WordPress For Dummies: The Never Ending Story

lsw-x

When I was approached to write the WordPress For Dummies book back in 2006, I was excited.. and scared. WordPress is a platform that I love…and, even more, I enjoy sharing the joys of WordPress to those who are new to the platform. Whether you’re making the move from another blogging platform to WordPress.. or just starting a blog for the very first time – – people that I work with are always amazed and excited with all the possibilities that WordPress holds for their site. It’s really a phenomenal tool. The fact that it is free — and the people behind the WordPress project are fantastic people, makes it even better.

I’m overwhelmed by the response I’ve received since writing it:

  • WordPress For Dummies remains the #1 book on blogging at Amazon.com – – it’s been #1 almost since the week it was released in November, and has remained there ever since.
  • The books’ overall Amazon ranking has lately fallen somewhere between 800 -1500. That is the rank based on sales and the rank is updated hourly – – so it changes – and the sales are compared to every single other book available on Amazon.. which means it is the 800th best selling book out of several hundred thousand books for sale at Amazon (or so… depending on the sales rank any given hour of the day).
  • Wiley Publishing has completely sold out its stock after only 3 months of it being on the market – – they are completely OUT and have to print more!
  • I have been asked, and have accepted, to speak at the SXSW Conference in Austin Texas in March on the book, as well as do a book signing
  • I have also been asked to speak at WordCamp Dallas in March … which, right now, is a bit tenative, but I will know for sure within the week whether or not I will do this. (@Charles, I have gotten your message and will be back with you by the end of the weekend – I’ve been crazy swamped!!) Update 2/1/08 – I will not be speaking at WordCamp Dallas, unfortuantely. Too many other committments at the moment to make the trip! Boo!
  • I have been contacted about several other public appearances throughout the year…to speak on various topics ranging from design to WordPress to my experience with blogging and how it has opened doors of opportunity, like writing a book. All of the sudden I have to create a travel budget and try and decide which opportunities I can commit to, and which ones I cannot
WordPress For Dummies getting GREAT reviews and rankings on Amazon.com!

It’s seriously sureal! I am deeply grateful for the opportunities and for all the people who have taken the time to contact me about the book.

I also have to say that I am SO far behind in responding to all of the people that have emailed about the book. At first, right after the book was released… I was really good about responding to each of the emails that started trickling in from people who have read it. Then, after about a month of it being on the market — my email exploded. I was downloading hundreds of email per day from people who have read the book. Some just wanted to say thanks! Others wanted to share their review of the book and their thoughts. Others have questions about certain parts of the book – – or questions about WordPress, in general.

I did actually have one marriage proposal haha!

It didn’t take very long for me to start doing what I said I wouldn’t do — not responding to my readers.

I had this lofty goal of vowing to respond to each and every single email I recieved from readers of the book. I really want to know and hear how helpful it is, and love hearing from people who have read it. I’m tickled to pieces that people take the time to write an email to let me know how it has helped them and how much they liked and appreciate the book! It kills me that I’m having such a difficult time getting through all the email and trying to respond to them all. Got any e-mail handling advice/ideas you care to share??

So.. onto the future…
I have gotten quite a few emails asking about the future of the book — and it’s a GOOD question! Obviously, WordPress is a platform in motion and one of the biggest challenges in writing this book was keeping up with the fast-paced, ever-evolving development surrounding the project. The book covered the three different versions of the software (WordPress.Com, WordPress.Org and WordPress MU) – so you can only imagine the scrabbling I did over here just keeping up with updates during the 9 months I was writing the book.

WordPress changes – – the book will try to keep up. What does that mean for people who have purchased the book…and future purchases of the book?

For right now… the book is current and up to date
The book, as it stands right now, is current and up to date. It gives all WordPress users a very good introduction to the software and its various different options. Options and features get enhanced and built upon in planned future releases.. and one of the biggest changes coming in WordPress 2.5 (the .Org self-hosted version) is the Administration Panel design changes.

As WordPress evolves.. so does the book. As a matter of fact, as I sit here and write this blog post – I have the WordPress.Org chapters open on my computer and am in the process of updating that part of the book so that it reflects the upcoming release of WordPress.Org 2.5.

