Critically acclaimed Smashing WordPress: Beyond the Blog is now available in a second edition! All the goodness of the first book is here, updated for WordPress version 3.1 and up, as well as a lot of new stuff to make this one worth a purchase even for people owning the first edition.

You’ll learn how to (from the book’s back cover):

• Build beautiful WordPress themes, including child themes
• Create custom login forms and admin themes
• Use the loop to control content
• Build plugins, including widget functionality
• Use custom post types and custom taxonomies
• Use post formats
• Integrate WordPress with the social web
• Use conditional control elements
• Integrate theme options
• Build your WordPress projects for SEO

Smashing WordPress: Beyond the Blog not only teaches you what you can do with WordPress, but also aims to open your mind to the possibilities of the platform. With this book you’ll be able to create the sites you want, way beyond the blog.

Opinions on the first edition

“an indispensable partner” – Linux User & Developer magazine (July 2010)

“chock–full of useful advice” – .net magazine (August 2010)

Featured in the Webkit segment on how to “furnish your studio with gadgets and gizmos” in Web Designer magazine (March 2010).

And some Amazon.co.uk reviews:

• “This is a must have book if you want to push WordPress into more of a Content Management System tool” – 5/5 by cwc100 (May 10, 2010)
• “At present, I run three seperate instances of WordPress (two blogs and one content managed site) and I can see this book playing a big part in developing these” – 5/5 by Ross B (April 20, 2010)
• “I really cannot fault this book. Its definately not for beginners, but if you know PHP and want to get the most out of WordPress, then you will LOVE this book.” – 5/5 by Finnbar Saunders (April 23, 2010)

Current Amazon score is 4 stars out of 5 for Smashing WordPress: Beyond the Blog (last checked on February 19, 2011). I’m pretty happy with that.

The book cover