In this presentation, WordPress Educator, Zac Gordon goes over the important and growing skill set of knowing how to install, setup and customize premium and free themes. The presentation was given at the Orlando Meetup, Gansta Press, on Sat. June 29, 2013.

1. Setup & Customization
Learning the Niche of Theme

2. WordPress Orlando RoundTable - Gangsta Press - 06.29.13 @zgordon
About
Zac Gordon
Customizing a
Theme
Setting Up a
Theme
Installing a
Theme
Talk Overview
Skills Needed
What is it Worth

3. About
Zac Gordon

4. WordPress Orlando RoundTable - Gangsta Press - 06.29.13 @zgordon
About Zac Gordon
wideskydesigns.com

5. WordPress Orlando RoundTable - Gangsta Press - 06.29.13 @zgordon
About Zac Gordon
wideskydesigns.com
teamtreehouse.com

6. WordPress Orlando RoundTable - Gangsta Press - 06.29.13 @zgordon
About Zac Gordon
webhostingforstudents.com

7. Installing a
Theme

8. WordPress Orlando RoundTable - Gangsta Press - 06.29.13 @zgordon
Manual, 1-Click, Terminal
Finding and Installing Themes (in app
search, in app upload, manual upload, git)
Local Server Setup
Installing a Theme

9. Setting Up
Theme

10. WordPress Orlando RoundTable - Gangsta Press - 06.29.13 @zgordon
Knowing the
Front-End
Ex. Magazine Style
& Slideshows
Theme Options
Setting Up a Theme

11. WordPress Orlando RoundTable - Gangsta Press - 06.29.13 @zgordon
Free:
Swift Theme
Finding templates
& Demos
Premium:
Canvas (framework)
Free and Premium

12. Free Theme
Swift v. Canvas

13. WordPress Orlando RoundTable - Gangsta Press - 06.29.13 @zgordon
Demo in .org
v. Demo on site
Right Category
& Featured Image
(not new post type)
Static v.
Listing Homepage
Swift Theme
Reading
Documentation

14. WordPress Orlando RoundTable - Gangsta Press - 06.29.13 @zgordon
Finding Template
in Demo
Different Theme
Options Pages
Static v.
Listing Homepage
Canvas Theme
Reading
Documentation
Moving to
Business Theme
Now a Custom
Post Type

15. Customizing a
Theme

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In App
Customization
CSS Overrides
Canvas Layout
Manager
Customizing a Theme
Customizing
Templates
Hooks v
Hard Coded

17. Skills Needed

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Skills Needed
• Where to go for themes
• How to look for the right template in the demo
• How to install a theme
• Knowledge that some themes have theme settings
• How and where to look for different settings
• How to find and read documentation
• Knowledge of the commonality of themes
• Type of person who can click around and find what's what
• How to add pages and set templates
• How to set static homepages
• How to add tags and categories
• Knowing to look for custom meta boxes versus featured
images

19. WordPress Orlando RoundTable - Gangsta Press - 06.29.13 @zgordon
Skills Needed
• Knowing a slideshow verses a featured post slider (is there a
common difference across all themes?)
• Knowledge to look for custom post types
• How and why to create child themes
• How to write CSS
• How to use web inspector to find classes and IDs
• Knowledge of the cascading nature of CSS
• Ability to determine where in the app these colors can be set
• When to install plugins versus find the functionlity in the themes
• How to communicate customization to client (if you're the client
rock on!)
• How to search for problems for troubleshooting
• Familiarity with working with a ticketing system and following
trouble shooting steps (ability to know what questions to ask)

20. What Is
The Skill
Worth?

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Skills Needed
• Non-designer/developer site owner - cost of hiring someone,
ability to test different themes and control brand, know what
skills to look for
• In-house designer/developer - Boss not knowing how easy it
is, the difference in your time
• Account or project manager - Can troubleshoot for clients,
overall billable hours
• Self-employed - Can possibly setup themes more quickly
with less coding, don’t waste time in setup phase

22. Zac Gordon
@zgordon
wideskydesigns.com
teamtreehouse.com
wp.zacgordon.com