Presentation given at WordCamp Denver, November 16, 2013

1. LEARNING
WORDPRESS
SUCKS
So what’s a person to do?

2. Is this you?

5. AND IT STILL DOESN'T DO
WHAT YOU WANT IT TO DO.

7. WORDPRESS IS PAC-MAN
FOR THE WEB: EASY TO
LEARN BUT NOTORIOUSLY
DIFFICULT TO MASTER.
John James Jacoby

8. SO WHAT'S NEXT?

10. Do what?

11. You're not a
coder

12. You need to know
• HTML
• MySQL
• CSS
• DNS
• SASS
• Git
• JavaScript
• Local install
• PHP
• Deployment
• JSON
• Photoshop
• AJAX
• ALL THE THINGS!
• JQuery

15. Four levels of knowledge
• Know nothing
• Know enough to be dangerous
• Know enough to be afraid
• Know enough to be confident
You can stop at any level. It’s up to you.

16. IF YOU KNOW NOTHING…

17. Where to begin
Learn
How / Where
• WordPress.com vs.
• WordPress.org
WordPress.org
• Set up a self-hosted
WordPress site
• Explore themes and
plugins
• YouTube.com
• Lynda.com
• WordPress for Dummies
• BobWP.com

18. IF YOU KNOW ENOUGH
TO BE DANGEROUS…

19. Learning more
Learn
How / Where
• Judge a good
• WordPress for Web
theme/plugin
• The template hierarchy
• Backup a website
Designers
• WPbeginner.com
• WPmayor.com
• TeamTreehouse.com

20. IF YOU KNOW ENOUGH
TO BE AFRAID…

21. The gauntlet
Learn
How / Where
• Check out frameworks
• Read the codex
• Write a child theme
• Professional WordPress
• Write a single-function
plugin
• Migrate a website
• Version control
• Explore managed hosting
•
•
•
•
Design and Development
Boulder Digital Arts
YourWebsiteEngineer.com
WebDesign.com
WPengine.com

22. IF YOU KNOW ENOUGH
TO BE CONFIDENT…

23. Rock star
Do
Keep Learning
• Write some posts
• Post_status.com
• Speak at a WordCamp
• Torque.com
• Contribute to core
• ChrisLema.com
• Write an extension for an
existing plugin
• Write a plugin for a theme
framework

25. OTHER RESOURCES

26. Podcasts
• Dradcast
• Matt Report
• WP Watercooler
• Week in WordPress
• Your Website Engineer
• PressThis
• Shop Talk
• WordPress Weekly
• WP Plugins A to Z
• WP Bacon
• Apply Filters
• PleaseAdvise.fm
• WP Elevation
• WordPress Chick

27. Networking
• WordPress.org forum
• WordPress meetups
• WordCamps
• Twitter
• Google+
• Co-working spaces
• Coffee shops

28. Mentor
• Worth every penny

29. Mentor
• Worth every penny beer

30. Now that you’re a WP ninja
• Find a group or team
to collaborate with

31. Job Titles
• Implementer
• Content Strategist
• Front End Developer
• Web Designer
• UI / UX Designer
• Web Developer
• Marketing
• SEO Specialist
• Copywriter
• Graphic Artist

32. But
• I'm not interested in learning all of that
• My site doesn't need all that stuff
• I don't have a site to work on

34. Three approaches
1. Find a sad, sorry website and build a good one
2. Find a great site and copy it
3. Make it up

35. You can't learn WordPress from …
Books ❖ Videos ❖ Tutorials

36. You gotta...

39. And when you’re feeling
stupid and overwhelmed
(because you will)

40. Just remember
how far you’ve come

41. And know that the people
you respect and
admire…

42. Feel the same way too

44. You can do it

45. But you can’t do it
overnight

46. You don’t have to
do it alone

49. Julie Kuehl
• @juliekuehl
• www.juliekuehl.com
• (it’s pronounced “keel” but I’m good with “cool” too  )
• http://www.slideshare.net/JulieKuehl
• http://chrislema.com/wordpress-ninja-1400-days/
• http://winningwp.com/six-superb-books-learning-wordpress/
• http://www.bobwp.com/wordpress-podcasts/