Here are the slides from the Toolbox and Boston WordPress Intermediate Workshop at the Labor Guild June 1, 2013

1. 1
WordPress: Tips & Tricks
Jon Bishop"
Kurt Eng
June 1st, 2013

2. 2
Tips & Tricks
• Best Practices
• Security
• Backups
• SEO
• Upgrades
• Child Theming
• Caching

3. Best Practices
• Security
• Backups
• SEO
• Upgrades
• Managing Content
3

4. Security
• Upgrade WordPress core, plugins, and themes!
• Password strength across all entry points (Hosting control panel, FTP,
WordPress admin)
• Don’t use default username “admin”
• Download code directly wordpress.org
• Public WiFi caution: your traffic is probably not secure
• Disable unused/unneeded features (e.g., remote publishing)
• File permissions (FTP)
4

5. 5
Architecture of WordPress
• Posts & Pages
• Comments
• Links
• Options/Settings
• Taxonomy
• Users
• WordPress core
• Themes
• Plugins
• File Uploads
Important for Backups!

6. 6
Architecture of WordPress
wordpress.zip
wp-admin/
wp-content/
wp-includes/
wp-app.php
readme.html
wp-signup.php
xmlrpc.php
wp-login.php
wp-mail.php
wp-config-sample.php
wp-comments-post.php
wp-settings.php
wp-feed.php
wp-activate.php
wp-links-opml.php
wp-cron.php
wp-load.php
wp-trackback.php
wp-pass.php
license.txt
wp-atom.php
wp-commentsrss2.php
wp-rdf.php
wp-rss.php
wp-rss2.php
index.php
wp-blog-header.php
wp-register.php

7. 7
Architecture of WordPress
wp-content/
themes/
twentyten/
mytheme1/
plugins/
akismet/
wp_e-commerce/
uploads/
2010/
11/
photo1.jpg
photo2.jpg

8. Backups
• Use a plugin or service (set & forget)
• BackupBuddy, VaultPress
• Automated backups provided by your hosting provider (but don’t back up to the
same server your site is hosted!)
• Remember: A WordPress site lives in two separate worlds simultaneously
• Files in a folder you can see via FTP (especially /wp-content)
• Data in tables in a database server (you can see and manipulate using 3rd party
tools, often provided by your hosting provider)
• Secure your backups!
• Test your backups!
8

9. SEO
• Beyond the benefits provided by a stock WordPress install…
• Theme used & author’s ability to write semantic HTML
• Additional meta data you supply using an SEO plugin
• How you write and organize your content (HTML, taxonomy, etc.)
• Permalinks w/ a good link structure (the default works wonders)
• Google Webmaster Tools (monitor your site’s ranking performance)
9

10. Upgrades
• Upgrade often, but maybe not too often
• Don’t wait for minor updates that fix critical bugs or security issues
• Wait a bit longer on major releases (3.0, 3.2, 3.3)
• Follow the WordPress Development Blog: http://wordpress.org/news
• WordPress, themes & plugins are open-source & community developed: embrace
but be cautious
• Keep plugins & themes updated, too
• Be careful & mindful of what files you’ve changed (ideally, don’t change any “core”
files in themes, plugins or WordPress itself)
• Before upgrading, backup your site & check plugin compatibility
10

11. Content Tips
• Chris Brogan
• http://www.chrisbrogan.com/40-ways-to-deliver-killer-blog-content/
• http://www.chrisbrogan.com/the-writing-practice/
• Boston WordPress Meetup presentation: http://blip.tv/file/4368461
• Chris Penn
• Upcoming WordCamp Session
11

12. Content Tips (cont.)
12
• Use paragraphs and lists
• Break up long pieces of content & thoughts in sections
• WordPress will automatically add HTML paragraph tags in the Visual editor
• Lists group related pieces of content together
• Use headings
• Use Heading 2, 3, 4, etc. to label/group sections of content
• Call out important keywords/concepts
• Bold relevant and meaningful keywords and text, but don’t abuse
• Hyperlink to other articles
• Pingbacks build deeper linking & relationships

13. Content Tips (cont.)
13
• Spell-check & proof
• Spell-check plugins
• Post as “pending” and have other preview
• Think before you post
• Beware: ranting on blogs is commonplace today
• Once it’s published, it’s syndicated via RSS, reblogged, tweeted, indexed by SEs
& directories…
• Write about what you like
• Don’t force yourself to write about uninteresting things, enjoy the experience.
• Avoid excess slang and localized terms

14. Content Tips (cont.)
14
• Don’t hide your emotions
• If you have to, remain anonymous but voice your opinions (take a stand!)
• Show your readers your passion & seek to create good discussion
• Consider your readers/audience
• Who’s reading? Is your content useful to that person/group? Is it appropriate?
• How often will you post? Consider your audience’s attention span vs. your average article length?
• Make use of comments (even the nasty ones)
• Feedback can be rewarding and useful, whether it’s praise or constructive criticism.
• Worry about content first, then blog design, features, etc.
• Content is king! Build an audience/readership first. Get visitors to subscribe via RSS and email
(increase repeat visits).
• Your site will likely undergo many design and functional iterations anyway.

