I bet that when Mike Little commented on Matt Mullenweg‘s B2 blog ten years ago, he didn’t realize what the both of them were about to start, which was nothing short of a revolution! Their brainchild is what we’ve come to use and love and know as WordPress. From the bottom of my heart: thank you Matt and thank you Mike for starting this thing.
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Editorial
Long-form articles with the thoughts, opinions and insights from across the WordPress Realm.
A Few Lessons I’ve Learned as a WordCamp Organizer
This will be my fourth year as an organizer of WordCamp Miami, but don’t be fooled; I’m still learning how to pull off a flawless, successful event. The cruel irony here is, of course, that such a thing doesn’t exist. At least at the level of a large-scale WordCamp, something is bound to go wrong. It’s just a question how big that something will be, whether will you ever know about it and, after reflecting on the event (say, six months down the road) if that something was a big deal.
Every conference has unique challenges, depending on the people involved, where it’s located, and a thousand other factors. What i’m going to relate to you now are the lessons I’ve learned from drama in past WordCamp Miami events. Maybe you can relate, or maybe you can’t, but it might be entertaining. [Read more…] about A Few Lessons I’ve Learned as a WordCamp Organizer
The Road to a Simpler WordPress Dashboard
WordPress is a terrific publishing tool and you probably agree with me if you are reading this blog. But that does not mean there isn’t a learning curve, especially for users that aren’t very tech savvy. When we build websites for our clients, or even perhaps for WordPress verticals, it is important that we put ourselves in the shoes of the users, identify their pain points, and help them along so that they aren’t intimidated by the system.
I will show you how to make the current interface simpler on your websites, with currently available tools. We’ll also look forward to the future of the platform and its level of administrative simplicity in general.
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What’s in a Name? Moving Beyond Hack Days
It’s become pretty standard for WordCamps to have a hack day, or a developer day, following a day or two of conference activity. The most notable of these is the Developer Hack Day that follows WordCamp San Francisco. The idea is that WordPress people get together to work on WordPress core – this could be on tickets, bugs, or developing features. Developers hang out with their laptops, drink coffee, eat, and hack. [Read more…] about What’s in a Name? Moving Beyond Hack Days
The Art of Editing Your Design
One of the biggest mistakes I see people making in theme design is not editing their work. A large part of being a designer is about training and channeling that inner editing voice. Being a good editor of your work is a strong tool in your design kit. [Read more…] about The Art of Editing Your Design
Make Your Clients an Offer They Can’t Refuse
Over the past few years I’ve developed my fair share of WordPress plugins. Not just as projects for myself but also for bigger firms. And especially for those bigger firms I’d like to have some sort of continuation plan. Not so much for myself but more for them, just in case the plugin could use some improvements due to advancements in WordPress itself or if there’s better ways of achieving the same outcome. And to me personally there is no better way to do this then to make the plugin publicly available so others can use it, fork it and what not. I like to educate my clients, teach them that they reap what they sow and that giving back to the community will ultimately be beneficial to themselves as well. [Read more…] about Make Your Clients an Offer They Can’t Refuse
It’s Time to Stop Kicking the BuddyPress Puppy
If I had a £ for every time someone complained at BuddyPress or moaned about this or that shortcoming, I’d probably be quite rich and typing this from a desert island. To me, it sometimes feels as if BuddyPress were a poor puppy, tossed out into the world and kicked as an easy target. In the words of Chris Crocker: “Leave BuddyPress alone!”.
In an attempt to redress this imbalance, I am going to roll out a few of the old chestnuts levied at BuddyPress and try to prevent the puppy kicking with some counter points. I will state from the outset that this is not meant as a deep analysis, but rather just my responses to the nay sayers. I might be a member of the BuddyPress-pompom-cheerleading-fan-club-squad and don’t hide it, but keep in mind that BuddyPress pays most of my bills so it kind of deserves my defence, to some degree. That said, I am certainly not blind to where it needs a little nudge to get better.
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