WordPress 2.7 Complete Review

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(More customer reviews)This book helped me figure out how to convert an existing site to a WordPress theme, an especially challenging project since my existing html page design didn't have any clear header, middle, footer arrangement. I was able to figure out where I wanted to take things with my own theme development mostly from reading Chapter 6. (Getting under the engine with the WP template tags is far more empowering than following a tutorial that has you start out by fiddling around with an image in Photoshop.) Well written, too.

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Written in a clear, easy-to-read style, the book takes you through the essential tasks required to create a feature-rich blog as quickly as possible. From initial setup to customizing modules, each task is explained in a clear, practical way using an example blog developed through the book. This book is a guide to WordPress for both beginners and those who are slightly more advanced. It's for people who are new to blogging and want to create their own blogs in a simple and straightforward manner, and it's also for people who want to learn how to customize and expand the capabilities of a WordPress web site. It does not require any detailed knowledge of programming or web development, and any IT-confident user will be able to use the book to produce an impressive blog.

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WordPress MU 2.8: Beginner's Guide Review

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(More customer reviews)WordPress MU, especially with the BuddyPress set of plug-ins, is a powerful and flexible framework that power a company blog or social networking site. WordPress MU 2.8: Beginner's Guide overall is a good introduction to these tools, and even for an experienced WordPress person I found some useful tips and valuable additions to my WordPress `tool belt'. But the book is also not without its flaws.
Where the author gets technical, with step-by-step instructions, it suffers. In part because plug-ins or features describes are not quite correct, or things have changed. In part because the focus on the technical is at the expense of an overall viewpoint -- classic forest vs. trees types of views. For instance in the second chapter she details how to get your WordPress MU installation set up in a locally run web server utilizing WAMP server. But most local web servers installed on a personal computer don't play well with the subdomain-style blog naming she recommends. To her defense if you follow her instructions to the letter it works as she describes, but if you choose to add blogs or alter the names she uses you'll get lost fast.
The chapters that really shine are later in the book, where she gives an overview of a subject -- security, increasing traffic, making it 'sticky', and monetizing it -- walks through the issue, and then provides a couple of sample methods or plug-ins. If this book is truly for the beginner, this type of overview with not just hows, but whys, is really what is needed. A real beginner needs to understand how to plan and use the site -- technical details such as editing their .htaccess file seems like more than they need to know. That kind of stuff can easily be found on-line - or maybe on wiki tied to the book that allows reader contributions and supplemental material.
I am happy I read the book, and it will be a valued resource on my bookshelf. If you have been running your own WordPress site, or are an experienced web developer looking to explorer the many exciting possibilities that WordPress MU/BuddyPress has to offer, this is a good resource to start with. If you are really a beginner, you might want to start smaller, or find an experienced friend to help you get started.

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Packed with easy-to-follow examples and screenshots, this book is designed to be followed from beginning to end, although those with existing WordPress MU sites will be able to jump in at the later chapters and pick out the things that are important to them. The author's expertise with creating a wide variety of WordPress sites enables her to share insights on using WordPress effectively, in a clear and friendly way. Those interested in digging further will be given the chance to customize their site further. Throughout the book, you will build up a blog network for Vampire Slayers - SlayerCafe.com, as an example. If you wish to manage multiple blogs and build a blog network, then this book is for you. You are not expected to be experienced with PHP coding. Some knowledge of HTML, and some experience with the blogging and social networking world will be helpful, but not essential.

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Beginning Drupal (Wrox Programmer to Programmer) Review

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(More customer reviews)Knowing near nothing about Drupal, I wanted to find a book that would give me the big picture and help me develop a nuts-and-bolts working knowledge quickly. I saw so many titles online that I went to a physical bookstore so I could carefully look at the books and choose the most appropriate one for my needs. I looked at many books, and scanned the Introductions and Tables of Contents of several promising ones. I chose "Beginning Drupal" because it had a great balance of concrete examples, theory, and discussion of the implications of making various choices in Drupal.
After I purchased the book and began to actually use it, it became quickly clear that Wiley Publishing had not only jumped the gun in publishing a Drupal 7 book prematurely, but several other things really soured the experience for me. There was no discussion in the introduction about the fact that the book was based on early alpha and beta versions of Drupal 7, and that the installation instructions would install Drupal 6 which is so different that the exercises in the book are more confusing than helpful. Still, I persisted, trying to find the Drupal 6 equivalents to the Drupal 7 examples in the book. (of course this was not mentioned on the cover either, or on the web site. As a matter of fact, the promotional materials misleadingly call Drupal 7 the latest version, but don't mention that it has not been officially released yet). After I hit page 100, I realized that the UI differences were not the only problem. The book was not only unclear because of the version differences, but because the writer apparently didn't have the benefit of a conscientious editor to make the language clear. The grammar was sloppy, but worse yet, the meanings of many of the sentences were foggy.
I did switch over to using Drupal 7 beta, hoping that would help. In fact, it did help with many of the exercises, but there were also far too many instances in which the examples were confusing because they were based on earlier versions of Drupal 7. I looked at the "errata" published for the book, but they barely scratched the surface of the errors in the book.
I really liked the unfolding of concepts as the book progressed, in that sense the design of the book was brilliant. But it was sloppily executed, and there were numerous instances in which avoidable inconsistencies prevented examples from working the way they should have.
In summary, I'd say that this book was a well conceived but so poorly executed and rushed to market. It wasted more of my time and effort than any other "how to" book that I have ever encountered in my 4 decades in the computer business.

