I’m looking for some good references (manuals)

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I started a blog recently. Currently I’m using a free theme and some plugins that are working well enough for now. And, my overall goal is to produce content and not become a WordPress developer, etc.

In the meantime, I do need to upgrade my technical skills. I have one goal of customizing my current theme within 1 -3 months and potentially developing a custom theme in 6 – 8 months.

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I am looking for recommendations on books, ebooks, or websites to help me with the following:

  • CSS – beginning to intermediate level
  • PHP – beginning – I’m not interested in becoming a coder, but want to be able to tweak, troubleshoot and understand better.
  • XHTML – beginning to intermediate level – 10 years ago I did HTML coding, but then moved into management.

Obviously there is a huge amount of info on this via Google, etc. I’m hoping for some practical suggestions from the experts in order to avoid dead ends.

thanks.
-wdypdx22

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7 comments

  3. If you really want a book, I would recommend the Visual QuickStart series, especially if you learn best from seeing illustrations and doing examples.

    Since you mentioned you’re explicitly looking to build these skills to help you with your WordPress blog, I would start with the book WordPress: Visual QuickStart Guide from Peachpit. (You may be able to find a cheap used copy on Amazon.com too.)

    If you need to extra help, you can consider their other books on XHTML, CSS, and PHP, though it’s possible you won’t need them.

    There is also, of course, the ever popular Dummies series. WordPress for Dummies seems to be fairly nice.

  4. If you want to learn the specifics of WordPress then http://codex.wordpress.org/Main_Page is a good resource. There are plenty of blogs around on WordPress tweaks and development.

    Here’s an OPML excerpt from my blog feeds that are WordPress specific. Just import them into a folder in Google reader and see if any of them appeal.

