October 3, 2023 — Full site editing in WordPress is becoming more and more real, and that means that many elements of our websites have to evolve as well.

In this workshop you will learn how to convert some basic elements common in web pages to Gutenberg blocks, so you won’t be afraid of evolution and keep on progressing.

Everything will be done from scratch, from the WordPress documentation. I’ll also bring you some of my own experience creating Gutenberg blocks since the project practically started.

October 3, 2023 — The starting point for blocks is clear and easy: at page-build time, you can configure blocks and add content to them. This gets converted into HTML and displayed, more or less statically, in the end-user’s browser.

But what if you want your block to react to what the member level of the current user is? You can embed JavaScript in the HTML of your block, but all the familiar variables from the back end server PHP are unknown to you. Can you pass them into the block? Can you call back to the server to get the data before the block is rendered?

If you have a form in your block, can you post the data you collect back to the server? Can you use Ajax for this? What if you’d like to prefill the form with the current data, let the user edit it, and then save it back? Can you rerender the block as the user interacts with them?

The answer to all of these is yes. In the workshop, we’ll (quickly) work through live examples of all of these. If you’re OK with setting up a local installation of WP, you’re invited to follow along.

October 3, 2023 — Join Thomas and Niels as they create an extension for WooCommerce Blocks that will add an additional field to the Checkout block that allows shoppers to define where a parcel should be dropped or delivered if they won’t be at home when it arrives.

We will explore the extensibility interfaces that WooCommerce Blocks has and show how some of them can be used to change and customise the checkout experience for shoppers.

October 2, 2023 — A template provides the structure for how a page is displayed. In this session, we will differentiate between pages and templates, modify one of our base templates, learn how to add a new template, and lastly, how to assign a custom template to a page or post.

October 2, 2023 — Being a “web designer” is like being in a constantly shifting storm of definitions, skills, and changes in expectations and demands. This is a workshop about building a design business around generosity and impact. Learn how Maple Creative creates successful sales frameworks for clients and how we’ve created our own list of qualified leads to stay resilient in these times.

October 2, 2023 — That’s what I thought to myself back in 2019 when I launched WPCoffeeTalk. I learned by doing. (Which means I learned by making a LOT of mistakes.)

Since then I’ve launched a few more podcasts, guested on even more, and co-host a few, too.

Launching a podcast is amazing, but there’s a lot you need to take into consideration, and a lot of questions to ask yourself when you get started.

Join me for a session to learn what to do, and what not to do, when you decide it’s time to become a podcaster.

October 2, 2023 — Successful content marketing does not happen overnight.

In this workshop, we will take a step back from actual content creation and dig deep into the foundation of your brand. After all, all great content begins with understanding who YOU are as an entrepreneur and the value of your business.

We will:

– Discover the purpose for developing an online presence
– Consider our core messaging on our website, social media, and email.
– Identify our unique selling proposition
– Discuss competition and how to learn from their content

October 2, 2023 — In this session, I will share my experience using WordPress at the Longo Faculty of Business, Humber College, as part of my teaching portfolio and applied research initiatives.

Students’ Digital Portfolios:
As part of our Web Development course, students are tasked with creating their own digital portfolios using WordPress as their major individual midterm assessment for the course. This includes creating the information website, blogging, SEO, as well as repurposing some of the content for social media to establish a robust online presence. The portfolios serve as a valuable asset when they apply for jobs, including both summer internships and post-graduation employment opportunities.

Sustainable Business Websites:
We take our WordPress knowledge beyond the classroom and into the community as we partner with small business owners looking to enhance their online presence through a new or revamped website.
This is an extracurricular activity that is typically funded through Humber College where we engage students from various academic programs and faculties to form a multidisciplinary team that collaborates with industry partners.
We make this a sustainable solution by providing the business owner(s) with training and resources on how to update and maintain their WordPress websites. This includes developing user manuals, video tutorials, and one-on-one training sessions that are recorded for our business partners.

International Development Initiative:
One of the WordPress projects we are most proud of is an international development initiative where we developed a curriculum to teach female refugees in Kenya how to create their own WordPress websites and establish a strong online presence. Through this project, we aimed to empower these women with a valuable skillset and provide them with an opportunity to showcase their talent and entrepreneurial spirit to the world.

Attendees of this session will gain insights into using WordPress within the college setting, for both teaching and applied research purposes. We will discuss the challenges, successes, and lessons learned of these projects and share tips on how to engage students and small business owners in the process.

October 2, 2023 — Afghanistan has one of the lowest rates of female participation in the workforce and education, which is further exacerbated by the recent Taliban takeover. The Taliban have prohibited most girls from attending secondary school, banned all women from attending and teaching at universities, and prevented women from working. Afghan women are left with limited options for economic and personal growth. However, technology and coding skills can be a game-changer for women who want to access job opportunities and contribute to their country’s development. In this talk, the speaker will discuss the challenges and opportunities of teaching Afghan women how to code, based on her experience working with a nonprofit organization that provides coding courses and mentorship to women. This talk will highlight the cultural and social barriers that women face in pursuing coding education, such as lack of access to computers, the internet, and safe learning environments, and the additional challenges posed by Taliban restrictions. This talk will also showcase the benefits of coding education for women, including increased confidence, financial independence, and community impact. The goal of this talk is to inspire and encourage more educators and tech professionals to join the mission of empowering Afghan women through coding.

October 2, 2023 — We’ll take a look at multiple ways to use ChatGPT to speed up your WordPress builds, from using it to give you content that looks better than “Lorem Ipsum” to helping you with your CSS. And, then we’ll also look at using AI generated images for sites, both as main images and background images. Lastly, we’ll talk about some of the “gotchas” to watch out for when using AI generated assets!