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Digging Into WordPress Book Review

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Back in November of 2009 Chris Coyier and Jeff Starr released their book titled “Digging Into WordPress” which has become one of the leading books in this niche.

With over 400 pages, 9 chapters and covering over 40 different subjects this is one of the most extensive WordPress related books out there. Chris and Jeff were nice enough to get me a free copy of their E-Book so I could check it out.

Result? Love at first site!

I really enjoyed this book and it taught me so much, that I have decided to write a quick review or “introduction” of the book so you can see what the whole fuzz is about and if this book is good for you. So here’s my Digging Into WordPress Review….

A Quick Intro To Digging Into WordPress

As I said earlier this book is a comprehensive guide to WordPress but it doesn’t cover all the little impractical facts about the platform, rather it provides you with 400 pages of practical information to turn you from a wp-novice to wp-guru.

As the name suggest this book has done some “digging” to bring you not only all the basic facts and tutorials for WordPress but also some new and powerful techniques that even the most experienced WordPress user may not know.

You will begin by learning the basics of installation, set-up, and anatomy then move towards more advanced topics such as theme/plugin development, comment for creation, securing your site and even some tips on how to maintain and keep a healthy blog.

The Chapters

Something very important for me and probably many people is to look at the various chapters of a book before making my purchase. This way you can see exactly what topics will be covered and if it is a right fit for you.

So let’s take a quick look at the various chapters of Digging Into WordPress

  • Chapter 1 – Welcome To WordPress
  • Chapter 2 –  Setting Up WordPress
  • Chapter 3 – Anatomy of a WordPress Theme
  • Chapter 4 – Theme Design and Development
  • Chapter 5 – Extending Functionality
  • Chapter 6 – Working with RSS Feeds
  • Chapter 7 – Working with Comments
  • Chapter 8 – Search Engine Optimization
  • Chapter 9 – Maintaining a Healthy Site

More Then Expected

Just looking at the generic chapters you will think it is pretty basic and straight forward, however, these are merely the broader chapter titles, but every chapter has also been divided into tons of sections. For example the SEO section breaks down into sections such as duplicate content, scoring with Google, optimizing permalink structure and more!

Samples, Samples, Samples

This is something that really makes Digging Into WordPress stand out from many other sites out there, which is why I have repeated it 3 times.

This book not only instructs you on many different aspects of WordPress, but it also gives you tons of different examples so you can see the tip, hack or tutorial in action. The PDF version even gives you tons of great links to live samples or to other sites to learn more about a subject.

With the great use of samples and clear discussion of topics this book is perfect for advanced and amateur WordPress users alike. You will find that even the hard subjects can be quite easy when they are so perfectly described and guided by these 2 geniuses.

Sexiness

Here is a word I do not use often when describing a book, but I found it very fitting for this case…Digging into WordPress is sexy.

I own a copy of the E-Book and it is beautiful. One of the first things I noticed was how well everything was laid out and easy to navigate. Not to mention that it has a very elegant design with the perfect typography, blank-space to text ratio and good use of imagery. So not only is the content good but it is also quite pleasing to the eyes.

The Big Question. Should You Buy It?

This is a very enjoyable book to read with tons and tons of great information and will help you learn a lot more about WordPress. You can not be a “WordPress Guru” if you have never read Digging Into WordPress.

I believe the $27 will be money well spent and you will be quite grateful you bought the book. My final rating – a solid 5/5.

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5 Comments

  1. cho ho

    I would like to have your coupon code, thanks a lot.

    • AJ Clarke | WPExplorer

      Unfortunately we don’t have one anymore ;(

  2. Foolinnh

    Is this a good resource for someone who is not a techie and wants to start from scratch? Thanks

    • AJ Clarke

      This book was released a long time ago, to be honest I am not 100% sure how updated it is.

  3. Morad

    Thanks for your review AJ Clarke. Do you think it suitable for absolute beginner? If not, so what are your recommndations?

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