Smashing WordPress: Beyond the Blog 4th Edition

This is the one! If you need solid useable info on real WordPress coding with next to no time wasted on beginner stuff that you must already know to even be looking at a book like this, you will be very happy with this book. Lots of great stuff on every page. The first couple of chapters that talk about WP installation may seem a little vague but things pick up soon once he gets to the heavy stuff. So many things have been clarified for me because of this book and I can see the difference in my sites. Fewer pages than many programming books but packs in more real information than most. And Thord's non-native English is actually more communicative most of the time than the average native English-speaking coding teacher! Go figure. Superb print quality too, in color no less! All in all, an excellent experience.

I am very happy with this book. There is some repetition, but it is mostly useful, and "in context".

It gives you all of the information you need to start diving deeper into making themes and editing the backend of your wordpress sites. Anything it doesn't cover, it refers you to the wordpress codex. While some may find that irritating, it is best to refer to the codex to get the most up to date information. This is not a be-all-end-all wordpress book but it has tons of information to help you out if your not on a pro level. DEFINITELY NOT FOR BEGINNERS!! Try the blogging wordpress book from Smashing before using this one.

Over-Priced and stuffed with padding and I don't mean a Chapter about CSS padding attributes. Yes, I gave it one star. The book is put together very well tip-wise but is too expensive for what is being purchased. John Wiley is known for marginally acceptable materials they markup as a marketing ploy to make the product appear like the extra money means the product is worth the higher price. I learned this when working as an architect and was compelled to buy technical books from John Wiley at $150 and more and then repeat the next year for the next "edition" and discovered after a year or two of their little publishing racket that next to nothing was changed except more added padding.I checked this book out from the library and except for the beginning which is where most padding occurs and without doubt was compelled to be included as such by Wiley to give the book more pages it is terse and down to the point. As a software developer it did help me out here and there BUT I scanned to pdf and copied to text the 2-3 parts I perceived as the best this book has to offer AND there are at least 25 if not more FREE very well written blogs with the EXACT same information (no to mention the WordPress codex the auther regurgitates) AND even better, the blogs I have found are written as single topic tutorials with code examples that can be copied and pasted for neccessary best practice edits before using in production.Finally, to prove my point about Wiley fluff most of us know the new REST API is the most useful part of what WordPress has adopted. Its really nowhere to be found in a "4th Edition" Hello? Publisher PaddingIts my opinion this book is an e-book in disguise all padded out by demand of the publisher. Personally, I respect the author but he should go independent and sell his own work because he has what it takes. BTW - I also learned that lesson when working as an architect as I wrote my ass off and was ALWAYS cheated by the publishers. ALWAYS.If you have extra money to spend to put into the pocket of John Wiley and you haven't learned how to use Google yet this book is for you.

Book received in a timely fashion and in pristine condition; Great easy read for blog setup.

Too much program language for my needs. I just want to know how to navigate the Word Press blog I started. For those with programming background this may be wonderful.

This book is definitely not for beginners, but it is really comprehensive. The only way I could love it more is if it had tutorials in it, but that's okay.

I switched from Blogger to WordPress in 2006/2007. I wish that this book would have been around then, as I would have loved to have been able to tweak my blog on my own. As it was, I ended up hiring someone to create a theme for me, which wasn't cheap, and it was a disaster as I couldn't then make any updates on my own. This book would have helped me to close those gaps and allowed me to create the look I wanted to achieve.This book makes me want to go back to WordPress and try my hand at creating a great space again, though right now I'm delving into Squarespace and learning about that.Highly recommend.© Angela Risner 2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from Amazon or Angela Risner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Angela Risner with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.