I’m interested in doing some presentations at the Philly ‘burbs WordPress Meetup and have been brainstorming ideas. I’m sharing my list here and I’m certainly open to feedback or recommendations.
My Web Development Milestones
Over the years as a web developer, there has been certain changes or tools I’ve adopted that have had a dramatic impact on my development. These seem relevant when I’m thinking about presentation topics. In approximate chronological order:
Local Development
When I started out doing development, I was doing all of my work on the server. There are a number of issues that arise with this but the primary issue that got me to start developing locally was time. The time to save a change and let it update via SFTP adds up quickly. Of course, developing locally adds lots of other advantages but speed was the one that finally got me doing it. I’ve used MAMP for years but I’m now also using Vagrant (and Varying Vagrant Vagrants) specifically for my WordPress development.
Version Control
I really started understanding the power of version control when I started using Bazaar. Prior to that I was using Subversion on and off but never really appreciated it. I think a lot of that had to do with the point I was at in terms of collaboration with other programmers. I’ve since moved to using Git for all of my version control. To me the big benefits of version control are:
- Eliminate the problem of overwriting changes others make
- Creating an offsite backup of your development with checkpoints you can roll back to
WordPress with Hooks and Filters
The Genesis framework is where the power of hooks and filters really became clear to me. Hooks and filters allow modification rather than writing replacement code, which is a was a huge boost in my development.
Sass and Grunt
While Sass and Grunt are two different technologies, the watch behavior and ability to compile files on the fly is what really got me using them.
WordPress Presentation Ideas
Adding filters for beginners
assumed skill level of editing functions.php file
Creating shortcodes
assumed skill level of editing functions.php file
Git for Mortals
No branches, no upstreams, one canonical origin. Bitbucket Centralized Workflow. When I started using version control, I knew very little about the process. This workflow allowed me to quickly start using version control and the advantages of: merging work with other team members and backing up with set restore points. (my knowledge is Mac Command Line centric)
Grunt your Theme
Start using Grunt when building themes to automate Sass compilation as well as CSS and JS combination and minification. (my knowledge is Mac centric, this topic requires command line usage)
Debugging with the error log
assumed skill level of editing functions.php file, most useful if developing locally
DNS
A records, CNAMEs, TTLs, name servers, AWS Route53, and testing all these things with the dig command line tool
What is a CDN?
only suitable for 5 minutes, any level
Cleaner functions.php files with mu-plugins directory
only suitable for 5 minutes, assumed skill level of editing functions.php file
Three jQuery Tips to Improve Your JavaScript
only suitable for longer presentation, appropriate for those writing jQuery
- IDs not classes
- use the ‘data-‘ attribute
- cache your jQuery selector results
How to Name a File
only suitable for 5 minutes, any level. Related article How to Name a File
Testing Redirects
only suitable for 5 minutes, any level. Related article Testing Redirects
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