November 3, 2020 — This talk suggests practical tips you can use to improve the accessibility of your digital presence.

Did you know that one in four Americans has a disability that impacts their major living activities? For web content, email newsletters, and social media, it’s important that content is accessible to everyone. Ensuring your content is accessible expands your audience, improves SEO, increases your reach, and demonstrates your commitment to equality and social responsibility.

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November 3, 2020 — This talk explains why humans and search engines love easy to understand web copy. It also covers (2020) Google trends (EAT and Bert) and offers practical tips on how to improve your SEO copywriting for websites.

November 3, 2020 — Blocks are the components of Gutenberg. Blocks are simply reusable easy to use components. While there are many libraries and core blocks available, sometimes you have to writes custom blocks to meet your client requirements. The knowledge of Gutenberg can really empower you to achieve even the complex functionalities and layouts in Gutenberg.

In this session, Imran (WordPress Developer at rtCamp) will demonstrate how to quickly write custom Gutenberg blocks with the help of available tools while explaining the States and attributes of the block and other concepts.

Meetup link
https://www.meetup.com/Colombo-WordPress-Meetup/events/274099459/

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November 3, 2020 — In this session, I will provide my insight on building the frontity.org website using built-in Gutenberg blocks and a React-based front-end. This is a powerful approach that allows to combine all the flexibility of the WordPress editor with the potential of using React for more complex UIs, while keeping everything editable from Gutenberg, even the CLI commands! However, it has its challenges too.

I will share the lessons we learned, pros and cons, and what we found to be the best approach to solve them. I will do a small demo with different examples, from connecting the basic Gutenberg styles to more complex interfaces like the animations in the hero, and will explain how we addressed them (from the design phase to the final code implementation) to help you begin your own journey.

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November 3, 2020 — For the next two years, there are at least six WordPress releases scheduled. While some features are yet to be determined, there is already a rich and interesting list of enhancements that are planned.

What does the future have in store for the WordPress industry? If you are part of it, you should be aware of what’s in the pipeline for 2020 and beyond and how it could affect you and your business.

Join me to hear the latest news and plans from the WordPress project.

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November 3, 2020 — Everyone is talking about UX these days. What is User Experience? Who really cares about UX and why should you even care? User Experience is not just digital, in fact, it exists in our daily lives and every interaction is a user experience and it can make or fail . In this talk, we will take a look at some case studies to see how applying UX can make a difference and help you utilize some of the UX principles to your WordPress design and development.

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November 3, 2020 — Sometimes adversarial project management relationships can develop between clients, web designers, and developers. Starting even before the very first phone call or email, this talk provides tips and new ways of thinking about the client/provider relationship. And, in a way that respects what the client is asking for while also respecting the knowledge and experience the designer/developer brings to the table. We’ll cover the psychology of the relationships and engagements that typically occur between freelancers, agencies, and even direct-hire employees. In the end, both WordPress professionals and their clients will have a greater appreciation and respect for one another. Clients will be more willing to pay what providers charge for services and service providers will be better able to serve their clients.

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November 3, 2020 — 2020 isn’t like anything we’ve experienced in modern days. The landscape has changed. How we communicate with one another has changed. Masks, online conferences, email, check-ins, text messages… these all have a bigger impact than ever before on how we connect with other — including our clients. Let’s talk about how to maintain human connection with clients given our new “normal.”

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November 3, 2020 — What is a Wapuu? If you’re new to the WordPress Community and a WordCamp or Meetup, seeing these whimsical and playful characters in and around events worldwide. In this presentation, we’ll look at how these mystical creatures came to be, fit into each event’s brand messaging, and sets the tone for each weekend.

We’ll also take a look at the five Wapuu characters I’ve created and the thought process behind their creation, the “rules” of creating a standard Wapuu, the Field & Trading Outpost – their home, review some of my favorite Wapuus spotted, and more.

Need a change of pace during your busy WordCamp day? Stop in for this fun peek behind the curtain.

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November 3, 2020 — There are many ways to edit the look and functionality of a website. You could use an all-in-one solution such as page-builders. While this is still a good solution for building complex websites in a short amount of time, a better solution may be to use a child theme. I want to share my process for creating a child theme and go through a few examples of some typical things I do with child themes that has lowered my dependency on page-builders and plugins. I’ll also do my best to explain why you may want to create a child theme as well.