WordCamp Winnipeg 2016

Many people know how to use WordPress (.org) and the components behind a theme, but they do not know how to actually create their own custom one. There is a block there sometimes. I will show you how to take a simple HTML site and convert it to a WP theme using a starter theme, Underscores.

Tired of listicles about how to optimize your WordPress site that suggest a caching plugin and a CDN? This talk will dive into the internal WordPress structure to discuss what is slow, why it is slow, and how you can write good WordPress code that performs well enough to handle billions of pageviews.

Nothing stands between you and a successful career as a WordPress designer/developer… except for perhaps yourself!

This talk will cover pitfalls people encounter when using WordPress to make websites.

There’s a lot of confusion over WordPress.org versus WordPress.com. In the past, I used the WordPress software from WordPress.org exclusively – but then you need to deal with upgrading and maintenance. WordPress.com, while it has some limitations, has a robust feature set and all the security, upgrading and maintenance are done for you! In this talk, we’ll explore more differences between the two, the upsides and downsides of each, and situations where you might want to use one over the other.

Yes, your code works, but is it the best it could be? This talk will guide you through tips and tricks to make your code efficient, safe, and easy to read. It’s a great primer for new developers, and a good reminder for those of us who have developed bad habits over time.

• Understand the WordPress Coding Standard
• Write Short, Reusable Functions
• Begin using Unit Testing to ensure code functions as expected
• Begin using UI testing to ensure pages behave as expected
• Discuss benefits of code review

Roll with the big dogs! With the democratization of websites (thank you WordPress) it also democratized marketing for the small business. I’ll show you how to implement marketing plugins into your WordPress site for greater reach and control and show you which online marketing tools you need to integrate now to turn your WordPress site into a Marketing MACHINE. Along the way I’ll demystify all the new buzzwords in marketing and show you how the sales funnel can play nicely with WordPress.

Topic TBA

As Javascript continues to increase in WP core and new JavaScript frameworks come out every day, it’s important to learn how to use in properly. From small enhancements to building frontends for the WP-API, Javascript can’t be ignored.

This talk is geared to those just getting started with WordPress. Learn the difference between a page and a post, how and why to implement widgets and menus, and tons of other basics.