November 20, 2016 — WordPress is rich in hooks laid throughout the code base for anyone to use. In this talk, I speak about the purposes of actions and filters, and about the differences between them. I also share my technique of using ‘grep’ on plugins source code to quickly find their hooks and make their behavior suit my needs.

November 20, 2016 — In her talk, Rose will discuss the impact of open source technology, content management systems, the dynamic nature of WordPress and how her students impressions of WordPress change over time.

In addition to her educational efforts, Rose spends her free time volunteering with dog rescue organizations and spending time with her family.

November 20, 2016 — Somebody built you a WordPress site and then left you in the lurch to fend for yourself. Maybe they told you how to add content, use headings, and add images. But you forgot pretty quickly. Get past the fear of breaking the internet. You CAN do this! This session will help you figure out what you think you can’t.

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November 20, 2016 — In this talk we’ll discuss common WordPress performance issues and how to troubleshoot them. Then we’ll dive into New Relic and how to leverage this powerful tool to monitor, troubleshoot and optimize your site.

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November 20, 2016 — The Yoast SEO for WordPress plugin is the best SEO (Search Engine Optimization) solution available on WordPress and has over 32 million downloads to date. For the novice, using it out-of-the-box is a great step forward in their SEO efforts. For more experienced users, it’s time to move beyond the built-in recommendations and to optimize their site like an expert.

In this talk, I’ll briefly explain that effective SEO is based in data and is deliberate and measurable, and define the often misunderstood “keyword” and how they as relevant today as ever. I’ll then give specific ways web managers/masters can apply keyword and content strategy to the Yoast plugin.

We’ll cover the most common and important elements: page titles, meta descriptions, robots meta, Open Graph, page copy (briefly — it’s a big topic), headings, and multiple focus keywords (for Yoast Premium users). For each of these elements you’ll get a definition and specific recommendations for length, structure, keyword usage, and why it’s important, and the expected result.

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November 18, 2016 — Testing has always been and continues to be something of a “skeleton in the closet” for most developers. It’s rarely required as part of the development process, is often tedious to set up, and, to be effective, needs to become a regular practice both before and after going live. Yet bringing it into our work routines provides numerous benefits in the long run and, if done properly, can save lots of headaches and at times even help avoid a tainted reputation. We will start by looking at the automated testing landscape from the high level – what’s what and where’s best to use each testing methodology. We will then explore testing options available for different parts of the WordPress ecosystem (core, plugins, themes), and go through a couple of practical examples of using selected test frameworks. To finish off, we’ll discuss the habit-forming aspect, which is not necessarily as much about development itself.

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November 18, 2016 — Panel Discussion on WordPress and Business

November 17, 2016 — There are many reasons ways the REST API can be utilized, but why should we care? Why are any of these reasons so good we need to have the API in core vs. a plugin? I will take a non-code approach to explaining from the basics, why the REST API is not just a good thing to have for development, but a good thing to have for WordPress to keep it going and keeping it relevant. Then you can be the judge if it is a good and necessary addition.

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November 17, 2016 — Traditional web design is all about the mockup, a series of fully designed pages that a developer then turns into templates and a theme. This kind of web design can create websites that are harder to maintain or extend in the future; if it’s not in the original mockup, we have no idea what to do! In recent years, however, a new method has emerged: designing with patterns – small, reusable mini-designs that are combined to create templates of any sort. We’ll learn three connected topics: what pattern libraries are all about; how they make life better for designers, developers, and clients; and how to work with a pattern library when building WordPress themes. By the end of the presentation, you’ll feel comfortable with the idea of designing and developing with patterns, and know how to start improving your work with pattern libraries.

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November 17, 2016 — Hidden just beneath the surface of most modern browsers are a multitude of developer tools that can simplify any web developer’s life. Whether you’re just trying to install and customize the look of a theme and plugins on your own site or developing larger projects, learning how to work with developer tools will greatly help you with CSS troubleshooting, creating new CSS styling rules, performance analysis, mobile rendering, testing browser compatibility and even tackle more advanced tasks like javascript debugging and analyzing AJAX requests. This presentation will walk through concrete examples showing how developer tools can be used to solve various issues.

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