Web Designer's Guide To Wordpress (Voices That Matter)

Delivers as advertised. The title is Web Designer's Guide to WordPress. So, if you are a web designer with little to no WordPress experience, then this is the book for you. Friedman writes in a highly accessible manner, providing the necessary details where needed while restraining from deeper examinations of code that often leave a new designer impressed, but bewildered. Still, this book does offer ample opportunities to build on your newly acquired WordPress skills. A thorough read, front to back, will empower you to enter the nearest WordPress meetup ready to access the next level. Having read many of the reviews, most positive and some negative, I would question the following regarding the negative remarks. First, if you are a serious developer looking to add WordPress to your already impressive list of CMS/Frameworks, then the title should have clued you into the simple fact that this book might be focused on a slightly different demographic. It is clear that Friedman is trying to bridge the territory between those who are new to WordPress, but need the vehicle to move into deeper waters, which this book effectively does. Secondly, for those who have flagged the text as confusing, I would ask, did you actually read the entire book before submitting your review? I was amazed at the amount of detail and guidance that the book provides, especially the copious amount of commented files that can be downloaded from the author's site. When I found myself confused, it wasn't because of the writing, but because of the complexity of the concepts and code being reviewed. I had to re-read some passages more than once, but as I cross-referenced the book and the provided files, I could then easily see the clarity in the text upon a second read. So, like all things that have value, you sometimes need to put in serious effort. WordPress is no different. For those who claim the text contains coding errors, I did not find this to be true. I purchased an electronic version which allowed me to copy/paste the code directly, and things went smoothly for me. So, a summary of what is inside. Why WordPress? - Friedman introduces the reader to WordPress as a CMS, taking the time to outline the strengths and weakness of this platform. Jesse presents a strong argument as to why choosing WordPress might make sense for you as a designer/developer or for your organization, and backs up this claim with both examples of how WP has focused his career, but more importantly how widely embraced WordPress is from small businesses to Fortune 500 companies. It is clear that Friedman is a WP evangelist, but in no way states WordPress is the right solution for every project. If his enthusiasm for WordPress appears to exclusionary, it is only because this book is about 'WordPress' and not meant to be an overview of comparable and capable CMS's like Drupal, for instance. WordPress 101 - Friedman then provides detailed instructions on how to properly setup WordPress along with some security tips, as well as concentrating on providing an overview of the WP Dashboard. My only recommendation for this chapter would be the inclusion of a sample.xml file that could be downloaded from the author's website and imported into the new WP installation. My reason is simple. Once you used WordPress, even if it is only for a short time, understanding the Dashboard is pretty straightforward. However, if you have never used it, a trip through a populated WordPress site can really demystify things. I think if the book encouraged more 'play' time with an existing site, a beginner would have an easy time assimilating the advanced content of the following chapters. Theming - The real action begins in Chapter 4, where Jesse takes the user through step-by-step instruction on how to create your own theme. The writing is clear and elementary. Easy to follow if you take the time to read the text carefully and thoughtfully. You are given an already designed HTML site, which step-by-step you will replace the static HTML with PHP WP calls. In addition, you have the completed theme just in case you prefer to reverse-engineer things a bit. Lastly, the static HTML files are heavily commented for a deeper understanding. Personally, I have building sites without first statically coding the design, and found Jesse's approach refreshing and less constrained than working directly in WP. Definitely, a good moment for me. At this point, the book had already provided me with a means to both build my own theme based on Friedman's existing files, as well as to start successfully deconstructing starter themes. PHP and WP - Writing PHP for a web designer might prove a bit intimidating at times. However, WordPress is a gentle place to start your study of PHP, and Jesse does a great job in building a bridge for the non-programmer. When a detailed explanation is needed, it is provided. In other spots, Jesse refrains from going into too much detail as to not bog down the newbie. In summary, Jesse Friedman's book is an excellent choice for the beginner-intermediate WordPress designer. Written in a clean and friendly tone that is richly informative, this is a book that will get you into the game.

I have been using Wordpress and Drupal as CMS for a while, but recently I started looking into these systems into more detail to setup some sites for non-profit organisations and a primary school and for this I needed a book that explained Wordpress in a bit more detail. Usually Wordpress doesn't need much explanation for someone who is in IT, especially since the online documentation is great. However, every once in a while I find it more convenient to have everything about a technology, system , programming language or whatever I am interested in summarised in one document/book. I bought this book in the Kindle version and as with most eBooks for IT I read it on my iPad. This book provides me with all the information I need to built a custom Wordpress site. It is well structured, easy to read and has examples, which I find most important to understand whatever I am new to. using the Kindle version on an iPad is also no issue at all. For someone who wants to understand Wordpress and built a custom site, has little to no prior experience this book is a very good starting point and potentially all you need if you don't think the online documentation is enough.

