Presentation for Austin WordPress Hands On

LuzaTeach/Train / Websites and Social Media / WordPress

WordPress Websites: Show and Tell

What theme are you using, and why? Is it a custom theme or off the shelf”?

AustinChildfree.org | @AustinNoKidding
– Twenty Eleven 1.2

AustinCanes.com | @AustinCanes
– Weaver 2.2.4

  • Rely on the KISS principle / easy Administration
  • Easy to delegate to the future webmaster
  • Allow “anyone” to easily change the background, header, colors, etc.
  • Widget-friendly, allowing “anyone” to rearrange elements on the site

What plugins are you using, and why?

  • AdRotate by Arnan de Gans – used for sponsorship (AustinChildfree.org)
  • Events Manager – used for RSVPs (AustinCanes.com & AustinChildfree.org

General Faves

  • Twitter Tools by Crowd Favorite
    – Tweets the instant a blog post is published.• All In One SEO Pack by Michael Torbert – sets titles, descriptions, and keywords for search engines; blog titles can be clever or simple (instead of keyword rich)
  • Mobile Theme Switcher by Jeremy Arntz
    – sets which theme is displayed on types of mobile devices—particularly the iPad
  • Tumblr Widget by Gabriel Roth and WP Tumblr by the Greek WordPress Community
    – embed & incorporate your Tumblr feed into WordPress (instead of sending WordPress posts to Tumblr); great for “reblogs” & other Tumblr-specific sharing.

What’s one thing you might do differently if you were to build the site from scratch?

AustinChildfree.org

  • Eliminate the in-house “program” from scratch. Since it “broke” during neglected server upgrades over recent years, we should have put it out of its misery.
  • Looked for money for a graphic designer or an “intern”. The message is difficult to convey in the positive.

What’s a cool thing you want to show off?

  • “free for commercial use stock images” on flickr flickr > Search > Advanced Search or: flickr.com/search/advanced Type in terms at the top, choose other preferences, and click the 2nd/3rd CC boxes at the bottom. [Hat Tip to @SheilaS for this nugget!] EX: keywords “Bollywood Clay Pit” with all three checked results in one image of the band; “Bollywood Clay Pit” with only the first two checked results in all nine images uploaded to flickr from the event.