Thord D. Hedengren

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Tag: Smashing WordPress: Beyond the Blog

  • Some Things That Happened Since Last We Spoke

    This is something of a status update, because I’ve got a handful of stuff that I need to put online, and as this very site still is less suitable for short status updates, I’ll employ the bullet list once more.

    • Smashing WordPress: Beyond the Blog is now in its fourth edition, done and delivered. The book turned out well, and is available for pre-order. I’ll update the book page later next week with additional information, along with the final cover.
    • I was in the Financial Times recently, pertaining to my iPhone novel writing project. The piece is behind the paywall, but you get eight articles for free if you sign up, so go do that.
    • Speaking of iPhone writing: The MobNov project is progressing (fifth outline revision?), and I’ve got something else somewhat related in store for you guys in the coming months.
    • I’ve finished a short story, I’m editing another short story, and I expect to finish a novella next week. It’s great getting back to fiction writing.
    • And finally, Odd Alice (still without a proper English site, sorry) is keeping me busy as always. The coming week involves a trip to Norway to talk to clients, and we’re building really cool stuff that I’ll no doubt write extensively about in the future as it’s related to publishing.

    That’s it for now. Enjoy your Sunday.

  • Nu kan du förhandsboka Smashing WordPress 4th Edition #wpse

    Men se där, nu går det att förhandsboka den fjärde utgåvan av Smashing WordPress: Beyond the Blog hos Amazon. Utkommer den 24 februari sägs det.

  • Some Thoughts In The Evening

    Good evening. At least it’s evening here, bordering to night actually. The wind’s doing its best to shatter the windows, but it’s not even close. This is, after all, cold and damp Stockholm, capital of Sweden (the land of kings). Here wind rarely ruins civilization, although it can be a nuisance, and occasionally something more than that.

    But not tonight, not here.

    It’s been a while since I published something here. There are reasons for this of course. Work has kept me occupied, we’re doing really cool stuff for one of the major publishing houses in Sweden, or rather, with their Swedish properties, using WordPress and ingenuity. Wrapping up Smashing WordPress: Beyond the Blog, 4th Edition (a mouthful if there ever was one) has taken its toll too, it’s in author review now and hopefully it’ll launch in the first quarter next year. I’m excited about that.

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  • Livet just nu i en punktlista

    Det är väldigt tyst här just nu. Jag ska prata mer om hur jag tänker kring just det längre fram, men kort kan vi väl konstatera att jag just nu skriver desto mer på engelska, på TDH.me som är min engelskspråkiga sajt, samt förlägger en hel del av skrivtiden utöver det till triviala saker som böcker och tweets.

    Nog om det just nu. Här är livet just nu, i en punktlista så att alla hänger med.

    • Låt oss börja med bokskrivandet. Den fjärde utgåvan av Smashing WordPress: Beyond the Blog kommer i vinter, förhoppningsvis på den här sidan årsskiftet men det beror på WordPress-versionernas faktiska lanseringstempo och publiceringsapparaten. Jag lovar inget.
    • Det blir en uppdaterad utgåva av eboken The Writer’s iPad med, gratis för alla som köpt den första från mig förstås (så köp om du inte redan gjort det). Skulle tro att det blir slutet av november för den här.
    • Odd Alice, webbyrån som jag driver, växer så det knakar och har roliga kunder. Bland annat slänger vi ut Episerver på ännu en plats, och bygger API:er, appar, samt filar på en podcast. Mer om sådant allt eftersom det händer och blir officiellt, och då på hemsidan snarare än här.
    • Internetdagarna tar en hel del tid för mig nu, jag driver nämligen två spår/dagar: En dag med WordPress samt Det är innehållet som räknas respektive. Missa absolut inte att köpa biljett till dessa (begränsat med platser) för det är oklart hur det blir med livesändning tyvärr. Boka med koden IND13 så får du 20% rabatt, och gör du det bums får du en t-shirt, tror jag bestämt.
    • Ja, det börjar bli dags för en #wpbar i Stockholm. Jobbar på’t.
    • Jag länk-kommenterar ganska friskt just nu, och har gjort de senaste månaderna. Följ @tdh på Twitter, eller om du så föredrar så följer du Tumblr-bloggen TDHFTW, som får alla länkarna med. Fast just nu, i skrivande stund, så är kopplingarna trasiga så klart. Ironiskt.
    • E-posttidningen Appmagasinet har utkommit med fyra nummer så här långt. Från och med nästa nummer blir det lite mer innehåll per nummer, men vi håller kvar vid torsdag eftermiddag som publiceringsdag (en gång i veckan alltså), och naturligtvis är Appmagasinet helt gratis och spamfritt. Teckna en prenumeration på hemsidan, och/eller läs äldre nummer via länkarna på bloggen.

    Och som alltid, prata gärna med mig, helst på Twitter men övriga kanaler fungerar med.

  • A Little Bit Of Everything

    That might possibly be the worst post title thus far, but my mind is elsewhere. Besides I’m not one for snappy titles promising gold and glory, while delivering a list of things on my mind at the moment. Which of course is what I’ve got for you. (more…)

  • Questions Answered, May 2013 Edition

    I was going to talk about Ghost, the crowdfunded blogging platform, today but as I read my draft I realized that my point was muddled and didn’t get across the way I wanted. The piece went in the bin and I’ll give it another go in a day or so.

