GUIDE TO BUILDING

AMAZING WEBSITES
WITH WORDPRESS
 The WordPress Plugin Repository
WordPress is a great open-development community that encourages its users to innovate. But a
few years ago, it started getting hard to keep up with those innovations. That’s when the
WordPress Plugin Repository was born (currently hosted at http://WP-plugins.org).
The repository is a place where all WordPress plugins are pulled together and shared with the
community of users. But more than that, it’s a place where developers can go to see what’s
already out there, what they can base their new work on, and what needs to be improved. In
addition to end-user utilities that anyone can download for their WordPress needs, there are
plenty of development tools, including wiki-based version control and a bug tracker, that the
WordPress development community is welcomed to use. Everything is licensed under GPL
unless noted in the source, so almost everything is open.
If you’re new to the WordPress plugin repository but not to the WordPress support forums, you
should login with your forum username and password; they are currently synced. If you have any
problems, you should email the forum webmaster to ask what’s going on. Only logged-in users
may edit on the Repository, though everyone is welcome to view what’s going on.
What’s Available on the WordPress Plugin Repository?
The Repository is designed to be a complete, organized, efficient method of seeing what’s in
development and what has been developed for WordPress. As such, the core offerings here are
the plugin directory and a robust version control mechanism. You can also use a special interface,
downloadable for free, to work with the Repository more easily. The Repository is powered by
Trac, a source control management and project management tool. Subversion is a wiki tool
providing version control, and is also the source management tool WordPress is using today.
Developers using this directory can host all their WordPress developments for free, even
organizing teamwork through the WordPress Plugin Repository. By hosting here, they have high
visibility, can easily manage their code and track bugs, and develop wiki-based documentation
with end users more easily than they could ever do it by themselves.
But developers without users are like stores without customers. WordPress users, too, are
welcome to download plugins that are in alpha or beta form, or to download and use the plugins
that are fully-functional but not integrated into WordPress yet. There are tools available for users
to:
-> Browse plugins and themes available at the Repository
-> Download all desired plugins and themes from one stable location
-> Give their own feedback and suggestions to developers by using the tracker.
-> Help develop documentation and improvements by using the plugin’s wiki page.
-> Know what’s going on at all times by using RSS feeds.
Anyone developing or looking for WordPress plugins and themes is encouraged to use this
resource. An email will get you the hosting you need for your project, and just coming and looking
around will tell you a lot about what’s going on in the WordPress development world.
What Plugins Are Available Right Now?
While plugins are changing fast, a few core plugins are available and certainly worth the time
they’ll take to check out. The best ones right now include:
Main Categories for WordPress allows you select “main” categories on your blog’s navigation bar.
This allows you to highlight the parts of your blog you find most important, while still displaying
everything else.
The WordPress DBManager manages your WordPress database so you don’t have to. Instead of
worrying about lost data, you can use this manager to optimize, back up, restore, delete backed
up databases, and even run queries for specific data.
WordPress Email allow you to send your blog entries to friends, enemies, or anyone you choose.
WordPress PageNavi gives you advanced page navigation.
WordPress Polls allows you to run the ever-popular polls and make the results public when you’re
ready.
WordPress PostRatings allows you to have rating systems for your blog posts.
WordPress PostViews lets you display for users and for yourself how many times a post has been
viewed.
WordPress Print will display for the user a printable version of any given WordPress blog post.
WordPress RelativeDate displays a relative date beside your post or comment actual date.
WordPress Stats displays WordPress statistics you want to brag about.
WordPress UserOnline allows you to note which users are currently browsing your blogs
WordPress Wap allows you to use a Wap-enabled cell phone to brows your WordPress blog
entries from anywhere.
Other projects that are in development include:
-> Joystick controls
-> RPMView
-> A WordPress XHTML validator
-> Tons of tools for Python, including MySQL tools
-> Recording level monitor
-> An admin themer
-> A post editor enhancement
-> Fix broken links
-> Palm usage manager
There are always new things in development in the repository, like new themes and small fixes
such as a way to make WordPress allow dashes.
Even if you’re not a developer or interested in expanding your blog beyond what it has now, it is a
good idea to check out the Repository. It’s certain that many of the plugins provided or in
development today will eventually be incorporated into the newer upgrades of WordPress. By
keeping an eye on the Repository, you’ll know what new developments are around the corner and
by logging in and discussing them on the wiki logs, you’ll be able to give your own input regarding
how things ought to be done. While there are other places to find WordPress plugins, it’s to be
hoped that most people will use the Repository in the future, making life easier for everyone.
Are WordPress Templates Difficult To Understand?