What if I already bought the book…do I need to buy it again when you updated it??
That is a strong and resounding NO.

Now, let me clarify. Wiley Publishing has provided me with the opportunity to provide updates in PDF format that will be available for FREE download from my site, and from the Dummies.com website.

Every 18 – 24 months, or so, Wiley will have me write a revision to the book that will be printed and released in paperback form. Wiley is not planning a revision on the book until somewhere around August – November 2009.

In the meantime, I will give my readers access to free updates as I put them out….and, of course, as Wiley approves them.

Small updates with reprints
As it happened in January of ’08 – Wiley ran out of their printed stock of the book and had to go to a second re-print in order to continue to fill orders. When that happens, my editor does contact me and asks me if there are any revisions or changes that I’d like to submit before it goes to reprint. At this point, I am allowed to change up to 5% of the content…and that’s it.

This time around – I changed a few things for the reprinting. No major changes.. there were small itty bitty mistakes in the original printing… nothing major, just a caption on a screenshot that was incorrect (if you have the book, it is Figure 2-2 in Chapter Two – if you look at the caption and then look at the image, you’ll see that it does really coincide). I also had them change the details in the WordPress.Com chapters regarding the amount of disk space available with your free WordPress.Com account (it used to be 50MB – – but very recently, Matt Mullenweg announced that Automattic made the VERY generous gesture of providing 3Gigabytes of free disk space with each account!)

I KNEW this would happen…
Back when I was still in the negotiating stages for this book – I did forewarn the folks at Wiley that the WordPress For Dummies book would be the ‘Never Ending Story’ in the world of blog platform books…probably moreso than any other book they’ve released on software – I could be wrong, but WordPress development moves pretty darned fast!

They understood and moved forward with the project, with the plan to provide free updates to readers on the authors (that’s me!) website, and their own Dummies.com website, in between publishing new editions of the book.

I have also started the blog: WPAssist that I try to keep up to date with information about the various versions of WordPress… news, updates, resources, etc,etc.

WordPress For Dummies has taken on a life of its own – – and, along with the various WordPress projects, will continue to evolve as a resource for people who are new to WordPress, in all it’s different forms.

Will Lisa Sabin-Wilson always be the author of future editions??
This is a good question and right now, for the foreseeable future – the answer is yes.

There are at least a few dozen people I could name, off the top of my head, who are MORE than qualified to author this book. People have asked how I came to be the one? I made a contact at the SXSW Conference in 2006 that lead to the eventual contact with Wiley Publishing and the subsequent contract. It was a ‘Right place.. Right time’ kind of situation.

My contract has a ‘right of first refusal’ clause written into it that gives me first rights to authoring future editions of the book whenever Wiley decides it’s time (as stated, every 18-24 months, or so). If there comes a time where I am unable to continue with the project, we will look for a suitable replacement to continue with the project as time goes on…. or, if it gets to be too big of a project for me to continue handling on my own — we’ll be looking for a co-author.

Have you gone crazy yet??
Not yet… that is because my kung foo is strong. 🙂

Again with the thanks!
I can’t say it often enough – but a HUGE thanks to those of you who have purchased and read the book… and to those of you who have taken the time to write a review on Amazon.com about it, written a review on your own blog or have written privately to me about it!

And, again – if you have emailed me.. please know that my email box seriously overfloweth! If you have not heard back from me, it is not because I have not read your email…. or, worse, that I don’t care. I’m facing a bit of a challenge trying to manage all the email that has come in…this mini internet fame thing is sorta newish, so please bare with me as I work to try and develop a better system of responding to the overwhelming amount of mail that I’ve been getting in the past month or two.

Ok..moving on, then!

80 thoughts on “WordPress For Dummies: The Never Ending Story”

  1. @Mike – I understand busy 🙂 Glad to know the update is helpful to know.

