The WordPress book, Digging Into WordPress has been updated to cover WordPress 3.2 and 3.3. This marks the 9th edition of the book as noted by Jeff Starr. Those of you who are owners of any previous version of the book will receive this update for free. ∞
Affiliate Program For Digging Into WordPress Closes
The other day, I received some bum news regarding the affiliate program for the book, Digging Into WordPress by Jeff Starr and Chris Coyier. Thanks to the abuse of their affiliate system with no concrete way to battle the abuse, they have decided to phase out the program for the time being. Here is the official email sent out to members:
The important details:
- We’re turning it off this Monday at Noon EST. You are of course free to remove all links as you wish.
- We don’t benefit in any way from links left up. (It’s not a ploy for us to benefit from lingering links)
- We’re sorry =( We thought long and hard about it and we think this is our best option.
Here’s the scoop:
We’ve had a ton of fraud go through the affiliate program. A bad guy can sign up for the program and buy a bunch of books from us with stolen credit cards, and earn money. It’s extremely difficult to catch, because the people with the fraudulent charge may not even notice, or not notice for months. Meanwhile we’ve already given the bad guy money. The negative effects of this being:
- We lose money
- Our PayPal account is at serious risk of closure
- We facilitate bad things happening to peopleUnfortunately the software we use to handle the affiliate program just isn’t up to the task of fighting this. So to all: THANK YOU for being an affiliate. The book has been a success in no small part because of you. If we can figure out a better way to handle this, we’ll do that and open it back up. In the mean time, if you are looking for other affiliate programs to try out, check this one out:
http://codecanyon.net/wiki/referral/referral-program/
-Chris Coyier & Jeff Starr
Digging Into WordPress
http://digwp.com
That sucks but I’ll still be keeping the link to the book on the WPTavern store because it’s a great resource that takes things a step further after WordPress For Beginners.
Phil Simon And The New Small
Phil Simon who is an accomplished book author with two books already under his belt, Why New Systems Fail and The Next Wave of Technologies is currently in the process of receiving enough funds from the public to write and publish his new book, The New Small: How a New Breed Of Small Businesses is Harnessing the Power of Emerging Technologies. While Phil was originally going to write a book chronicling the life of WordPress from the past to the present, that idea has switched into discussing how companies are creating some cool jobs thanks to emerging technologies. Phil will be profiling twelve different companies from different industries. When I asked Phil what this book has to do with WordPress or Automattic for that matter, this is what he told me:
There’s a whole section on FOSS such as Drupal, WP, Joombla, and other free products. The book is about how small businesses can act big and save oodles of cash.
So far, Phil has managed to raise $3,085.00 out of the $4,000 needed. There are special perks being offered to those who back the book with a certain amount of money such as your name in the acknowledgments section or an acknowledgment plus a copy of the book. Good luck Phil and I hope you reach your amount by November 2nd. I also hope to have Phil on the WordPress Weekly podcast to talk about his book once it’s been published.
New WordPress Book – WordPress 3 Site Blueprints
I recently came across a new WordPress based book that is different from most of the ones on the market in that it provides blue prints for creating specific purpose sites using WordPress. The book is called WordPress 3 Site Blueprints and was written by Heather R. Wallace and published by Packt Publishing. The first chapter of the book covers a topic that is still very relevant, Migrating a static website to WordPress. Considering the amount of businesses still switching from static based sites to dynamic content this is definitely a use case worth knowing about. The table of contents is as follows:
- Chapter 2: Building A Community Portal
- Chapter 3: Building An E-commerce Website
- Chapter 4: Building A Local Classified Ads Website
- Chapter 5: Building A Consumer Review Website
- Chapter 6: Building A Job Board Website
- Chapter 7: Building A Microblogging Website
- Chapter 8: Building A Local Business Directory
- Chapter 9: Building A Membership Website
As you can see by the table of contents, this isn’t a beginners book nor is it a how to install themes and plugin book. Instead, the book lives up to it’s name by giving you the blueprints to build 10 different specific use websites. Before making the purchase, I encourage you to read the sample chapter which is chapter 4: building a local classified ads site.