15. Content Tips (cont.)
15
• Use rich multimedia (images, audio, video, maps)
• The make your content pages more colorful, break up lengthy copy, and present information in a
visual (and often more easily interpreted) ways
• Keep writing!
• Don’t stop publishing content
• Writer’s block could mean you’re holding back on something
• Browse and subscribe to others’ blogs for inspiration and motivation
• Write everywhere
• You can publish to your WordPress blog from your mobile phone, your iPad, popular
social web apps like Facebook and Twitter, email, and desktop applications

16. 16
Child Themes
• Inherit the functionality of a parent theme
• Typically override:
• Styling (colors, fonts, margin/padding)
• Addition or removal of functionality
• Templates
• A good way to modify third party themes without hacking the original
code
• Provide several flavors of a parent theme
• Video of Jonathan May’s presentation: http://youtu.be/t8npHrg-teI

17. 17
Example
• A typical theme:
wp-content/"
- themes/"
- twentyeleven/"
- index.php"
- style.css"
(etc…)
- twentyeleven-child/"
- style.css"
- functions.php"
- custom-template.php"
- images/

18. 18
Child Theme Files
• style.css
‣ Replaces parent theme’s style.css stylesheet
‣ You must manually import the parent theme’s stylesheet
• functions.php
‣ Loaded automatically, in addition to the parent theme’s functions.php, and
loaded right before it!

19. 19
How To (style.css)
/*
Theme Name: Twenty Eleven Child
Theme URI: http: //example.com/
Description: Child theme for the Twenty Eleven theme
Author: Your name here
Author URI: http: //example.com/about/
Template: twentyeleven
Version: 0.1.0
*/
@import url("../twentyeleven/style.css");
h1 {font-size:24px;}
#header {margin-bottom:10px;}

20. 20
How To (functions.php)
<?php
function my_name() {
echo ‘James!’;
}
add_action('wp_head', ’my_name');

21. 21
How To (templates)
• Any template file with the same name
‣ Overrides parent theme’s template file
• New template files
‣ Made available to website when using child theme
• More specific template files
‣ category.php in place of more generic archives.php

22. 22
How To (other files)
get_stylesheet_directory();
vs.
get_template_directory();
Include Templates
require_once(get_stylesheet_directory() . '/new_template.php');
Assets (images, JS, etc.)
<img src=“<?php echo get_stylesheet_directory(); ?>/images/logo.png” alt=“” />

23. Caching
• What is it?
• Practice of storing data in a way so that future accesses are much faster.
• Types
• Server-side: Expensive, repeated operations like large database queries
are performed once, saved in a cache, and served from cache (until data
changes or cache expires)
• Client-side (browser): Images, CSS, JavaScript assets are saved locally on
the visitor’s computer until a specific expiration date or until assets change
23

24. Server-side Caching w/ WP
• Why W3 Total Cache?
• Recommended by notable hosts MediaTemplate, HostGator, etc.
• Used by smashingmagazine.com, mashable.com, etc.
• Promises at least 10x performance increase
• Reduce web server load
• Up to 80% bandwidth reduction ($$$!)
• Comes from Boston!
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25. Why W3 Total Cache?
• Server & client side caching tools for WordPress
• Recommended by notable hosts MediaTemplate, HostGator, etc.
• Used by smashingmagazine.com, mashable.com, etc.
• Promises at least 10x performance increase
• Reduce web server load
• Up to 80% bandwidth reduction ($$$!)
• Comes from Boston!
25

26. Demo
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27. HostGator
• Cheaper hosting with unlimited storage, bandwidth and domains
• Great if you plan on starting more than 1 WordPress site
• Plenty of support for the server and you don’t need to have WordPress on
it (self-install)
• Lots of software, room to experiment!
27
Use code TechDayCamp for 25% discount

28. WP-Engine
• WordPress only hosting
• Cheap, integrated, automatic backups and updates
• Set it and forget it!
• Secure, fast and reliable
28
Use code WPMeetupBoston2013 at
http://j.mp/boswpshop for 1 month free

29. Thank You
29
Jon Bishop
Twitter: @jondbishop
http://johbishop.com
Kurt Eng
Twitter: @kurteng
http://kurteng.com