Brad Williams Blog» Professional WordPress

SitePoint Podcast Interview for Professional WordPress

Brad — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 14:51:23 +0000

Last week Hal Stern, David Damstra, and myself had the privilege of being interviewed on the SitePoint Podcast for our new book Professional WordPress!

I had a great time discussing our book with hosts Patrick O’Keefe and Stephan Segraves. We covered many different topics including how the book came to be, what separates our book from the rest, and how our book is a solid compliment to the Codex. We also had a great discussion about the difference between a WordPress Theme and a Theme Framework, which I think a lot of people are still a little confused by.

It’s a little strange being on the other side of the interview table, but I’m starting to get use to it. Promoting a book is a lot of work, but in the end the payoff is well worth it. If you haven’t had a chance to order this book what are you waiting for? Order a copy today and support your favorite WordPress developers!

Also be sure to subscribe to the SitePoint Podcast, which I’m a regular co-host on, if you haven’t already! We discuss the latest news and happenings in the world of web development and design.

Professional WordPress Has Hit The Shelves!

Brad — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 16:23:50 +0000

I’m extremely excited to announce that Professional WordPress, a book I co-authored, has hit the shelves at major book retailers nation wide! The book is also in stock on Amazon.com!
This journey started in April of 2009 when Matt Mullenweg posted a blog post that Wiley was looking for WordPress enthusiasts to author a new book. I emailed Carol Long that night and before I knew it was one of the co-authors chosen for Professional WordPress along with Hal Stern and David Damstra!

The entire process was quite a learning experience since I had never written a book before. Luckily Wiley/WROX has an amazingly talented staff that helped guide us during this book writing journey. Hal and David were also great co-authors to work with during the process.

Professional WordPress is a book written by programmers for programmers. We take a more in-depth look at WordPress to help explain how WP works from the inside out. Learn how to create powerful plugins to handle any task. Explore how to build amazing themes using the latest features in WordPress. Learn how to use WordPress as a CMS. We even cover WordPress in the Enterprise and migrating to WordPress from another system. This book has something for everyone so make sure you pick up a copy today and help support your favorite WordPress hackers!

Keep an eye on this blog as I’ll be giving away a few copies of Professional WordPress in the coming weeks!

My Interview on the WordPress Weekly Podcast

Brad — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 17:34:25 +0000

Yesterday I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Jeff Chandler on the WordPress Weekly Podcast! It was great to be back on the show, even though the spotlight was on me this time. I’ve been participating on the WP Weekly podcast since the start (episode 1) so it was fun to reminisce a bit about how we both started into WordPress and how the podcast came to be.

Hal Stern also joined in at the beginning of the show to discuss our new book, Professional WordPress. Jeff and I also discussed many different topics including the challenges of running a business around open source, secret projects in the works, my thoughts on WordPress and how it compares to other open source CMS solutions, and much more! Be sure to check out the episode and let me know how I did!

Professional WordPress Is In Production!

Brad — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 17:20:28 +0000

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.

Professional WordPress – New Book Coming Soon!

Brad — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 14:51:14 +0000

I’m extremely excited to announce a new book I am co-authoring: Professional WordPress.

Professional WordPress will be a WROX publication, which is the technical branch of Wiley books. I have the honor of writing this book with David Damstra and Hal Stern, both of which have an extensive background working with WordPress.

We have officially crossed the 50% mark writing this new book so I thought it was a perfect time to officially announce it! Professional WordPress is a more advanced book detailing everything WordPress has to offer. There are WordPress books on the scene currently, and even more being written, but Professional WordPress is unlike any books on the market. We take a more advanced look at WordPress, from breaking down functions and classes, to exploring in depth each WordPress API, this book is for anyone wanting to take the next step in WordPress website development.

Below is our official book description:
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As the most popular blogging and content management platform available today, WordPress is a powerful tool. This exciting book goes beyond the basics and delves into the heart of the WordPress system, offering overviews of the functional aspects of WordPress as well as plugin and theme development.

What is covered in this book?
• Detailed review of WordPress Functionality and Codebase
• The Loop and Data Management
• Plugin Development
• Theme Development
• Content Aggregation, SEO and User Experience
• Statistics, Scalability, Security and Spam
• Using WordPress as a CMS
• Using WordPress in the Enterprise
• Moving your existing site to WordPress

This book takes an “internals” view of WordPress and drives the fundamentals of how things work to explain use cases and extensions to the core platform. Including hands on examples, and real world tips, this exhaustive book is a must-have for Web and PHP professionals developing on the WordPress platform.
———————

You can follow our progress and any Professional WordPress news with the hash tag #prowp. Now that we have officially announced our book we plan on using that hash tag more often. You can also pre-order your copy of Professional WordPress starting today! The book is currently planned for a March 2010 release date.

Now to finish the final 50%!