A Quick Guide to Learn Wordpress

There are a few things that you learn by maintaining your own websites:

1. Hosting is a pain, and requires cash
2. There are no easy answers for newbies to do the 'that cool thing'

I have used Wordpress, Joomla and Drupal for building personal websites, and find Wordpress to be the best among the three. It may have to do with the fact that I don't associate myself with web development a lot. But if there is one thing that I can say with confidence - it is that "Wordpress is easy". It is easy to setup, develop and deploy. So easy, that it makes it a joy to work on. The community is thriving and you generally do not get stuck in a big issue unless you are doing something crazy. Wordpress is the software for newbie web development

But again, not quite. Wordpress can be a pain sometimes. If not, why do you think I am writing this on Blogger? It starts with simple things like getting the appropriate modules and themes, and goes through various levels of frustration on not getting the site to work as you want it. Although the forums are helpful, you may not end up finding all answers at your convenience. Fortunately, there are many very well-written Wordpress books and some video help at hand.

WordPress : Visual QuickStart Guide

With rich screenshots, and a highly immersive visual tutorial this book will certainly appeal to a - 'surprise' - a visual audience. However this quickly get you through what you want to know and the core aspects that will make you comfortable with Wordpress.

WP Starter Guide

This is not a well known book, but a good place to start. The book is not as substantial as other well-known books, but is clear on the beginning concepts and what you need to do to get a site up and running on Wordpress. If you don't like the cost, you can also consider getting the book for free by paying a sponsoring web host company. 

Wordpress video tutorials

If you are more a audio/video person, you may like watching the lessons fly by instead of the tedious page turning. Entertainment + learning anyone?

Professional Wordpress: Design and Development

Start from basics and go through advanced topics. This book is best suited for developers.

wordpress.org

You always have the option of using the best resource of all times - product documentation and beginner lessons.

[disclosure: contains links that may result in monetary benefit to me at no cost to you]