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A thorough introduction that lessens the learning curve to building sites with Drupal 7
Drupal 7 is the latest version of the free, open source content management system Drupal. A powerful content management system and framework Drupal has an unfortunate reputation of having a steep learning curve. This guide to Drupal 7 methodically demystifies Drupal and shortening the learning curve.
Author Jacob Redding is deeply embedded in the Drupal community, and walks first-time Drupal developers through the installation and configuration of a Drupal system. In-depth information on key areas of Drupal explore the Drupal hook system, Drupal's theming layer, and Drupal's API. You'll also get sample code, and lessons that guide you through various aspects of Drupal.
Introduces you to every aspect of Drupal 7
Demystifies key areas of Drupal and shortens the learning curve for even the most novice beginner
Features lessons and sample code that offer extra insight into a Drupal web site
Exploring simple single website installations and more advanced multiple site installations that share users and/or content.
Addresses how to use Drupal's theming layer to your advantage.

With this comprehensive and clear book by your side, you will quickly learn to leverage Drupal's impressive power.
Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

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Webbots, Spiders, and Screen Scrapers: A Guide to Developing Internet Agents with PHP/CURL Review

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(More customer reviews)"Webbots, Spiders, adn Screen Scrapers" is a solid book for building basic scripts to do web scraping. Michael Schrenk goes covers the "should you do this" aspect very well, and devotes much of the book to these kinds of topics. On that reason alone I give him major kudos, "just because you CAN do a thing, doesn't mean you SHOULD."
Technically the book and examples are very basic and beginner level. All code is procedural and has absolutely no references to object oriented programming at all. This is great for a simple project, but building anything larger than a targetted webbot or two is beyond the scope of this book.
I was very dismayed at Mr. Schrenk's opinion of regular expressions:
"The use of regular expressions is a parsing language in itself, and most modern programming languages support aspects of regular expressions. In the right hands, regular expressions are also useful for parsing and substituting text; however, they are famous for thier sharp learning curve and cryptic syntax. I avoid regular expressions whenever possible."
This disregard for regular expressions effectively wipes out a powerful toolset for budding developers. Regular expressions are no harder to learn than PHP. The reasons for his disdain for them is also flawed:
"The regular expression engine used by PHP is not as efficient as engines used in other languages, and is certainly less efficient than PHP's built-in functions for parsing HTML."
PHP uses the same regular expression engine used (very effectively) in PERL with the use of the preg_* functions. There has been many studies that show preg_* style expressions outperform basic text matching in PHP. In this assesment the author is terribly wrong.
The book does a great job of explaining how to make single use scripts for scraping, but never how to create a larger infrastructure. There is no focus on creating multi process engines with pcntl_fork(), or proc_open(), these are critical for scaling web scraping applications. A single script scraping a few hundred websites on a single thread would take ages over a multi-threaded engine.
If you are looking to break into web scraping and not sure where to start, this is likely the best (and possibly only) book on the market. If you are intermediate or advanced you will quickly question the author's logic and see that scaling will become the number one issue you have to over come.

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The Internet is bigger and better than what a mere browser allows. Webbots, Spiders, and Screen Scrapers is for programmers and businesspeople who want to take full advantage of the vast resources available on the Web. There's no reason to let browsers limit your online experience-especially when you can easily automate online tasks to suit your individual needs.

Learn how to write webbots and spiders that do all this and more:
Programmatically download entire websites Effectively parse data from web pages Manage cookies Decode encrypted files Automate form submissions Send and receive email Send SMS alerts to your cell phone Unlock password-protected websites Automatically bid in online auctionsExchange data with FTP and NNTP servers
Sample projects using standard code libraries reinforce these new skills. You'll learn how to create your own webbots and spiders that track online prices, aggregate different data sources into a single web page, and archive the online data you just can't live without. You'll learn inside information from an experienced webbot developer on how and when to write stealthy webbots that mimic human behavior, tips for developing fault-tolerant designs, and various methods for launching and scheduling webbots. You'll also get advice on how to write webbots and spiders that respect website owner property rights, plus techniques for shielding websites from unwanted robots.

As a bonus, visit the author's website to test your webbots on sample target pages, and to download the scripts and code libraries used in the book.

Some tasks are just too tedious-or too important!- to leave to humans. Once you've automated your online life, you'll never let a browser limit the way you use the Internet again.

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Leveraging Drupal: Getting Your Site Done Right (Wrox Programmer to Programmer) Review

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(More customer reviews)As a website developer specializing in Drupal-based sites for the last few years, I found this book to be exactly what I needed. I have several other books about drupal, including Pro Drupal Development, Second Edition (Beginning from Novice to Professional) and Learning Drupal 6 Module Development: A practical tutorial for creating your first Drupal 6 modules with PHP, yet I have found Leveraging Drupal to be the most helpful yet.
Leveraging Drupal goes into precisely the topics related to Drupal development which your average "working stiff" building Drupal sites runs into on every job: version control, the development and deployment process, upgrades, internationalization options, theming, etc. Included are helpful life-saving tidbits such as dealing with the infamous WSOD (php's white screen of death), checking out drupal via CVS, and setting up cron. It more than pays for itself in just the first three chapters.
One of the things I like most about the book is that the author treats website development with the same respect as any software project. From the book: "First of all, in a software project (and because of it's complexity, that is what a website application is), you are either controlled by circumstances or you succeed - but only if you can maintain your grip on things."
I would compare it to my other favorite programming book: Agile Java(TM): Crafting Code with Test-Driven Development (Robert C. Martin Series) by Jeff Langr. Leveraging Drupal is similar in that after reading and digesting it, you are a more mature developer than you were before.

