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Free Book Giveaway! Our Review of the Digging Into WordPress 3 eBook

Are you wanting to learn more about WordPress?  From mainstream websites to personal blogs, WordPress is one of the most important and powerful publishing platforms today.  There’s a wealth of information of information available online, but it can be very difficult to learn everything there is to know about something as big as WordPress from scattered blog posts and articles.  That’s where Digging into WordPress fits in.  Keep reading for our review of the latest version of this impressive book, and for an opportunity to win one of 2 copies we’re giving away this week!

Digging into WordPress is a great eBook that gives you a through WordPress education in a fun and exciting way.  It is aimed at users that know at least some HTML, CSS, and PHP, but if you even have the slightest knowledge of web design and have a strong desire to push on and learn more, you’ll be able to learn a lot from this book.  Best of all, it was recently updated for WordPress 3.0!  Whether you’re still trying to learn your way around WordPress, are trying to hack your favorite Elegant Theme or WooTheme to work the way you want, or are trying to become the new 3rd most important person in WordPress, this is the book for you.  It covers all the following and more:

With all that content, Digging into WordPress is a massive eBook, with nearly 450 pages of tips, tricks, and instruction.  It’s also a beautiful book that looks great on your netbook or eReader screen!

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If you’re a visual learner, Digging into WordPress will be especially helpful.  It frequently includes screenshots of websites and WordPress admin screens to illustrate what its talking about.  The whole book is beautifully designed, which makes it a pleasure to read while still giving you a ton of WordPress instruction.

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The book is filled with sample code that can help you do exactly you want to with your WordPress themes and backend PHP, even if you only have a basic understanding of PHP coding.  You always learn more when you learn by doing, so be sure to try out the code on your own site or WordPress test install so you’ll really understand how it works.  And if you’re already an advanced WordPress developer, it can be a great resource of code snippets for those little, hard-to-remember functions.

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But it’s not all code, work, and study … Digging into WordPress is fun, too.  It’s filled with funny and inspirational quotes, pointers, and off-the-wall remarks that break up the monotony of studying.  This book is as informative as a textbook, but if you’re any bit into web development, it’ll be as fun to read as a tech book can be.

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As mentioned before, the book has been fully updated with WordPress 3.0 information, so you’ll be armed with the latest tools when you set off to create your own new themes.  Best of all, if you purchase a copy of Digging into WordPress (or have purchased one in the past), you’ll receive free updates to the book when they’re published!  So you’ll learn about WP 3.0 today, and will also get the latest information when new versions of WordPress are released in the future.  Technology changes daily, so too often, books are outdated as soon as you buy them.  Not Digging into WordPress … it’s a living eBook :)

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We’re very impressed with the content and quality of this book, and highly recommend it.  If you’d like to see more, be sure to check out the free sample chapter.  Or take a look around the companion site, DigWP.com; it includes an amazing amount of WordPress tips and tricks, such as this great tip on using Tumblr-style link posts in WordPress!

Usually, when I finish reading a tech book, I think I wish it’d covered whatever better, but this book left no room for missing information.  You’re supposed to point out where books came short in reviews, but I couldn’t find anything to critique.  450 pages of content, up to date information, full-color graphics, and free updates in the future … what’s not to love?  If you’re wanting to learn more about WordPress, this is the book to get!

Win a Free Copy of Digging Into WordPress

[box type="info"]Update: Our contest is now closed, and the winners are Roger and jawshua. Thanks everyone for participating!

Best of all, we’re giving away 2 PDF copies of Digging Into WordPress!  To enter, simply leave a comment below and let us know why you want to read Digging into WordPress, or follow us on Twitter (@techinch for just Techinch posts, or @maguay for more random tech stuff and interesting posts), and tweet the following or just click Tweet at the bottom of this post:

Win a free copy of Digging into WordPress from @techinch! http://bit.ly/digwp3

Important: Make sure to mention @maguay or @techinch in the Tweet, or we may not see it and won't be able to count it in this contest!

Want a better chance at winning?  Leave a comment and retweet this post for 2 entries!  The contest closes at midnight Friday, September 10th, EST time, so make sure to comment before then.

And a special thanks to Chris Coyier and Jeff Starr, the authors of Digging into WordPress, for sponsoring this contest.

Purchase Digging into WordPress

If you don’t win the contest, don’t despair.  You can still purchase a copy and learn all the great tips yourself.  The eBook version costs $27, and comes with fully free updates.  Digging into WordPress has already gone through 3 major versions, and if you purchased a previous version, you automatically got a new copy for download as soon as it came out.  It even includes several WordPress themes for free!  This all makes it one of the best WordPress book deals available.  You’ll be able to take advantage of all the tips and information in the current version, and will be able to keep your knowledge up to date as WordPress evolves!

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Thoughts? @reply me on Twitter.