On the cover of Head First Word Press by Jeff Siarto you’ll see the comforting words “A Brain – Friendly Guide”. That pretty well sums up this book published by O’Reilly. If you’re not familiar with the Head First series, be prepared for a lot of visual teaching. This is not a dry, technical book explaining every little detail of creating a Word Press blog on your own site. You won’t learn php or MySQL here. But you will find everything you need to get your site up and running quickly.

Word Press sites are known for their ease of use, including their famous 5 minute install. Combine that with Head First’s teaching method  and you’ll have a good looking, customized blog site up in no time. Mr Siarto walks you step by step through installing, configuring, and securing your blog site. You’ll learn how to categorize your blog posts into categories. My favorite chapters are the ones dealing with using video and podcasts on your site.

All in all, this is a very entertaining book. I would recommend it to anyone who is a little nervous about setting up their own Word Press site. Intermediate users will probably find it useful too. But it’s not for everyone. Advanced users would probably be disappointed. But that shouldn’t take away from the excellent overall quality of Head First Word Press.