    And holy stumble, Mike! So far, Stumble accounts for 366 hits to this post in the last 45 minutes. :)>-

  2. @David – ha! I provided the link because I wasn’t sure how many folks would get the quote? There’s the question for you … did you know the quote reference before you clicked the link, or after?? Great flick! DJ Qualls as Rat was my fav. character in it. :)>-

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  4. I knew already — I watched that movie a dozen times on cable! I loved Rat – his interaction with the General was priceless. Great performances in that movie – shame it was so poorly received…

    (» Read david’s last blog post..Nineteen Below)

  5. Congratulations, Lisa. I’m not surprised to see it so highly ranked at Amazon. It is a terrific book!

    I bought the book right after it came out and I’ve learned a lot myself even though I think I know quite a bit about WordPress.

    You might like to know that the FIR Book Review podcast that my colleague Dan York and I did of the book last November has had close to 1,000 downloads so far.

    I’d like to think that some of those listeners went ahead and bought the book.

    Looking forward to your updates!

  6. @tyfn I have looked into the NV conference.. both because it’s topical to what I do and because I absolutely adore Vancouver! One of these years, I’m going to have to break down and attend 🙂 See you at SXSW and thanks! :)>-

  7. @david – not to hijack my own blog post and turn it into a movie discussion.. but The Core was really a fantastic film, and I”m totally with you on the reviews..total shame. Another film that got poor reviews but was incredible was Man on Fire with Denzel Washington – – amazing film, great acting, fantastic cinematography….poor reviews. Go figure.

    “I couldn’t think as slow as you if I tried”

  8. @Neville – thanks so much for stopping by! I’m really happy to hear the book ahs been helpful – – I think there’s a little bit in there for everyone, no matter what type of WordPress experience they have.

    Thanks for the stats on the podcst – I really enjoyed doing it, you & Dan were great!

    Take care!

  9. I enjoyed the book, but I think I enjoy your sites more. But if I hadn’t bought the book, I never would have found your sites. What is WordCamp Dallas?

    (» Read Debbie’s last blog post..The Monk)

  10. Lisa,
    Huge Congrats on the Book!

    I have one problem, and one bit of advice. (Usually I have way more problems.)

    -Problem: I just installed xmark theme, love it, and can’t figure out how to get title moved further right. I added some non-breaking spaces, hurridly, in a non-technical-dweeblike-manner, and it also moved the footer over. Give me a heads up when you can.

    -Advice: I’m posting here about the xmark theme because you haven’t posted over there in a couple of months. I understand you being swallowed up right now. My advice… get somebody familiar with your theme to help with posts and comments over there. I’m sure there are lots of people qualified, and who would love to help. If you’re developing a “fan base”, then you need to 1. feed and care for them 2. draw from that base to help with things you need help with.

    Best of luck with everything!!!

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  12. Hi Lisa,
    I’m actually using your book right now to setup a new WP site. I bought my domain through Yahoo, then pointed it to my webhosting company’s dns servers. Following the steps you outlined in Chapter 6, I got to the part about entering my domain name/wp-admin/install.php. When I get there, I get the error that Firefox cannot find the server at my domain name. Since I pointed my domain last weekend, I would think the redirect is complete.

    This is my second WP website setup with my hosting company, if that makes a difference.

    (» Read Debbie’s last blog post..A Vicious Cycle)

  13. I’m SOOOO behind in responding to blog comments here.. please excuse my rudeness! I’ve been literally buried.. so here I go….

    @Debbie – you can find information on what WordCamp is on this blog post done at Blogging Pro Glad you’re enjoying the book!

    @mon@rch and @Fantasty – Thank you very much!

    @Linsdey – you rawk and I love you 😡

    @Dino – thank you SO much!!

    @zobibi – I’m unsure if Wiley Publishing is planning a French translated version of the book. I can write to my editor and find out and then update here when I know more!

    @balootisme – thanks, man! 😀

    @dennis – I know I need to update my xMark blog.. it’s terribly out of date. Things got so crazy with writing the book up until September of 07 that when I was done… I got really busy with catching up on other things in life that got put on the back burner while writing the book. I’m beginning to see the light of day, though…so hopefully you’ll be seeing updates there soon.. thanks for the motivation! On editing the xMark theme – sounds like you need to make edits to the CSS file to get it to do what you want. look for the ‘.site_title’ element in the CSS and edit the padding properties to move it around.