    Let me instead answer some questions from the modern mailbag, which would mean anything from my email inbox to Twitter, App.net or Facebook. There might be questions directed at me over at Google+ as well, but those will continue to go unanswered.

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  • On Editors

    Yesterday I delivered the manuscript for Smashing WordPress: Beyond the Blog, 4th Edition. It is not a meagre revision, but a sensible upgrade to fit the ever evolving CMS it covers. I’m pretty happy with it.

    The manuscript is now in the hands of the editors. Yes plural, my publisher prides itself with several eyes on its books, which is a good thing for the reader as it should mean less errors slipping through. Because there will be errors, obviously. No book is perfect, no book is completely flawless, not even The Elements of Style, although I’d be hard pressed to find some fault of that one myself. That doesn’t mean that errors, mistakes, typos and whatnot shouldn’t be squashed as much and as often as possible, one must always strive to write the most perfect manuscript, to publish the most perfect book, at all times.

    My editors are heroes and heroines. Not because I’m a hard person to work with, although I will speak my mind and have the final say, as any self-confident author should. No, they deserve the hero Hero Status because they are such an integral part of the process, and yet they get no credit other than a line somewhere in the acknowledgement. Sure, editors are paid for their work, but they deserve more than I imagine most people would think.

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  • The Final Chapter

    I’m putting the finishing touches to the final chapter of Smashing WordPress: Beyond the Blog, 4th Edition right now. It is not the last chapter in the book, rather the one that I’m not done with yet. I try to write chronologically, but revisions are different and technical literature even more so.

    Along with this last chapter, which I hope will get wrapped up and sent to the editor today, is 40 or so screenshots I need to retake. Normally I’d do that alongside the writing, but the process with this edition hasn’t been normal. It’s been educational though, and the end result is better than the previous edition, so I’m happy with it. I think the readers will appreciate it too, so there.

    I’m even more happy about the fact that I can get along with three other projects, starting sometime next week. The final chapter is always the toughest one for me because The Next Big Thing is on the horizon, and I want to get going.

    But not until after a suitable celebration of a manuscript delivered and a job well done, of course.

  • Revising The Casbah

    I have a deadline. It is a mere week away, and I’m not done yet. That’s no biggie, you might think, but I’m editing this book you see, the manuscript for the fourth edition of Smashing WordPress: Beyond the Blog (and yeah, I guess I’m announcing that right here, right now), and I’m not done yet. I’d like to tell you that I’m not even close but that would scare my publishes and stop you from shelling out the $30 or whatever for a copy, and then I can’t pay my mortgage or support my drinking habits, so I won’t.

    I will tell you this though: Second, Third, Fourth, Xth editions are hard work. You’d think it would be easy to keep a winning concept rolling, to fix the code and change the examples and then wham bam thank you money-sending lady at the publisher’s office.

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  • Pappersutgåvan av Smashing WordPress, 3rd Edition anlände just

    Idag anlände den tredje upplagan av Smashing WordPress: Beyond the Blog till mig. Den ser fin ut.

  • Smashing WordPress: Beyond the Blog, 3rd Edition finns ute nu

    Den tredje utgåvan av Smashing WordPress: Beyond the Blog finns ute nu, även i Sverige. Precis som tidigare så fick USA den först, och liksom då så smyger sig boken hit innan förlaget, Wiley, ens har fått dem till sitt lager. Jag har med andra ord ännu inte sett en papperskopia av Smashing WordPress: Beyond the Blog, 3rd Edition, men korrektur-PDF:erna såg bra ut.

    Den stora frågan är förstås vem som ska köpa den här boken. Svaret är enkelt: Smashing WordPress är skriven för WordPress-utvecklare och -designers. Gör du egna teman eller tillägg är det här boken för dig, och vill du lära dig förstå andras teman och tillägg är det också boken för dig. Däremot kan du inte vara komplett nybörjare, om en enkel PHP-rad får dig att börjar gråta under köksbordet bör du börja någon annanstans.

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  • Mer om tredje utgåvan av Smashing WordPress: Beyond the Blog

    Nyfiken på mer om Smashing WordPress: Beyond the Blog, 3rd Edition? Det är tveklöst den bästa versionen hittills, så kolla in boksidan vetja. Dessutom: lätt uppdaterad författarsida på Amazon.

  • Two minor updates

    I’ve made two minor updates on the site today.

    1. The Smashing WordPress: Beyond the Blog, 3rd Edition page is updated with some more information, and a pre-order link.
    2. The store page got the pre-order link for the book too. No Kindle edition available there yet.

    I also updated my Amazon author page with a new cover photo and the @tdh Twitter account.

    In the not so distant future you’ll see a lot of changes here on TDH.me, as well as a somewhat steady stream of released content that I’ve neglected. Mostly WordPress themes, but there are some fiction that I’ll probably publish here as well.

  • Så här ser Smashing WordPress: Beyond the Blog, 3rd Edition ut

    Omslaget finns uppe på boksidan för den som är nyfiken, inlagan har ny design också. Den här vill ni inte missa, rejäl uppdatering. Mer snart!

  • The cover for Smashing WordPress 3rd Edition

    I know you all have been dying to see the cover for upcoming Smashing WordPress: Beyond the Blog, 3rd Edition. It would be downright mean of me to keep you waiting any longer, so without further ado… (more…)