How to Choose the Right Theme & Customize It the Right Way (Using a Child Theme)

This is a daytime meetup with a topic. Geoff Myers, Digital Marketing Consultant & CEO of SimDex LLC (https://simdex.org), will be presenting.

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This week's topic is "How to Choose the Right Theme & Customize It the Right Way (Using a Child Theme)".

Who should attend this event?

This short 20-minute presentation and subsequent group discussion is meant for both beginners of WordPress ("choosing the right theme") and intermediate users of WordPress ("creating a child theme"). Following the talk, there will be a general Q&A session and group discussion, after which we will break up into smaller groups as usual for individual conversations.

What will I learn from this talk?

Geoff will be covering the following subtopics:

• Where do I start when searching for a WordPress theme for my site? What are the best places to look for high quality themes?

• What do I look for in a WordPress theme to determine whether it meets the highest technical quality standards? (hint: use Theme Check (https://wordpress.org/plugins/theme-check/))

• Effective strategies and best practices for choosing a WordPress theme that will work for you in the short term and long run (i.e. how to save yourself frustration later on)

• Free themes versus paid themes: What's the difference? Is it worth paying? Where should I go?

• How to create a Child Theme (https://codex.wordpress.org/Child_Themes) and add customizations without overwriting the original theme's code (e.g. copying and editing CSS stylesheets and PHP templates from the original theme)

What is the format of this event?

• Geoff's presentation/talk (~20 minutes)

• Subsequent Q&A and group discussion (~15 minutes)

• Group collaboration/help session (the usual, ~70 minutes)

If we receive positive feedback about this type of event, we will plan future events in a similar format.