       <outline title="WordPress" text="WordPress">
        <outline text="Blog Oh Blog" title="Blog Oh Blog" type="rss"
            xmlUrl="http://www.blogohblog.com/feed/" htmlUrl="http://www.blogohblog.com"/>
        <outline text="BraveNewCode Inc." title="BraveNewCode Inc."
            type="rss" xmlUrl="http://www.bravenewcode.com/feed/" htmlUrl="http://www.bravenewcode.com/"/>
        <outline text="CatsWhoCode.com" title="CatsWhoCode.com"
            type="rss"
            xmlUrl="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/Catswhocode" htmlUrl="http://www.catswhocode.com/blog"/>
        <outline text="Fun with WordPress"
            title="Fun with WordPress" type="rss"
            xmlUrl="http://feeds.feedburner.com/wp-fun" htmlUrl="http://wp-fun.co.uk"/>
        <outline
            text="Graphic and Web Design Blog - Inspiration, Resources and Tools » WordPress"
            title="Graphic and Web Design Blog - Inspiration, Resources and Tools » WordPress"
            type="rss"
            xmlUrl="http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/category/wordpress/feed/" htmlUrl="http://www.1stwebdesigner.com"/>
        <outline text="Holy Shmoly!" title="Holy Shmoly!" type="rss"
            xmlUrl="http://ocaoimh.ie/feed/" htmlUrl="http://ocaoimh.ie"/>
        <outline text="Justin Tadlock" title="Justin Tadlock"
            type="rss" xmlUrl="http://justintadlock.com/feed" htmlUrl="http://justintadlock.com"/>
        <outline text="Lorelle on WordPress"
            title="Lorelle on WordPress" type="rss"
            xmlUrl="http://lorelle.wordpress.com/feed/" htmlUrl="http://lorelle.wordpress.com"/>
        <outline text="Nathan Rice" title="Nathan Rice" type="rss"
            xmlUrl="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/nathanricenet" htmlUrl="http://www.nathanrice.net"/>
        <outline text="News Magazine" title="News Magazine"
            type="rss"
            xmlUrl="http://feeds.feedburner.com/WpProject" htmlUrl="http://www.wpproject.com"/>
        <outline text="OMNINOGGIN" title="OMNINOGGIN" type="rss"
            xmlUrl="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/omninoggin" htmlUrl="http://omninoggin.com"/>
        <outline text="Perishable Press" title="Perishable Press"
            type="rss"
            xmlUrl="http://perishablepress.com/press/feed/" htmlUrl="http://perishablepress.com/press"/>
        <outline text="Pro Blog Design" title="Pro Blog Design"
            type="rss"
            xmlUrl="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/ProBlogDesign" htmlUrl="http://www.problogdesign.com"/>
        <outline text="Simple:Press Forum"
            title="Simple:Press Forum" type="rss"
            xmlUrl="http://simplepressforum.com/feed/" htmlUrl="http://simple-press.com"/>
        <outline text="StylizedWeb.com" title="StylizedWeb.com"
            type="rss"
            xmlUrl="http://feeds.feedburner.com/stylizedweb" htmlUrl="http://stylizedweb.com"/>
        <outline text="Theme Hybrid" title="Theme Hybrid" type="rss"
            xmlUrl="http://feeds.feedburner.com/themehybrid" htmlUrl="http://themehybrid.com"/>
        <outline text="Theme Playground" title="Theme Playground"
            type="rss"
            xmlUrl="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/themeplayground" htmlUrl="http://themeplayground.com"/>
        <outline text="Vladimir Prelovac" title="Vladimir Prelovac"
            type="rss"
            xmlUrl="http://feeds.feedburner.com/VladimirPrelovac" htmlUrl="http://www.prelovac.com/vladimir"/>
        <outline text="whateverblog." title="whateverblog."
            type="rss" xmlUrl="http://jcheng.wordpress.com/feed/" htmlUrl="http://jcheng.wordpress.com"/>
        <outline text="WordCamp Association"
            title="WordCamp Association" type="rss"
            xmlUrl="http://wordcamp.org.au/feed/" htmlUrl="http://wordcamp.org.au"/>
        <outline text="WordPress Development Blog"
            title="WordPress Development Blog" type="rss"
            xmlUrl="http://wordpress.org/development/feed/" htmlUrl="http://wordpress.org/news"/>
        <outline text="WordPress for Beginners"
            title="WordPress for Beginners" type="rss"
            xmlUrl="http://www.wpbeginner.com/feed/" htmlUrl="http://www.wpbeginner.com"/>
        <outline text="WordPress Hacker" title="WordPress Hacker"
            type="rss"
            xmlUrl="http://feeds.feedburner.com/WordpressHacker" htmlUrl="http://wphackr.com"/>
        <outline text="WordPress Tavern" title="WordPress Tavern"
            type="rss"
            xmlUrl="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/WordpressTavern" htmlUrl="http://www.wptavern.com"/>
        <outline
            text="WordPress › Support » User Favorites: cadbloke"
            title="WordPress › Support » User Favorites: cadbloke"
            type="rss"
            xmlUrl="http://wordpress.org/support/rss/profile/cadbloke" htmlUrl="http://wordpress.org/support/profile/"/>
        <outline text="WordPress.com News"
            title="WordPress.com News" type="rss"
            xmlUrl="http://en.blog.wordpress.com/feed/" htmlUrl="http://en.blog.wordpress.com"/>
        <outline text="WP Engineer" title="WP Engineer" type="rss"
            xmlUrl="http://wpengineer.com/feed/" htmlUrl="http://wpengineer.com"/>
        <outline text="WP Engineer" title="WP Engineer" type="rss"
            xmlUrl="http://feeds.feedburner.com/WpEngineer" htmlUrl="http://wpengineer.com"/>
        <outline text="wplover" title="wplover" type="rss"
            xmlUrl="http://feeds.feedburner.com/wplover" htmlUrl="http://www.wplover.com"/>
        <outline text="WpRecipes.com" title="WpRecipes.com"
            type="rss"
            xmlUrl="http://feeds.feedburner.com/wprecipes" htmlUrl="http://www.wprecipes.com"/>
        <outline text="WPWebHost" title="WPWebHost" type="rss"
            xmlUrl="http://wpwebhost.com/feed/" htmlUrl="http://www.wpwebhost.com"/>
        <outline text="Yoast»  - Yoast - Tweaking Websites"
            title="Yoast»  - Yoast - Tweaking Websites" type="rss"
            xmlUrl="http://feeds.feedburner.com/joostdevalk?format=xml" htmlUrl="http://yoast.com/feed/"/>
    </outline>

  5. I’d suggest reading Beginning WordPress 3 and Professional WordPress. I would not be concerned about the poor initial reviews on the first book – they are people complaining that it’s too advanced, and based on your description of your knowledge level, I don’t think that would be a concern. I have both books and like them both (although I have not finished them – I just purchased them).