he popular guide to WordPress, fully updated to help you get blogging

Join the millions of bloggers who rely on WordPress, the popular and free blogging platform. This guide covers all the features and improvements in the most up-to-date version of WordPress. Whether you are switching to WordPress from another blogging platform or just starting your first blog, youll find lots of advice in this friendly guide. With this easy-to-follow book, you ll be able to take full advantage of the flexibility and usability of WordPress.

WordPress is a state-of-the-art blog platform that emphasizes aesthetics, web standards, and usability

Shows what it takes to set up and maintain a blog with WordPress and how to use all the new features

Covers the changes and improvements to the latest release of WordPress

Written by WordPress expert Lisa Sabin-Wilson, this guide helps bloggers take advantage quickly and easily of everything this popular blogging tool has to offer.

Foreword xiv

Introduction 1

About This Book 1

Conventions Used in This Book 3

What You Are Not to Read 3

Foolish Assumptions 4

How This Book Is Organized 4

Part I: Introducing WordPress 4

Part II: Using the WordPress Hosted Service 5

Part III: Self-Hosting with WordPressorg 5

Part IV: Flexing and Extending WordPress 5

Part V: Customizing WordPress 5

Part VI: The Part of Tens 6

Icons Used in This Book 6

Where to Go from Here 6

Part I: Introducing WordPress 9

Chapter 1: What WordPress Can Do for You 11

Chapter 2: WordPress Blogging Basics 19

Part II: Using the WordPress Hosted Service 31

Chapter 3: Getting Started with WordPress 33

Chapter 4: Writing and Managing Your Blog 59

Chapter 5: Enhancing Your Blog with Themes, Widgets, and Upgrades 97

Part III: Self-Hosting with WordPressorg 119

Chapter 6: Setting Up Blogging Base Camp 121

Chapter 7: Understanding the WordPressorg Dashboard 143

Chapter 8: Establishing Your Blog Routine 187

Part IV: Flexing and Extending WordPress 221

Chapter 9: Media Management: Images, Audio, and Video 223

Chapter 10: Making the Most of WordPress Plugins 241

Chapter 11: Finding and Installing WordPress Themes 265

Part V: Customizing WordPress 277

Chapter 12: Understanding Themes and Templates 279

Chapter 13: Tweaking WordPress Themes 323

Part VI: The Part of Tens 363

Chapter 14: Ten Popular WordPress Plugins 365

Appendix: Upgrading, Backing Up, and Migrating 381

Index 405