Looks like WordPress is getting a little closer to becoming a college course as Montana State Universities, Extended University will be offering a course on Advanced WordPress on May 9th. This course doesn’t say anything about college credits but how cool will that be to see the day when there is actually a college course devoted to WordPress that you could earn credits with? Perhaps as part of a journalism class? ∞
The Two Sides To Speaking At WordCamps
When you are asked to speak at a WordCamp, realize that you are one in hundreds of people they could have asked. It’s humbling and ego-inflating, but it is also a responsibility. You aren’t talking to people who have no clue what you are talking about. You will be facing people who probably know more than you, so your job will be to help them see it in a new way, to open their minds to the possibilities, to spark their enthusiasm, and tap into the passion. It’s a tough job, so if they come calling, don’t take it for granted. It’s a privilege.
via What’s Involved for a Speaker at a WordCamp Event « Lorelle on WordPress.
-The Two Sides To Speaking At WordCamps
Sponsor Me To WordCamp Columbus
WordCamp Columbus Ohio is right around the corner, June 17-18, 2011 and I’d like to attend. However, my funds are pretty tight this year and I’d like to know if you would be able to help me out. There are three different ways you can sponsor my trip to this event.
Video – This includes a minimum of two videos recorded from the event. Each video will begin with a splash screen showcasing your company as well as providing a link within the video post. – $150.00
Audio – This includes a minimum of two recordings which could either be interviews or actual sessions from the event. Each audio recording will include a shot out to your company or business along with a link within the audio post. $150.00 Purchased by http://podscms.org/
Text – This includes a minimum of two posts which will include a banner as well as a text link. $100.00 Purchased by http://podscms.org/
If you’re interested in sponsoring me by any of these methods, please get in touch with me via email so we can square things away. I’ll update this post as sponsorships are purchased.
What’s Your Breaking Point?
As WordPress becomes a mature piece of publishing software, more things are being added to the kitchen sink. Some features are great while others, not so much. As WordPress adds more features, how many of you have found yourself using plugins or convoluted ways to disable or remove the functionality that was added to WordPress? I’m not opposed to WordPress adding more features and functionality but I am interested in knowing what your breaking point is with regards to how many plugins will you use to go against the grain of WordPress before you decide that a different publishing platform would ultimately be the better choice?
WordPress And Its Cloudy Future
Join in the conversation and tell us where you think WordPress as a platform should go. ∞
100 Things To Know About WordPress
100 Things You Need to Know About WordPress. JTPratt and Anthony Montalbano combine to provide 100 things all users need to know about WordPress. The list is broken down into 10 parts ranging from web hosting to WordPress resources. A good read for anyone relatively new to using the software. ∞
Using Chrome And WordPress To Publish Saved Bookmarks
Here is a cool little extension for Google Chrome that uses the WordPress API to publish saved bookmarks as posts instead of using the Del.icio.us service. It requires WordPress 3.0 and only takes about a minute to setup. Another nice touch is that it uses the Link post format if your theme supports it. ∞
Roots – WordPress Starter Theme
Roots is a starter theme for WordPress based on HTML5 Boilerplate, Blueprint CSS or 960.gs and Starkers. One of the cool features of this starter theme is the implementation of CodeMirror into the HTML post editor which spruces things up. While not extensive, their gallery shows a couple of nice looking sites built on Roots. ∞
WooThemes To Go Back To Their Roots
In a interesting business move by WooThemes, the commercial theme company has announced that they will be re-focusing their efforts to be a WordPress centric theme company, again. Another example as to how time flies, it wasn’t too long ago when WooThemes began releasing themes for Expression Engine, Tumblr, Drupal, Joomla, and Magento. This was a move to diversify their business and expand into different markets but after a year into the experiment, it turns out that there is more to it than cranking out themes.
- We have no knowledge of these platforms, which meant we had to partner with collaborative developers to help us expand onto these other CMS’s. We luckily found brilliant partners passionate and committed to their niche CMS strengths. Collaborations have their own little intricacies and our experience with these platforms & development processes was just never the same, as it was with WP.
- We realized that we had no knowledge of these communities, which meant that it was hard for ourselves to get a firm foothold there. Our roots are firmly in the WP community and as a result we always tried to replicate our WP ideas in these other communities, but we eventually realized that we had to tailor our approaches accordingly. The decision to focus our attention on WP instead is simply due to team capacity, budgets & priorities.
- In our hearts, and without trying to step on anyone’s feet, we could never get as excited about a new Drupal or EE theme in the same way we do before every WP release. Passion is always important.
It’s great to see that WooThemes is taking measures to ensure that their non WordPress platform customers will be taken care of by the end of April. So is it a risky move by WooThemes to reorganize into a one platform theme company again? Of course, but it’s not like WordPress is going any where and it doesn’t seem to be crumbling down anytime soon. How long WordPress continues to be king of the hill remains to be seen but I’d venture to guess it will be at least a couple more years. Hopefully longer.
Optimize Images Via Smush.it
WordPress blog owners can install the free WordPress plugin WP-Smush.it that uses Yahoo’s Smush.it service to reduce the size of images. The plugin works automatically in the background: It sends all uploaded images to Yahoo’s image compression service and uploads that optimized version to the server, instead of the unoptimized original version.
via Reduce Page Loading Time With WP-Smush.it For WordPress Blogs.
Smush.it definitely looks like an interesting service to quickly optimize your page loading speeds with shrunken images. However, it’s a pity you can’t perform a batch optimization for multiple images within the plugin although there is a roundabout way of doing it.