    @Dobbs – thank you for helping up those Amazon rankings of mine – – that is greatly appreciated! Let me know what you think when you finally get your hands on it!

    @Debbie – impossible for me to know what the problem is without knowing the domain you’re working with? It does sound like a DNS issue to me, not a WP issue. I know you submitted a ticket recently that Chris dealt with on your cats domain – – that domain looks to be loading fine with a brand spanking new wordpress install on it… has it been resolved for ya?

    WHEW!

  14. Yes, it appears I muddled my way through it and got it up. I assure you, I did not have a clue what I was doing, took me all day of logical thinking to figure it out. Might I suggest another Dummies book? Cpanel for Dummies? Webhosting for Dummies? The basics threw me…what are add on domains? Yikes!

    And then when I finished I checked my email and Chris had replied. I could have done it the easy way with Fantastico, except I didn’t know what Fantastico was!!! Internet terms for Dummies???

    (» Read Debbie’s last blog post..A Vicious Cycle)

  15. Thanks, Lisa!

    The book has been a HUGE help to me and helped me to get my first blog off the ground, finally.

    “Everyone” was talking about how eeeeeasy Word Press was, and I just couldn’t understand it, but your book has helped me, and now “I see the light!” 😉

  16. Hello Lisa:
    I’ve been reading about your book on-and-off for a few months, and finally snagged my copy from Borders last week. Really excellent book all the way, and does a great job of breaking down things into simpler pieces for better understanding and comprehension.

    I’ve had my WP site for my radio show since spring 2006 after using Blogger, and never looked back. The plugins make WordPress a killer app, most definitely.

    After wanting to do it for some time, I’ve finally started creating my own theme. I’ve followed an excellent tutorial, as well as brush up on my web development skills (XHTML, CSS, and current web standards). So far, the new design is looking good. Got a few ideas from your book too!

    The one thing that I did not get from your book, but got from WPAssist, was the easy-to-follow instructions on upgrading WordPress. I was petrified by the thought, but I followed the instructions and the upgrade was seamless.

    I’m looking forward to keeping up with your updates, and I hope to see you at a blogging conference in California. Thanks for what you do.

    (» Read Velanche’s last blog post..The Urban Landscapes Radioshow 11.04)

  17. @Velanche – thank you for stopping by and I’m glad the book is helping. I’m also glad you visited WPAssist! I started that website to add in some thing that the book didn’t.

    Unfortunately, when writing a book such as one of the Dummies brand – – editors are pretty strict with the author on keeping things pared down to a certain page count.. so just a few of the things I really wanted in the book, didn’t exactly make it in for lack of space…like the upgrade process.

    It’s why I started the WPAssist site, in hopes of including things that weren’t in the book, or expanding on ideas that were there, just not in a great deal of detail.

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  21. Lisa-

    I haven’t even finished the relevant chapters (for WordPress.org), but I already have my WP Blog showing up on the first page of Google!

    It’s so fun to see it there, even if it’s “Coming Soon”

    Thanks for an easy to follow book. Will be reading more of your site(s)!

    (» Read Elizabeth’s last blog post..Coming Soon)

  22. I’m about to order your book from Amazon, looking forward to reading it! I’m **especially** glad to hear that your publisher is allowing you to “future-proof” the book for your readers. Let them know that for me that sealed the deal!

    (» Read Luke’s last blog post..How To Read Anything In Chinese)

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  26. Hi Lisa –

    Wonderful book – it’s been very very helpful! This book was sorely needed, so thank you.

    Not sure I’m understanding your post, though: you say “the book is up to date” – I see no updates on the Dummies site, though. Am I looking in the wrong place, or are they still to come? It’s a shame the book is so new, yet does not reflect the latest version of WP (2.5). The Admin panel is all different now. I can’t figure out how to design the page, now that they’ve eliminated the drap and drop functionality. Help!! :((

  27. Hi Bob – happy to hear you’ve enjoyed the book, thank you!

    I updated my site with this post and announced that I have finished writing and handed in the bonus, free chapter that covers some of what is new in WordPress 2.5. I know it’s currently going through some copy editing at Wiley Publishing and they will release it as soon as its ready. You may want to subscribe to my RSS feed, as I do reguarly make updates here as to what is going on with the book.

