Lisa Sabin-Wilson, Cory Miller, Kevin Palmer, Andrea Rennick, and Michael Torbert 8 IN 1 BOOKS BOOKS • WordPress Basics • Setting Up the WordPress Software • Exploring the WordPress Dashboard • Publishing Your Site with WordPress • Examining SEO and Social Media • Customizing the Look of Your Site • Using and Developing Plugins • Running Multiple Sites with WordPress WordPress ® ALL-IN-ONE Making Everything Easier! ™ Open the book and find: • How to get a domain name and hosting account • Advice on backing up and restoring WordPress • Help managing multiple authors • Blog-writing tips • How to use the Dashboard as a hub for analytics • All the options for customizing your site • What to do with template tags and theme frameworks • Directions for developing plugins Lisa Sabin-Wilson founded E.Webscapes Design Studio, a blog development and design company. Cory Miller provides premium WordPress themes through iThemes. Kevin Palmer owns SocialMediaAnswers.com. Andrea Rennick is a freelance WordPress consultant. Michael Torbert is a WordPress developer and programmer. $34.99 US / $41.99 CN / £24.99 UK ISBN 978-0-470-87701-2 Web / Page Design Go to Dummies.com ® for videos, step-by-step examples, how-to articles, or to shop! Express yourself with WordPress, the world’s most popular blogging software (and it’s free!) Tens of millions of bloggers rely on WordPress — no wonder you want to join them! But WordPress can be a teensy bit intimidating. That’s why this friendly all-in-one guide covers everything from installing the software to developing plugins. Fret not, fearless blogger! Everything you need to know is in one of these handy, easy-to-use minibooks. • WordPress 101 — learn about open source and get a look at WordPress development and release cycles • Nuts and bolts — explore PHP and MySQL ® , obtain a Web server, install WordPress, and secure it • Discover the Dashboard — configure its settings for a great user experience and manage comments, including spam • Publishing details — discover options for posting content, schedule future posts, insert media files, and explore Custom Post Types • Get social — fine-tune social media contacts for your blog and use WordPress’s SEO features • Find your theme — customize your blog site with your choice of thousands of WordPress themes • Create your own plugins — learn what they do, where to get them, and how to build your own • Run multiple sites — manage a multisite operation as a Super Admin Running Multiple Sites with WordPress Using and Developing Plugins Customizing the Look of Your Site Examining SEO and Social Media Exploring the WordPress Dashboard Publishing Your Site with WordPress Setting Up the WordPress Software WordPress Basics WordPress ® ALL-IN-ONE Sabin-Wilson, Miller, Palmer, Rennick, Torbert Start with FREE Cheat Sheets Cheat Sheets include • Checklists • Charts • Common Instructions • And Other Good Stuff! Get Smart at Dummies.com Dummies.com makes your life easier with 1,000s of answers on everything from removing wallpaper to using the latest version of Windows. Check out our • Videos • Illustrated Articles • Step-by-Step Instructions Plus, each month you can win valuable prizes by entering our Dummies.com sweepstakes. * Want a weekly dose of Dummies? Sign up for Newsletters on • Digital Photography • Microsoft Windows & Office • Personal Finance & Investing • Health & Wellness • Computing, iPods & Cell Phones • eBay • Internet • Food, Home & Garden Find out “HOW” at Dummies.com *Sweepstakes not currently available in all countries; visit Dummies.com for official rules. Get More and Do More at Dummies.com ® To access the Cheat Sheet created specifically for this book, go to www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/wordpressaio Mobile Apps There’s a Dummies App for This and That With more than 200 million books in print and over 1,600 unique titles, Dummies is a global leader in how-to information. 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WordPress ® ALL-IN-ONE FOR DUMmIES ‰ 01_9780470877012-ffirs.indd i01_9780470877012-ffirs.indd i 3/10/11 5:43 PM3/10/11 5:43 PM Do 01_9780470877012-ffirs.indd ii01_9780470877012-ffirs.indd ii 3/10/11 5:43 PM3/10/11 5:43 PM by Lisa Sabin-Wilson, Cory Miller, Kevin Palmer, Andrea Rennick, and Michael Torbert WordPress ® ALL-IN-ONE FOR DUMmIES ‰ 01_9780470877012-ffirs.indd iii01_9780470877012-ffirs.indd iii 3/10/11 5:43 PM3/10/11 5:43 PM WordPress ® All-in-One For Dummies ® Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc. 111 River Street Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774 www.wiley.com Copyright © 2011 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published simultaneously in Canada No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permit- ted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http:// www.wiley.com/go/permissions. Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Fun and Easy Way, Dummies.com, Making Everything Easier, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/ or its af liates in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. WordPress is a registered trademark of Automattic, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. 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Library of Congress Control Number: 2011924142 ISBN: 978-0-470-87701-2 Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 01_9780470877012-ffirs.indd iv01_9780470877012-ffirs.indd iv 3/10/11 5:43 PM3/10/11 5:43 PM About the Authors Lisa Sabin-Wilson (WordPress For Dummies, BuddyPress For Dummies, WordPress Web Design For Dummies) has 8 years experience working with the WordPress platform, having adopted it early in its rst year of release in 2003. Lisa is the owner of a successful design studio, E.Webscapes (http:// ewebscapes.com), and a WordPress Web hosting company, BlogsAbout (http://blogsabout.com), and is a regular speaker on topics related to design and WordPress at several national conferences. Additionally, she hosts WordPress workshops around the country, teaching people how to use the WordPress platform to publish their own sites on the World Wide Web. You can nd Lisa online at her personal blog (http://lisasabin-wilson. com) and Twitter (@LisaSabinWilson). Cory Miller is a former newspaper journalist and public relations practi- tioner, turned freelance web designer, turned full-time entrepreneur. In January 2008, Cory founded iThemes (http://ithemes.com), a provider of premium WordPress themes, and in the summer of 2009, he and his team launched WebDesign.com (http://webdesign.com), a premium provider of web design training with WordPress. You can nd Cory online on his per- sonal blog: http://corymiller.com and on Twitter: @CoryMiller303. Kevin Palmer is the founder of Social Media Answers, a consulting rm that helps companies create and foster a social media marketing strategy, improve their SEO, and drive traf c through organic and paid marketing in the B2B and B2C spaces. Kevin has successfully helped Internet startups and Fortune 500 companies. Kevin resides in Portland, OR and is attempting to prove you are never too old to play ice hockey. You can read Kevin’s blog at http://socialmediaanswers.com/blog and follow him on Twitter (@kevinpalmer). Andrea Rennick is self-taught in all things WordPress since 2005. She is also a mom of four homeschooled, mostly grown children, and grandmother to one. She thinks if she can do it, you can, too. When not building things with WordPress or writing about how to do things with WordPress, she’s usually quilting. Often, Andrea populates the WordPress support forums with answers to your questions about WordPress, particularly her area of expertise: WordPress Multisite. She also runs a multisite resource Web site, WordPress Must Use Tutorials, at http://wpmututorials.com. You can nd Andrea online at her personal blog (http://ronandandrea.com) and Twitter (@Andrea_R). Michael Torbert is the developer of the popular WordPress All in One SEO Pack plugin and owner of Semper Fi Web Design (http://semperfi web design.com). Michael’s expertise includes WordPress plugin development and best SEO practices. 01_9780470877012-ffirs.indd v01_9780470877012-ffirs.indd v 3/10/11 5:43 PM3/10/11 5:43 PM Dedication Lisa Sabin-Wilson: To WordPress . . . and all that entails from the developers, designers, forum helpers, bug testers, educators, consultants, plugin makers, and theme bakers. Cory Miller: I would like to dedicate my part of the book to my family — my mom, Charleen, and my dad, David, who loved and supported me and simply encouraged me that I could do anything I set my mind to do, and my grand- father and fellow entrepreneur, Leo Chaney, who inspired me to live my dreams and to use business as a tool to provide a great, ful lling life for my family and team. Kevin Palmer: For my parents, Alex and Sue Guerra, who tend to have no idea what I’m doing, but who morally support me anyway. Andrea Rennick: I would like to dedicate my portion of this book to my grandfather, Alfred Thomas Thornton, who introduced me to this new thing called a computer. My only wish is that you and Nanny could hold this book in your hands. 