WPWeekly Episode 102 – Lisas New Project
This episode of WordPress Weekly was jammed pack with information. Not only did we cover the release of WordPress 3.0 along with some of the upgrade woes starting to be reported, we were also joined by Lisa Sabin-Wilson along with Michael Torbert of the All In One SEO Plugin and Cory Miller from iThemes. After we caught up with Lisa regarding WordCamp Chicago, we talked about a brand new project that she is undertaking with four other collaborators. This project is a new book called the WordPress All In One Desk Reference.
Let’s face it – a For Dummies book is meant to be for beginners and intermediate users, right? But what about a book that covers the WHOLE gammut? A reference book that is useful for a wide variety of users – -so that beginners can start with it, and as they continue to grow – can continue to use the resource to step into areas of WordPress that they may never have tried before.
This discussion lead to me signing the contract for a brand new WordPress related book under the Wiley Publishing roof. This new book is in the process of being written right now and it is slated to be a 940 page book (approximately) and it is called … The WordPress All In One Desk Reference.
Congratulations to Lisa and her four collaborators on the book deal. Not to be overshadowed, but the 3rd edition of WordPress For Dummies has also been released. This book has practically been rewritten to include Multi Site and WordPress 3.0 information.
Ad Copy:
This episode of WordPress Weekly is sponsored by the GPL. Without it, who knows where WordPress would be today.
Stories Discussed:
WordPress 3.0 Released
WordPress 3.0 Upgrade Woes
Announcements:
WordPress Core Developer Andrew Nacin will be on the show June 26th.
WPWeekly Meta:
Next Episode: Saturday, June 26th 2P.M. EST
Subscribe To WPWeekly Via Itunes: Click here to subscribe
Length Of Episode: 1 Hour 3 Minutes
Download The Show: WordPressWeeklyEpisode102.mp3
Listen To Episode #102:
Guest Review Of The Book: WordPress & Ajax
The following is a review written by Bes Zain of The Reader Appreciation Project. You can also follow Bes on twitter.
Every now and then a book comes along that actually makes a difference in your life. The difference could be minute, and it could be vast too, depending on what kind of a topic of scope the book focuses on. WordPress & Ajax, by Ronald Huereca, is such an online book, and it makes a difference in your online WordPress life.
Ronald is the creator of the world famous Ajax Edit Comments, and thus he also applies his full knowledge of WordPress and plugins into the book for your benefit. This is a review of the WordPress & Ajax book. Keep reading to find out how you can get this book for $10 cheaper than anywhere else!.
What is it?
WordPress & Ajax is a 250 page book over 15-chapters that focuses on and goes through the step-by-step process of learning how to do wonderful things in WordPress using Ajax. The book goes through the concepts and actual examples and pictures of how you can use JavaScript to build quality Ajax experiences and functionality into your WordPress powered websites and applications for both yourself and your website readers.
Who is it for?
The book clearly states that it is for people who at least have some familiarity with either how WordPress or WordPress Plugins work, or how the jQuery library works. While Ronald is quite strict in this aspect of a requirement, he is also a bit wise to specify this requirement: many people simply jump into something without understanding what it is about, only to hate and abandon that something later on.
My recommendation? It is for everyone! It is a great book for beginners who like learning by picking up actual examples. I like learning things through direct examples and by learning what is going on. I prefer learning a language, like French or German, by actually speaking it with someone who knows the language or by putting it into practice from day 1, instead of taking introductory classes for 3 years before opening my mouth. If you can understand the idea of what is going on without knowing how it works, you can start deciphering the different parts in the book to understand how everything works.
An Example Taken From Within The Book
In my view, the only requirement needed to buy this book is your willingness to use Ajax with WordPress. Because of the actual codes and examples included in the book, and everything important highlighted, you can actually see how things work in order to understand why they work that way.
What does it cover?
