Building a Wordpress Blog People Want to Read

by Scott McNulty

Book Overview

WordPress is an open-source personal publishing platform that is easy to use, flexible, and highly customizable. Although used primarily for publishing blogs, WordPress can easily be used to create... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0321591933
• ISBN13: 9780321591937
• Release Date: January 2008
• Publisher: Peachpit Press
• Length: 263 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.9" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

Great Introduction to the Wordpress Blogging Platform

As a voracious consumer of tech books I tend to read them from start to finish. Most people consider them a reference, if they consider them at all. But I'm a geek. That said I always dread the initial part of the book where they rehash what I either already know or consider irrelevant. The author does that here, but I suppose that's the nature of the beast. This book serves as a great introduction and reference to Wordpress, the blogging platform of choice for people like me. It mercifully cuts to the chase for the most part and covers the topic in depth, but not ad nauseum as is typically the case in books like this. Additionally, the book is aesthetically pleasing. Peachpit press does a great job with this title. If you're looking for an introduction to blogging with Wordpress, you can't go wrong here. If you're looking for a book for tweaking Wordpress code or designing themes, you should keep looking. If you want a book that addresses blogging in a larger context, you should also keep looking. But if you are looking for a solid introduction to Wordpress that is concise, but complete -- you're in the right place. This is the book for you.

Most Excellent

Scott McNulty has done wonderful work in explaining how to blog using WordPress. He starts off with a brief explanation about WordPress, along with how to set up a WordPress blog. Then he describes what tools you need to install it, the WordPress Dashboard (along with describing what each menu choice does), various general settings,how to post and also putting up "static" pages. McNulty makes all topics easy to understand and to follow. Even though I have some experience with WordPress and already knew some of the material covered, I could see where a novice WordPress user would appreciate McNulty's step by step approach to explaining concepts. I especially liked his chapter about dealing with comments, whether they're positive or negative or even spam. He points out that even if you don't like someone's comments, it's better to leave them alone. If you really dislike them, you have the right to delete them completely of course. The numerous screen shots throughout the book are quite helpful as they help illustrate various screens you will see in WordPress. It's a shame WordPress has released at least one major version upgrades since the book came out. The WordPress user interface has changed somewhat and some of the screen shots shown in the book have changed, which might confuse novices. I wasn't all that comfortable with McNulty's humor; I sometimes wished while reading the book that he just stick to describing the task at hand, but that is a minor issue. The book is aimed at novice WordPress users and I can understand where humor can help a user trying WordPress out for the first time and trying to avoid getting too frustrated. To Scott McNulty, I say "Well-Done."

Clean and complete

This book is an excellent resource for set up of a Wordpress blog on your own web site. I read it from cover to cover and it made my blog installation a breeze.

Best WordPress Guide I've Read

Scott McNulty's Building a WordPress Blog People Want to Read is the perfect jumping off point for people who want to start blogging (or site-building) with one of the world's most popular platforms, especially if they have no idea where, or how, to start. Using a brand of wit familiar to fans of his tech and personal blogging, McNulty lays out the fundamentals of getting started, from the benefits of using WordPress to installation and effective utilization. But it goes beyond technical advice to practical ideas for being a better blogger -- something the author also knows a bit about. As a veteran WordPress user, I can attest to the accuracy and utility of the techniques explained clearly and concisely in Building a WordPress Blog People Want to Read. It even offered me a few helpful pointers for streamlining my own blogging process. If you're a current or prospective WordPress user looking for a guide to getting the most out of your experience, you may want to skip past the guides catering to idiots or dummies and check out this simple yet smart offering.

Best book on Wordpress

I have several books on Wordpress. This is the best book I have read. Many books on Wordpress are either too light on information. Others go into such deep detail that they are only useful to experts. McNulty gives information useful to the average Wordpress user.