Sams Teach Yourself WordPress in 10 Minutes

Chuck Tomasi is an IT manager for Plexus Corp., a contract electronics company headquartered in Neenah, Wisconsin. He has almost 30 years of IT experience and is also a devoted husband and proud father of two. Chuck is an accomplished writer and public

speaker on New Media. His first book, Podcasting for Dummies (co-written with Tee Morris and Evo Terra), was ranked #1 by Neilsen BookScan in its category. He is a regular contributing writer to the Friends In Tech and Tech Talk for Families blogs. Chuck is a pioneer

in podcasting who began working with the media in 2004 when it was still in its infancy. He is the co-host of the light-hearted weekly tech/science podcast Technorama, which was a finalist in two categories at the 2007 Parsec Awards for podcasting excellence. He also produces and hosts the Gmail Podcast, a collection of short audio tips. As a speaker, Chuck has led training sessions on podcasting for the National Park Service, spoken at the New Media Expo on how to build listener loyalty, presented a session at the National HDI (Help Desk Instutite) conference on effective customer communications, and done numerous presentations for his local HDI chapter. Chuck is also the founder, host, and regular presenter for Fox Cities Managers, a local group of professionals dedicated to leadership excellence in northeast Wisconsin. Find out more about Chuck at http://www.chucktomasi.com.

Kreg Steppe has 20 years of experience as an IT professional. Kreg is a husband and father of one. He has several interests in creative writing, photography, audio production, and web application development. Currently working as a web developer, he has 10 years

experience with web technologies including HTML, JavaScript, PHP, MySQL, Apache, and IIS. His work leads him to create rich and robust solutions including writing a custom intranet, extranet, and workflow applications. He is also a podcasting early adopter. In late 2004, as podcasting started to get recognition, Kreg became involved with several podcasts, emerging as a consummate assistant to budding podcasters. In early 2005 Kreg joined Chuck Tomasi and launched Technorama, a podcast with a lighthearted look at all things tech and sci-fi. Working on Technorama, and as a member of Friends In Tech podcasting group, Kreg has had several years of audio production experience including creative writing, coordination logistics, and editing. Most recently, Kreg spoke at Create South 2009 regarding “Sharing Your Photography and Social Media” as an amateur photographer and with an interest in social networking (http://www.kregsteppe.com).

1 Introducing WordPress

Understanding What WordPress Is ............................................5

Getting Started with WordPress.com ........................................9

Migrating From Another Blog ..................................................13

Summary ..............................................................................13

2 Completing Your Profile

Finding Your Profile ................................................................15

Profile Options ......................................................................16

Completing Your About Page ..................................................25

Summary ..............................................................................26

3 Creating Posts and Pages

Creating Posts ......................................................................27

Editing Existing Posts ............................................................36

Creating Pages ......................................................................39

Summary ..............................................................................54

4 Configuring Your Blog Settings

General ................................................................................55

Writing ..................................................................................58

Reading ................................................................................62

Discussion ............................................................................65

Media ..................................................................................70

Privacy ..................................................................................71

Delete Blog ..........................................................................72

OpenID..................................................................................73

Domains ..............................................................................73

Summary ..............................................................................74

5 Managing Comments

Understanding Comments ......................................................75

Allowing or Denying Comments ..............................................77

Managing Comments ............................................................82

Best Practices ......................................................................90

Summary ..............................................................................91

6 Personalizing the Appearance of Your Blog

Themes ................................................................................93

Widgets ..............................................................................100

Making Additional Changes ..................................................103

Summary ............................................................................111

7 Using RSS and Data Migration Tools

Syndicate Your Blog with RSS ..............................................113

Other Useful Tools ..............................................................118

Backing Up Your Data ..........................................................123

Migrating Your Blog ..............................................................124

Importing from Another Blog ................................................128

Summary ............................................................................130

8 Setting Up Hosting

Why Host Your Own Blog? ....................................................131

Understanding Your Responsibilities......................................132

Setting Up Your Domain Name..............................................133

Setting Up Your Web Hosting Account....................................136

Finding Support ..................................................................137

Summary ............................................................................137

9 Installing WordPress

Using Automated Script Services ..........................................139

Installing WordPress Manually ..............................................140

Uploading Your Files ............................................................143

Creating the Database ........................................................146

Running the Install Script ....................................................147

Summary ............................................................................151

10 Using Themes on Your Own Site

Changing the Look and Function of Your Site ........................153

Searching for and Installing a Theme ....................................157

Widgets ..............................................................................166

Summary ............................................................................168

11 Customizing Your Site with Plug-ins

What Are Plug-ins? ..............................................................169

Using the Plug-ins Dashboard ..............................................170

Finding Plug-ins ..................................................................172

Installing a Plug-in ..............................................................177

Upgrading Plug-ins ..............................................................181

Removing a Plug-in ..............................................................183

Popular Plug-ins ..................................................................184

Summary ............................................................................186

12 Blogging on the Go

Setting Up Your Blog for Remote Access ..............................187

Posting from Other Websites ................................................189

Using Mobile Applications ....................................................192

Using Email to Post ............................................................196

Using ScribeFire ..................................................................200

Summary ............................................................................204

13 WordPress Support

Looking for Help ..................................................................205

Free Support ......................................................................205

Paid Support ......................................................................209

Other Learning Resources ....................................................210

Summary ............................................................................211

Index

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