WordPress For Dummies - Brossura

Lisa Sabin-Wilson is a designer of blogs and Web sites and founder of E.Webscapes Design Studio. She has been working with WordPress since 2002. Lisa's client list includes over 1,000 personal and professional blogs, and she is a frequent panel member at blogging and social media conferences.

Blogs are as much a part of life today as the evening newspaper was fifty years ago, and for much the same reason: Inquiring minds want to know. WordPress powers some of the most popular blogs on the Web, and with this guide to help, it can work for you, too. Here's what WordPress does, how to set it up and use it, and some cool bells and whistles to make your blog stand out.

• Pick your flavor — decide whether to use the WordPress.com hosted service or self-host your blog with WordPress.org

• Customization — discover CSS and template tags and how to use them to create your own unique style

• Blogging 101 — find out about archiving, interacting with readers through comments, tracking back, and handling spam

• Host with the most — get the scoop on domain registration, Web hosting providers, basic tools like FTP, and more

• Do it yourself — install WordPress.org, set up a MySQL database, explore RSS feeds, and organize a blogroll

• Beef up your blog — insert audio, video, images, and photos

• Think theme — discover where to find WordPress themes, explore various options, and work with template tags to create a unique look

Open the book and find:

• Advice for creating a blog that draws readers

• Tips on managing comments, trackbacks, and spam

• How to use the Dashboard

• Wonderful widgets and plugins to add

• How to make permalinks work with your Web server

• The standard templates and how to tweak them

• Ten popular WordPress themes

• Where to find help when you need it