Postcards From Myself

Building A WordPress Blog People Want To Read by Scott McNulty is a new book on setting up and running a successful blog. McNulty has written an easy to understand and at times amusing introduction to getting started with what is currently one of the most popular social media platforms.

Both well written and well illustrated, the book covers everything from downloading and installing the software, to setting up the database, defining system parameters, and selecting a template. What is really excellent about these explanations is that McNulty tells you not only what are the best choices, but what impact those choices will have on your blog in the future. There are many selections you can make when setting up a new WordPress installation that can seriously affect how your blog operates in a year or two when it is getting lots of hits, and McNulty helps you to make well informed decisions.


While the book was written based on version 2.6 of the WordPress software and version 2.7 has now been released, there is very little other than administrative interface that does not apply. Most of the setup choices and database decisions are still the same. It would be great to see a physical or on-line update of the book for WordPress version 2.7, but I think that is just me being greedy.
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This was part of the reading used in church this past Sunday, and I liked it so much that I wanted to post it here. Enjoy!

It is only in the Creation that all our ideas and conceptions of a word of God can unite. The Creation speaketh an universal language, independently of human speech or human language, multiplied and various as they be. It is an ever existing original, which every man can read. It cannot be forged; it cannot be counterfeited; it cannot be lost; it cannot be altered; it cannot be suppressed. It does not depend upon the will of man whether it shall be published or not; it publishes itself from one end of the earth to the other. It preaches to all nations and to all worlds; and this word of God reveals to man all that is necessary for man to know of God.

Do we want to contemplate his power? We see it in the immensity of the creation. Do we want to contemplate his wisdom? We see it in the unchangeable order by which the incomprehensible Whole is governed. Do we want to contemplate his munificence? We see it in the abundance with which he fills the earth. Do we want to contemplate his mercy? We see it in his not withholding that abundance even from the unthankful. In fine, do we want to know what God is? Search not the book called the scripture, which any human hand might make, but the scripture called the Creation.

       Thomas Paine from The Age Of Reason

WordPress Theme Design by Tessa Blakeley Silver is a slim book that is packed with information. Subtitled “A complete guide to creating professional WordPress themes”, it is amazing how much the book lives up to its billing. What makes this book so unique and valuable is that it is not a syntax guide or how-to for dummies, it is instead a step by step design tutorial.

The author concentrates on the why’s and wherefores of WordPress site design instead of getting bogged down in the minutia of every single menu possibility or syntax statement. For those looking for a thorough dictionary of all the WordPress programming codex, you need to look elsewhere. While the most commonly used commands are covered, the syntax is not gone into in detail and there are many functions left out. That type of reference is best left to books like WordPress Complete or the online help.

What Silver does in this book is start with the initial conceptualization of a site and then follow it all the way through to the end. From the very beginning with back-of-the-napkin sketches, this book makes it clear that the real heavy lifting of website design work is in deciding what you want the site to do. It is only after your decide what the site should do and how you want that presented that you can begin to program your website and actually get it to function.

Chapters on theme development, debugging, plug-ins and dynamic content go beyond the basics of WordPress to bring a full image to your web design. By showing how all of these features are first planned and then implemented, the author provides a great blueprint for the actual successful creation of a functioning site.

While the book was written before version 2.7 of WordPress was released, there is not too much that doesn’t apply across versions. Mostly this is because more emphasis is placed on the design than the technical details of syntax. Of course that is also the books one weaknesses. You will not want this to be your only WordPress reference. You will either want to avail yourself often of the online help, or you will need a more technical companion, such as the aforementioned WordPress Complete.

Overall, I highly recommend this book. If you need to create a truly custom WordPress site, and especially if you want to create more than one, you need a guidebook like this to blaze the trail.

I recently picked up “Through The Storm: A Real Story of Fame and Family in a Tabloid World” by Lynne Spears. Mrs. Spears is the mother of Britney, Jamie Lynn and Bryan Spears. What struck me first was the title, or should I say subtitle. A “real story” of the “tabloid world” seemed to be contradictory. But, as painful as it is to read and admit, this does ring true as a real story in exactly the same way that one could do a real story about cosmetic surgery.

Reading the book it also quickly becomes clear where the root of the families problems is. Lynne Spears is a mother who passed on to her children the need for fame and success without any real regards for the cost or the process. Turning true talent and personality into celebrity became the fastest way to do that.

There is a quote pulled out about two-thirds of the way through the book that says, “I wonder what Mama and Daddy would have said about all the craziness surrounding Britney, Jamie Lynn, and all of us. They were from another era, a time when character counted more than celebrity, and when you word was your sacred trust.” Those two lines about sum up this unfortunate story.

The incidents in “Through The Storm” show that the Spears girls, led by their mother, abandoned character and values for the glamor of celebrity. Equally as evident in reading this is that there is always someone else to blame or a prayer that God will bail you out. Instead of taking personal responsibility for actions, causes, and consequences, Lynn Spears always places the blame outside of herself. Showing still that character just is not there.

As for the book itself, it is a quick but disjointed read – very much like the lives of the pop celebrities it details. The style and content is about as filling as watching E! on television. If that is what you enjoy then you will enjoy “Through The Storm”. If however, you prefer real biographies, real stories, real news – then move on to something else.