CMS Inside

Wordpress, as the saying guys “takes a minute to learn and a lifetime to master.” I had hoped the Visual Quickstart Guide would maybe help me move to at least the apprentice level. I was wrong. I was more confused than when I started

This book assumes you have access to and understand such things as MySQL databases and phpMyAdmin. If you don’t, then much of this book will be lost on you. That’s hardly a Quickstart. On the other hand, if you already know the ins and outs of databases and PHP, you probably will not need a book like this to learn about Wordpress.

Unfortunately, the book left me more confused then when I started. While it explained the very basics of adding posts, pages and categories, the book never really explained the proper use of these features and why they are important. It just covered the most basic functionality of the features laundry-list style without helping you understand what they are actually used for. Same is true for comments, media, and syndication. Most people understand these basics, so I can certainly understand why they were glossed over. However, this is supposed to be a beginner book.

Also missing were detailed explanations on how to setup up themes and plugins. These are the features most new Wordpress users are interested in as they are key in customizing a blog. The book didn’t say much on these areas beyond reiterating the content of the basic help functions already built into Wordpress.

Pros: It’s humbling.

Cons: Expects a high level of technical knowledge, yet only scratches the surface of all Wordpress functions. Leaves the reader more confused then when they started
Rating: 2 / 5

WordPress Visual Quickstart is a thorough, step-by-step guide to installing, configuring and managing your own WordPress site. It will walk you through everything you can do with the basic WordPress configuration, as well as talk about some of the extensibility of the application. As a reference book for the beginner, you can hardly go wrong with it.

One thing to be aware of is that the book really is more functional than conceptual. The book does not attempt to guide you through the decision-making process when setting up your site, and only rarely makes recommendations for configuration choices…nor does it have a lot of sidebars explaining concepts like linkbacks and their importance, or talk in depth about best practices and the most effective ways to structure/organize your site (using pages vs. categories vs. tags etc.) I would have liked to see a little more discussion on some of these concepts — but then, it does follow the most common pattern of VQSG’s by Peachpit.

If you’re new to Wordpress and to blogs, I’d suggest purchasing this book in combination with a more conceptual overview of the available Wordpress functionality.
Rating: 4 / 5