If you came here for pictures, there aren’t many yet :) However, I’ll be sending out updates and a launch deal for those that sign up for my newsletter at the bottom of the post.
For the last couple of weeks, I’ve had a lot of fun putting together a book on customizing the WordPress Admin. It’s a sought after topic, yet rarely documented. Customizing the interfaces we use to interact with WordPress is becoming a bigger topic day by day. Be it within the enterprise or for SaaS solutions, WordPress has long since graduated from the blog moniker. This book will tackle the topic of customizing WordPress to meet those ever-growing needs.
Content
For those that have been following the tweets, I wanted to share an outline of the book:
- Introduction
- Destroy – The book kicks off with a chapter that tackles the overwhelming UI that is presented to the end-user as they log in for the first time. There will be a number of easy wins in this chapter, hopefully resulting in fewer support tickets and a less intimidating experience for your clients.
- Rebuild – Writing this next part has been a lot of fun (and I’m also assuming it will be most useful to you). Beyond what you already know with regards to custom post types, this chapter will delve into creating your own interfaces within WP-Admin, discussing various design patterns as well as the general ins and outs of customizing it for specific needs or user types. It will focus heavily on getting your end-users to become happier and more productive.
- Conquer – At this point, we’ll be breaking out of WP-Admin and discussing the various methods one can use to create entirely new interfaces for WordPress. Beyond the back-end code, we’ll also talk about front-end best practices and how you can get the most out of your user experience there too. This will be more product focused, so you can also expect some case studies.
- Summary
- Resources – In addition, there’s some bonus content I’m looking to throw in there to really help this make for a more practical book. Specifically a plugin that implements the code we discuss, as well as video interviews with people that have done similar work.
Distribution
The structure follows the same style to my initial article in .NET (which you can download below). That article is essentially an ultra-light version of what the book will be. As it stands, the book will also be self-published and DRM free (.pdf, .epub & .mobi).
Launch Date
This isn’t set yet, but it’s a few weeks off. Sign up for the newsletter below to get updates of the progress and be informed when the launch deal comes out.
With all that said, I’m really excited to getting this book out there. It’s really meant to be a tool that you can apply to your business or agency, with the hopes of delivering value from day one.