I just got back from WordCamp Chicago. It was my first time attending the conference, and I met a lot of other web designers and developers who are as enthusiastic about WordPress as I am.
Each day was packed full of informative sessions, taught by people from all around the country. There were even a few “celebrities” from the WordPress world in attendance. Each of the presenters gave a 40-45 minute talk followed by a time of Q & A.
This year’s conference had a few underlying themes that were touched on by most of the presenters: responsive design, plugins, and security.
Responsive Design
One of the big themes this year was responsive design, a relatively new technique for building a website. With the rise of mobile devices and tablets, it is becoming more and more likely that a visitor to your site could be viewing it on something other than a desktop browser. To meet the needs of each of these users at once, there needs to be a flexible solution. Enter responsive web design.
The idea behind responsive web design is that your site responds to whatever device is viewing it. Because of the way the site is built, it can adapt the content and structure to the constraints of the browser or device rendering it.
Instead of building a “mobile only” site, the responsive design technique allows your user access to all of your sites content, and you only have to maintain one site. This makes responsive design a great option for making your site mobile friendly.
WordPress Plugins
Another big theme of the conference was WordPress plugins and plugin development. WordPress comes with some great functionality out of the box. But to really customize it to your needs, there is a growing ecosystem of over 20,000 plugins that can add almost any feature you can imagine.
One of the biggest questions when you meet someone at a WordCamp is “What plugins do you use?” I always pick up 5 or 6 new plugins I hadn’t heard of before that would be perfect for a current project or one in the future. I also met Pippin of Pippins Plugins, a talented plugin developer who teaches plugin development and has a few plugins of his own.
WordPress Security
WordPress security was another important topic covered at the conference. While WordPress itself is very secure, there are many things that can create vulnerabilities on your site if you’re not careful.
First, be sure to use trusted themes and plugins on your site. Check ratings and reviews from other users before downloading and installing. Delete all unused plugins on your site, and keep the ones you do use up to date.
Second, make sure to upgrade your WordPress installation. Each new version release can have improvements, bug fixes, and security patches that make your site better and more secure. The WordPress development team works hard to make sure WordPress is as secure as possible.
Finally, make sure you use a secure password for your user account. Don’t use phrases or include the name of the site. There are many password generators on the web that you can use to create a secure password that will keep hackers out of your site.
There are many other things that should be done to maintain a secure site, but these are great first steps.
Overall, I had a great time at the conference. I met some really talented people in the WordPress community, learned a lot of new techniques, and had my first Chicago style deep dish pizza. Yum!
