WordCamp Orlando 2012 talk given by Kai Armstrong. This covers WordPress best practices for novice users and sh*t they shouldn't do!

1. WORDPRESS
BEST PRACTICES
Sh*t You Shouldn’t Do
By: Kai Armstrong / @phikai / kaiarmstrong.com
Confession: It’s not WordPress

2. About Me!
I direct customer happiness for
I have a degree in Hospitality Management from the University of
Central Florida and a Masters in Business Administration from
Stetson University.
I’ve been supporting WordPress
professionally for over two years now
and working with it for more than four.
When I’m not glued to a monitor or
my phone I love this

3. What are we
doing?!?
An action packed,
crash course, brain
dump, question/
answer shenanigan
filled hour of
WordPress.
There will be a test, so
take notes, listen well,
and ask plenty of
questions.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aaronschmidt/281619803/

4. Sweet New Theme?
Make a child theme!
http://codex.wordpress.org/Child_Themes
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zoonabar/5770429301/

5. Sweet Vacation Photos?
Make them smaller!
Resize your images before
you upload them to
WordPress. If you’re not
providing high resolution
versions of your images,
make them as small as the
largest place you use them.
Courtesy: @nanpalmero
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nanpalmero/8066874114/
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-smushit/
https://github.com/zippykid/smushkid

6. Securing
WordPress
• Remove Themes
• Remove Plugins
• Secure
Accounts
• Updates
• Updates
• Updates
http://www.flickr.com/photos/adulau/7712545428/

7. Remove
Themes
Unused themes are a
security risk.
Delete any that you’re
not using, or that
aren’t required by
your theme.

8. Remove
Plugins
Unused plugins are a
security risk.
Delete any that you’re
not using, or that
aren’t required by
another plugin.

9. Username
• Change the
default “admin”
username
• Set a strong
password

10. Updates
UPDATE!
UPDATE!
UPDATE!
There are a variety of
reasons to update a
site:
• Security
• Bug Fixes
• Features

11. Backups
Backup your site on a regular basis…
WHY?
• Issues with updates
• Malware
• Server Failure
• Move Site
Keep your backups offsite:
• Backup to your local machine
• Use an offsite provider

12. WordPress Codex
http://codex.wordpress.org/
If you need to know anything
about WordPress this is the bible.
Plugin and Theme development.
Basic help for you and how to
help the community.

13. http://www.flickr.com/photos/49889874@N05/5645164344/
• http://wordpress.org/support/
• http://www.wpbeginner.com/
• http://wp.tutsplus.com/
• http://wordpress.stackexchange.com/
• http://www.meetup.com/find/

14. http://www.flickr.com/photos/walkn/3526522573/

15. https://www.zippykid.com
Kai Armstrong / @phikai / kaiarmstrong.com