Head First WordPress.

Table of Contents......Page 11
How to Use This Book: Intro......Page 21
 Who is this book for?......Page 22
 And we know what your brain is thinking.......Page 23
 Metacognition: thinking about thinking......Page 25
 Here’s what WE did:......Page 26
 Here’s what YOU can do to bend your brain into submission......Page 27
 Read me......Page 28
 The technical review team......Page 30
 Acknowledgments......Page 31
 Safari® Books Online......Page 32
Chapter 1. Getting Started: WordPress from Scratch......Page 33
 Web publishing for the masses......Page 34
 How WordPress works: the 30,000-foot view......Page 35
 The lifecycle of a WordPress blog post......Page 36
 The Acme Bit and Pixel Company......Page 38
 Download WordPress......Page 39
 The “famous” 5-minute WordPress Install®......Page 40
 Upload your WordPress files to the web server......Page 42
 FTP client options......Page 43
 WordPress installation step 2: Configuration......Page 45
 WordPress stores all your stuff in a database......Page 46
 Create a new database from your hosting panel......Page 47
 Almost there.........Page 50
 Every blog needs a title......Page 51
 Pilot your blog with the WordPress dashboard......Page 52
 Create your first blog post......Page 54
 Use both editors when creating new posts......Page 57
 Use Preview to check your post before you publish......Page 59
 Your first post is now live!......Page 60
 Remove or replace sample posts before you go live......Page 61
 You don’t need Photoshop to edit an image......Page 63
 Add an image using the media library......Page 65
 Uh-oh.........Page 66
 Update group permissions to get image uploads working......Page 67
 Adjusting images within the post editor......Page 70
 Edit your post to move the text down a line......Page 71
 Welcome to the Bit Blog......Page 72
 Your WordPress Toolbox......Page 73
Chapter 2. Changing Your Blog’s Look and Feel: A Question of Style......Page 75
 A tale of two sites......Page 76
 The Acme Bit Company home page......Page 77
 Anatomy of a WordPress theme......Page 83
 WordPress themes are a collection of template files.........Page 84
 ... all working in concert......Page 85
 PHP is the logic behind your theme......Page 86
 Always use the .php extension for WordPress theme files......Page 88
 Create a new theme......Page 92
 Stylesheets dictate the look and feel of pages in WordPress......Page 94
 Rules do a lot of work for you......Page 95
 WordPress uses stylesheets two different ways......Page 97
 Stylesheets identify elements in your HTML......Page 102
 Putting it all together......Page 103
 Everything looks good but the sidebars......Page 108
 Update your sidebar content with widgets......Page 109
 Drag and drop widgets where you want them......Page 110
 One theme to rule them all......Page 118
 Your WordPress Toolbox......Page 119
Chapter 3. Content Management with WordPress: Beyond The Blog......Page 121
 WordPress is a content management system......Page 124
 WordPress has three main management sections......Page 125
 WordPress pages are just posts “outside” the blog......Page 126
 Pages are the backbone of your CMS......Page 127
 Adding a new page is just like adding a new post......Page 128
 http://acmebit.com/?pageid=23.........Page 131
 Make your URLs manageable with permalinks......Page 132
 Permalinks are handled by the web server......Page 133
 Page Not Found?......Page 134
 Minding your .htaccess file......Page 135
 Build your pages with the visual editor......Page 138
 All pages are not created equal......Page 144
 Build navigation using the WordPress menu system......Page 149
 Modify your theme to enable the navigation menu......Page 151
 Use CSS rules to control what shows up in the menu......Page 152
 WordPress has different home page options......Page 155
 No more blog... No more home page either?......Page 157
 Add HTML to your new home page template file......Page 158
 Then add the Acme site style rules to your CSS file......Page 159
 Your WordPress Toolbox......Page 161
Chapter 4. Users, Categories, and Tags: Keeping Things Organized......Page 163
 You’re the new editor of Thanks for Mutton......Page 164
 WordPress user roles......Page 166
 The anatomy of a WordPress user......Page 167
 A sample user profile......Page 168
 Match users to their appropriate roles......Page 171
 Avoid chaos with an editorial workflow......Page 173
 Review pending posts from the admin dashboard......Page 174
 Categories are big buckets for your content......Page 176
 Categories help organize your content......Page 177
 Content is key when creating category structures......Page 178
 Left over categories often make good tags......Page 181