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This book is a step-by-step guide and a hands-on co-piloted experience for those trying to make Drupal powered websites work for them, and for their clients. Much more than a "tutorial", what is needed is a nuts-and-bolts living mentor and guide which really shows the reader how to do the things really required for bringing it all together in a site which works. This will be the only book covering all the difficult components of Drupal: views, panels, themes, content creation, etc. The book will cover:* How to upgrade your hopelessly outdated and obsolete-software dependent site and bring it into the Drupal mainstream and future* How to become a great Drupal themer and make "non-Drupal" looking sites* How to really customize Drupal for your real needs* How to start using best practices in Drupal web application development* How to work like the pro Drupal shops and be ready for big projects - and small ones* Learn by example (code samples, theme samples, videos) at every step

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Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 with ASP, ColdFusion, and PHP: Training from the Source Review

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(More customer reviews)I have quite a bit of experience building static sites and pages and realized the importance of expanding my understanding of building dynamic sites. I have a pretty good understanding of using Dreamweaver but am just getting started on using Dreamweaver CS3. I was hoping to get a better idea of how to use all of the new features in CS3 while also specifically learning php. I got more than I bargained for. Specifically, I was not aware of the differences between ASP, ColdFusion and PHP. Now, I have a much better feel of which one to use for different situations.
One of the things that struck me right away is that anyone, regardless of your current level of experience, that is interested in using Dreamweaver can start out with this book. For those of you who already have Dreamweaver experience, you can speed through a few of the first parts but it is always great to see how someone else approaches things.
The tutorials and sample files were great and very easy to use - very intuitive and the sequential steps made lots of sense. I am still in the process of implementing all of the things I am learning. As a result of using this book, I am now planning to revise an existing static site and launch a new dynamic site. I love the way the book is written - very practical. I almost feel like the authors are having a dialog with me all along the way.
I would strongly recommend this book to anyone that wants to learn how to use Dreamweaver CS3 to build dynamic websites and applications.

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Designed for intermediate Web designers and developers with no previous experience with programming or server-side technology. Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 with ASP, ColdFusion and PHP: Training from the Source has been fully-updated, not just for the latest version of Dreamweaver but for today's Web. It's now standards--compliant, with a site created using one of Dreamweaver's brand-new CSS templates, that includes Ajax elements in the dynamic site design. Users ready to take the next step and make their Web sites interactive will find the same easy-to-read, logical, well-constructed projects, but with a site based on the latest Web technology.

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Web Application Design and Implementation: Apache 2, PHP5, MySQL, JavaScript, and Linux/UNIX (Quantitative Software Engineering Series) Review

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(More customer reviews)This is the book I wish I had had when I was starting to set up my Books-On-Line web site. Here in one simple step is just about half of what you need to know to set up a fairly complex database driven web site. I say about half of what you need to know because he spends no time at all on appearance, type fonts, color, illustrations, all that stuff. As he says in the introduction, he's not good at that (neither am I), and for those subjects you need another book.
But for a functioning web site he recommends what is sometimes called LAMP - for Linux, Apache, MySql and PHP. To summarize why:
The software is FREE, a very good price.
It doesn't crash as often
It runs faster so you can use a slower computer.
By the time you finish, you'll probably want at least one book on each of these software packages, but here is an excellent place to start. It gives you enough to get started and you only need to go deeper into each of these packages when you start getting fancier. The nice thing about this book is that it gives you everything you need to get started in a well written, easy to understand way.
Mr. Gabarro, there are two things I would suggest for your next edition: One, include a cd of a working collection of the four packages rather than saying go get any distribution, and two, talk a little about past and emerging technologies such as Cold Fusion for the past, and Ruby on Rails for the future. I'd be interested in your opinions.

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Web Application Design and Implementation uses a hands-on approach of the major technologies and programming languages to teach readers web development. Providing an understanding of all major aspects of web programming in order to achieve the construction of a database-driven website, the book features state-of-the-art programming languages such as HTML, JavaScript, MySQL, PHP, Apache, Linux/Unix.

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WordPress 3 Ultimate Security Review

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(More customer reviews)I have been using WordPress since version 2.5 and when I first heard about this book, I was wondering how the author could fill 240+ pages on securing WordPress.
As many veteran WordPress users know, Automattic, the company that oversees the development of the open source blogging platform, does an excellent job keeping it secure, with regular updates. The problem here is many users think that Automattic does everything to keep WordPress sites secure. Do not fall into this trap. Users have to take responsibility too.

So it came as no surprise that the first four chapters are spent explaining how the bad guys work and how to protect your computer and network. The author covers a broad range of topics from how to secure Windows, Mac, and Linux workstations. He gives advice on where to obtain, install and configure personal firewalls and anti-virus software. He suggests ways to avoid spam and make your web browser safe for browsing.
The chapters on WordPress security are just as informative. He explains how to back up your WordPress site (which you are probably already doing. Right?) How to set up file and user permissions. He explains which WordPress files and features should be disabled or removed to avoid hackers and why you should use SSL, SFTP and hardened shell accounts to access your site.

If your site does get hacked, there is a disaster recovery section that explains how to get your site back online and make sure it doesn't get hacked again.

I am an IT consultant and have worked with PCs in some form since 1982 and built my first website in 1995. I thought I knew a lot about security, but this book taught me many new ways to secure websites and computers. It was a quick read and brought me up to date on the fast changing world of Internet security.
This book can help all users, from WordPress beginners to IT professionals. I recommend reading it to keep both your website and PC/Mac/Linux computer safe.