    Also, I’m currently in the process of writing WordPress For Dummies, 2nd Edition which is due to be published early Fall ’08 which will cover up to version 2.6.

    Hope that answers your questions 🙂 Thanks for droping by!

  28. This is great news, Lisa. Both that the update is on its way AND that ed2 is coming this fall. Thanks for replying! I will add your feed right now.

    Now, back to figuring out how Kubrick works…

  29. Hi Lisa: I am very impressed with your website and your address. They are both great.
    I got the name of your book through SFImg.com I joined about 3 wks ago and am trying to figure out what to do first so I don’t lose the downline under me. I know nothing about doing a website/blog/etc but this looks like a good start. You mentioned a 2nd book on Blogging coming out this fall. Should I want to order that one or go ahead and get this one?
    I really like the Veriuni products sold through SFI and have done a lot of research on them. Also, we are Full-Time RV’ers; no real property anywhere. I would like to tie the lifestyle with the Veriuni somehow as I think they would mesh like peanut butter and jam.

    Thanks for taking the time to read this. I know you are buried with work. If you have time for a reply that would be great. I will next check out wordpress.com.
    Salli

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  31. Lisa….getting down on one knee…..will you marry me? *just kidding* lol!
    I was thinking of buying this book too, but I have been using WordPress since the 1.0 days, and I’m not too sure if I’ll learn much from reading it or not? but there are some topics I would like to know about….such as how to write a plugin (I don’t know how to do that) and what all the different theme filenames are, a reference of all the different wordpress tags, basically advanced topics, but I’m also confused about how to add gravatars, as I’m still used to the old way from gravatar.com, so I don’t know..

    Can I buy the book in PDF format instead of in printing? I am legally blind and I’m not able to read a textbook, so I usually use text to speech software for the computer that basically reads any MS word or Adobe PDF document to me, which would be handier for me then an actual book, is there something like that available I can purchase perhaps?

    take care,
    Tom

  32. @TCOBurn – Thanks for stopping by! Have to say, this is my first proposal by blog comment heh.

    You may want to wait until the second edition of my book is published, as it contains a great deal more information on wordpress plugins, themes, tags and design information than the first edition. Also, the second edition covers the most recent version of WordPress.. 2.6 – – possibly 2.7 if it’s released in time.

    The book is due to be published in November and will have an e-book companion, as well.

    The first edition does cover the wordpress template system – including tags and parameters.. so if you just can’t wait, there is an e-book version here

    If you want to wait for my second edition – the, in the meantime – you may want to download my free bonus chapter that I published when WordPress 2.5 came out – it does cover information on how to add gravatars. Its in PDF format and you can download that here.

    Thanks!

  33. Hi Lisa,

    I don’t know why, but it seems like the link to the electronic version of your book is no longer working.

    What I’m looking for is a book which should be able to explain WordPress in full detail, to the point that I should be able to run my own site, create my own templates and themes and modify the look and feel of it without any assistance. I have not read your book, but I hope that this is what I’m looking for. I’m not sure if I will get enough PHP and CSS there, but I hope it’s a good primer…

    I can’t wait for the updated version. Do you already know if and where it’s going to be available online?

    Thanks very much.

  34. I called Borders Books in San Diego to find out if they carry Word Press for Dummies. When they located the book, I asked the store clerk, “What year was it printed?” The store clerk had the book right in front of her. I waited, and waited, and waited for her to tell me the date the book was printed. It took her a lot longer than I expected to answer a simple question.

    So.. I asked the clerk what was taking so long. She told me she couldn’t find the date the book was printed. I thought that very, very odd. Maybe the clerk was not fully awake? Everyone knows that you can find the print date on one of the first few pages. I thought the store clerk was looney cartoony. She never did find it. So…

    I then went to the store to look at the book and I was amazed to see that the store clerk was right, the date the book was printed was not listed in the book. I thought that ridiculous. That’s a fantastic way to mislead the public into buying an older version of the book when the customer thinks they’re buying the latest version.