The book covers a lot of things, since it is basically a full-fledged book for your computer that may have very well been found at your nearby bookstore. The following are some of the many topics that the book covers. Remember, each topic includes examples!
- What is Ajax? A detailed explanation of what Ajax is, and what it can do for you and your website. Sorry, this book does not cover how to use the Ajax Cleanser to clean dishes and your laptop screen! That is probably the biggest shortcoming of this book.
- Best Practices for Ajax. Some recommendations on what Ronald thinks you should use Ajax for, and what things you should avoid using Ajax with.
- How to write scripts properly for WordPress. Detailed information on how to add your own coding to WordPress to expand and customize it for your own needs, and how to do it properly and easily.
- The (in)famous Localization of Scripts explained. JavaScript & other scripts run into this issue, and Ronald helps you navigate the localization of your and any other plugins with ease in a whole chapter dedicated to the issue and the awesomely well defined solutions with examples.
- Sending out Ajax requests. Probably the most important first step for many. A whole chapter with examples on how to actually talk with WordPress & get the information you want. Using Ajax, of course!
- Many chapters on Server-Side Ajax processing! Ronald believes that Ajax should be a transparent experience for the user, and so do I. Thus, Ronald teaches you how to use the server, where your or any WordPress website of any kind is located, to process and display the Ajax results you want to yourself and your readers.
- Dozens & dozens of examples! The best part about this book, specially for people like me, is the availability of examples to actually see how things work in order to understand them. The big practical examples range from adding smilies to your WordPress site to using PayPal to sell items & use coupons, among others. All with actual codes and result snapshots so you can see what to do and what to expect.
- Optimize your JavaScript use & size. Not only do you get to learn Ajax through WordPress & JavaScript, you also get to learn how to improve your own coding and JavaScript usage in order to reduce download and file sizes, and your own coding techniques too.
What the Future Holds
Ronald has already received a lot of nice feedback from the WordPress community and will be incorporating this feedback (as well as additional examples) into future versions of the book. The cool thing? You will receive these updates for free with your book purchase.
Should you buy WordPress & Ajax? Absolutely!
If you’re looking to make your own plugins, to customize WordPress, or to add functionality to WordPress, then you should definitely go ahead and buy this book. Buy this book now! Available now at its introductory price of only $14! That is $10 LESS than the normal price of $24! You get unlimited updates & corrections via e-mail for life after that.
So go ahead, Buy WordPress & Ajax with $10 OFF, and go improve your WordPress & Ajax’ed website!
Version 2 Of DiggingIntoWordPress Is Out
Version 2 of the awesome book, Digging Into WordPress has been released today. This new version includes a refreshed book cover and information about WordPress 2.9. According to Chris, right when the first print editions of the book sold out, WordPress 2.9 was on it’s way to being released so instead of re-printing the book, they decided to include an extra chapter that exclusively covers WordPress 2.9.
If that weren’t enough, the new book now comes bundled with new themes in light of a brand new chapter that describes how to perform some cool tricks with themes. The only way to get these themes is to purchase the book bundle which is available for the print, and digital editions of the book.
Bundled Themes
Even with all the new themes and 30+ new pages, the price point for the book and PDF stay the same. $27 for the PDF and $67 + S&H for the Book/PDF Combo. If you buy the print book, remember that automatically comes with the PDF which now comes as a bundle with the themes, so you don’t miss out on that action.
You can see demos of the bundled themes here, here, and here. Remember, if you decide the purchase the books through me, please use this link as I receive a cut back.
WPWeekly Episode 89 – Interview With Brad Williams
This was like having two episodes in one. During the first 20 minutes of the show, Hal Stern and Brad Williams gave me the 411 on their upcoming WordPress book, Professional WordPress. This book was written to take people directly into the core code of WordPress to figure out how it works and to explain how the internals of WordPress such as filters, hooks, and functions come together. The second part of the show featured an interview with Brad Williams of WebDevStudios.com where we discussed his consulting business built around an open source project. We also talked about some of the key differences in Joomla and Drupal compared to WordPress. Last but not least, we talked about their recently released plugin, CollabPress which may be one of the first plugins to really bring functioning task management into WordPress.
