December 11, 2015 — According to some statistics, WordPress is used on nearly 25% of the entire World Wide Web; and is the content management system (CMS) of choice for nearly 2/3 of websites using a CMS. While the numbers within higher education may or may not match those, WordPress is heavily used within that vertical.

Many institutions are using WordPress to present their whole public-facing websites; some are using it to build large commons for their students and communities; some are using WP as a tool to help students build digital portfolios; and some are even building living textbooks with WordPress.

Within this talk, we’ll take a look some examples of WordPress as it’s used in higher ed, we’ll discuss some of the contributions that higher ed has made to WordPress over the years, we’ll explore some of the challenges faced in higher education, and we’ll look toward the future of WordPress usage in higher ed.

December 11, 2015 — Minimalist web design requires a deep understanding of the needs of the people using your website. Clearing away design clutter and nonessential functionality leaves only the most important elements, creating a peaceful and focused environment for both the end user and the designer. This talk will cover visual design principles for creating a more peaceful user experience.

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December 11, 2015 — Earlier this year, we released a bug fix for one of the most complex and severe security issues WordPress has ever had – the Trojan Emoji bug. (So good it got its own name!)
In this talk, we’ll take a look at the initial report, reconstruct how we got to the eventual solution, and discuss what we learned along the way.

December 11, 2015 — Freelancers, small and even established businesses often overlook the value of event marketing mostly because they are usually a significant investment that is difficult to measure. In this talk I’d like to share several tips that will help both individuals and businesses to create the ultimate connected brand experience by attending conferences and generate valuable business as a result. Attendees will leave the sessions with specific actionable items on how to prepare for a conference, what strategies to implement for the best results and how to take the most from the event after it’s over.

December 11, 2015 — Large community projects introduce constraints on how we program. Our biggest assets aren’t the hardware we run on or the language we use – it’s each other. How can we code in ways that respect each other and capitalize on that “asset” of the contributor-base? In this talk Dennis will discuss some techniques and patterns that lead towards fewer problems and improve a project’s overall health in these and any environments.

December 11, 2015 — Building things is one of the most powerful kinds of learning experiences a person can have: so what do people learn when they build websites using WordPress? The answer depends on what’s in their toolkit.

Content development tools can be designed to help people understand the technical infrastructure of the Web while they build compelling content. One example of such a tool is our WordPress Plugin, Snowball, which helps people build immersive WordPress articles that integrate data and media while exposing them to basic computational features of web development like tagging, nesting, and CSS. We have developed Snowball to support journalistic presentations inspired by the New York Times, including their interactive article “Snowfall” and the more recent “Greenland is Melting Away.”

Our team includes members of Drexel University College of Computing and Informatics, Mozilla Foundation, and University of Nebraska at Omaha and is based at the Expressive and Creative Interaction Technologies (ExCITe) Center in West Philly.

December 11, 2015 — WordPress is one of the most, if not the most, recognized website platform available in the market. Dominating over 25% of the market, it’s no surprise that it’s the preferred technology by marketers, sales professionals, small and large business alike, and those intent in nefarious actions.

It’s popularity is often attributed to it’s flexibility, usability and of-course, community. With all the positive though, there is and continues to be an overarching security shadow that gets introduced into every conversation.

In this presentation, we look to educate and bring awareness to the real challenges the platform faces when it comes to security. We will also dispel rumors and myths, while providing a realistic, objective, overview of the current state of security affairs in the WordPress ecosystem.

The web is a constantly evolving domain, making even the most skilled security professionals faint at the idea of staying ahead of the latest and emerging threats. We will provide perspective, and educate the masses around the things that really matter and the things being done to improve the online experience for millions.

December 11, 2015 — What are the ingredients needed to create a committed WordPress Community in your city. Learn secrets to choosing topics, getting speakers, creating comraderie and keeping people active and involved. Then ask your questions!

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December 11, 2015 — Communities—like the one we have in WordPress—don’t just happen overnight. For them to be successful, they take people to show up, contribute back, grow with it and most importantly to incorporate new people into the fold. It is ongoing, it requires attention and it needs people like you and me to speak up. A small fraction of people carry the weight of helping it thrive, but the great thing is that despite all that, we all benefit from the community no matter who contributes. In this talk I will cover some known, and unknown tips and tools for making the community work for you and your business, and also help to put back more into the community than what you take from it.

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December 11, 2015 — We want code that is easy to understand, re-usable, and flexible. But we are always up against deadlines, so we rush, and end up with code that is messy, buggy, hard to maintain, and makes us go slower even though we’re trying to go faster.

What is clean code? In this talk I’ll provide some answers to this question, and introduce you to 10 good habits that will help keep your code clean, such as the use of meaningful names for your variables and functions, and following the “Boy Scout Rule” (leave the code cleaner than you found it). I will even try to persuade you that using a lot of code comments is a sign that there are problems with your code. I’ll also discuss the particular challenges of applying some of these techniques in the WordPress environment.

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