August WordPress Meetup

It's hot outside, but on August 9th, we have two cool speakers lined up to present on a couple of really fun topics. First, Andy Stratton (Who spoke at WordCamp Raleigh and is speaking at WordCamp Chicago this weekend) is going to be presenting a must see talk for anyone that has ever spent money on or sold a product in the WordPress ecosystem entitled "Diet Pills, SEO and Theme Frameworks". This talk will discus the true cost of low priced WordPress Websites and other misconceptions you may have about building a WordPress site.

After that, Leland Fiegel (who spoke back in January) will be presenting a talk that explores useful and practical CSS tips and tricks for making your site look good quickly and easily called "CSS Tricks and Wizardry". CSS experience isn't required. Leland will draw on his experience running ThemeLab.com, a source of quality free WordPress themes for WordPress bloggers all around the world.

We'll end the night with a chance to connect those hiring and those looking along with general announcements of events going on.

If you can, please bring a six pack of beer so we can restock the beer supply. Also, if you or your organization is interested in sponsoring some pizza, please contact Aaron at aaron@jorb.in.

Diet Pills, SEO and Theme Frameworks:

Can a theme framework really boost my SEO? Won't a $15 theme save me thousands of dollars of work? Isn't WordPress a turn-key solution? I can build a top-ranking website by mashing together a cheap theme and a handful of free plugins, right?

I firmly say "No." This presentation explains why. There are no shortcuts to awesome work, and sometimes a lower price comes at a higher cost. I analyze and explore the real cost-benefits of marketplace themes, frameworks and other misconceptions about building a quality WordPress website.

Andy Stratton is a freelance WordPress developer, principal of web studio Sizeable Interactive and founding member the Sizeable Spaces coworking facility in Baltimore, MD. He specializes in custom WordPress themes and plugins, as well as custom PHP/MySQL and UI development. Since recently figuring out what JFDI means, he's inspired and reassured to continue upon his current stream of "shut up and ship." Likes conversation, loves action. He's a big fan of exercise, art and animals.

CSS Tricks and Wizardry:

You'll learn some useful and practical CSS tips and tricks. These could include tips on speeding up development time, general optimizations, and other cool things. Also, these aren't necessarily limited to WordPress, but could apply to nearly any HTML/CSS based site. Beginner to intermediate CSS knowledge would be nice but not absolutely required.

Leland Fiegel is a WordPress theme developer and HTML/CSS coder. He runs a blog at ThemeLab.com where he talks about various WordPress and coding related topics, offers consulting services, and releases WordPress themes and coded templates. Follow him on Twitter at @lelandf and @themelab.