One of the things that seems to put people off using the WordPress software on their own site (as
opposed to the hosted WordPress blog site) is the technical side of the process involving
WordPress templates and themes. Theres a lot of talk about code, PHP, CSS and plenty of other
confusing abbreviations that dont mean a lot to many people! This is unfortunate, as a WordPress
blog can make such a big impact on web pages, and can even be used as a standalone website
once you get your domain name and hosting sorted out.
Understanding the way WordPress works, installing the software, and figuring out how the
templates fit in to themes does require a bit of techie know-how. It is not as hard as it first appears
though, and thankfully, for those of us who are a bit technically challenged, there are some
excellent guides and resources that can help make the process a whole lot smoother.
The WordPress templates are the backbone of the themes used to build the WordPress blog
pages. Themes come in all manner of styles and designs, and can be customized by altering the
layouts, installing WordPress plugins and by adding or changing the templates. WordPress
templates are basically just a bunch of files that together make up the themes for your WordPress
blog site. Generally, a default set of templates for WordPress themes would include some of
these essential files:
-> index.php this is the main template file for your WordPress blog
-> header.php the header template
-> footer.php the footer template
-> page.php for creating WordPress pages
-> single.php for creating WordPress posts
-> sidebar.php the WordPress blog page navigation
-> style.css the stylesheet that makes up the layout for your WordPress blog.
These are just the basics; there are many more WordPress templates that can be added to
customize your blog; for example, links, search forms, archive posts and WordPress blog
comments.
Another confusing aspect for some people is the mention of template tags. Again, these are not
as difficult to understand as they first seem. They are basically just bits of code to help the
WordPress templates to perform their job properly. The tags within the templates contain the
instructions to make your WordPress blog a cleverly designed set of pages!
One of the great things about WordPress templates is that you can customize them to design
individual blog pages as well as post pages. The pre-defined templates will usually apply to all the
pages on your WordPress blog, but you can add, remove or change the other template files to
create unique items on each page.
If you consider the WordPress templates as the mechanics of the themes, you can hopefully
begin to understand how they work together to create a WordPress blog.
 Why You Should Use WordPress As Your Choice
Blogging Platform
There is no doubt that the blogging has changed the internet as we know it today. The days of
boring, stale, static content websites are over. Bloggers have become a source of fresh and
interesting content for internet users across the world. The blogosphere is constantly evolving and
changing thanks to this seemingly unending stream of interesting information published by regular
people like you. The great thing about the blogosphere is that anyone can contribute to it. You
can start blogging and get your word out there today with a great open source blogging platform
known as WordPress. Install this software on your website and you can have a blog up and
running in no time. Never heard of WordPress? Well these top companies and publications have:
-> The New York Times
-> Yahoo’s Corporate Blog
-> CNN’s Political Ticker
-> Sony Playstation Blog
-> Southwest Airlines
The list goes on and on…
You’re probably thinking: if all these huge companies use this software called WordPress, it’s
probably too complicated for a beginning blogger like me. That is just absolutely wrong.
WordPress is very simple to use and anyone can start blogging with it. The reason why such
large companies and small-time bloggers alike use WordPress is the simplicity, flexibility, and
easy of use. Let’s not forget WordPress is absolutely free and open source. Here are some of the
benefits of using WordPress as your blogging platform of choice:
-> An easy to use blogging platform. Write in a WYSIWYG editor, save drafts, and publish when
you’re ready.
-> A huge community full of support, free templates, plugins, and additional addons and
modifications for your blog
-> A dynamic theming system, change the look of your entire blog with one click.
-> Generate “SEO-friendly” permalinks with the click of a button.
-> Built-in RSS feed functionality.
-> Categorize and tag your blog posts.
-> Create static pages.
-> Integrated search box.
-> Automatic pinging to the top blog ping services.
The possibilities are literally endless…
With the thousands upon thousands of other blogs running WordPress, it’s popularity is
undeniable. Give it a test drive yourself by signing up for a free hosted blog at WordPress.com or
take the plunge and host it yourself. Take advantage of the variety of free tools and resources
associated with this popular open source blogging software. Happy blogging!
 Available Now: Step-by-Step
Guide to Building Amazing
Websites with WordPress

Reserve Your WordPress Guide and Receive a

Free Copy of Our Website Traffic Guide!