Professional WordPress, the new book I co-authored, is officially in production!

After a 4 month writing phase, and 1.5 month editing phase, we have finally completed the book! I’m extremely excited for this book to hit the store shelves and really believe it’s going to be well received by the WordPress Community.

This book is really different than any other WordPress book on the market. Professional WordPress is a more internals look at WordPress and how it functions. We dive into the Core code and review built-in functions and APIs available for use when extending WordPress.

My favorite chapter of the book is the plugin development chapter. I honestly believe this chapter is worth the price alone. If you are interested in creating custom plugins in WordPress, or even if already know how but want to expand your knowledge, this is the book for you!

You’ll learn the correct way to use the Settings API when developing plugins. We also cover data validation and security to make your plugins as secure as possible. This chapter covers everything you need to know to create amazing plugins the correct way in WordPress!

This book was written by myself and David Damstra. Our Technical Editor was Hal Stern. Mike Little, the co-creator of WordPress, was also a Technical Editor and helped verify the methods we used were always the most appropriate and up-to-date.

Be sure to pre-order a copy of Professional WordPress today! If you’d like to share this link please use http://tinyurl.com/prowp. The official release date is April 5th, 2010.

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I’m freshly back from WordCamp Boston 2010! I had a blast at the Microsoft N.E.R.D Center Saturday hanging out with other WordPress geeks!

I attended the inaugural event this past weekend with April, Chris, Scott, and Mark from WDS. I had a great time hanging out with my WordPress buddies! I got to catch up with Jeff Chandler, Michael Torbert, Brian Gardner, Craig Tuller, Stephan Segraves, Jane Wells, Danielle Morrill, Pam Kueber, Elisha, and many more! I’m sure I forgot somebody so sorry!

I also met Joshua Strebel from Page.ly, Andrew Christian, Boone Gorges, Corey Miller and James Dalman of WebDesign.com, Danielle Morrill, and a few more I’m sure I’m forgetting.

The organizers did an amazing job putting this WordCamp together. They were constantly giving out prizes, announcing surprises, and keeping everyone thoroughly entertained all day long. Hats off to Amanda, Jake, and John and all the volunteers for an amazing job! They even handed out Monsters!

Don’t mind the Colts slides in my security presentation. I think it gave them good luck when they won the AFC Championship game!

My presentations from the event are below, enjoy!

Top 20 WordPress Plugins You’ve Never Heard Of 2010

Top 20 WordPress Plugins You’ve Never Heard Of 2010 Slideshow

WordPress Security 2010

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Tomorrow I’ll be attending WordCamp Boston! I’ll be speaking about WordPress Security. I’m also giving an Ignite presentation on the top 20 WordPress plugins you’ve never heard of.

I’m looking forward to seeing many of my WordPress friends that I haven’t seen since WordCamp NYC. I’m also looking forward to meeting new people in the community, many of whom I’ve only spoken with over Twitter. One of the best things about working with WordPress is the community behind it and WordCamp is the best place to meet new friends and see old ones.

This will be my first trip to Boston since I was a little kid so I’m really looking forward to it. I’m also looking forward to watching the Colts win the AFC Championship in a Boston bar surrounded by Patriots fans. Hopefully I make it back alive! I’ll be sure to post both of my presentations from WordCamp Boston in my recap post when I return.

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