WordPress Essex Meetup – March 2018

Posted on by Dan Maby.Categories England, Meetup, News, South EastTags , , , Leave a comment on WordPress Essex Meetup – March 2018

We’re back from the winter break and will be holding another informal meetup for WordPress developers, designers, users and business owners in Essex.

Digital Trends – A study of Gen Z and how the web must adapt to their needs.

Presented by Jamie Lawrence, Elevate Account Manager at WP Engine. The WordPress digital experience platform

The major update coming to WordPress this year: Gutenberg

The WordPress editing interface has mostly stayed the same for many years, but that’s about to change. Later this year, a major update is coming to WordPress, called Gutenberg, which will revolutionise how you publish content on your website. It’s currently planned to launch with WordPress 5.0.

Soon, you’ll be able to create fancy page layouts and use a variety of new formatting options, simply by drag-and-dropping blocks into your page. No longer will you have to mess around with shortcodes, or have to install a page builder plugin. It’s also stirring a lot of debate in the WordPress community, for example many themes and plugins will need updating to work with Gutenberg, and users may need retraining.

Mike, from Primary Image, will lead a demo of the new WordPress editing interface, plus we’ll discuss some of the steps that webmasters will need to take.

Presented by Mike Pead. Mike works at Primary Image, a WordPress design agency based in Southend-on-Sea, who support businesses of all sizes across the UK.

Running Order (STC):

Arrive from 18:30 for networking

19:00 – Opening remarks
19:10 – Digital Trends – A study of Gen Z and how the web must adapt to their needs, by Jamie Lawrence
19:45 – wp_update_post
20:00 – Break
20:15 – The major update coming to WordPress this year: Gutenberg, by Mike Pead
20:45 – Closing remarks
21:00 – Social

How to find us

  • The Anglia Ruskin University website has a comprehensive list of way to access the venue.
  • Car – The University car parks are free after 16:30. Sawyers Car Park is the closest, just off Hoffmanns Way.
  • Train – The Chelmsford Train Station is an 11 min. walk to the venue. See this map.
  • Bus – Regular bus services run to and from the venue.

Code of conduct

The WordPress Essex Meetup is intended to be a safe, judgmental free event for the local WordPress community to come together, share knowledge and grow.  We have a code of conduct that all attendees, speakers, volunteers, and organisers are expected to abide by.

Sponsors & Supporters

This event is supported by Blue 37 – a strategic-thinking team of digital experts with a creative edge, and Primary Image – a WordPress web design agency based in Southend-on-Sea.

WordPress Essex Meetup – March. 2018

Thursday, Mar 15, 2018, 6:30 PM

Anglia Ruskin University
Bishop Hall Ln, Chelmsford CM1 1SQ, GB

12 WordPress Community Members Went

We’re back from the winter break and will be holding another informal meetup for WordPress developers, designers, users and business owners in Essex. ## Digital Trends – A study of GenZ and how the web must adapt to their needs. Presented by Jamie Lawrence, Elevate Account Manager at WP Engine. The WordPress digital experience platform. ## The maj…

Check out this Meetup →

Two WordPress Glasgow meetups in March

Posted on by Carme Mias.Categories Meetup, News, ScotlandTags , , Leave a comment on Two WordPress Glasgow meetups in March

Here’s what we have planned for this March:

  • WordPress Community Workshop – Thursday 8th March 2018, 6:30pm at CitizenM’s ground floor lounge
    Our very popular and relaxed get-together where we help each other get better at WordPress. We all sit around the big table and talk about the WordPress projects or conundrums we are working on at the moment. Bring your laptop or tablet, as well as questions and answers for your co-members.

    Event #37: WordPress Community Workshop

    Thursday, Mar 8, 2018, 6:30 PM

    citizen m hotel
    60 renfrew street Glasgow, GB

    18 Members Attending

    If you would like to build a website using WordPress, or if you already have a WP site which is having issues, or if you are looking to share your WP knowledge, then this is the gathering to come along to. The idea is that people of all levels of ability can come along, collaborate, and discuss and/or show those aspects of WordPress that are of int…

    Check out this Meetup →


  • My Take on WordPress Security, by Nigel Pentland – Tuesday 27th March 2018, 6:00pm at iCafe Sauchiehall St.

    This will be a eclectic yet technical analysis of the security of a WordPress site using anecdotal case studies to illustrate the importance of a couple of aspects which are often subject to complacency.It will be an interactive talk, facilitating discussion throughout the evening.

    Event #38: “My take on WordPress Security” by Nigel Pentland

    Tuesday, Mar 27, 2018, 6:00 PM

    iCafe
    315-317 Sauchiehall Street Glasgow, GB

    14 Members Attending

    This will be an ADVANCED talk, of special interest for BUSINESS OWNERS, DEVELOPERS, and BACK END specialists. This will be a eclectic yet technical analysis of the security of a WordPress site using anecdotal case studies to illustrate the importance of a couple of aspects which are often subject to complacency. It will be an interactive talk, faci…

    Check out this Meetup →


WordPress London Meetup #wpldn – 22 Feb. 2018

Posted on by Dan Maby.Categories England, London, Meetup, News, South EastTags , , , , Leave a comment on WordPress London Meetup #wpldn – 22 Feb. 2018

WordPress product development, accessibility & blockchains will be the focus this month at the WordPress London Meetup. It will also be the last event held at City University. As one door closes, several more are opening for #WPLDN.

