January 8, 2019 — The murmuring about CSS Grid in the world of frontend development has gotten quite loud indeed. If you’ve been a developer awhile, you remember when CSS finally became powerful enough to overtake the almighty table. You probably also really love the incredible tool that is Flexbox, even if you, like I do, still need to reference the same darn CSS Tricks article every time you use it. So what’s Grid’s deal? What makes it so great anyway, and when can you start using it IRL? What if you don’t want to duplicate development, building complex fallbacks for legacy browsers? How do you decide if a project is a good fit for CSS Grid, and then how do you even get started? We’ll discuss these questions, review some tools and tricks, and look at a few examples of CSS Grid in action.

Takeaways:

Using CSS Grid
Recognizing when CSS Grid is a good fit
Fallbacks /Supporting old browsers

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July 10, 2018 — Make your WordPress site fly with this one weird trick…except it’s more than one trick, and it’s only weird until you learn how it works. Varnish Cache can speed up information delivery by a factor of several hundred and earn you the coveted “A” in the TTFB column. This talk will provide an overview of Varnish Cache, what it is and how it works. Then we’ll explore setup and the ways you can integrate Varnish with simple WordPress sites before discussing more complex implementations, strategies for handling state, Edge Side Includes and other neat things Varnish does. HTTPS? Glad you asked. We’ll talk about that too.

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October 26, 2017 — This talk will provide an overview of Varnish Cache, what it is and how it works. Then we’ll explore setup and the ways you can integrate Varnish with simple WordPress sites before discussing more complex implementations, strategies for handling state, Edge Side Includes and other neat things Varnish does. HTTPS? Glad you asked. We’ll talk about that too.

Presentation Slides »

June 19, 2017 — In 2014, Google rather quietly announced that they were planning to start using HTTPS as a ranking signal. In the months since, you may have noticed an increase in the number of encrypted sites you use daily. You may have also noticed changes in the way Chrome alerts users about the presence of encryption. Google’s changes are leading the charge on security, helping push website owners and developers to HTTPS as standard. Of course we all want more security (right?), and while a variety of tools can be used to help you transition your site, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution to this problem for existing WordPress builds not designed to use HTTPS. You’re going to need a solid plan, and a few more than 5 minutes to transition legacy WordPress content to effectively use HTTPS. We’ll discuss why encryption even matters if you’re not processing credit cards or social security numbers. I’ll share our typical process, identifying common missteps and tricks as well as how to future-proof for new content.

Takeaways:

What is HTTPS? And why you should care if your site is using it.
How to smoothly transition a WordPress site that is not currently HTTPS to HTTPS.
How to prepare your WordPress site for a future of exclusively HTTPS assets.

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November 14, 2016 — HTTPS Everywhere

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