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This is a comprehensive essential guide to WordPress security written in a light style, which converts learning a really serious topic to an enjoyable read. It is packed with copy-paste solutions to security to suit all levels of security know-how. Just as WordPress is used by a broad spectrum of website owners, with varying degrees of security know-how, so WordPress 3 Ultimate Security is written to be understood by security novices and web professionals alike. From site and server owners and administrators to members of their contributing team, this essential A to Z reference takes a complex and, let's face it, frankly dull subject and makes it accessible, encouraging, and sometimes even fun. Even if you are a total newbie to security, you can transform an insecure site into an iron-clad fortress, safeguarding your site users, your content and, sooner or later, your stress level.

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Expert PHP and MySQL (Wrox Programmer to Programmer) Review

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(More customer reviews)This book is choke-full of information, examples and best practices written by some of the foremost experts in their respective fields. All of the authors clearly have extensive experience working on setups requiring expert knowledge. Best of all, they are not afraid of thinking outside the box and the solutions they present are in no way limited to pure PHP and MySQL solutions.
This book really does expect something from the reader, so perhaps a word of caution is in order: you really do need to be familiar with a range of non-beginner subjects on both PHP and MySQL. I strongly recommend that you first read Chapter 1 of the book, helpfully available on the books' website. If you are not familiar with the contents presented here, you're not likely to gain much from your purchase.
If, on the other hand, all that you read there is Known Stuff, you're really in for a treat with this book. If you write programs because you have that personal itch, this book is going to make you feel as if you've just been attacked by a horde of mosquitoes. Really. You'll be re-thinking everything about how you build your websites from now on. But you won't need any itches for this book to make you re-think how you work with PHP and MySQL.
The book is extremely information-packed. I'm not one to shy away from reading 3-400 pages of technical references in a day, but this book is so densely filled that you simply won't be able to do that. Considering the breadth of topics covered, the authors at the same time manage to dive very deeply into each subject, covering all relevant resources, options, program libraries and best practices along the way. This does not make the book hard to read, to the contrary the language is very clear and concise. Don't expect information to be repeated anywhere.
Whether it's due to the authors or excellent editing, the language is very consistent and flows very well from chapter to chapter. If it wasn't for the change in subject matter and the authors' stated focus areas in the beginning of the book, it would be hard to discern that three people have been involved in writing this book.
A wonderful trait of all the authors is that they are very frank in assessing the available technologies, and don't mind telling you which things simply don't work, and why you should stay away from them - even when those technologies are offered by their respective employers.
You'll learn not only how to make the most optimal pure-PHP and pure-MySQL solutions, you will also see how you can integrate both of these with external programs by writing your own extensions and libraries. Descriptions of best practices in subjects such as user authentication and security will probably make you want to go back and check whether something could be improved in your own code and web server setup.
The chapters on advanced caching techniques, multi-tasking, optimization and debugging considerations are all very detailed and to the point. You'll be able to immediately put the techniques presented to use, and the book will serve you not only as a great tutorial, it will also be a great reference later on when you want to tune your setup.
There are of course a few chapters that could have used a bit more work. One chapter consists of barely more than a listing of output of feature lists, another contains very lengthy outputs that the reader might as well pull up on his own screen when working with some of the products. But these examples really are exceptions in an otherwise extremely well-written, informative and above all useful book.
Another word of caution: The book is highly UNIX (Linux) centric. If all your work is done using Windows, your benefit from reading this book might be limited. Then again, reading the book and realizing the potentials just might explain to you why it is most shops deploy their PHP/MySQL solutions on Linux.


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Best practices and expert techniques for even the most demanding MySQL-driven PHP applications
PHP is the world's most popular, general-purpose, open-source scripting language and MySQL is the world's most popular open-source database. This expert-level book begins with a brief overview of the two technologies and quickly moves on to coverage of advanced programming techniques, as well as the exciting new features of the PHP 5.3 release.
Written by three of PHP and MySQL experts and veteran authors, this resource focuses on best practices and expert techniques that can be applied to the most difficult MySQL-driven PHP applications. The authors share design patterns and tools that they themselves have tested in order to save you valuable time usually spent on figuring things out via trial and error.
Reveals best practices and advanced techniques for handling challenges you may face with MySQL-driven PHP apps
Reviews practical data reporting techniques for separating business logic from presentation
Explains how to obtain improved performance and flexibility through caching, multi-tasking, PHP extensions, and MySQL user defined functions
Discusses security, optimization, and debugging
Shares author-tested design patterns and tools to save you time and effort

Packed with helpful examples and indispensable advice, this book shares tips and tricks that you can immediately apply to your projects.
Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

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WordPress 2.8 Theme Design Review

