August 15, 2016 — There has been lots of discussion around using WordPress as an app framework. In this talk, we’ll take a detailed look at the ups and downs of using WordPress to build a web app (hireotto.com) with:

WP REST API Endpoints
OAuth Authentication with 3rd party services
WP Cron & Job Queues
3rd Party API integrations
Webhooks
User Registration & Account Management
Recurring Billing
An overview and look into how all these components work together, where WordPress saved development time, and where it caused headaches.

This talk is not an endorsement or condemnation of using WordPress as an app framework. Each project is different, and the goal is to openly discuss the tradeoffs so developers can make informed decisions for their own projects.

August 15, 2016 — SVGs provide designers, developers and users with an array of benefits including performance, styling and animations. In this talk, theme developers will walk away with the benefits of using SVGs in their themes, understanding the different approaches to rendering SVGs, and adding some styles and animation to help bring sites and applications to life.

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August 15, 2016 — 1.) Beginners: what a Multisite is; what they’re good for; what they’re not good for

2.) Intermediate: sub-domain vs sub-folders; network admin.

3.) Advanced: Caveats; domain mapping; quirks

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August 15, 2016 — I will walk the audience through the different caching options they might have at their disposal depending on their hosting needs and the hidden gotcha’s they might not be aware of.

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August 15, 2016 — Heroes? Pricing tables? THE GRID? Why DO all websites look like the same? Starting with a well-organized theme framework and a little SASS, this talk will cover how to identify user experience patterns and stories that guide your visitors where you want them to go, while giving you the freedom to create new designs that stand out from the sea of sameness prevalent in today’s websites. We also cover how curating your own pattern library enables you to hit the cornerstones of successful web design – Accessibility, Responsiveness, Usability, and Conversion.

August 15, 2016 — “These spreadsheets are killing me” was a complaint said to me about a year ago. Since then, I have been partnered with my client to build an internal tool that can standardize their sales quoting process, replace their current CRM process, and remove operational bottlenecks that prevent the business from scaling. This presentation covers the of development of the tool with WordPress, concerns in the process, and tools utilized.

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August 15, 2016 — We all have a “toolbox” of tried and tested techniques that we use again and again when developing, but is there another way? Possibly a simpler way? This is not a talk about doing CSS the “right way”, but looking at some lesser known CSS that you may not know about and that might (hopefully) prove useful.

August 15, 2016 — Web analytics tools gather data and attempt to turn it into information about human behaviour. If you don’t know how Google Analytics does this, you’ll never know how reliable the information is. This talk will expose you to the failings of web analytics tools and raise your level of consciousness so you can see beyond the numbers.

August 15, 2016 — Developers and designers work together on a daily basis to bring custom WordPress builds to life, but sometimes the process can be a bumpy ride! Designers and developers both approach a site design and build from very different angles and this can cause issues. I’ll draw on my own experience of the good, the bad and the ugly to outline some ways that designers and developers can adapt their workflows to work more effectively together.

August 15, 2016 — Whether you’re using WordPress as a blogger, a brand or a social enterprise, placing your audience at the heart of the content you publish can make the experience more rewarding.

This talk explores why audience-led content performs better and gives you practical advice on how to create content that builds a relationship with your community of users.

It covers:

The principle of attracting, engaging and converting your audience by meetings needs
Implications of Google’s Hummingbird and RankBrain updates and Google’s Search Quality Guidelines
Understanding audience needs: how to mind-map intentions and tools to use to research search trends
Understanding user journeys: analysing trigger events and the decision-cycle
Tailoring content to mind-sets: how to use psychographic framing
Testing and refining: tools and metrics to use to analyse WordPress content performance and make improvements to increase engagement