WordPress 3.0 jQuery [Paperback]

This book is packed full of fun and applicable exercises for jQuery / Wordpress integration. Further, the exercises cover topics you'll NEED to know in working with these two technologies.

The only reason I didn't give it a full five stars is I felt there were a couple of exercises that ended up a bit buggy, but not enough so that the reader couldn't understand the main purpose of the lesson. Also there was no downloadable code for the book, which is unordinary for a technical manual. That said, I've garnered as much value from this book as I have others which I've rated a full five stars.

Despite having been written for WP 3.0, I didn't find anything in the book incompatible or deprecated for use in WP 3.3. I particularly liked the tutorial on running 2 loops to build the jQuery UI tabs, the tutorial on building an animated graph from static HTML, and the lesson on mashing up 2 different plugins to build a state of the art registration form.

The book features lessons on all the technologies a designer/developer needs to work with Wordpress, from jQuery, Wordpress loops and template hierarchies, to PHP, to HTML and CSS.

I highly recommend this title to anyone serious about Wordpress.

Up front, I want to explain why I think so highly of this book: It has prepared me well to work with technical and graphics specialists whom I have retained to transform my website into fully-functional, dynamic WordPress website. More specifically, to enhance that site "with captivating effects" of jQuery, a library of options and applications that can speed the time and reduces the complexity of writing custom JavaScripts. That is to say, Tessa Blakeley Silver and her colleagues have provided a wealth of information, insights, and advice that increases my knowledge base significantly.

Frankly, I do not as yet fully understand all of the material provided. While working my way through it, I highlighted key passages and compiled several pages of notes. This will facilitate, indeed expedite review of key points later. (I have also inserted a number of question marks!) I like the format strategy: Explain clusters of sequential tasks or issues that comprise a step-by-step process that begins with the first chapter and concludes with the appendix. These are among the focal points per chapter:

1: Core fundamentals, essential tools, background, and essentials
2: Getting jQuery into WordPress (WP), and creating first setup

Note: Three jQuery "secret weapons" are provided in the second chapter to improve and enhance using selectors and filters, manipulating CSS and elements in the DOM, and working with events and effects, respectively.

3: Two ways to "plugin" jQuery, WP theme basics, and WP plugin basics
4. Seamless event registration, getting set up, and form validation
5. jQuery animation basics, "grabbing" attention, "deeper" into animation
6. Understanding jQuery UI plugin, enhancing effects and user interface
7. AJAX primer, getting started with AJAX functionality
8. Code arsenal, "tips and tricks" re working in WP and jQuery

Then a "jQuery and WordPress Reference Guide" is provided in the Appendix and I especially appreciated the material provided in Pages 274-288 ("Getting the Most Out of WordPress"). Technical wizards may not need such reviews and reminders but I certainly do.

Even more information about this book can be obtained by visiting https://www.packtpub.com/wordpress-30-jquery/book. PacktLib allows you to access and search across Packt's entire library of over 400 books, finding practical solutions to your searches at the click of a button.

Blakeley Silver Tessa book, WordPress 3.0 jQuery,
touches on a number of topics explaining them in
very clear manner that make a lot of sense.
Something that I find missing from a great many
technical books.

The book has an easy flow to it, and gives the
reader a very solid understanding how the pieces
fit together. After reading this book, the combination
of WordPress 3.0 and jQuery working together has an
amazing powerful synergistic effect where the total is
far greater than just the sum of its parts.

I strongly recommend this book.