June 19, 2019 — Are you struggling to know where to start and how to organise your components in a custom theme build? I’ve been building custom themes for WordPress for well over a decade and have been through countless iterations on file structures and techniques.

During this presentation, I’ll explain how I’ve developed a consistent, organised approach to theme building and structure, along with a few tricks and tips for budding theme developers.

Presentation Slides »

September 24, 2018 — When you need editability in various common (or uncommon!) areas of a website, it can be hard to decide how to deploy this. Do you widgetize it, create a custom options page, add custom fields to a page, use custom post types – there are a-lot of different strategies! When we need this kind of functionality on sites that we build, we’ve tried them all! I’ll demonstrate what I think is the nicest way – by using the Theme Customizer API you can deliver a great user experience, and even a live preview for the client… it’s sexy 😉

June 2, 2017 — Panne discussion is on ‘How do you Build a Custom Theme?’
It was short (2-3 minute) talk from each panel member on their chosen preferred development model, followed by an open discussion with the audience of QandA’s on building custom themes.

March 16, 2017 — WordPress editable menus rock – they empower the user to really take control of their website. I’ll demonstrate a ‘few tricks of the trade’ that I use to make them work even smarter, including filtering, custom menu walker classes and more.

Presentation Slides »

July 17, 2010 — Are you interested in WordPress template design? Find out how to create your own unique, flexible design to set your site apart from the crowd! This is an introduction to theme file structure and logic, followed by a look at a theme frameworks and how to modify them. It includes a heavy focus on child theming and framework design.