    Once the newer, 2008 edition comes out a Word Press n00bie won’t be able to determine if they just bought the old book or the new book. Lets say it’s 2009 or 2010. No matter who or where you buy the book, because the publication date is not listed, you might wind up buying the first edition that was published in a year prior to 2008, the edition that is obsolete.

    I find it incredible that the author and the publisher decided not to list the year the book was published. For the life of me, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a book that did not list the year it was printed. Doesn’t matter if other books around the world do it on a regular basis. We’re talking about a technical book here. All books that are technical in nature should alway list the year it was printed.

    Because the print date was omitted, and because I can’t verify the date it was printed, I did not buy the book.

  35. @Jasmine – open the book – turn the very first page (the yellow WordPress For Dummies cheatsheet). on the back of the cheatsheet it says “Copyright 2008 Wiley Publishing.”

    The turn the title page – it says “Copyright 2008 Wiley Publishing”

    Unsure why you and the Borders Book clerk had such issues.

    Happy to help 🙂

  36. Lisa – Before I read your reply, I checked my copy and was really surprised by the copyright date being 2008. I knew that couldn’t be quite right because I bought it in 2007. I’m sure about that because I bought it in West Towne Mall in Madison when we were there in December last year and we didn’t make it back to Wisconsin until September. Not that it really matters, though, since copyright duration is based on the life of the author and you’re going to be around a long, long, time yet.

    Oh, and I restumbled this post, just to see if you could get a resurgence on it. :d

  37. Thanks Mike! It was published, originally, in Nov. 2007. Then, it was reprinted twice. I wrote updates for the reprint in January..or Feb(?) 2008 Then I wrote more updates for the third reprint in March/April 2008. And this one is now an official 2nd edition to be published in December 08.

    I don’t know the logic publishers use when placing the copyright date – – ie. why yours says 08 when you bought it in 07 – but then, I’m just the author, what do I know? 🙂

    Thanks for the stumble!! 😀

  38. Lisa,

    the book that does not show the year it was published in is your first book, not the current one. I’m assuming that now obsolete book was published in 2007/2006/2005?

    There is no print date whatsoever listed in your first book. I didn’t see it, the Borders Book store clerk didn’t see it. Too bad some people will pick it up off the shelf or order it from an e-merchant, turn to page one or two to look for the print date, and then buy it thinking that it’s the current, latest, most recent release. If they bought it from an e-merchant they’ll have to mail it back.

    I’m wondering why you didn’t list the print date on page one of your first book/first release. That would help avoid any potential confusion and hassle mailing it back to an e-merchant.

    I haven’t seen your new 2008 book. I didn’t know it was out until just now.

  39. Jasmine – I’m looking at a copy of the very first released copy of the book, and both places I mentioned in my previous comment to you lists the copyright year of 2008. Not sure what else to say, I’m sorry you didn’t see it. Additionally, when the Second Edition gets released – – they take the First Edition out of print; it will no longer be available. So, the only edition that is ever available at your bookstore will always be the most recent edition… unless you’re shopping used, in which case…yes, you will have to look for the date – which you can find on the inside pages.

    For online shoppers, most online merchants who carry the book also list the publish date. BarnesandNoble does. Amazon does. Most online merchants do.

    Additionally, if you really have an issue with this – writing to the publishing company about their policies and practices on this would be the best method: http://wiley.com. I am positive they would very much welcome your feedback on this topic.

    Thanks!

  40. Lisa,

    there’s a bit of confusiong going on here.

    You said:

    “I’m looking at a copy of the very first released copy of the book, and both places I mentioned in my previous comment to you lists the copyright year of 2008.”

    I thought you had two WP4D books out on the market.

    The first book, a.k.a. the out dated book, that I thought was printed prior to 2008 (2006/2007?). But…according to you (see statement above) it was printed in 2008?

    And then there’s the second book: the second book, a.k.a. the most recent release, a.k.a. the current edition, a.k.a. the most up to date version, is a book that was published in 2008.

    So you have two books, the one that’s out dated and the other that’s up to date, that were both published in 2008?

  41. Lisa,

    I read your response to Mike up above. I see that your first book was released in 2007, with two updates made to it in 2008.

