Presentation at Houston Website & Graphic Design Seminar 2011

1. WordPress Tips and Tricks
Jared
Atchison
WordPress
Developer
&
Consultant
jaredatchison.com
/
@jaredatch
WordPress
Tips
and
Tricks
1

2. First,
a
few
things…
QUESTION
WordPress
Tips
and
Tricks
2

3. WordPress
This
isn’t
its
first
rodeo.
WordPress
Tips
and
Tricks
3

4. WordPress Facts
• Started
in
May
2003
by
MaM
Mulleweg
• 13%
of
the
1,000,000
biggest
websites
– CNN,
Time,
BBC,
CBS,
NFL
• 3.0
has
over
32.5
million
downloads
• GPLv2
• Fun
fact:
Code
named
aUer
jazz
musicians
– 2.1
was
Ella
Fitzgerald
– 3.1
was
Django
Reinhardt
WordPress
Tips
and
Tricks
4

5. Just
who
the
hell
am
I?
ABOUT ME
WordPress
Tips
and
Tricks
5

6. About Me
• 2008
A&M
Graduate
(whoop)
• WordPress
Developer
&
Consultant
• Featured
Genesis
Developer
• WordCamp
speaker
&
aMendee
• Twenty
Ten
CRM
co-­‐author
• Custom
Metaboxes
and
Fields
co-­‐author
• ThemeGarden
theme
author
• WordPress
enthusiast
WordPress
Tips
and
Tricks
6

7. A
PSA
on
WordPress
Themes…
THEMES
WordPress
Tips
and
Tricks
7

8. All WordPress themes are
NOT equal.
WordPress
Tips
and
Tricks
8

9. Themes
• You
get
what
you
pay
for.
Really.
• Googling
is
dangerous.
Proceed
with
caudon.
• Use
the
WP.org
theme
repo.
• Plethora
of
accepted
3rd
party
themes:
– WooThemes,
StudioPress,
ElegantThemes,
iThemes,
Headway,
etc.
• Beware
of
ThemeForest
and
non-­‐GLP
themes.
WordPress
Tips
and
Tricks
9

10. Can
be
the
best
thing
–
or
worst
thing
–
for
your
site
PLUGINS
WordPress
Tips
and
Tricks
10

11. Thing to remember about
plugins: do your homework
WordPress
Tips
and
Tricks
11

12. Plugins
• First
stop,
WP.org
repository
– Only
excepdon
should
be
well
known
paid-­‐plugins
• Things
to
take
into
consideradon….
WordPress
Tips
and
Tricks
12

13. Plugins
Things
to
consider…
• Radng
• Compadble
up
to
• Last
Updated
• Downloads
• Author
• “What
others
are
saying…”
WordPress
Tips
and
Tricks
13

14. Plugins
• Tesdng
first
is
good
pracdce
• Don’t
leave
unused/inacdve
plugins
silng
• Uninstall!
• Consider
“premium”
paid
plugins
if
necessary
– All
rules
sdll
follow!
• Fellow
developers:
Write
great
plugins
– Documentadon,
Codex,
Book
WordPress
Tips
and
Tricks
14

15. Things
that
go
on
under
the
hood.
DEVELOPMENT
WordPress
Tips
and
Tricks
15

16. Just because it works does
not mean it is right
WordPress
Tips
and
Tricks
16

17. Follow the standards
(also known as best practices)
hMp://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_Coding_Standards
WordPress
Tips
and
Tricks
17

18. Development
• Read.
When
you
are
done
reading,
read
more.
• Get
your
hands
dirty.
• A
few
dps…
WordPress
Tips
and
Tricks
18

19. Development
• Adding
JavaScript
• jQuery
library
is
included
• Including
files
– Eg.
Include(),
require(),
require_once(),
get_template_part().
• Permalinks
–
you’re
doing
it
wrong
• Learn
from
others,
Twenty
Ten/Eleven
WordPress
Tips
and
Tricks
19

20. Did I mention the Codex?
WordPress
Tips
and
Tricks
20

21. Troubleshooting
• Errors,
Warnings,
Nodces,
White-­‐screen-­‐of-­‐death?
• DON’T
PANIC!
DEBUG.
• Most
common
problems
you
can
debug
• define(‘WP_DEBUG’,
true);
• Deacdvate
plugins
• Switch
themes
WordPress
Tips
and
Tricks
21

22. Getting Help
• Knowing
where
to
go
is
important…
• All
sources
are
not
created
equal.
– Eg.
Google
with
extreme
caudon
• Codex
• WordPress.org
forums
• TwiMer,
eg
#wordpress
• Other
sources
such
as
Theme
support,
Google
WordPress
Tips
and
Tricks
22

23. Stay INFORMED!
• WordPress.org
• WPCandy.com
• Follow
developers…
WordPress
Tips
and
Tricks
23

24. Blogs of developers
• Jared
Atchison
• Alex
Mills
• Bill
Erickson
• Andrew
Nacin
• Stephanie
Leary
• Ozh
Richards
• OMopress
• Dougal
Campel
• Mark
Jaquith
• Yoast
• Scribu
• Lorelle
• Jusdn
Tadlock
WordPress
Tips
and
Tricks
24

25. Questions?
THANKS!
Jared
Atchison
jaredatchison.com
/
@jaredatch
WordPress
Tips
and
Tricks
25