 Writers want their pictures next to their posts......Page 186
 Gravatar makes user pictures easy......Page 188
 Gravatar works with your email address......Page 191
 Gravatar supports WordPress comments out-of-the-box......Page 192
 Your WordPress Toolbox......Page 197
Chapter 5. Video and Plug-ins: Getting Things Moving......Page 199
 Adding video to Thanks for Mutton......Page 200
 Host your videos outside WordPress......Page 201
 Hosting with Vimeo......Page 202
 Upload your video to Vimeo......Page 204
 Plug-ins make working with other web services easier......Page 210
 Find a plug-in for almost anything in the Plugin Directory......Page 211
 Browse and install plug-ins from within WordPress......Page 213
 Vimeo short code......Page 216
 Add additional content and files to your post......Page 220
 Use the media gallery to attach other files......Page 221
 Use categories to create a video section......Page 224
 thanksformutton.com/categories/video......Page 226
 Use the “more” tag to clean up your home page......Page 227
Chapter 6. Podcasting and Syndication: Spreading the Word......Page 231
 The Thanks for Mutton podcast......Page 232
 WordPress is your hub for content distribution......Page 233
 The anatomy of a podcast......Page 234
 RSS is one way the Web syndicates content......Page 235
 The lifecycle of an RSS feed......Page 236
 WordPress publishes an RSS feed automatically......Page 240
 Vimeo doesn’t work well with podcasting......Page 243
 Where’s the video?......Page 247
 WordPress embeds its own videos too......Page 248
 Add some info to your iTunes feed......Page 251
 Use a plug-in to build a special feed for iTunes......Page 252
 TSG Podcasting Plug-in......Page 253
 Use the Podcasting Plug-in to embed videos for podcasts......Page 256
 Feedburner gives you podcast stats......Page 263
 Override feeds in the header of our theme......Page 266
 Welcome to the Thanks for Mutton podcast......Page 268
Chapter 7. Securing WordPress: Locking Things Down......Page 271
 Something’s not right here.........Page 272
 You’ve been hacked......Page 274
 Keep your WordPress installation and plug-ins up-to-date......Page 276
 Avoid file uploads with automatic updates......Page 277
 Use FTP to update WordPress if automatic updates don’t work......Page 278
 Secure users make secure websites......Page 280
 Edit your database to change usernames......Page 282
 Databases are made up of tables......Page 283
 Add more security to WordPress by protecting wp-admin......Page 287
 Create a new authentication realm......Page 288
 Security by obscurity......Page 291
 You can learn a lot about a site by looking at its head......Page 293
 Back up early, back up often......Page 297
 Use plug-ins for remote, automated backups......Page 299
 Don’t store backups on your web server......Page 300
 Restoring your backups......Page 301
 Import a backed-up database using phpMyAdmin......Page 302
 Your WordPress Toolbox......Page 303
Chapter 8. Making WordPress Fast: Time for The Passing Lane......Page 305
 Not again.........Page 306
 Keep an eye on your traffic with Google Analytics......Page 308
 Integrating Google Analytics with WordPress......Page 309
 Your site traffic has a lot to say.........Page 310
 You’ve been Dugg......Page 311
 The anatomy of a web page request......Page 312
 WordPress performance checklist......Page 315
 Speed up WordPress with caching......Page 316
 Start caching with the WP Super Cache plug-in......Page 318
 WP-Super Cache turns your blog into a bunch of HTML files......Page 319
 Don’t forget about your database......Page 323
 Check performance issues with YSlow......Page 326
 So much for being class valedictorian.........Page 328
 Content Delivery Networks give your web server a break......Page 330
 Float around in the Amazon cloud......Page 332
 Amazon CloudFront CDN......Page 333
 Link Amazon S3 and CloudFront to complete the CDN......Page 334
 Distribute your site’s files......Page 336
 Using the CDN in WordPress......Page 338
 Your Theme Toolbox......Page 341
Appendix: Leftovers: The Top Ten Things(we didn’t cover)......Page 343
 1. Managing comments......Page 344
 2. Migrating from WordPress.com......Page 345
 3. Theme Library......Page 346
 4. Theme Editor......Page 347
 5. WordPress MU (multi-user)......Page 348
 6. BuddyPress social networking plug-in......Page 349
 7. PHP......Page 350
 8. Cloud Hosting......Page 351
 9. Mobile WordPress......Page 352
 10. Search engine optimization (SEO)......Page 353
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 G......Page 358
 I......Page 359
 N......Page 360
 P......Page 361
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 U......Page 364
 W......Page 365
 Z......Page 366