WordCamp Orange County 2014

Treating yourself as a Resource, Client, Project Manager, Client Manager, Accountant, Sales Department, Collection Department, Office Manager, Supply Department and more..

Have you ever had a client with an HTML website that needs to be converted to WordPress? If you haven’t, you will, and this workshop is the one that’s going to show you how to do it in the most painless way possible. First, we’ll start by showing you how to build your site on your own computer and then you’ll learn how to create the files needed to turn those HTML files into a WordPress theme, go through the pages and hierarchy and review the functions WordPress uses to create dynamic pages. Lastly, we’ll look at a few plugins that can be used to help build out a theme. This session is a hands on workshop and you will be encouraged to ask questions as we progress. Come in prepared to work and by the end, you’ll have a fully functioning WordPress theme.

Roughly 20% of the web is running WordPress. Doing a search for “WordPress Support” returns over 750 million results. WordPress is also one of the leading platforms for web application development. These are just a few of the reasons your potential new client may be intrigued with WordPress as their website solution, but shouting out statistics won’t close the deal. Selling WordPress development is selling solutions. The art of the sell is like a fine waltz. It’s deliberate, choreographed, technical, predictable and smooth. Knowing what to say, when to say it and when to talk about WordPress is essential. One thing to remember is that sometimes selling WordPress isn’t about WordPress at all.

I have given a series of talks about the power of using CMS systems for beginner and intermediate WordPress designers and developers. The goal is to help fledgling designers/developers overcome the trepidation and feel comfortable about what they don’t know.

I’ve focused on commerce recently because so many people ask me about it, it is a very strong vertical market in Southern California and it’s a very practical way for someone to get into word press web development either as a contract developer or to build a small business.

WordPress also has many amazing tools and plug-ins for commerce.

Full Photoshop mockups are out and “In Browser Design”(IBD) is in. But how can I wield of the power of WordPress to easily present my design to a client and deliver a foundation to an engineer? In this session, we’ll go over the basics of what IBD is and why we want to use it, and how to use WordPress to make it quick and easy.

When developing a theme for a client, it’s super easy to throw all of the new functions and hooks into the theme’s functions.php file, wipe your hands, congratulate yourself for a hard day’s work and go have a beer. But, after a while, have you stopped to see the size of that functions.php file? It can be massive! It’s easy to create a large disorganized functions.php file with so many tutorials out there giving you little tips and tricks on hooks and doodads that you can add to the site to make it fancy. “Ohh! Look at this code that changes my background color based on weather patterns! I’ll just… put this… right… here.” *drops in functions.php file*

This session should inform you about why you don’t want to fill up your functions.php file, the proper way to add code to your site, and why it’s proper for readability, security and extendability.

If you are new to WordPress, this workshop is for you. The discussions will include:

• Selecting a domain
• Choosing a hosting provider that is the best fit for you
• Comparing WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org
• Installing WordPress
• Configuring WordPress
• Installing and configuring themes
• Working with plugins and “must have” plugins
• Editing posts and pages
• Categories and tags
• Media uploader
• Importing / Exporting content
• Troubleshooting

Foundation is an advanced framework that allows developers to quickly build future-friendly websites. Foundation CSS performs the heavy lifting so that you can concentrate on the creative. Steve will show you how he uses Foundation to focus on mobile-first design and why Foundation is the perfect companion to Underscores.

For more info on Foundation, visit http://foundation.zurb.com/

Leverage your existing WordPress development skills to build mobile apps for your clients. Learn about different tools including the free AppPresser plugin and the Phonegap framework to create mobile apps, and distribute them to the iOS and Android app stores.

You’ve probably been told your business should be on social media, but how do you do it right, and how do you maximize your site’s integration with social media? This presentation will go through the do’s and don’ts of social media integration with WordPress and explore specific plugins you can use to help your content socialize.

If you are not yet using a CSS preprocessor, now is the time to dive in. In this talk you will learn how to start using SASS (Syntactically Awesome StyleSheets) in your WordPress themes and streamline your CSS workflow. We’ll talk about variables and mixins, how to extend styles you’ve already written, and wrangle in those large hard to maintain CSS files.

Always wanted to contribute to core, but are not sure how? Have a pet
bug? Interested in learning how to follow WordPress development?

In this workshop, attendees will have a hands-on walkthrough of how
core contribution works — from general process to version control.

Come with a laptop — Veterans of WordPress core will be in attendance
to help you get started!

