Using WordPress, with DVD [Paperback]

Tris Hussey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 29, 2011 | ISBN-10: 0789749076 | ISBN-13: 978-0789749079 | Edition: 1

WordPress has grown into the #1 blogging tool in its category: several million bloggers have downloaded this powerful open source software, and millions more are using WordPress.com's hosted services. Thirty-two of Technorati's Top 100 blogs now use WordPress. Using Wordpress is a customized, media-rich learning experience designed to help new users master Wordpress quickly, and get the most out of it, fast! It starts with a concise, friendly, straight-to-the-point guide to Wordpress. This exceptional book is fully integrated with an unprecedented collection of online learning resources: online video, screencasts, podcasts, and additional web content, all designed to reinforce key concepts and help users achieve real mastery. The book and interactive content work together to teach everything mainstream Wordpess users need to know. This practical, approachable coverage guides readers through getting started fast, and covers the recent release of Wordpress 3. This major upgrade includes built-in image editor and the ability to host multiple blogs from one WordPress install. This new version of Using Wordpress adds a DVD, so that all the interactive material previously available only online is now also available for offline reading and study.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Tris Hussey is a speaker, former training manager, charter member of the Professional Bloggers Association, and Special Projects Manager for Media 2.0. He has been a blogger since 2004, and was one of Canada's first professional bloggers. The author of thousands of posts and articles on social media and blogging, he was named one of Vancouver's top 20 social media people. He is also a professional photographer.

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Que Publishing; 1 edition (July 29, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789749076
• ISBN-13: 978-0789749079
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 0.8 x 8.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (66 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #396,276 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Tris Hussey is a long-time technologist, blogger, and writer, who started off as an academic and found tech support much more to his liking. After picking up blogging on a whim in 2004, he quickly became both a professional blogger and a leading expert in business blogging. He has been a part of several Web 2.0 startups from blogging software to blogging agencies and continues to write, blog, teach, and consult.
In addition to giving workshops and speaking at conferences, Tris also teaches social media, blogging, podcasting, and WordPress at UBC, BCIT, and other organizations. His first book "Creating Your First Blog: 6 Easy Blogging Projects to Start Blogging Like a Pro" is due out in early 2010 and has already started on his next book, also due out in 2010. Currently Tris is a consultant on to companies on social media and the social media concierge for Media2o Productions.
You can find his post on trishussey.com, VancouverObserver.com, and the Future Shop Community Tech Blog.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

59 of 59 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Wordpress for the reasonably intelligent December 9, 2010

By Harold G. Meeks Jr. VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

Wordpress has become popular because that initial step into publishing is so low. It is straightforward, allowing a writer to focus on task.

But - at some point - there is the desire to do more. Beyond the basic customization of what appears on the page, comes the wish to have a unique, custom template, extending features - in general, making Wordpress more unique to the user's needs.

For those with moderate web experience, who want to do more than the basics with Wordpress - get this book! The chapter "Editing a Theme to Make it Your Own" de-mystifies some of dirty work necessary to tweak a theme via it's CSS. The basic stuff does not even require an understanding of CSS itself - he provides clear instructions that allow a someone to do basic tweaks to their theme so that it will be unique.

The chapter "WordPress as a Website" is excellent, as it describes how Wordpress can be used to maintain something that doesn't look like a blog at all - instead - an easy to administer web site for commercial or private use.

The book itself is well organized, building on the basic-basics with an assumption that the user may not have spent much time at all with Wordpress, beyond some minor fiddling. It does assume that you are comfortable with server administration if you are planning on hosting Wordpress yourself. He recommends, and I definitely agree - it is much easier to just use a hosted service solution. Four that are recommended by Wordpress.org are listed in the book. Installation and configuration becomes much easier and straightforward for a novice Wordpress Administrator.

I like this book because it is an end-to-end learning experience that avoids arcane knowledge and instead focuses on the big stuff a Wordpress administrator with little experience would like to know.

46 of 46 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for those ready to start thier own blog site. November 6, 2010

By Grant Beaudette VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

WordPress has established itself as the blogging software of choice for millions of people looking to put their thoughts online. Using WordPress is a solid intro to get you up and running with a blog of your own.

The book walks you through all the big and not-so-big steps of make a WordPress blog; from install and updates, to using themes, plug-ins and widgets, to handling audio and video files, to keeping your blog secure.

Almost all of the content in this book is geared toward the install on your own site "wordpress.org" version of WordPress, but it does try to cater to the "wordpress.com" the stripped-down version hosted by WordPress itself. If you have a wordpress.com blog and are looking to upgrade to your own site down the line, this book'll show you how.

The big selling point of this book is the online content. With a quick signup and a simple authentication to prove you actually own the book, you're rewarded with a complete online version of the book (with color photos) as well as video walkthroughs of the various steps you'll be taking in the blog miking process. The only topic that's missing the multimedia treatment is converting a static HTML site over to WordPress, which would've been good to see.

There are also audio sidebars with additional thoughts on each chapter's topic. They may useful if you're curious for more info, but the fact that there's no visuals makes it a bit hard to follow what they're saying. Some topics like using the WordPress image editor are done in an audio sidebar with no visuals to guide you.

My other complaint about the companion site is that there's no easy way to access just the multimedia stuff. You basically have to scan through to the page you want. A list broken up by chapter would've really been nice.

As a whole, Using WordPress is a great beginner/intermediate book to get you on your way to running a fully functioning blog.

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Very good introduction to Wordpress! October 31, 2010

By Randy Rathbun VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

I have been using Wordpress since the b2 days, so I pretty much know what is going on in there. However, that is also my downfall - how do you help others use it once it is deployed? I was all ready to start writing some instructions and this book showed up. I got it. I am so glad I did!

This thing is really written for the absolute beginning blogger. No fancy jargon, and the jargon that is in there (and it has to be) is fully explained. This is not for developers by any means, unless you are like me and have a whole bunch of users that you have to help. Just hand them this book and let them go to town.

The book starts out with the idea that the user does not even have a website, then progresses into how to get a domain name, all the way through setting up Wordpress and using it. Totally brilliant!