    You said:

    “So, the only edition that is ever available at your bookstore will always be the most recent edition… unless you’re shopping used, in which case…yes, you will have to look for the date – which you can find on the inside pages.”

    Yesterday I called my local library. They carry your book. I asked them if they had it in stock on the shelf or if it was checked out. The librarian used his computer to verify that the book was in stock. He then put me on hold while he went to locate the book, which is standard operating procedure for my library, and then came back to the phone.

    I asked him which version of the book it was, was it the new, up to date 2008 edition, or the older edition printed in some other year, a year prior to 2008?

    He said the book print date was not listed in the inside page.

    So… that makes three people who learned that the publisher of your book did not list the print date in all of your books: a Borders bookstore employee, a city librarian, and myself.

    I don’t know what’s going on, but something is not right. You state that your publisher printed the publish date, in your words, on the “inside pages” of the book (see statement above). Unless you inspected each and every book, not all of your books list the print date.

    Let me make this perfectly clear: This is not rocket science. People who are literate and experienced with books know that they can locate the print date in a book by going to pages 1-10. But in the one WP4D book that is stocked at Borders Books, the print date, according to the Borders Books employee, was non-existant. A day or two later I verified the employees statement when I went to Borders to look at the book.

    Ditto for the book at my local library.

    You said:

    “I don’t know the logic publishers use when placing the copyright date – – ie. why yours says 08 when you bought it in 07.”

    I don’t understand some of their logic either. We’re not talking War and Peace.

    When it comes to technical books the publisher needs to understand that misleading the public doesn’t help those of us who are trying to learn something that is fluid in nature and is potentially, obsolete tomorrow. To print a technical book in 2007 and then mislead the consumer into thinking it was printed in 2008 is unforgivable.

    I understand it’s all about money and profit. But if you care about what’s right, you’d take this up with your publisher: Some of your books have an inaccurate print date. Other books don’t have a print date listed at all. None of this should matter to the WP veteran. But the n00bs out there, the ones just starting out, won’t know the difference until it’s too late.

  42. Jasmine – No confusion at all. I have one book out right now – the first edition. I’m currently writing the second edition, due to be published in Dec 08.

    If you feel mislead – you’re barking up the wrong tree here. I write the content and submit it. The publisher does all the rest.

    My copy has the date – that’s all I can say to you. Why they would print some with a date and some without, I don’t know.

    You obviously feel mislead and feel there is some conspiracy at play here so I’ve submitted your complaint to the publishing company in the absence of your ability to do the same. Perhaps they’ll contact you and you can take this discussion up with the right person.

    Thanks 🙂

  43. I have the first edition of the book. Signed, as a matter of fact. I turned it over. On the back cover, right next to the ISBN barcode, there is a Wiley logo box. In the box it says 1807, under that it has a Wiley logo and then, wouldn’t you know, it says 2007 right under that.

    I would assume, being a “Dummy”, that’s the year of publication. I didn’t need instructions to find it either.

  44. Okay – So I’m sick, and I’m going through the book because I MUST understand all this, and I did the really cool index page – and I set up everything the way you told me to. But WP won’t see my little new theme. It tells me that the thing’s broken. That is doesn’t have a style sheet. What about style.css ISN’T a style sheet? So I can’t see if it worked, and I don’t know where I’m supposed to go to ask this question, which is probably a brain-dead question which is only right, because that’s about how I feel just now. Did I mention that I really prefer Puffs over toilet paper?

    Dang it – I wanna see if I got it right. This is IMPORTANT to me. And by the way, the book is delightful. Sassy tone. Clear instructions. Cough, cough. Head banging against wall.

    1. KDR – oh I hope you’re feeling better soon. And sorry your blog is sick, too – but you didn’t give me a link to it so I could have a quick look and suggest a solution for you. I do a lot of things, but mindreading is (unfortunately) not one of them 😀

      The style.css is the stylesheet, you are correct. Does your theme have a header.php file that calls the stylesheet in? If it doesn’t, it must.

      Your header.php template should have a line tha looks like:


      @import url( < ?php bloginfo('stylesheet_url'); ?> );
      < / style>

      A great place to go for support on using WordPress is the WordPress Forums: http://wordpress.org/support/

      Good luck!