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(More customer reviews)I seem to be reading quite a few WordPress books of late, and there are certainly a few to choose from. Packt Publishing's WordPress 2.8 Theme Design's tagline is 'Create flexible, powerful, and professional themes for your WordPress blogs and websites'.
WordPress themes are of interest to me since they fuse a visual aspect with PHP code, and there's no doubt that they appeal to many other people too.
Chapter Overview
1. Getting Started as a WordPress Theme Designer
2. Theme Design and Approach
3. Coding it Up
4. Debugging and Validation
5. Putting Your Theme into Action
6. WordPress Template Tag, Function, and CSS Reference
7. AJAX/Dynamic Content and Interactive Forms
8. Dynamic Menus and Interactive Elements
9. Design Tips for Working with WordPress
The book's author Tessa Blakely Silver starts very gently with an introduction to WordPress themes and why downloading a theme that's already been coded and designed may not always be the best solution. Subsequently, the book develops a theme from scratch and examines core technologies such as WordPress, CSS, XHTML and PHP.
The second chapter starts with a discussion of theme design in general, followed by the beginnings of the theme that's developed throughout the book. There are further discussions on semantic markup, typography, fonts and layout.
The following chapter focuses on the code aspect of theme design, and suggests a workflow strategy as well as template tags, hooks, and the WordPress loop. Comments are then discussed in some detail, the topic including pagination and threaded comments.
Chapter four examines the process of debugging and validating. A thorough chapter includes references to the W3C validation services, Firefox's JavaScript/Error console, Firebug and some of the issues that the budding theme developer will face when dealing with IE6.
Chapter five looks at the style.css file, which provides descriptive information about a theme, together with packaging the theme into a ZIP for distribution and running test installations of the theme package.
Chapter six adopts a more reference based approach, with an in depth examination of WordPress template tags, the WordPress template hierarchy, the loop and shortcodes.
The following chapter looks at AJAX and JavaScript, as well as preparing your theme for plugins and widgets.
Chapter eight builds on Chapter 7's JavaScript discussion by developing a drop-down menu for the theme. There is also a discussion of Flash and how that can be used with WordPress themes.
Chapter nine rounds off the book with a number of design tips that apply not just to WordPress theme design, but web design in general.
The book's about 250 pages in length, and is generally well written. I did, however, notice a few errors in code samples (mostly misplaced quotes), and a couple of examples in the prose itself. Another minor niggle was that the author talks about semantic markup, and then introduces 'sidebarLT' (sidebar left) and 'sidebarRT' (sidebar right) IDs into the markup.
The back of the book states: This book can be used by WordPress users or visual designers (with no server-side scripting or programming experience) who are used to working with the common industry-standard tools such as Photoshop and Dreamweaver or other popular graphic, HTML, and text editors. Regardless of your web development skill set or level, you'll be walked through the clear, step-by-step instructions. But familiarity with a broad range of web development skills and WordPress know-how will allow you to gain maximum benefit from this book.
It seems as through Packt have tried to convince the potential reader that this is the book for them, regardless of whether they're fairly inexperienced in some areas, or a a highly skilled developer. I'd say that the book covers a lot of ground, and that it does so at a pace that would be suitable for an inexperienced developer. Much of the content, however, would already be familiar to a skilled web developer, and so I feel that they'd think that the really useful content is a little thinly spread.
Overall, it's encouraging to see more books about WordPress; although the internet is a fantastic resource, books still have a very important role in my opinion. The content of this one is great for beginner-medium level web developers, but more experienced readers will be left wanting more.


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Theme design can be approached from two angles. The first is simplicity; sometimes it suits the client and/or the site to go as bare-bones as possible. In that case, it's quick and easy to take a very basic, pre-made theme and modify it. The second is "Unique and Beautiful". Occasionally, the site's theme needs to be created from scratch so that everything displayed caters to the specific kind of content the site offers. This book is going to take you through the Unique and Beautiful route with the idea that once you know how to create a theme from scratch, you'll be more apt at understanding what to look for in other WordPress themes. This book can be used by WordPress users or visual designers (with no server-side scripting or programming experience) who are used to working with the common industry-standard tools like PhotoShop and Dreamweaver or other popular graphic, HTML, and text editors. Regardless of your web development skill-set or level, you'll find clear, step-by-step instructions, but familiarity with a broad range of web development skills and WordPress know-how will allow you to gain maximum benefit from this book.

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Creating Interactive Web Sites with PHP and Web Services Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Let me start by saying that I did find this book quite helpful. It contains a wealth of ideas about topics that a Web site developer would want to know about. The author doesn't just talk about designing a Web site with static data. These Web sites really are interactive, which is the direction that many Web sites are headed today. For example, if you want to create a blog, Chapter 6 will get you started. Are you a merchant that wants to get started with online payments? Chapters 8 and 9 will get you started; although, they probably aren't the end of the journey because the book doesn't address security and privacy concerns. Even so, you can get a lot of information out of this book.
The book does have a few problems, one of which is the title. I didn't really see much in the way of real Web services coverage. Yes, there is a simple example of working with Amazon Web Services in Chapter 7, but that's not really a lot of coverage. The supposed coverage of Google Web Services in Chapter 7 doesn't deal with Google Web Services at all--it discusses how to create request URLs for the standard interface. Does this make the techniques less useful? No, I found them quite helpful, but this truly isn't a Web services book.
I found it a little jolting that the author has just barely introduced functions on page 17 and on page 18 you're already working with databases. I wouldn't consider this a book for the novice--it's not a gentle introduction to PHP at all.
The author also has a tendency to either omit necessary configuration details or mention them in passing so that a reader could easily miss them. For example, the reader needs a developer token to work with the Amazon example, yet the author devotes a single sentence to this topic and it's buried in a paragraph with other details. Consequently, even though the code probably all works, some readers have probably gotten frustrated trying to figure out the missing details.
Given what I know about the book now, it's still a very good purchase and will stay on my bookshelf. The author introduces too many good ideas and interesting concepts to ignore this book. Hopefully, a second edition will fix some of the annoyances that kept the first edition from being as good as it could be.

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Build Dynamic Websites with PHP and MySQL—and Extend Those Sites with Web Services
PHP and MySQL are great tools for building database-driven websites. There's nothing new about that. What is new is the environment in which your site operates—a world rich (and growing richer) in web services that can add value and functionality in many different ways. Creating Interactive Web Sites with PHP and Web Services walks you through every step of a major web project—a content-management system—teaching you both the basic techniques and little-known tricks you need to build successful web sites. And you can use those skills to develop dynamic applications that will meet your special requirements. Here's some of what you'll find covered inside:
Adding, deleting, and displaying data with a custom content-management system
Building a template system with PHP
Interacting with web services using PHP and MySQL
Creating and managing a user system and a shopping cart
Processing credit card payments using merchant accounts and third-party payment solutions
Tracking site statistics using PHP and MySQL
Enhancing your site with third-party scripts

Tons of examples, complete with explanations and supported by online source code, will speed your progress, whether you're a true beginner or already have PHP experience. This book is platform-agnostic, so it doesn't matter if you're deploying your site on Linux or Windows. You also get PHP and MySQL references, so you can quickly resolve questions about syntax and similar issues.

