So my recent task had me re-setting up the company's http://wordpress.org/ based blog. While it's been several years since I've last done anything with Wordpress (and several++ years since I've done any personal blogging), I welcomed the opportunity to get back into something I had once enjoyed. I was excited at the upgrades and features that had been introduced in that time.
Anyway, in the time since I've last used Wordpress I've come a long way in regards to my personal/business development workflow. I now use versioning, multiple environments and various other tools/techniques that have otherwise slipped my mind at the moment.
A straight out of the box Wordpress installation isn't going to allow me to use multiple environments which is essential to our company workflow. Fortunately I somehow came upon a great writeup on how to deal with this problem: the $_SERVER['SERVER_NAME'] php variable. Follow the jump for the writeup (very well written and easy to follow for even the noobliest greenhorn):
WordPress Configuration for Multiple Environments
All the magic essentially takes place in wp-config.php, and although the writeup provides some extra functions for functions.php they aren't essential, mostly helpers in keeping things organized across the environments.
EDIT: Feel free to check out further progress with customizing WordPress's Thematic theme:
Building a Custom WordPress Theme
EDIT the second: I got a new entry in the series: WordPress Theming: Injecting Some JavaScript