WordPress Web Design For Dummies [Paperback]

Let me preface this review by stating that I have worked in web-based tech support for 11 years, I have been coding HTML since I was a teenager, and I have maintained an extensive personal website since 1998.

I am absolutely dumbfounded that some editor allowed this book through to the printer. This book should ONLY be considered reference material for someone who already knows ALL the material in the book. I have been working with WordPress in its simple blog format for several years, I've read several books on WordPress basics, and after reading this book all the way through 3 times cover-to-cover, I still can't interpret 90% of the content.

The book is altogether lacking in EXAMPLES. The author THINKS she is providing examples, and perhaps in her advanced mind, she is. For for a "DUMMIE" reading this book, her examples completely fail on most levels.

FOR EXAMPLE...In Chapter 12 (to which I randomly opened...every page of this book is completely lacking in practical examples), page 207 she says "WordPress lets you create categories and assign posts to a specific category (or multiple categories)... The /<?php wp_list_categories(); ?>/ template tag lets you display a list of your categories by using the available parameters and values. (Table 12-4 shows some of the most popular parameters)." She follows the table with "a couple of examples of tags used to display a list of your categories" and lists some specific lines of php code.

HOWEVER...nowhere in the entire chapter does she indicate WHICH FILE this code should be placed within...nor WHERE in the file the code should be placed. Both of which are critical, indispensable bits of information, without which her exhaustive coverage of Template Tags in this chapter and the following ones is useless. php is a finicky thing. It does not like experiments or approximations. Only someone already highly experience in php would be able to divine her intentions for where this code should be applied.

The information in this book is presented in a reckless, haphazard way that is not remotely practical.

This book is missing CRITICAL and APPLICABLE examples on virtually every page.

FOR EXAMPLE...in the example above, Ms. Sabin-Wilson should provide a real-world example at the end of this section. "If you would like a page on your site to display ONLY posts tagged to the category RECIPES, first create a document in your text editor titled category-recipes.php, and copy and paste the information from the existing category.php file. Insert the following code /code/ into the category-recipes.php file below the /</head>/ line, and change the following entries..." etc.

Finally, this book is missing a step-by-step walk-through of how to build a sample site. "Our site is going to have a static landing page with 3 columns, a static ABOUT US page with 2 columns, a static CONTACT page with a single column, a BLOG page listing all posts tagged to the category BLOG, and a MUSIC page listing only custom posts. And here is how we're going to build it, each step of the way."

By the end of your journey through this book, you'll be infinitely more befuddled that you were when you began, and you'll be ready to hire Ms. Sabin-Wilson to build your site for you. But perhaps that was her intention all along?

This book lacks clarity, simplicity, and most of all...EXAMPLES. Do not buy this book if you do not already have a firm understanding of php, css, and have not already built several website using WordPress that required you to reach into the code beyond the available widgets and themes. This is a reference book. It is not a how-to book. And it is MOST CERTAINLY NOT for "Dummies."

I have to say that this book does have lots of good information. It is designed for people who already have some familiarity with Wordpress, and I have found that this book does give a good framework of how Wordpress works and how to modify and create themes. It does give a good framework to allow someone to move on and either learn more about programming Wordpress or to do some simple mods to improve a theme. It is well written and not too technical but also not too simple.

I would have given it 5 stars except for there is a slight credibility issue. She does give a lot of good links to get free utilities and find resources. She also gives links to programs in which she recommends that do require payment to use. My issue with this is, the link that is given is not straight to the program but through a link on her own website, and she then gets a kickback for being an affiliate. If she had mentioned that this what she was doing that would have been marginally better, but to not mention it, and receive an additional benefit seems sleazy to me and therefore makes you wonder how credible the link. Is this really the best tool or one that she recommends because she benefits from the link? The savvy user should just do a quick google search and come up with the link and evaluate whether it really is a tool that you need to use.

Worth getting and a useful book.

Alan

Update: I appreciate the author responding, I still feel that it would have been appropriate to disclose the reason for the redirection and to disclose that the author is getting compensation for some of the plugins that she is recommending. Since the book is an educational book, disclosure would have been best, so I still stand by my concerns, if it had been a self promotion advertisement than I could see not mentioning that fact. I added a star because of the disclosure from the author. I still recommend the book and did in my initial review.

I thought I'd done my homework before purchasing both WordPress Web Design for Dummies AND WordPress for Dummies. These are the first Dummies book I've bought, as we know, dummies don't buy books. They seemed like the best resources for learning how to build an original, professional looking CMS (content management system) website. And maybe they are. Maybe the problem is that you actually can't design and build a professional Wordpress website (not to be confused with the usual blog) unless you want to be a professional developer who knows how to code.

I read both books, cover-to-cover, as well as spending a lot of time exploring premium theme options online. I also looked at hundreds of websites made with WordPress, including the ones mentioned in Ms. Sabin-Wilson's books. In the end, I concluded that WordPress, beyond the blog, is much, much more complicated than most people can handle. This doesn't mean I have given up on my own project. I have invested too much time to abandon it now. This said, I don't feel the books are worth the time and money I've invested in them.

Sabin-Wilson takes so long to get to the point that whatever point she's trying to make gets lost in all the repetitive verbiage. This makes a ponderous subject even more ponderous. I give the book three stars because it is packed with information the author genuinely wants to impart. Unfortunately, it's not the kind of step-by-step tutorial the novice requires.

The book tries to simplify something that can't be simplified because it's not simple. It's complex. To get what you want, a polished, non-template looking website, you have to learn how to write and edit code. That's what I learned hundreds of hours later.

WordPress Web Design is most assuredly not for the novice. Even after taking in everything Sabin-Wilson has to share, you will be sorely tempted to call on her company to help you out. Maybe she can offer a coupon code in her next book for new clients.