Ad Copy:
Get the most out of your search engine optimization with the All In one SEO Pro plugin. This version removes donation and advertisement sections, ideal for developers and firms using the plugin on client sites. A support forum is also available for the Pro version. Visit wpplugins.com today and check out All in One SEO Pro. Limited time New Year sale of 40% off
Stories Discussed:
WordPress 3.0 Release Bumped Back By Two Weeks
Woo Nav Menus Now In WordPress 3.0 Alpha
WPWeekly Meta:
Next Episode: SATURDAY, MARCH 6th 2P.M. EST
Subscribe To WPWeekly Via Itunes: Click here to subscribe
Length Of Episode: 1 Hour 30 Minutes
Download The Show: WordPressWeeklyEpisode89.mp3
Listen To Episode #89:
WPWeekly Episode 86 – The WordPress Bible
In this holy edition of WordPress Weekly, I interviewed special guest Aaron Brazell of Technosailor.com to talk about his experience in the world of consulting, his work involving WordPress, and last but not least, his book called The WordPress Bible by Wiley Publishing. The WordPress Bible is a book for theme designers, plugin developers, core developers and WordPress users alike. It contains tutorials, references, screenshots and walk-thrus that will help you use the worlds most popular hosted blog platform to its best. This is definitely one of the go to references you want to have near your desk. I highly advise you to give this episode a listen as I think we covered quite a bit of ground.
Ad Copy:
Get the most out of your search engine optimization with All In one SEO Pro. This version removes donation and advertisement sections, ideal for developers and firms using the plugin on client sites. A support forum is also available for the Pro version. Visit wpplugins.com today and check out All in One SEO Pro. Limited time New Year sale of 40% off is still ongoing
Stories Discussed:
WordPress Launches Foundation
WordCamp Mid-Atlantic
WPWeekly Meta:
Next Episode: Tuesday, February 2nd 8P.M. EST
Subscribe To WPWeekly Via Itunes: Click here to subscribe
Length Of Episode: 1 Hour 20 Minutes
Download The Show: WordPressWeeklyEpisode86.mp3
Listen To Episode #86:
Aaron Brazell Author Of ‘The WordPress Bible’
Aaron Brazell who heads up Technosailor.com and who used to work for B5 Media announced on July 3rd that he has secured a book deal with Wiley Publishing to write a 700 page WordPress Bible. Aaron had been working on the deal since April but only recently received the go ahead to write the book.
Today, I approach The WordPress Bible with some fear and trepidation. Currently, the book is marked at around a cool 700 pages. And oh yes, it has to be done in October. Yikes!
What this effectively means is that for the next four months, I will be spending monumental amounts of time doing nothing but writing. I’m considering disappearing to the mountains once a month for 3-4 days just to write.
In conversation with Aaron regarding the book, when it is published it will have current information for WordPress 2.8 with editing for WordPress 2.9. The goal is to get the book done and when it is published to the public, it will be for whatever version is current at that time. Also, Aaron says that the book will contain the nuts and bolts of WordPress which generally stays the same from version to version meaning the book will be a valuable resource for some time to come.
WordPress For Dummies authored by Lisa Sabin-Wilson is also published by Wiley so I asked Aaron if The WordPress Bible will pick up where the Dummies book left off or if it’s for a different audience.
Different audience. Same publisher. The Dummies books are supposed to provide a 101 level overview of a topic, software product, etc. The Bible series is supposed to be exhaustive and for all levels of skill. The WordPress Bible, like others in the Bible series will be more in depth and provide tutorials for beginners and advance technical knowledge for advanced users. It will be a beneficial addition for any WordPress user whether a blogger, developer or themer and it should provide the info to just get started or to get into new areas of development.
I dunno about you but I hope I can snare a copy of The WordPress Bible, especially if I can get it with Aaron’s autograph! Will you be getting a copy once it’s released?