I attended the inaugural WordCamp Boston this weekend. I wasn't completely sure what to expect with the event, but it ended up being very worth-while.
As you may or may not know, this site runs on WordPress. It's the second site that I built around the platform, and it's generally my testing ground for ideas that I have. Before this iteration of the site, I had been hard-coding HTML pages. They were a drag to update, and—due to my extremely limited ability to write code—their functionality was quite limited. They we very basic, and not really a lot of fun to update.
When I discovered WordPress, it took me a while to wrap my head around the concept of how the software functioned, and even longer to figure out how I could bend it to my will. I have found that despite its roots as a blogging platform, it is an excellent content management system. It is used for an extremely diverse variety of sites that have little or no relationship to a blog. What I really love about it—above of its other attributes—is that it democratizes the web.
On wordpress.com (a hosted service, not to be confused with the .org domain) anybody can create a site. The platform there is much more blogger-centric, but the fact remains that anybody and everybody can have a voice there. In this environment, anybody can put their voice out there. Sure, it's not easy to find an audience, but nobody could say that they weren't allowed to speak. That's really why I got into learning how to create web pages, and it's amazing to me now how easy it is.
With all that said, I'd like to highlight a few of the stand-outs from the weekend.
The Loop
After Mitcho's talk about the Loop, I was left feeling that manipulating the Loop was both easier and far more complex than I had imagined. I got some good ideas and tips from the talk, but he really operates on a level that I'll never able to attain.
jQuery
jQuery is one of the things that I want to learn more about. Jim broke down the basics, and answered some of the burning questions that I had. His talk really inspired, and made you want to write (less) code. His site: jimdoran.net
After the Deadline
Raphael's demo of After the Deadline was the only "wow" moment that I had during the conference. I hadn't really thought about spell checking and proofreading in the past, yet installing the After the Deadline plug-in was the first thing I did after logging in today. It's an amazing piece of software that helps you write better via contextual clues.
Parent/Child themes
Parent/child themes have seemed like an interesting concept to me, but it's like learning a new piece of software. Especially since most of the theme frameworks out there aren't that well documented. Daisy from wpmama.com really helped to break it down. It makes a lot of sense, and I'm strongly considering using a parent theme on my next site.
WP Security
Site security is something that I know that I should spend more time on, but it's just difficult to focus on. Brad laid it out in a very clear way, with some concrete advise and things to get me started.
In addition to the technical info, I met some interesting people and generally had a good time. It's something that I'm looking forward to next year, and I suggest that anybody interested should attend.