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Joomla 1.5 Template Design Review

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(More customer reviews)I, too, can only give this book two stars, which is unfortunate, because had a little bit more care been taken this could have easily been a five-star book.
The main reason I can only give the book two stars is due to the same concerns that have been previously expressed...the code and style sheets are not in sync with the text of the book (and I'm only in Chapter 2). I've had to constantly replace the code and style sheets I've typed in from the book with the code and style sheets downloaded from the site. More often than not, changes have been made to the code or style sheets as the book progresses without the author even indicating that such changes have been made. This is not something that someone who has purchased this book should have to contend with.

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This book covers the "how-tos" of creating templates for Joomla! 1.5. There is also advice about what works and what to consider when working with your Joomla! 1.5 template. Because this title is about Joomla! 1.5 templates and not about CSS or semantic XHTML, an understanding of established and current XHTML and CSS techniques for achieving compliant, semantic, and accessible designs is assumed. However, quality references and links are always given so the reader can learn more about any specific CSS or XHTML technique discussed if they are unfamiliar with it. This book is aimed at web designers who want to create their own unique templates for Joomla! 1.5. Readers should have a basic knowledge of Joomla! 1.5 (Building Websites with Joomla! 1.5 by Hagen Graf from Packt Publishing will help you with this) and also basic knowledge of table-less CSS and XHTML techniques, as well as using Dreamweaver or other text/code editors for coding purposes.

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Drupal 7 Primer: Creating CMS-Based Websites: A Guide for Beginners Review

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(More customer reviews)I thought that these types of computer software books were long extinct - but, no. Purporting to be a primer on Drupal 7, this book is little more than a collection of the author's experience as a user of various Google products, with a smattering of Drupal information thrown in. You could find the Drupal stuff in 10 minutes of tooling around on the Web.
He devotes entire chapters to Google Sites, Google Analytics, Promoting Your Site With Social Networks, Google Checkout, etc. His "Troubleshooting" section consists of advice so generalized as to be really funny! He suggests that inevitably things go wrong, and that you should "see how it goes" when you try to do something with Drupal. Then, his "Troubleshooting" consists of telling you to consult your hosting company or a Drupal forum somewhere. Duh! Gee, maybe he should have included a chapter on how to use Google, since that appears to be his favorite topic anyhow. Nothing on Drupal 7 vs. previous versions, no thorough explanations for anything that has to do with Drupal 7 at all.
For a topic so potentially rich as Drupal, this is a ridiculously poor book, vague and off-topic, padding with lots of useless non-Drupal information.

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In the past, in order to make a website, you had to manually assemble all the files and develop a fair amount of technical expertise; however, an open source content management system (CMS) like Drupal can automate and significantly simplify many parts of the process. This book contains an easy-to-understand introduction to related concepts and a series of step-by-step examples that can help you learn how to use Drupal to create and maintain a website. The coverage also includes using a "quick-install" Web hosting account, which can greatly reduce the complexity of installing Drupal. You'll find that this book is written with beginners in mind; no prior expertise is required, except some familiarity with how to browse the Internet and use a PC. By the end of the book, you'll have a working knowledge of content management systems, installing and building a site in Drupal, and various Web promotion tactics that can help you share your new site with the world.

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Practical Web 2.0 Applications with PHP (Expert's Voice) Review

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(More customer reviews)The only quip I have with this book is the title "Practical Web 2.0 Applications with PHP" it should be called "Practical Zend Framework Applications using PHP"
There is not one example in the book that doesn't use the Zend Framework. That being said the Zend Framework is a great framework - by far the best web framework I've seen. I'm PhD student in Computer Science at UCLA whose dissertation research involves the web. I've used a lot of web applications and frameworks. Symfony, Drupal, Joomla, Ruby on Rails, etc.
Most of these applications and frameworks just suck - that is, it is more work using them than not using them and many severely limit what one can ultimately do.
I like Ruby on Rails but I love the Zend Framework. There are two big differences between the Zend Framework and Ruby on Rails: 1) they both promote MVC style programming but Ror forces you to use it everywhere and the Zend Framework allows you to mix MVC with simply using their framework as a library wherever you want. For example, I am building a social network but want to mix that with a related wiki. I can use MVC for all the social network code and use and existing MediaWiki (which is not MVC based). All I need to do is rewrite some of the mediaWiki code to hand over user authentication to my controllers.
2) it's Php based ... there is much, much more existing Php code to cannibalize for applications than Ruby code
The book itself basically takes you through setting up user profiles, a blog, an image gallery, prototype (javascript) and Google maps using the Zend Framework. The code is very professional and complex at times so a beginning user may have to read a chapter 2-3 times to fully understand it. Still the only way to really learn to write "professional" code is to see it and understand why it was written as it was.
There are some issues I have with the book. In places where something could reasonably be done in multiple ways the book only shows one without any explanation why that way was chosen. For example, in the installing Zend chapter the book tells you to edit the httpd.conf file to set your paths. Most people who use a commercial hosting company don't have access to edit httpd.conf or restart the server. There are ways to reset the path within the Zend bootstrap (which I did) but if I didn't know how to do that I would not have been able to get the examples to work without setting up a server locally on my machine.
Also the bootstrap is left in the index.php file when Zend recommends using the index.php to call the bootstrap.php file from a non-public web directory.
The Zend Framework is only a few months old and this is by far the best web framework out there. There is only one other (decent) book on the framework. This book is about the Zend Framework and only marginally about "Web 2.0" (you use Google maps). The book that should have been titled "Practical Zend Framework Applications using PHP" will teach you how to use the best web framework out there. If the next book shows one how to really use web services, ajax and present web services using the Zend Framework then it can be called "Web 2.0" not this one.

