BLOG DESIGN JOURNAL

WordPress: Visual QuickStart Guide, 2E uses a visual approach to teach the essential elements of WordPress, one of the world’s most popular publishing platforms. This book gives readers the tools they need to create beautiful, functional WordPress-powered sites with minimal hassle. Using plenty of screenshots and a clear, organized format, authors Jessica Neuman Beck and Matt Beck walk new users through the installation and setup process while providing valuable tips and tricks for more

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Serious, subtle, creatively styled eyeglasses.

Festive? Fun? Or tired and bleary-eyed?

If you have been procrastinating about replacing lost glasses or about filling new prescriptions, go ahead and get them.

Working on line can be very tiring for the eyes. Taking good care of your eyes makes your blog design work easier and ultimately less time-consuming.

multicolored eyeglass frames say "I'm a creative person. I love to have fun!"

While you are at it, why not get some cheap, fun holiday-themed eyeglasses?

You can have spare glasses handy, amuse friends and clients, and enjoy a change just for fun.

Why not try red frames for Christmas, green for Yule, blue for Hanukkah, yellow, green or orange for Kwanzaa, and multicolor for New Years, Mardi Gras, and Chinese New Year? Imagine the possibilities.

To buy high-quality, stylish glasses inexpensively, you can buy them on line, direct from the manufacturer. ZENNI glasses, for example, are sold only on line, relying on word of mouth from happy customers instead of mall stores and advertising. So you can easily afford to buy different styles for different occasions.

Glasses can be a fashion statement, from casual to formal. They can also be used to create a signature look. Wear your favorite holiday colors, and your clients, friends and family will look forward to seeing what you come up with for each holiday.

Imagine the possibilities for Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Juneteenth, Fourth of July, Halloween….See what I mean?

Stylish glasses can still be classic with just touch of extra color.

Eyeglasses are a necessity, but there is no reason not to also have fun with them. Be memorable. Be original. Show your creativity wherever you go. Be your own brand. But most of all, have fun with color and style. And now you can.

Take a look at ZenniOptical.com and then come back and comment to share your suggestions for holiday glasses styles. Tell us which ones you chose, and why.

Of course, they have a huge selection of classic styles, too. You can always just buy a pair or two for yourself and use the savings to buy your holiday gifts for others. We’ll never tell.

An in-depth look at the internals of the WordPress system. As the most popular blogging and content management platform available today, WordPress is a powerful tool. This exciting book goes beyond the basics and delves into the heart of the WordPress system, offering overviews of the functional aspects of WordPress as well as plug-in and theme development.What is covered in this book?WordPress as a Content Management SystemHosting OptionsInstalling WordPress FilesDatabase

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As one of the most popular open source content management systems available today, WordPress boasts a framework that allows you to easily customize and extend it through plugins. This comprehensive book shows you how plugins work, reviews the tools and APIs available in WordPress, and demonstrates how to extend the functionality of WordPress with plugins.The trio of established authors provides a practical, solutions-based approach along with a collection of timely examples and plenty of code,

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The bestselling guide to WordPress, fully updated to help you get your blog going!Millions of bloggers rely on WordPress, the popular, free blogging platform. This guide covers all the features and improvements in the most up-to-date version of WordPress. Whether you are switching to WordPress from another blogging platform or just starting your first blog, you’ll find the advice in this friendly guide gets you up to speed on both the free-hosted WordPress.com version and WordPress.org, which

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What kinds of things are on my holiday wish list as a blog designer? Not necessarily what you might think.

Most of us go ahead and buy whatever software and computer accessories we need to boost or uphold productivity, so my wish list contains things I may not really, actually need, but I just think would be fun or helpful to have.

I think the secret to getting some of these things as gifts is to send or post your wish list all over the place, along with a link to somewhere like Savings.com so that your significant other, parents, or other benefactors feel like they are getting even more bang for the buck by giving you a spectacular gift at a super savings.

And here is my blog design wish list for December 2011:

iPad 2 with 64GB and G4 connectivity

Super cool iPad case of some sort, preferably real leather

Styluses to go with the iPad. I want to draw directly on the screen.

iPhone lastest and greatest (nothing stays latest and greatest for long)

Super cool cases for the iPhone. You cannot have too many of these. I want different styles and colors for different occasions

Kindle Fire

Bluetooth headset (deluxe model)

High-capacity memory stick. I love those things, and the more storage space the better. You cannot have too many of them, especially if you are mobile.

Little robots and other desk toys. Just for fun and entertainment when writer’s block or design dearth sets in.

Some of these make great gifts to give others, too. Cases, for example, can range from formal and corporate to silly or glitzy or just plain wacky. The same person can enjoy using a variety of different cases at different times, for different purposes.

As you can see, the items on my wish list are generally not cheap, so it is a good thing that we can find great deals at Savings.com.

So what’s on your wish list? Come on, share! We might see some things we want to add to our own lists. Leave a comment and tell us your favorite gift and wish list items for this year.

You never know. You just might get them.

Other WordPress books on the market discuss WordPress only in the context of blogging: how to set up a blog, how to write a blog, how to optimize a business blog. A few books offer detailed technical instructions on a specific aspect of the software, such as plugin or theme development. Beginning WordPress is the first to discuss WordPress as a general content management system that can compete with other popular open source projects like Joomla or Drupal. This book also aims to be one of the

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