does a parent category link return both its posts and the posts of all child categories? Can the child-parent hierarchy be arbitrarily deep? There is a pattern of explaining how to perform a particular function without explaining why you might choose to do so.
* Questionable Practices
The text itself is generally well written, but some of the recommended practices could be more thoroughly vetted. For example, page 90 recommends testing the availability of a domain by checking it at the domain registrar of your choice. This simple instruction does not account for unscrupulous domain registrars who will put a temporary lock on every domain that is tested for availability, so as to funnel your business to them. This is fine if you're planning to register with the chosen registrar, but if you're just looking around, you need to be careful where you express your interest. Page 103 explains that the WordPress installation scripts e-mail you the administrative login for your blog, but don't warn that once your password has traveled the Internet by e-mail you should log in and change it immediately.
Pages 158-160 explain how to mark comments as spam, but don't mention that such comments are retained in your SQL database. This is problematic since WordPress doesn't offer an interface to delete these comments once they've been branded as spam -- you have to delete them using a direct connection to your database. Page 163 explains how to edit the files underlying a WordPress theme, but doesn't suggest you should first create a backup, nor does the book explain how to recover from a fatal editing mistake. Page 201 suggests googling "wordpress plugins" but doesn't advise you to carefully vet the source of plugins that you install.
* Conceptual Issues
A few of the book's explanations seem misleading. For example, the discussion on choosing a webhost on page 93 likens bandwidth to the size of a pipe, and defines it as "the amount of data that is carried from point A to point B within a specific period of time." While this is a reasonable definition, it neither matches the examples, nor is it relevant to most readers. First, the examples, 50MB, 100MB, and 10-50GB, are denominated in bytes, rather than bytes/second, and thus are not examples of bandwidth. Second, and more importantly, when webhosts speak of bandwidth, they're not describing the size of the pipe (that is, maximum throughput), they're typically describing aggregate monthly data transfer, or how much data you're allowed to transfer through the pipe per month.
Page 214 discusses editing plugin files and states that "if you make an edit that could potentially cause a malfunction with the plugin, WordPress rejects your edits." It's hard to imagine that WordPress makes a complete semantic analysis of your edits and rejects every possible problematic change. The notion that editing plugin files is "dummy proof" may be true for syntactic mistakes, but not likely against programming mistakes. Chapter 16's suggestions for stretching WordPress into a content management system are useful, but need to be weighed against the offerings of true CMSs such as Joomla, Drupal or Django; those who need full CMS functionality will find WordPress difficult to extend or simply ineffective.
* Typos
Every book has typos, particularly a first edition, but given the mistakes I was able to spot in a casual reading, it's not clear this text was given a final copy edit. Some examples include: the second gray box on page 143 includes the text "yourdomain/com" in place of "yourdomain.com." On page 145 the phrase "the root of your directory" should be "the root directory." Page 147 has the wrong PHP URL for the RSS 1.0 feed. Page 149 has a reference to "Step 4" that should actually be a reference to "Step 5." Page 183 is missing the underscores in the template tag "previous_posts_link." Page 184 incorrectly puts "" in bold. On pages 328-329 a file is variously called "about.php" and "about-page.php." There are several places where cross-references are inexact, and from a physical perspective, many of the WordPress panels and pages are reproduced too small for the text to be easily read.
* WordPress in the World
Where the book really helps the novice blogger is in providing context for WordPress in the larger world. The explanations of trackbacks, spam, podcasting, photoblogging, vblogging and other interactions a blogger will have with the web and its users are very helpful, as are the references to recommended themes and plugins, and methods for migrating blogs from other sources (such as Google's blogger.com) to WordPress. The section describing the mechanics of WordPress themes provides a good introduction - enough to let you decide whether you'd profit from learning details of the technologies, PHP and CSS, upon which WordPress is built. A chapter on blog design offers valuable information to those who seek to hire professionals to help them with their blog layout.
* Conclusion
This book is a good bet for someone who wants to learn a bit about WordPress before or alongside actually playing with the software - either the hosted version on wordpress.com or the self-hosted version from wordpress.org. This is a good add-on to the product documentation for someone who likes to have more than one explanation of something, and it provides useful tips on how your WordPress blog will get along in the bigger world of blogging and the Internet. With a new version of the book expected in February 2009, assumedly synchronized to the latest version of the WordPress interface (and shorn of the typos in this first edition), you're probably best off waiting a month for the next book release. 3-1/2 stars, if allowed fractional ratings. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]
Summary of WordPress For Dummies (For Dummies (Computers))
Are you a wannabe blogger? A seasoned pro migrating your blog to WordPress? Looking to do more cool stuff with your existing WordPress blog? Then this fun guide is for you! WordPress for Dummies is a veritable smorgasbord of WordPress information, ideas, tools, resources, and instruction on everything you need to create and maintain your dream blog.Unlike other blog hosts, WordPress gives you the ability to create a blog that is tailored to your own tastes and needs. Sure, the codes, tags, and terminology can seem a little intimidating at first, but WordPress for Dummies breaks it all down to show you just how intuitive, friendly, and extensible the software really is. This easy-to-follow guide shows you how to:
- Sign up for a free WordPress account
- Set up and use a hosted blog with WordPress.com
- Install and set up the WordPress.Org and WordPress.MU software for single- and multi-user versions
- Find great themes, plugins, and consultants that will help you achieve JUST the kind of blog you want
- Use tags to work with WordPress templates
- Combat challenges with comments, trackback spam, and ?splogs?
- Add special technologies to your blog, such as RSS feed, podcasting, vlogging, and photoblogging
- Find online support, tips, and resources for WordPress software
Whether you want to keep family and friends updated on your latest adventures, post pictures of your new puppy, or communicate your passion with millions of readers worldwide, WordPress for Dummies is your passport to creating the kind of blog that will keep your visitors coming back for more!
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