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There are many technologies that go into creating a successful modern web application, but few books that cover how to use them all together effectively. Practical PHP Web 2.0 Applications does just that - it marries together PHP and MySQL, XHTML, CSS, and JavaScript/Ajax, covering how to create a cutting edge PHP web application from planning and design right up to final implementation. Application features covered include must haves such as search, maps, blogs, dynamic image galleries, and more.

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Web Application Obfuscation: '-/WAFs..Evasion..Filters//alert(/Obfuscation/)-' Review

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(More customer reviews)I had really no idea what to expect when I started reading Web Application Obfuscation (WAO). I hoped it would address attacks on Web technologies, perhaps including evasion methods, but beyond that I didn't even really know how to think about whatever problem this book might address. After finishing WAO, it's only appropriate to say "wow." In short, I had no idea that Web browsers (often called "user agents" in WAO) are so universally broken. Web browser developers would probably reply that they're just trying to handle as much broken HTML as possible, but the WAO authors show this approach makes Web "security" basically impossible. I recommend reading WAO to learn just how crazy one can be when interacting with Web apps.
Speaking of crazy: ch 4 was off the hook. For example, p 121 speaks of the "great Javascript Charwall" by saying: "6 is the fewest number of characters possible which allow arbitrary Javascript to be executed." What!? I had no idea anyone spent time on these sorts of issues, and worse, that intruders could use these techniques to evade a slew of security mechanisms. This was a primary strength of WAO: bringing the reader into a world where obfuscation is an obsession.
I liked many other aspects of WAO. The book was very thorough. For one example, check the table on p 27. For another, see the regex explanation with examples in ch 1. The book has many such sections where the authors offer great detail on the subject at hand. I also enjoyed the many references to outside work. Authors of all technical books should follow WAO's lead, because 1) it gives credit where due and 2) it shows the authors are aware of outside influences and up-to-date.
WAO also does a nice job explaining how we arrived at the current state of broken Web technologies. Their history lesson of the browser wars in ch 2 set the stage for the chaos that follows. I'll finish my praises by mentioning the Web site the authors created as a companion to the book, complete with errata and code listings; it's a nice addition to the book.
If you're wondering why I rated WAO four instead of five stars, the reason involves the audience. I think too often the authors advance pretty far beyond the uninitiated reader. You have to admit that if obfuscation is your world, you're probably not going to read this book. However, if you're a newbie like me, you need the authors to spend more time explaining what they're doing and more importantly, WHY. Just what is the purpose of this technique or that attack? I think if the authors recruited some outside help to walk through the book, slow them down, and answer some basic questions, a second edition would be an easy five star work.
On the production side, a new edition should redraw figures 5.2 - 5.14. They look like they came straight from a PowerPoint pitch.
Overall, WAO is a great book to shatter any assumptions you may have about how Web clients and servers render content. Maybe the authors would care to describe how best one can operate in such a dangerous environment, i.e., is their an OpenBSD for Web technologies? All of the engines seem bad -- what's a user to do?

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Web applications are used every day by millions of users, which is why they are one of the most popular vectors for attackers. Obfuscation of code has allowed hackers to take one attack and create hundreds-if not millions-of variants that can evade your security measures. Web Application Obfuscation takes a look at common Web infrastructure and security controls from an attacker's perspective, allowing the reader to understand the shortcomings of their security systems. Find out how an attacker would bypass different types of security controls, how these very security controls introduce new types of vulnerabilities, and how to avoid common pitfalls in order to strengthen your defenses.

Looks at security tools like IDS/IPS that are often the only defense in protecting sensitive data and assets
Evaluates Web application vulnerabilties from the attacker's perspective and explains how these very systems introduce new types of vulnerabilities
Teaches how to secure your data, including info on browser quirks, new attacks and syntax tricks to add to your defenses against XSS, SQL injection, and more

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WordPress Theme Design: A complete guide to creating professional WordPress themes Review

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(More customer reviews)WordPress Theme Design is a short book, 204 pages and offers an experience very much like that given by the Peachpit Press' Visual QuickProject Series. This is not a definitive guide to WordPress theming. Tessa Silver walks us through the creation of a WordPress theme intended for a monthly magazine site. As much CMS/beyond-the-blog flexibility of WordPress needs to be implemented by creative theming, this project offers an insight into how to customize WordPress for sites other than plain vanilla blogs. WordPress core features like "the loop," are mentioned but we are referred to the WordPress Codex documentation for more information. That's pretty much the way the book works, features or concepts, such as the loop or drop down menus are discussed, but for expanded explanations we are pointed to external web documentation.
The writing is clear and conversational and is targeted towards someone with a reasonable grounding in HTML and CSS, I'd say advanced novice to early intermediate. Those without an understanding of HTML will find it over their heads. A very basic understand of PHP syntax is also helpful. Except for WordPress specific code, experienced, standards aware coders will find much of the material pretty basic. Ms. Silver does create her design with modern web standards best practices, which she describes in a standards based context. The theme we create by following the tutorial is functional and illustrates some of WordPress' advanced capabilities, which can be accessed only through clever theming. Basic SEO is mentioned, and some advanced WordPress plug-ins and capabilities are briefly covered.
Chapter 6 offers a short overview of WordPress functions and a nice template tag reference. In Chapter 2, Silver offers brief descriptions describing her design workflow process and some of the tools she uses. In chapters 3-5 we create the basic theme and are introduced to WordPress themeing conventions. Chapters 7-9 briefly discuss some advanced WordPress capabilities, mostly gained through the use of plug-ins and widgets.