01_9780470877012-ffirs.indd vi01_9780470877012-ffirs.indd vi 3/10/11 5:43 PM3/10/11 5:43 PM Authors’ Acknowledgments Lisa Sabin: Every person involved in the WordPress community plays a vital role in making this whole thing work, and work well. Kudos to all of you! Also, big thanks to my wonderful husband, Chris Wilson, for his incredible sup- port, backbone, and ability to put up with my crazy days of writing — I could not have done it without you! Cory Miller: I would not be involved in this project without the help and sup- port of my amazing team at iThemes, and in particular Chris Jean and Matt Danner — it is an honor to work with you all and I count you as some of my best friends in life! Big thanks to my business partners, Scott Day and Jay Chapman, for simply being who you are — amazing and encouraging every step of the way. Last but certainly not least, I want to thank Lisa Sabin-Wilson — your personal friendship and support has meant more to me than you might ever realize. I cherish your presence in my life and thank you for invit- ing me to be part of this project. To all the above: #boom. Kevin Palmer: I would like to thank Lisa Sabin-Wilson for inviting me to contribute to this book and for answering numerous WordPress questions throughout the years. I would also like to thank my friends: Michelle, Kelly, Chrissy, Mark, Kurt, Kris, Tiffany, Nina, Tim, Chris, Lorna, Shawn, Karl, Tom, and numerous others who have listened, given advice, and helped me down my path. Andrea Rennick: None of this would have been possible if Lisa hadn’t asked me to write my section on the multisite feature, so a huge thanks to her for making that call. Thanks to the editors for making me look good, and my fellow co-authors for being awesome. It was great to have someone to com- miserate with. A lot of my knowledge comes from the great folks who shared what they knew, via both the old WordPress MU forums and blogs. Some of the people are drmike, lunabyte, David Sader, Deanna Schneider, Tim Moore, SteveAtty, MrBrian, venturemaker, suleiman, Jim Groom and probably many others. Also, WordPress people like Matt Mullenweg, Donncha O’Caoimh, Jane Wells, Pete Mall, John James Jacoby, Boone Gorges, Andy Peatling, and more. Everyone is so wonderful at embracing new faces; big hugs all around at the next WordCamp. Thanks to my mom, who always knew I could do something like this; Addison and Sarah for not minding too much when their mom does something cool; Meaghan for reminding me to eat; and Emma for reminding me to play. And, nally, my husband Ron for being there to talk me down, to read over my work, to put up with me, to bounce ideas off of, and to be in this together. I love you so much — here’s to another twenty years. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention how much Ron has also brought to my knowledge base and how much work he has done within the multisite area. Michael Torbert: Thanks go out to the WordPress community. 01_9780470877012-ffirs.indd vii01_9780470877012-ffirs.indd vii 3/10/11 5:43 PM3/10/11 5:43 PM Publisher’s Acknowledgments We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments at http://dummies.custhelp.com. For other comments, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002. Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following: Acquisitions, Editorial Sr. Project Editor: Christopher Morris Acquisitions Editor: Amy Fandrei Copy Editors: Brian Walls, Jennifer Riggs, and Laura Miller Technical Editors: Paul Chaney, Tom Myers Editorial Manager: Kevin Kirschner Editorial Assistant: Amanda Graham Sr. Editorial Assistant: Cherie Case Cartoons: Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com) Composition Services Project Coordinator: Katie Crocker Layout and Graphics: SDJumper, Corrie Socolovitch Proofreaders: Melissa Cossell, Bonnie Mikkelson Indexer: BIM Indexing & Proofreading Services Publishing and Editorial for Technology Dummies Richard Swadley, Vice President and Executive Group Publisher Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher Mary Bednarek, Executive Acquisitions Director Mary C. Corder, Editorial Director Publishing for Consumer Dummies Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher Composition Services Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services 01_9780470877012-ffirs.indd viii01_9780470877012-ffirs.indd viii 3/10/11 5:43 PM3/10/11 5:43 PM [...]