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25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great coverage, 4 Mar 2006
This book starts with the basics and explains just what a blog is, the associated terminology and other technologies that you can use to create a blog to be proud of. The second chapter talks about setting up a local test environment with PHP, mySQL and Apache for Windows and Mac users and finishes with setting up your blog database with phpMyAdmin. Now, if this level of technology use gives you the heeby-jeebies - then fear not. It is so well written, with plenty of screenshots you will finish chapter 2 with a big grin and a muttered "that wasn't bad at all". The few pages with screenshots on backing up your database was very welcomed by me - far too often in an online tutorial we hear "back up your database" with no explanation of how or provided with a link to another tutorial. Thank You.Now, with the foundation in place, the bulk of the book looks at each of the major (self-hosted) blogging systems. If you are buying this book because you don't have your own blog or want something more configurable than a hosted solution like blogger.com, then do take the time to read each of the following chapters to see which one captures your imagination (or wallet if ExpressionEngine catches the eye). With that freshly created local test environment you can download and install each type to see which system works best for you. If you already have a blog using one of these systems the value of this book may be lessened for you because you may feel that the three other chapters are not applicable. That was my initial impression. But no, read those other chapters! Firstly, the well-written chapters may well sway you to switch technologies and secondly, without getting bogged down in the code samples too much, there are some nice little gems of information regarding CSS, design and image usage buried not too deeply. The book rounds off with a chapter on creating your own publishing system - a scary thought to be sure but with flow diagrams, screenshots, a logical approach and well-written text you'll be out the other side of the project by the end of the day. The only prerequisite I would say is that you do need to be comfortable with markup and CSS already - this isn't a book to teach you those skills, it's introducing you to PHP and mySQL in a very hands-on, example driven style. Not an "essential" (5 star) book for your bookshelf, but if you are about to take the plunge into the world of blogging or want to get more out your system this is an excellent book. Recommended.
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1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
gently towards blogdom, 20 July 2007
Want a web site with personality? You'll need a blog.
A blog makes the world wide web an audience for your thoughts, enabling bloggers to post musings, recipes, journals - whatever - onto a web site that anyone with an internet connection can access. Readers are able to comment on such offerings by pressing a few buttons and exerting some energy with a key board.
Blogs are a great way of getting your voice heard. It's easy to add posts and each time you do so, the content of your site changes. This helps to get you a higher google rating which means more people are likely to find your site through search engines.
If you want something more than a design that's not quite as you'd choose, you need this book. I'm assuming that you haven't got a degree in computer programming or a knowledge of any scripting language.
An interactive web site consists of html generated content, css ordered design and interactivity, which requires a scripting language such as php. Blogs use php to make an otherwise static website interact with the world. So, blogs enable easy addition to content - a process that is fiddly using html - and make a doddle out of users interacting with your site by leaving comments. This two way interactivity is not possible with a static site.
Blog Design Solutions offers a seductive roller coaster introduction to blogging from setting up a local test area on your own computer, through twiddling the nuts and bolts of four popular blog engines to building your own interactive web site in blog form.
friendsofEd publishers have a forum to smooth out any bumps or frustrations along the way.
I think this book has made a nerd of me, but I like to imagine it hasn't stripped me of a personality. It's a great book for anyone interested in expanding from static to interactive web sites. This is quite a learning curve, but Andy and his buddies are gentle teachers. I'd recommend a basic knowledge of how css affects html prior to reading Blog Design Solutions.
When you've got that, Go go go.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Not bad, but too general, 4 Feb 2010
If you're looking for a general book that will give you insights into all the common blogging platforms, then this isn't a bad book, however it's much more general than I'd expected. This may be my own fault for not spending enough time reviewing the contents before buying....!
For a general overview of customising the main platforms and setting up a test environment, I would recommend this book. For anyone who wants to understand their chosen platform better though, I would recommend that they look for a specialised book on that platform.
Also, please note that the Wordpress examples are based on version 1.5...!
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by Lisa SabinWilson
by David Powers
by Entrepreneur Press
