Tomorrow I’ll be speaking at OfficePort Chicago for the official 1-Day WordPress Workshop. This event seems to be sold out but hopefully, there will more workshops in the near future for those who can’t make it.

My topic list includes WordPress themes and plugins, so I thought I could provide a list ahead of time of some links we might use during the discussions.

Finding the Perfect WordPress Theme

• 40 Free High-Quality WordPress Themes (via Smashing Magazine)
• 40 Awesome and Fresh WordPress Themes (via SpeckyBoy)
• Free Themes Reviewed on Weblog Tools Collection
• What I consider to be the best value in WordPress themes: ThemeForest
• WooThemes
• WPBest
• Theme Atlas

WordPress Plugins List – The Most Useful + Highest Quality

1. Fluency Admin
2. Google Analyticator
3. All in One SEO Pack
4. Ajax Plugin Helper
5. Akismet
6. Redirection
7. Twitter Tools
8. WP-DBManager
9. WP No Category Base
10. Get the Image
11. Gravity Forms
12. Lightbox Plus
13. flickrRSS
14. Pods
15. More Fields
16. GigPress

…And Other WordPress Resources

• wpazo.com
• wpgpl.com
• wpcrowd.com
• wpbegginer.com
• Vladimir Prelovac
• Theme Lab
• wpshout.com
• wpzoom.com
• wprecipes.com
• WPMU Tutorials
• wptavern.com
• Cats Who Code
• CSS Tricks
• Perishable Press

Digging into WordPress by Chris Coyer and Jeff Starr is neither boring, nor outdated, which is more than I can say for 99.9% of all the ebooks I’ve read over the years. The book was release earlier this week as a .pdf download, but at over 400 pages, you’ll definitely be getting your money’s worth.

If you want to know everything about WordPress 2.8, than look no further. I’ve learned a lot from this book already (even as a guy who’s been using WordPress for three years) and I’m sure you will, too. The authors are also promising to keep updating the book over time and your purchase secures a lifetime subscription to any new version they may release. My vote is that Digging should become the new official WordPress codex. Great job, gentlemen!

Want a sneak peak? Here’s a sample chapter. Let me know what you think below!

http://pawschicago.org