I hear frequently that it’s difficult to contribute code to WordPress’ core. During the past year, there’s been an increased emphasis on not only reaching out to new contributors, but making it simpler to get involved by making toolsets more accessible and trac more friendly to newcomers. I’ll walk through how I got started, and how things have changed for the better since. Come to learn the first steps in contributing to WordPress’ core, leading up to Sunday’s workshop.

A few times lately, I’ve heard people on the radio talk refer to blog comments and other discussions that responsive sites tend to look alike.

Since folks also tend to think WP sites look alike, that means responsive WP sites would be operating in an even thinner band of visual variation.

I don’t think either accusation is true. Or, more accurately, they don’t have to be true.

But the fact is that whether or not there’s some similarity between sites on small screens, having at least a phone-size version is no longer optional.

So how do we keep responsive WP sites from looking like each other? And where does mobile-first fit into all of this?

What are the obstacles?

The obvious approaches?

Let’s look at the ideal case, the bare-bones case and a middle ground – and some tools we can use to get started.

I’m the founder of Soflyy and have been building commercial WordPress plugins since 2008. The lessons I’ve learned along the way will be useful for just about anyone – even if you aren’t going to make the leap to building products.

I will cover everything – choosing what product to make, market research, using oDesk to hire outside help, building a website that will sell the product, and how we do marketing, with a breakdown of exactly where we get customers.

You’ll get to see detailed results of real life split tests we’ve done, how we handle support, and everything in-between.

By the time this talk is done, you’ll have the confidence to make the leap from freelancing to products. It’s all here.

And if you don’t want to build a product, you’ll still get a lot of out this talk – here are a few examples of how:

Hiring on oDesk? This is very applicable to freelancers and agencies, and I’ll cover it in detail. There’s a reason some people manage to find great long term employees on oDesk and others get stuck with unqualified developers and give up. I’ll share the secrets.

Want to know how price changes affect our conversion rate, and how we do AB tests? I’ll share details of tests we’ve done, some with some interesting results. For example… did social proof on our order page actually increase our conversion rate? You’ll find out.

Need to get an Epipheo-style explainer video produced for $5k, not $25k? I’ll tell you how we did it.

Grab a cup of coffee and start your day off (no matter what time it is) on the right foot with Automatticians Konstantin Obenland and Michael Cain in our morning show-style WordCamp talk! We’ll break the session into three segments, two that will cover any number of WordPress topics – theming, design, development, best practices, worst practices, future trends, you name it – and a special guest interview with a big name from the WordPress world. There will be laughter (hopefully?), there will be tears (regrettably?), there will even be some awkward silences (definitely). But most importantly, there will be plenty of that whole-grained, balanced-diet WordPress that you just can’t get enough of.

Grab a cup of coffee and start your day off (no matter what time it is) on the right foot with Automatticians Konstantin Obenland and Michael Cain in our morning show-style WordCamp talk! We’ll break the session into three segments, two that will cover any number of WordPress topics – theming, design, development, best practices, worst practices, future trends, you name it – and a special guest interview with a big name from the WordPress world. There will be laughter (hopefully?), there will be tears (regrettably?), there will even be some awkward silences (definitely). But most importantly, there will be plenty of that whole-grained, balanced-diet WordPress that you just can’t get enough of.

Website security is important to everyone who has a website, as well as everyone who uses a website. Whether it gets five visitors a day or five-thousand, hackers are looking to compromise, break, infect and virtually own every website that they can for monetary and social purposes.

While the topic seems mysterious to most users, website security is actually a set of simple principles that everyone can adopt to keep their risk at the absolute lowest. Being a WordPress user is a great start, and the discussion will surround habits, practices and techniques to follow to keep a WordPress site secure from hackers and malware.

What is the best WordPress plugin combination to make an easy to administer website for your client? I will go over a handful of plugins that I use to create maintenance free websites that even the most tech adverse client can use to create their own pages and media rich posts.

I needed to make a WordPress site for a friend who draws comics. He isn’t very computer literate, but needed a site he could make updates to himself which also would allow him to sell his own illustrations and other physical media on.

Podcasting as been around since the early to mid 2000’s. It’s had a few resurgences since then and is now quite mainstream. Our clients are looking for new ways to get their content out there and podcasts are as hot as ever. This talk will show you the basics of podcasting from recording audio and what file formats to use to RSS feeds and how to leverage plugins to make the job easy.