  45. Oh, oh – the wonderful Lisa done wrote back to this sicko. What a mensch. Okay. I’m going through the book, and I made a new folder in themes as instructed, and I schlepped in the files you told me to from the Default theme (right? Is this right?) I don’t know how I can give you a link to it, because I can’t select the dang theme. The blog is http://www.krandle.com/SmithingtheWord . To see it, you’ll have to go into the admin, yes? You see how wet behind the ears I am? I have searched the net since I wrote to you, and a lot of people seem to have this problem with certain themes. But this one, I’m doing myself of course.

    The default header has this line: <link rel=”stylesheet” href=”” type=”text/css” media=”screen” /> So I think we’re covered there.

    Very frustrating. I was SO careful to get every semi colon in place. I tried the support forum. There was a topic, but no answers. Please do NOT get my cold from reading this too closely.

  46. Oh. No. She went away. And I was so hopeful. I decided just to go on through the book, but it seems there are more fun things to build on this MyTheme assignment. Je suis triste.

  47. Lisa. I got it. I found a guy at urbangiraffe who was dissecting Kubrick, and the first thing he did was get into the CSS stylesheet and change all of the stuff about name, designer, etc. As soon as I changed all of that, WP would accept the style sheet, and I’m in business. I’m kind of pleased with myself.

    Thanks again for the book. My son thinks I’m wonderful – most moms evidently don’t dabble in code. Especially ancient moms. But I love it. Your book has been a wonderful help, as I said above. Sorry about the multiple posts. But I thought you might like to know how I solved it. You really are quite wonderful.

  48. Pingback: Blogging: Selecting a WordPress Theme

  49. geting very very frustrated here, it would seem evident that i need a book like wordpress for dummies. or maybe not

    does it say in your book on how to delete my wordpress revision post, and i mean does it really say it , not some text like use mysql + jargon jargon crap. lol as you can tell im very anoyed with this, wordpress really impressed me when i first found it , yet now i think its really stupid , why the hell does wordpress not have a very simple request implimented into the website .a delte revision button for example. too difficult for them to come up with or what? i mean i cant belive how such a simple action proves to be so illusive.
    ive seen video on this yet they assume i have this thing called mysql. maybe i do i dont know, and if i do where is it and how do i run it , how do i use it .do i have to pay for it ect ect………

    this very very simple thing i need to know so i can then continue my blog , which is slow becasue there so many revisions!!!! :(:(:(:(:(:(:((:((:((:((:((

    god i hate it when such simplicity is converted to needless elusive complexity , im sure its probly very simple to do, but evey solution assumes i know or have prior knowledge of this or that, i await a simple solution in plain easy to understand step by step instuction.,:-w

  50. right now in plain english where is the plug inns installer? is it on the site, note im using wordpress.com not .org. will this be a problem?, and if i have to use .org in order to allow plug inns that just generates more questions like how the hell do i install wordpress from the dot.org site 8-|

    i really though i was going to me on my way with wordpress. but it really seems to suck.

  51. If you’re not using .Org – then you don’t have access to plugins at all. I suggest hitting up the WordPress.Com support forums with your question, as they do not have a way, within the user Dashboard, to delete revisions. Perhaps your question to them in the support forums may spark a new feature, you never know! Goodluck.

  52. thank you lisa. is there a way i can take my blog to the dot org one with the same user name?, its so stupid that theres no option to delete those revisions. things make a little more sense now. but now del option for the dot com one is like throwing logic out of the window. i think i will but your book afterall. thanks for a straight forward response

    take care

  53. Sure – you can register the domain name of your choice, obtain a web hosting account, install the WordPress software and then export your entries from your WordPress.Com blog into your new WordPress.Org blog and you’ll be off an running. If you plan to purchase my book – there are clear step by step instructions for you on how to do all of the above. Again – good luck and happy holidays! :)>-

  54. Newbie to WordPress and i have just created a new website with wordpress installed in a seperate directory. I have index and htaccess file in root directly and got the links working for my main navigation. Unfortunately stylesheet underscore url is not pointing to default css. How do i fix it, pls? thanks

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