Design Vitality

WordPress is everywhere on the Internet. Who hasn’t seen a blog, news site or portfolio that isn’t at least partly powered by WordPress. WordPress is a very powerful, easy to install, easy to use blogging program. So what do you do if you want to start your own WordPress powered site, or improve your existing one? You check out this Wordpress Quickstart Guide and get yourself some awesome knowledge of WordPress!

Beginning Steps

Are you new to WordPress? Feeling a bit overwhelmed and unsure where to start? Use these resources and familiarize yourself with WordPress and its capabilities.

• WordPress Codex
  The official WordPress codex. Start here.
• The First 5 Essential Tweaks In A WordPress Installation
  The first 5 things Cory Miller does when installing wordpress.
• The Complete Post-Install Guide
  The complete post-install guide. First steps you should take immediately after installation.
• Wordpress From Install To Pimped Out
  Suggestions on what to do with Wordpress from installation to finish.
• Using WordPress As A Content Management System
  A guide to using your WordPress like a CMS.
• How To Use WordPress As A News Magazine
  This article shows how WordPress can be used as a magazine content system.
• 10 Things You Need To Know About WordPress 2.3
  A good primer when thinking about how to use WordPress.
• WordPress Makes Sense For Non-Blog Websites
  If you want your wordpress to be a CMS, this page is a must read. It covers topics on why Wordpress makes sense on non-blog sites.

Pre-Made Themes

Okay, now that you know more about WordPress (and probably have it installed somewhere) you’re going to want to choose a look for your site. Because of WordPress’ popularity, there are hundred of quality themes pre-made for the taking.

• Get K2
  K2 is the popular, AJAX enabled follow-up to the classic Kubrick theme.
• Theme Viewer
  Very large WordPress theme site with previews of all the themes.
• 100 Favorite Wordpress Themes
  100 high quality WordPress themes.
• 83 Beautiful WordPress Themes You Probably Haven’t Seen
  83 under-used WordPress themes.
• 20 WordPress Themes That Don’t Disappoint
  20 more quality themes.
• The Best Minimalist WordPress Themes
  10 of the best minimalist Wordpress themes out there.
• 21 Fresh, Usable and Elegant WordPress Themes
  21 WordPress themes sure to impress.
• 4-Column WordPress themes.
  20 4-column WordPress themes.

Make Your Own Theme

Do you know HTML and/or CSS? Did you know it’s easy to create a WordPress theme from scratch? Why not look into what makes WordPress so easy to customize?

• Customize Your WordPress With Canvas
  Canvas allows you to create a theme using drag and drop, no CSS or HTML necessary.
• So You Want To Create WordPress Themes, Huh?
  A how-to on creating your own wordpress themes. Includes CSS and HTML validation.
• WordPress Theme Generator
  Create your own WordPress theme using this theme generator.
• Designing A WordPress Theme From Scratch
  How to create a theme from scratch.
• Dissection Of A WordPress Theme
  How to dissect a WordPress theme and build your own.
• How To Convert Any Web Template Into A WordPress Theme
  How-to on converting ANY web template into a WordPress template.
• 100 Tools, Resources and Template Source
  Our very own Mustafa gathered 100 design tools and resources in a previous post, which would be perfect when looking for templates to convert to WordPress.

Plugins

Now that you have your WordPress site looking the way you want, it’s time to extend it! WordPress can be enhanced with thousands of plugins, all freely available on the web. Here are some of the most popular ones:

• Plugins @ WordPress.org
  Plugins at the official WordPress website.
• 300 Tools For Running Your Wordpress Blog
  300 WordPress plugins.
• Lester Chan’s WordPress Plugins
  Very powerful and very popular plugins all updated for WordPress 2.3.
• Alex King’s WordPress Plugins
  Plugins available from one of the most popular 3rd party creators.
• Top 30 WordPress Plugins In The Blogosphere
  The 30 top-voted WordPress plugins.
• WordPress Widgets
  20 WordPress widgets for your sidebar.
• 10 Best Plugins For Google Adsense
  Use these plugins with your Google Adsense.
• Google Analytics And FeedBurner Plugins For Your WordPress
  WordPress plugins that support FeedBurner and Google Analytics.
• Lightbox 2.0 For WordPress
  Use the ever popular Lightbox 2 on your WordPress.
• Spam Karma
  Use Spam Karma to keep bots and spammers out of your blog.
• WordPress Custom Login Page
  Create your own wp-login page with this plugin.
• Event Calender 3.0
  Event Calendar 3.0 is an extremely popular and powerful calendar add-on.
• Customizable Digg Button For WordPress
  Use this to create a dynamic and customizable Digg button for your site.

Optimization

Once you get going on content, it’s quite possible you’d want readers visiting your site. The following links show you how to optimize your site for both heavy-traffic (the Digg Effect) and maximum position on search engines.

• Why My WordPress Is So Much Faster Than Yours
  How to speed up your WordPress blog and possibly survive the Digg effect.
• WordPress and SEO
  Optimizing your WordPress for seo.
• WordPress SEO Title Tag Plugin
  A WordPress plugin that features custom titles for SEO.
• Ultimate WordPress SEO Tips
  Tips on permalinks and titles for SEO.
• WordPress Search Engine Optimization Plugins
  Lots and lots of WP plugins for SEO.

Integration

As if WordPress wasn’t already powerful enough, you can extend it’s capabilities. WordPress can be bridged with forums, photo galleries and more. This means your users can login to WordPress and other content management systems on your site all at the same time!

• Integrating A Forum With WordPress
  This site includes links on how to integrate WordPress with forums such as phpBB, Simple Machines and bbPress.
• Gallery 2 + WordPress
  Integrate Gallery2 and WordPress together.
• ZenPhoto + WordPress
  Integrate your wordpress with the lightweight ZenPhoto.
• WordPress Multi-User
  Install any number of WordPress blogs with multiple users, all using the same database.
• Twitter Tools For Your WordPress
  Use Wordpress to show your recent Twitter activity.
• Social Bookmark Creator
  Use this to create social bookmark links for your WordPress.