... them coming back for more WordPress All-in-One For Dummies — a complete guide to WordPress — covers the basics: installation and configuration, the Dashboard, publishing content, creating themes, and developing plugins Additionally, WordPress All-in-One For Dummies provides advanced information about security, the WordPress tools, using the multisite features, and optimizing your blog for search engines... Nightly Builds 39 xii WordPress All-in-One For Dummies Chapter 4: Introducing the WordPress Community 41 Finding Other WordPress Users 42 Finding WordPress news and tips on community Web sites 42 Locating users on social networks 42 Users Helping Users 43 WordPress support forums 43 WordPress user manual 44 WordPress mailing lists ... Between the hosted service at WordPress. com and the self-hosted software available at WordPress. org, millions of bloggers use WordPress today! That’s impressive And with WordPress, you can truly tailor a blog to your own tastes and needs With no cost for using the benefits of the WordPress platform to publish content on the Web, WordPress is as priceless as it is free WordPress makes writing, editing,... developer — or just blogging as a hobby About This Book Because WordPress is free and accessible to all, however, doesn’t make it inherently easy for everyone For some, the technologies, terminology, and coding practices can be a little intimidating or downright daunting WordPress All-in-One For Dummies eliminates any intimidation about using WordPress With a little research, knowledge, and time, you’ll... Professional WordPress Consultants and Services 45 WordPress designers 47 Developers 48 Consultants 49 Contributing to WordPress 50 Participating in Live WordPress Events 51 Chapter 5: Discovering Different Versions of WordPress 53 Comparing the Two Versions of WordPress 53 Choosing the hosted version from WordPress. com 55 Self-hosting with WordPress. org... extremely helpful in giving you insight into the programming techniques and terminology involved with running a WordPress Web site — and that information is extremely helpful when you move forward to the other minibooks in WordPress All-in-One For Dummies Above all else, have fun with the information contained within these pages! Read the books on topics you think you already know about — you might just... content-specific standard templates 561 Using page templates 563 Adding Theme Support for Built-In Features 564 Adding support for custom menus 565 Adding support for custom post types 572 Adding Support for Custom Taxonomies 583 Adding support for post formats 584 Adding support for post thumbnails 592 Exploring Theme Options 595 Understanding theme... 806 xxiii xxiv WordPress All-in-One For Dummies Exploring Default Site Settings 807 Private blogs 807 Enabling plugins 808 Chapter 5: Using Network Plugins and Themes .809 Using One Theme on Multiple Sites 810 Enabling themes for individual sites 812 Installing themes for network use 814 Setting the default theme for sites ... differences between using WordPress as a blogging platform and a full-blown content management system Because WordPress is an open source project, it is good for users to have a basic understanding of open source and the licensing involved; therefore, this book also helps you understand GPL and open source basics After the introduction into WordPress, blogging, and licensing, you read about WordPress development... release cycles, important for any user because they affect the future of your WordPress- powered Web site You also gain an understanding of WordPress versions and are introduced to the famous and helpful WordPress user community Book II: Setting Up the WordPress Software This book is a must read for those wanting to wrap their head around some of the more technical aspects of getting a WordPress site running . Authors Lisa Sabin-Wilson (WordPress For Dummies, BuddyPress For Dummies, WordPress Web Design For Dummies) has 8 years experience working with the WordPress platform, having adopted it early. online at http:// www .wiley. com/go/permissions. Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The. Torbert WordPress ® ALL-IN-ONE FOR DUMmIES ‰ 01_9780470877012-ffirs.indd iii01_9780470877012-ffirs.indd iii 3/10/11 5:43 PM3/10/11 5:43 PM WordPress ® All-in-One For Dummies ® Published by Wiley