Wordpress: Buddypress Courseware

The BuddyPress (BP) Courseware plugin by ScholarPress transforms our WordPres site into a learning management system. This plugin provides educators with the ability to post and organize course content, assignments, bibliographies, and schedules. BP Courseware works by extending the BuddyPress group functionality. Each courseware-enabled group receives a courseware dashboard where teachers and students can quickly access and post course content. The BP Courseware plugin is ideal for managing multiple courses by the same instructor or for an entire academic department.

In this article by Adam D. Scott, author of the book WordPress for Education, we'll cover techniques to install and configure the BP Courseware plugin. Once the plugin is installed, we'll develop content for a sample courseware course by adding course information, posting assignments, grading student assignments, creating a bibliography, and managing the course calendar.

WordPress Month

WordPress 3: Designing your Blog

In this article by Paul Thewlis, author of WordPress 3 For Business Bloggers, we'll look at one of the most important aspects of your blog—design. We'll begin by considering some of the principles of good blog design. Even if your blog is already up and running, this article will allow you to critically evaluate its design and replace your current theme with a custom-designed one. This article includes:

• The principles of blog design
• How to implement your blog design using CSS and HTML

WordPress 3 Security: Risks and Threats

It stands to reason that we can't properly secure a WordPress site until we have a heads-up on its vulnerabilities and the threats it faces. So let's kick off by ensuring awareness.

In this article by Olly Connelly, author of WordPress 3.0 Ultimate Security, we'll set the scene by introducing the hackers and their tricks and considering how the former plies the latter against a site, whether directly or indirectly:

• Knowing the enemy, the variety of mindset, and the levels of skill
• Considering physical security and the threat from social engineering
• Weighing up OS security, allow vs. deny policies and open vs. closed source
• Mulling over malware in its many shapes and forms
• Assessing risks from local devices such as PCs and routers
• Treading carefully in the malicious minefield that is the web

WordPress 3 Security: Apache Modules

Most likely, today, some hacker tried to crack your WordPress site, its data and content. Maybe that was just a one-off from some bored kid. Just as likely, it was an automated hit, trying dozens of attacks to find a soft spot. Then again, quite likely it was both. What we must do is to solidify your WordPress and other logins so you can securely administrate while keeping your data and credentials flying well under the radar. We'll put the best web protocols to work, along with added defenses, chiefly from Apache.

In this article by Olly Connelly, author of WordPress 3.0 Ultimate Security, we will cover:

• IP deny with mod_access
• Password protect directories
• Authentication with mod_auth
• Better passwords with mod_auth_digest
• More authentication methods

Windows Presentation Foundation Project - Basics of Working

This article by Jayaram Krishnaswamy introduces the reader accustomed to working with the traditional graphic user interface in earlier versions of VB to Windows Presentation Foundation. Importantly, it introduces the reader to the XAML's declarative format and what it means in the design interface of VS 2008. WPF can do a great deal more than what is described in this article. The power of markup extensions such as declarative binding, dynamic resource, template binding and many others are not discussed. It is hoped that the reader will be up and running WPF projects based on his previous experience after reading this article.

Windows Installer XML (WiX): Adding a User Interface

The WiX toolset ships with several User Interface wizards that are ready to use out of the box. We'll briefly discuss each of the available sets and then move on to learning how to create your own from scratch. In this article by Nick Ramirez, author of the book WiX: A Developer's Guide to Windows Installer XML, you'll learn about:

• Adding dialogs into the InstallUISequence
• Linking one dialog to another to form a complete wizard
• Getting basic text and window styling working
• Including necessary dialogs like those needed to display errors

Windows Azure Service Bus: Key Features

Windows Azure Service Bus offers features that are not offered by any other cloud platform on the market. One important feature is the Service Bus that enables you to connect your on-premise services to Windows Azure services and beyond. The Access Control Service enables you to easily authenticate users without having to write complex authentication code ourselves. By using Windows Identity Framework (WIF) and supporting identity providers such as Live ID, Yahoo, and Facebook, it will be easy to use these identity providers as the main authentication mechanism in our own services.

In this article by Riccardo Becker, author of Windows Azure programming patterns for Start-ups, we will provide a systematic guide on how to integrate with Facebook. AppFabric also contains AppFabric applications, an easy way to develop and deploy composite applications. Another interesting feature is the caching feature that AppFabric offers.

Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 Modules and Cmdlets

Microsoft Windows PowerShell 3.0 First Look will ensure that you have a great overview of the numerous new features and changes found in the most recent version of the language. Through simple examples and succinct chapters, this book will quickly bring readers up to speed with need to know information about the newest version of PowerShell.

In this article by Adam Driscoll, author of Microsoft Windows PowerShell 3.0 First Look, we'll see:

• A selection of new cmdlets found in the core PowerShell modules
• A selection of new modules and cmdlets found in Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012