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In Detail
This title will take you through the ins and outs of creating sophisticated professional themes for the WordPress personal publishing platform. It will walk you through clear, step-by-step instructions to build a custom WordPress theme. From development tools and setting up your WordPress sandbox, through design tips and suggestions, to setting up your theme's template structure, coding markup, testing and debugging, to taking it live it reviews the best practices. The last three chapters are dedicated to additional tips, tricks and various cookbook recipes for adding popular site enhancements to your WordPress theme designs using third-party plugins.
Whether you're working with a pre-existing theme or creating a new one from the ground up, WordPress Theme Design will give you the know-how to understand how themes work within the WordPress blog system, enabling you to take full control over your site's design and branding.
What you will learn from this book?

Set up a basic workflow and development environment for WordPress theme design
Create detailed designs and code them up
Enhance your sites by choosing the right color schemes and graphics
Debug and validate your theme using W3C's XHTML and CSS validation tools
Customize and tweak your theme's layout
Set up dynamic drop-down menus, AJAX/dynamic and interactive forms
Download and install useful plug-ins and widgetize your theme
Improve post and page content using jQuery and ThickBox
Add interactivity to your themes using Flash
Includes a reference guide to WordPress 2.0's template hierarchy, markup, styles and template tags, as well as include and loop functions
Approach
Theme design can be approached from two angles. The first is simplicity; sometimes it suits the client and/or the site to go as bare-bones as possible. In that case, it's quick and easy to take a very basic, pre-made theme and modify it.
The second is "Unique and Beautiful". Occasionally, the site's theme needs to be created from scratch so that everything displayed caters to the specific kind of content the site offers. This book is going to take you through the Unique and Beautiful route with the idea that once you know how to create a theme from scratch, you'll be more apt at understanding what to look for in other WordPress themes.
Who this book is written for?
This book can be used by WordPress users or visual designers (with no server-side scripting or programming experience) who are used to working with the common industry-standard tools like PhotoShop and Dreamweaver or other popular graphic, HTML, and text editors.
Regardless of your web development skill-set or level, you'll be walked through the clear, step-by-step instructions, but familiarity with a broad range of web development skills and WordPress know-how will allow you to gain maximum benefit from this book.

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Professional Search Engine Optimization with PHP: A Developer's Guide to SEO Review

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(More customer reviews)Creating a website that can be found among all the other sites on the web has always been important to the success of any site. Search engine optimization, or SEO, is as important to the marketing of a website as image optimization is to its graphic design. For dynamic-driven websites such as BellaOnline, it is a continuous challenge to maintain search engine optimization. This book by Jaimie Sirovich and Cristian Darie is written for the PHP programmer who needs to understand the many technical issues involved when programming a search-engine-friendly site from attracting search engine spiders to site promotion. Throughout the book, you will find code examples and practice exercises which show how to implement the techniques covered in the book.
The authors begin with a discussion of the programming environment including setting up the MySQL server and then move on to tools and resources for the IT professional and the basics of search engine optimization. One of the most important aspects of search engine optimization is the URL. The URLs that you generate for your pages must not only be search engine friendly but also people friendly. The authors discuss how to make the task of creating and managing search-engine-friendly URLs easier. Another problem you will encounter is duplicate content which will harm your site's search engine rating. The authors discuss many ways to prevent or minimize this problem such as using robots.txt and meta exclusion.
Your site visitors enjoy those cool looking interactive features, such as fancy menus, that can be created using JavaScript, Ajax and Flash. These same features make it difficult for search engines to find your site. However, web readers have come to expect a certain amount of interactivity and without at least a few of these goodies, your site will be bland by today's standards. The authors discuss this problem and cover several ways to help such as generating SEO images and the use of graphic text.
One of the most popular ways to promote a website is with RSS feeds and syndication. To be effective, these feeds must be updated as new content is added to your site. This can be time consuming especially if your site is updated several times a minute. Two answers to this problem offered by the authors are to automate the generation of RSS feeds with a PHP class and displaying feeds with SimplePie.
A standard for a good search engine friendly site is a good sitemap system. As with RSS feeds, keeping a sitemap updated can be a challenge and the authors show you how to create a traditional and an XML-based sitemap. Once your site is live, your job as an IT professional has just begun. There are many SEO technical issues the authors touch on including maintaining your site, changing hosts and cross linking.
One thing that makes a technical-heavy book like this more helpful is a working example that incorporates what you have learned. The case study for this book is an E-commerce store and catalog. The authors have also covered how to enhance a pre-existing site to be more search engine friendly and how to create a search engine optimized blog using WordPress.
Jaimie Sirovich is a search engine marketing consultant, programmer and administrator for the search engine marketing blog SEOEgghead. Cristian Darie is a software engineer and author of several books and tutorials on AJAX, ASP.NET, PHP and SQL. [...]

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Maybe you're a great programmer or IT professional, but marketing isn't your thing. Or perhaps you're a tech-savvy search engine marketer who wants a peek under the hood of a search engine optimized web site. Search engine marketing is a field where technology and marketing are both critical and interdependent, because small changes in the implementation of a web site can make you or break you in search engine rankings. Furthermore, the fusion of technology and marketing know-how can create web site features that attract more visitors.
The mission of this book is to help web developers create web sites that rank well with the major search engines, and to teach search engine marketers how to use technology to their advantage. We assert that neither marketing nor IT can exist in a vacuum, and it is essential that they not see themselves as opposing forces in an organization. They must work together. This book aims to educate both sides in that regard.

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