Many designers, bloggers and marketers jump into WordPress freelancing without having the awareness of many of the details that can keep their business in “struggle mode.” This talk will be tailored for designers, bloggers and marketers that seek to get paid (or already are getting paid) for WordPress website design/development.

The tools and strategies shared will help the beginner to intermediate freelancer have more awareness about some of the nuances involved in running your own tech consultancy and as a result be a more competent business person. These tips will include setting healthy boundaries for ones WordPress web design services and communicating those boundaries to perspective clients early on, as well as tips for identifying and answering red flags so one can more effectively seek and take on ‘win-win’ web design projects.

A brief intro to AngularJS, followed by a tutorial on building a single page app with it (and using WordPress to power the backend).

One of the things I do to give my projects a special touch is to style the backend to match my clients’ specific needs. I use a variety of tools to help me out – both beginner and advanced level. And, ever since I started doing it, I’ve fallen more in love with WordPress as an even more COMPLETE website solution.

We’ll look at just a few ways to bring some magic to the backend of WordPress. I’ll introduce a couple of plugins that can help you manage the admin menu. Then, I’ll show you how to easily change the look of your admin pages. Finally, I’ll go over how to completely replace your dashboard page with custom content and even show you how to change the stuff in that drop-down “help” area on the top right.

This talk is geared toward intermediate and advanced users, though everyone can benefit.

PHP Optimization can increase a client’s site performance and leverage your plugin design and capacity. Writing your code with PHP in mind first will help you build stable scalable plugins and applications. It will also save you time and energy after product release. Practical tips will be shared in this session for you to implement in projects immediately. Yes, there will be code.

When building a project or platform it’s important to consider how your users will use the product or service. In this presentation we will dive into a project example to understand how to effectively execute User Experience for platforms.

Chris will open with a summary of some of the best advice he’s heard, highlight why coaching and advice is so critical, and then introduce his fellow speakers/coaches: Syed Balkhi, Karim Marucchi, Steve Zehngut, and David Henzel – all founders of successful and well-known brands.

At round tables, by topic, these speakers and Chris will provide coaching to those attending. It’s personalized coaching for free and you won’t want to miss it.

There is more than one way to make your blog pay for itself, in terms of time and cost. Come hear the insider secrets to how I make my blog (chrislema.com) work for me and pay for itself (and much more).

Why working with a designer or user experience expert before you develop your product will help you stand out from the pack. If two products do exactly the same thing, the one that’s pleasant to use will win. Don’t be the developer with a great product that nobody likes to use.

Maybe you’re not afraid to try things and break things, but you have no clue how to fix them again. Or maybe your experience level doesn’t offer you any context for troubleshooting WordPress problems and you feel frustrated and stuck.

This workshop will provide you with the basic tools for troubleshooting problems in WordPress and also provide live examples.

In this presentation, I will demonstrate how a custom WordPress theme should be melded to the client’s needs and not how a client should be shoved into the limitations of a pre-existing theme with a few tweaks. The admin should be a pleasant experience for the client without extra whistles and bells.

Key take-aways:

1. Always offer a project questionnaire
2. Establish Site Architecture before you touch a line of code.
3. Use a basic theme such as _score to keep the clutter down in the admin
4. Utilizing WordPress Custom Post Types for regularly used content such as: portfolio items, sponsor logos, team members, musicians
5. Utilizing: Advanced Custom Fields Plugin and Posts 2 Post plugin to make something that is nearly enterprise level
6. Always be up for the challenge, you will gain more skill and insight as a result.

I encourage and invite developers to stretch their knowledge with each client. Your clients will love you for it.

Working with WordPress in the Enterprise can be a unique challenge. In this session, we will discuss some of the performance and architectural approaches that will help make your WordPress installs run like an enterprise application.

You are working with WordPress when you find yourself in the strange, dimly lit Cave of Community. Gradually you can make out two passageways. One curves downward to the right; the other leads upward to the left.

The choices you make in the WordPress community define your WordPress adventure. I’ll share stories of decisions and outcomes I’ve seen during my three years as a WordPress community manager. The possibilities are endless, but this talk will be about 30 minutes.

WordPress lets me travel the world about half the year and live in Maui, Hawaii the rest.  I have given up on trying to tell people that and not have it sound too boastful. I think my life is awesome, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy.  While being a remote worker able to make a living from a hammock on a beach in Thailand sounds pretty ideal there is a lot that goes into making that a reality.  I’ll talk about my journey, starting with decision making around finding work/life as well as the practical side what it means to be a both a digital nomad and a remote worker.