Kay Bee said
You really need to know your stuff if you want to easily get anything out of this book. The main problems I had were (1) As mentioned in prior reviews, the book's formatting is horrible. Was the publisher trying to save money by cramming so much on one page? A little white space and margins PLEASE!!!
(2) No CD or online resource to download the code. THAT'S A LOT OF CODE! C'mon!! And even though Amazon's price is $25+, the suggested retail price in the US is something like $44. That is a lot of money to shell out without this important resource. Couple that with the problem mentioned in #1 and you'll seriously be cross-eyed before its all over. I returned it.
D. Day said
Let me preface this review by saying this is NOT a beginner Wordpress book. That said, the folks who leave a mediocre review for this book due to this being over their head are ridiculous. If your looking for a book that teaches you "how to get started" with wordpress this is not your book. You will NOT find sections on how to create a post, add tags, install plugins, etcetera. This book is to teach you how to do advanced secure installs, understand the wordpress framework, template tags (the code snippets that make things work), how to create themes and plugins, and start working with some examples.
This book was an amazing for me because of where I am at in my wordpress development. Before reading this book I knew how to install wordpress, set up permalinks, work with .htaccess files, create posts, add plugins, and even do some minor tweaking. I did not however understand the core code concepts of wordpress that make it work, thus I could not advance beyond an "advanced beginner." When I would go to read advanced wordpress books they were all written in techie speak and I always ended up feeling lost.
Enter Smashing Wordpress:
From the moment I started reading this book it was right at the level I needed. I had finished my knowledge of the beginner to mid level stages of wordpress and Smashing Wordpress took me to a solid level of advanced wordpress techniques and theme/plugin building. It is written in PLAIN ENGLISH and not techie speak like most advanced technology books (please remember you must have a solid beginner level understanding or this book will seem complicated).
If your looking to start understanding all that code that makes themes and plugins work and you have a solid understanding of the basics of wordpress this book is for you.
From the very first chapter this book I stated to absorb the wordpress code concepts and advanced techniques I was craving to learn. I am half way through this book and I am quickly becoming the advanced wordpress theme creator that I have been wanting to be. (This book will also give you a solid ability to modify even the most advanced themes)
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED TO WORDPRESS USERS READY TO UNDERSTAND AND BUILD OR MODIFY WORDPRESS THEME AND PLUGINS.
J. Crandall said
I don't want to bash the smash, but this book was WAY over my head. I would only recommend this book if you are mid-to advanced level PHP coder. I purchased it before there were any reviews, which was my own darn fault, but being a web designer for 10 years I thought I would be ready for an intermediate level book. I am new to wordpress and I have been hearing from other designers that the WP backbone can be used to create killer CMS, so I bought this book as an introduction. Oops. I got about 4 pages into it before I realized that I should have started with an entry level book. I am going to put this book on the shelf and save it until I have a better working knowledge of WP and PHP. It appears to be very well written and conversational, and the layout and colors are quite nice (I agree with the other reviewer that the margins are too tight and crowd the pages). If you ARE a curent WP user and PHP advanced user, this might be the perfect book for you.
J. D. Brewer said
This is a good intro into customizing wordpress if you have a mid-to-high-level PHP background. The author doesn't waste any time introducing html, css, or php, which is good. A lot of good insight into template design and how to use it to do much more than a blog approach. There are specific examples (Wordpress as CMS, as a Gallery, using e-commerce, and so forth). After the author introduces basic Wordpress concepts and inner workings, the next largest section is on template design. Then a small section on plugins, and the rest of the book about going beyond a blog format with the examples mentioned earlier.
There is nothing here about ajax, which is a disappointment to me, so one star off. It is more and more prevalent and I was hoping to see at least a few examples of ajax queries occurring inside of the WP framework. I expected this topic to be covered but it is not even mentioned. Also, there is no coverage of using custom database tables for plugins that use more data than you'd be comfortable with in the WP Options table, so another star taken off. It does give decent coverage to using the WP Options table for data storage however. I would think that something intent on "smashing" wordpress would have taken it just that little bit farther. All in all however I am glad of the purchase because there is a ton of good stuff that I will definitely reference in customizing wordpress sites.
Mark Luetke said
I am fairly new to web design and wordpress theme development and have been searching for ways to go beyond the typical wordpress theme. This book gives you exactly what it says it will. It really does go beyond the blog. This is by far the most thorough wordpress themeing book I have found. The content within this book is dense and every bit of it is useful.
I would not recommend this book to the absolute beginner unless you really like jumping headfirst into the very deep end. You really need to have at least a moderate understanding of html css and php to get through this book. The author is able able to cover as much as he does in large part by assuming you can keep up.
The biggest problem with this book and the only reason I am not giving it 5 stars is the layout. I have heard this complaint regarding other books from smashing magazine and unfortunately it is very true. The guys at smashing mag are brilliant web designers but would do well to hire some equally brilliant print designers to layout their books. The biggest problem is the inner margins of the book. They have been designed as though this book were to be read on a vertical blog with identical margins on both pages instead of reflected margins resulting in having to force the book open to read the left page. Sorry to go on about this but it really is a big problem and I hope they will fix this in future versions (or at least in future publications).
Pros:
1. Spectacular content not found in any other single book
2. Covers up and coming wordpress features such as child themes
3. Tutorials for designing functioning job boards, faq knowledge bases, e-commerce sites, portfolio sites and more
4. 2 chapters on functions.php and plugin development
5. Too many great things content wise to list!
Cons:
1. Not recommended for the beginner
2. Layout of the book is quite poor and makes reading difficult
Overall:
If you are serious about creating your own wordpress themes and have experience with css html and php then this is absolutely the book you want.
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