I'm a front-end website designer with medium knowledge of JavaScript. As WordPress is vastly becoming the number one requested site from small business around the world, I started my search for a great book on WordPress Custom Themes from scratch. Not any easy search. After reading about 3 other books while I waited for Jesse's book to be released (I pre-ordered this book) I just could not truly get the hang of WordPress... The other books were just teaching me assuming I had some knowledge in "php"[whole different world for a web designer] and the explanations were just too poorly explained. After finally receiving Jesse's book the first chapter immediately made me love this book. Jesse's explanation on WordPress theming is just so fantastic that truly anyone can create a custom WordPress site with this book alone. This book is half the size[pages] than the others I have purchased and I walked away with a bigger learning experience just alone from this book. I could not believe how great of a JOB Jesse did to always keep the readers attention captured in this book. I am web designer with no time for school and not a big fan of reading. So, it is very rare that I can find a book that I can read more than once and never feel bored with the author. This book has thought me so much and is the first book I truly recommend to anyone who is looking to start a WordPress theming business. Jesse's explanations throughout the book are so clear that after finishing this book I truly felt so comfortable creating websites via WordPress. If, you are doubting yourself don't, I have recommended this book to all my web buddies and every single one has thanked me for recommending this book. In the simplest words this is just truly thee best book on the market for web designers who want to get into WordPress. Thank you, Jesse, for this book. Plus, all the code examples in this book really work. That's always a major plus in a book. Don't let a few bad reviews from disgruntle people discourage you from this book. I have read all the published books currently on the market for WordPress theming and all other books were teaching me at a level that I should got not catch on. I was so overwhelmed with all the information they were trying to teach me in one book. From my experience WordPress theming is an impossible thing to master from one book. Jesse's book, in my honest opinion is the best book I've read as a starting point and to get a clear understanding of all the basic points I needed to feel comfortable to take on WordPress theming without being overwhelmed with the author trying to over explain something or over complicate a "how to do" task in WordPress. Web Designer's Guide to WordPress: Plan, Theme, Build, Launch (Voices That Matter)

Für Anfänger sehr schön zum Verstehen, für Semi-Prof und aufwärts ein schöner schneller Überblick. Gut geschriebenes Englisch. Ich find es wirklich empfehlenswert

Good guide, I find it to be clear and straight to the point guide. I am not an expert in the field, the book is apperantly easy to read and full of detailed picture that help you understand what is being explained.

good at the time

This is an amazing book for beginners who want to create their very own WordPress themes from scratch. It covers every topic, from creating pages to designing the comments section with absolute precision. I haven't yet completed the book but I can say for a fact that I'll be learning a whole lot towards the end. However, it is important that you have basic HTML, CSS and JavaScript knowledge to make good use of this book! :)

I found this book to be challenging, but in he end, exactly what I needed. First off, I am not a professional web programmer. I get by in a lot of languages, but cannot say I am proficient in any of them. That said, I can usually figure things out with a good book and some examples to follow. I have a site that heavily depends upon CSS. It looks good, but it's a pain in the butt to keep updated. I wanted a guide to help me translate my existing HTML and CSS files into WordPress PHP, so I could take advantage of WP's templating system. I chose this book because it explicitly sets out to help web designers make that translation. The author uses plenty of code examples and walks the reader through some demo code to illustrate the approaches to changing it. In any places I felt out of my depth, but persisted. At one point, I was stuck, really stuck, and so, as I usually do, I contacted the author to ask him a question Very nice surprise to find he answered me right away, less than 24 hours. I showed him what I was doing, and he was able to point out that what I thought was an error in the book was actually a very tiny typographical error in my own programming. Voilá! All of a sudden it worked! I kept in contact with him after that and found he was consistently fast, knowledgeable, and patient. As I said earlier, I am not a web designer by profession, and so the author's assumptions about the reader's level of experience might have left me dangling, had he not been there to help me over the rough patches. This book is written for experienced programmer who do not have to have everything explained to them. That said, I think it is an excellent book for both experienced and amateur programmers. For me, it became a chance to learn something new at a level I had never previously attempted. Difficult for me, but worth the effort. I am still working my way through the transition, but am confident I will succeed. And if I get stuck again ... I will be dropping him another question or two. Russell in Canada