Ruth Maude, of Dandelion Web Design Inc., has been designing and building websites since the late 1990’s. Now Ruth works primarily in WordPress. She loves WordPress because it’s open source, user-friendly and so good for SEO. Ruth teaches WordPress Workshops in Toronto for LearnWP.ca. You can find her on Twitter @dandelionweb.
Presentation: Getting Started with WordPress
WordPress is the most popular website content management system on the internet. If you are a beginner, wanting to try out WordPress for the first time, this is the session for you. WordPress terms will be explained in plain language. During this session we’ll take a live tour of WordPress and discuss themes, widgets and plugins. You’ll leave with a good idea of how WordPress works and how to get started.
What do you want folks to learn from your presentation?
This session will give those who are testing the waters the confidence to dive into WordPress. My hope is that people will come away from this presentation with a better idea of how WordPress works and how to get started. It’s a great first step before taking an intensive in-person WordPress workshop.
What attracted you to WordPress in the first place?
In 2008 I was looking for a user-friendly, secure content management solution for my clients. I explored a number of options. What sold me on WordPress was that with plugins you could so easily add new functionality to your site and with automatic updates you would always have the latest and greatest WordPress has to offer.
What are you most looking forward to at WordCamp Toronto?
Toronto’s WordPress community is growing strong. WordCamp is a great opportunity to get together to share ideas and celebrate all that WordPress is.
Why did you decide to speak?
I’ve spoken at WordCamp Toronto the last couple of years and it’s has always been a great experience. I thoroughly enjoy teaching others about WordPress.
What is your favourite plugin or theme, and why?
I could give you a long list of plugins that I love. SEO by Yoast and Jetpack are a couple of favourites. Our LearnWP students use the popular Free Responsive Theme. I’ve never met a theme that I didn’t want to change, so I provide them with an already modified child theme.