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New WordPress 2.5 Training Videos Now Online
When I launched this site earlier this year my goal was to provide a collection of high-quality training videos for WordPress bloggers (and would-be WordPress bloggers). While there were plenty of commercial WordPress training videos available, there wasn’t really a complete collection of free videos. Since WordPress is free, it seemed to me that there should be some free training available as well.
One of the things I find most annoying about many of the commercial training videos is that they simply aren’t current. New WordPress users were being asked to pay a premium for out-dated training videos. I’ve worked with enough new WordPress users to know that they can be confused enough as it is. Trying to learn about WordPress from an outdated video series only adds to the confusion.
Of course, it’s not surprising that most training videos are outdated. WordPress is a rapidly evolving system, with an ambitious product development roadmap. Videos that were current yesterday might easily be outdated today. That’s exactly what happened with the videos on this site when the newest version of WordPress was released last month.
Today I’m happy to announce that our WordPress training videos have been upgraded to include the recently released version 2.5. Meanwhile, based on the feedback received from our users, I’ve decided to keep the version 2.3.x videos online for the time being. The vast majority of topics listed in the training index now include videos for the last two major revisions of WordPress.
So, regardless of whether you’re using version 2.3 or 2.5, WordPress Training has you covered. And all of the core training videos on this site are still free. So, before you pay for an outdated WordPress video series, check here first. Chances are you’ll find exactly what you’re looking for.
Managing Tags
Tags are a key tool for organizing content on your blog. While categories are general, tags are specific. The WordPress tagging system allows you the flexibility of tagging your posts with very specific terms.
This video will show you how to manage tags in WordPress.
Read the rest of this entry »
Manage the WordPress Media Library
One of the nicest enhancements in the latest version of WordPress is the new Media Library. This new feature is a significant improvement over the previous method for managing uploads.
This is the tool you’ll use to managing your images, videos, and audio files.
Best Practices for Upgrading WordPress
We’re all understandably excited about the latest release of WordPress. There’s a temptation to download the newest version as soon as it becomes available, and upgrade all of our blogs immediately. New is always better, right?
Well, yes and no. The new version of WordPress is undoubtedly an important upgrade, with an impressive array of new features and usability enhancements. On the other hand, if you don’t take care in the upgrade process you might just find yourself regretting the day you jumped on the upgrade bandwagon.
In most cases, upgrading WordPress is a simple and painless process. Occasionally, though, something goes wrong. This video will guide you through the best practices in planning your WordPress upgrade. The goal is to ensure that your upgrade goes smoothly, and that you remain a happy WordPress blogger.
In addition to watching the video, please take a moment to complete our WordPress upgrade survey. We’re interested in hearing about your upgrade plans, and we’re looking for guidance on how best to present training material during this time of transition.
Resources:
- WordPress upgrade survey
- WordPress 2.5 Plugin Compatibility List
- WordPress 2.5 Theme Compatibility List
- Semiologic forum
- Upgrading WordPress Video — Includes backup plugin
WordPress 2.5 Preview Video
If you’re like me, you’ve been anxiously anticipating the release of WordPress 2.5 for a while now. Back in December, WordPress decided to skip version 2.4 in favor of a major release tentatively scheduled for March 10th of this year.
Well, March 10th came and went and WordPress 2.5 still hasn’t been released — although the final release is MUCH closer. In fact, the WordPress development team just posted Release Candidate 2 earlier today.
More WordPress Tutorials and Resources
My next batch of WordPress training videos is currently in the planning stages. To be honest, I’ve been hesitant to put a lot of effort into producing a bunch of new videos with the WordPress 2.5 release just days away.
In the meantime, I wanted to take a moment to point out a few other WordPress resources that some of you might find useful:
- The WordPress Training Group on Facebook: The official Facebook group for this website. The group currently has well over 400 members and the discussion forum is turning into an valuable support resource. If you’re on Facebook, be please join us.
- Lessons for WordPress Beginners: A set of lessons designed to help the WordPress newbies get up to speed quickly. The lessons are part of the official WordPress Codex. While the Codex tends to be somewhat technical, these lessons are clearly for beginners.
- WordPress University: Ben Cope’s new site promises to be a valuable collection of WordPress training videos. Ben covers a couple of topics not covered on this site, including inserting YouTube videos to your WordPress post, and installing up WordPress on a GoDaddy account.
- iTheme’s Free WordPress Tutorials: Another collection of free WordPress videos that overlaps somewhat with the videos provided on this site. A few videos deal with issues I haven’t gotten around to yet, like setting up FeedBurner and installing Google Analytics.
- Free eBook - How to develop money making niche sites with WordPress: Based on the early results of our WordPress training survey, it appears that quite a few of you are using WordPress with the goal of making money online. If this describes you, you’ll definitely want to check out Caroline Middlebrook’s free eBook. Even if you’re not hoping to get rich with WordPress, Caroline’s book offers pretty good documentation on setting up WordPress with Fantastico.
And finally, If you haven’t done so already, please take a moment to complete our WordPress training survey. Your feedback will help determine the focus of our future training videos.
Take the WordPress Training Survey
The reaction to our initial batch of WordPress training videos has been extremely positive. It’s great to know that so many of you are finding this site to be a valuable resource.
We are in the process of planning the next round of WordPress videos, and we’d like to know a little more about you and your specific training needs. Please take a moment to complete our brief
WordPress training survey.
Your feedback will help us focus on the training topics that are the most important to you.
Using WordPress Plugins
WordPress plugins allow bloggers to easily add additional functionality to their blogs. There are a huge number of plugins available that extend the functionality of WordPress.
What can you do with a WordPress plugin? Just about anything. There are plugins to block spam, help you publish a podcast, and to improve the performance of your WordPress blog. If you have some specific need that is not yet accommodated by the core WordPress code-base, chances are there’s a plugin to meet your needs.
This video is an introduction to working with WordPress plugins.
Working with WordPress Widgets
In the past, modifying your blog sidebar required mucking around with your theme code, and even knowing a bit of PHP. Fortunately, WordPress widgets eliminate the hassle by allowing bloggers to easily configure a custom sidebar with drag-and-drop ease.
The WordPress community has developed a large and growing collection of widgets that will allow you to plug all sorts of things into your WordPress sidebar. From Flickr photos to your Twitter status, if there’s something you’d like to add to your blog sidebar, chances are there’s a widget to help you do it.
This video is an introduction to installing and using WordPress Widgets.
Installing and Activating WordPress Themes
One of the coolest features of WordPress is the ability to dramatically change the design of your blog by simply activating a new theme.
The WordPress community has created hundreds (possibly thousands) of free, high-quality themes that you can use on your blog. This video will show you how to find, install, and activate themes.
You can download free themes from the WordPress Theme Viewer.