December 8, 2022 — Learn more about the importance of editor-first content creation experiences. Explore common anti-patterns that cultivate hostile editorial UX. Get practical tips and tricks for building intuitive and easy-to-use content creation tools in the block editor.

December 23, 2021 — Every presidential administration starts from zero on a whitehouse.gov website, meaning a fresh launch. As in starting over: not a migration or revamp of an existing site!

This talk shares some of the thinking from the implementation of Biden/Harris whitehouse.gov (2020-2021) and provides insight on how the block editor answered the need for staff to work quickly and intuitively.

October 14, 2021 — Review of proposed features for the upcoming 5.9 release.

April 14, 2021

November 13, 2019 — If you build websites, you inevitably run into problems. Maybe there’s no way to achieve an aspect of your design using CSS. Or maybe there’s a device feature you really wish you could tap into using JavaScript. Or perhaps the in-browser DevTools don’t give you a key insight you need to do your job. We want to know your pain.

November 12, 2019 — This talk about – WordPress. How “open” is WordPress, anyway? What makes WordPress open source, how open is the process, and how does the project participate in the open web?

January 1, 2019 — When it comes to plugins and themes in WordPress, we’ve heard some mantras over and over: “Your custom user interfaces should feel like a native part of WordPress! Follow the admin UI! Back-compat 4 life!” So what happens when a project like Gutenberg comes along and threatens everything you thought you knew about creating and editing content in WordPress?

One of the things about extending software is that you tend to stick to familiar paradigms and patterns, often at the cost of innovation and creating the best possible experience for a given task. One of the major tensions we’ve seen in the push forward on Gutenberg is between the tradition of backwards compatibility and the forward-looking concept of a block-based editor. The hesitation is natural and understandable, but it’s important to take a step back and ask “are metaboxes really the best UI for what my user needs to do?”

In this talk, we will take a look at some creative solutions from the past that have broken outside of the bounds of metaboxes and other form-centric interfaces while still maintaining that WordPress feel, along with practical examples of where rethinking the editing experience can and has led to significantly better outcomes for both implementers and users alike.

February 15, 2018 — A frank, and honest discussion with women who work in WordPress. We will touch on our struggles, our achievements, and what we see as the future for young women in the WordPress community.

December 6, 2016 — Version 4.7 of WordPress, named “Vaughan” in honor of jazz vocalist Sarah “Sassy” Vaughan, is available for download or update in your WordPress dashboard. New features in 4.7 make it easier to set up your site the way you want it.

June 30, 2016 — During a decade spent as a professional musician, I discovered web development and then WordPress, and made a primary career switch. While on the surface they sound incongruous, I believe that skills I learned and honed as a classical pianist have translated directly to becoming a leader in open source software development. Join me as I take a look at those skills and celebrate alternative paths into WordPress.

Presentation Slides »