Did we mention that we launched our new site? https://wpldn.uk/ Lots of CPTs: events, talks, speakers, locations, organisers, supporters – linked in various relationships, and categories

Test quick, Build smart, Be awesome

A lot of the time businesses are so focused on the big shiny thing at the end of a roadmap that nobody ever stops to question, is this the right thing? Is this something users want? Will this actually move the needle for the business?

In this talk, Adam goes over failures, successes, and general lessons learned over his career to date in publishing about testing hypotheses, engaging with users and bringing stakeholders along the journey. The technical restrictions and expectations that can come from that, and pitfalls to avoid will be discussed.

Presented by Adam Flint. Adam is the Senior Product Manager at Business of Fashion. He’s proud to be owning the content stream of the most influential and informative business fashion site on the web!
Adam is a creative digital leader with a passion for user centric design Follow him @AdamFlint.

Use Accessibility Tools

A look at a selection of some useful free tools that help ensure accessibility of websites. The tools are browser extensions and WordPress plugins. Many are designed for testing for certain aspects of accessibility, but some can actually improve the accessibility of WordPress (and other) websites

The session will contain many live demos to illustrate how the tools can be used.

Presented by Graham Armfield. Graham is a Web Accessibility Consultant for his own company Coolfields Consulting. He work with organisations to help them improve the accessibility of their websites – testing the websites for accessibility, and advising the designers and developers on how to fix issues found. He has also written detailed training courses on accessibility for developers which he presents on a regular basis.

He’s also a WordPress developer, and I’ve built many accessible WordPress websites for clients. Follow him @coolfields.

How Blockchain is going to disrupt Digital Marketing

David will take a look at how blockchain is starting to disrupt the digital marketing sector and show specific examples and trends. How will cryptocurrency change advertising? What can we learn about acquisition from ICOs? How does changing the fundamental economies of digital change the way people and organisations behave online?

Presented by David Lockie. David is the Founder and Director of Pragmatic which he set up in January 2012 after freelancing as a WordPress Developer for a number of years. David loves delivering websites that add value to businesses and organisations and has been invited to speak at international conferences WordCamp and WooConf, sharing his insights on becoming a successful WordPress freelancer and revealing how WordPress can save the world. As Director of Pragmatic he enjoys finding interesting and exciting work. Follow him @divydovy.

Running Order (STC):

18:30 – Arrive for networking and refreshments
19:00 – Opening remarks
19:10 – Speaker – Adam Flint
19:50 – Speaker – Graham Armfield
20:20 – Break
20:25 – Speaker – David Lockie
20:55 – Closing remarks
21:00 – Social

Follow #wpldn on Twitter for all the latest and join the Facebook Group to take the conversation further. Have a talk you’d like to present? We’d love to hear from you.

The WordPress London meetup is supported by a team of volunteers: Annabelle, Dan and Gary.

WordPress London Meetup – Feb. 2018

Thursday, Feb 22, 2018, 6:30 PM

City, University of London (College Building),
St John Street, London, EC1V 4PB, GB

70 WordPress Community Members Attending

WordPress product development, accessibility & blockchains will be the focus this month at the WordPress London Meetup. It will also be the last event held at City University. As one door closes, several more are opening for #WPLDN. Did we mention that we launched our new site? https://wpldn.uk/ Lots of CPTs: events, talks, speakers, locations, org…

Check out this Meetup →

Two WordPress Glasgow meetups in February

Posted on by Carme Mias.Categories Meetup, News, ScotlandTags , , , , , Leave a comment on Two WordPress Glasgow meetups in February

Back to our usual two meets per month. Here’s what’s coming this February:

  • WordPress Community Workshop – Thursday 8th February, 6:30 pm at the Citizen M‘s ground floor lounge.
    This is our very popular and relaxed get-together. We all sit around the big table and talk about the WordPress projects or conundrums we are working on at the moment. Bring your laptop or tablet, as well as questions and answers for your co-members. We all help each other get better at WordPress!

    Event #35: WordPress Community Workshop

    Thursday, Feb 8, 2018, 6:30 PM

    citizen m hotel
    60 renfrew street Glasgow, GB

    17 Members Attending

    If you would like to build a website using WordPress, or if you already have a WP site which is having issues, or if you are looking to share your WP knowledge, then this is the gathering to come along to. The idea is that people of all levels of ability can come along, collaborate, and discuss and/or show those aspects of WordPress that are of int…

    Check out this Meetup →

     

  • “Improving the User Experience of Your Sites”, by Neil Scott – Tuesday 27th February, 6:00pm at iCafe Sauchiehall St.
    WordPress is known for pre-made themes that make it easy to get started. However, after a while you might wonder why certain design decisions have been made, how they affect your users, and what you can do to make the site better.
    This is where User Experience (UX) design techniques come in. UX is way of bringing together user needs and business goals through research, testing, and design.
    This talk will introduce the concept of UX and provide practical tips for improving your site.

    Event #36: Improving the User Experience of Your Sites, by Neil Scott

    Tuesday, Feb 27, 2018, 6:00 PM

    iCafe
    315-317 Sauchiehall Street Glasgow, GB

    10 Members Attending

    This is an event suitable for ALL LEVELS.Doors open at 6:00pm to give everyone time to come in and chat to each other. Talk starts at 6:30pm.* About the Talk:WordPress is known for pre-made themes that make it easy to get started. However, after a while you might wonder why certain design decisions have been made, how they affect your users, and…

    Check out this Meetup →

     

WordPress London Meetup #wpldn – 25 Jan. 2018

Posted on by Dan Maby.Categories England, London, Meetup, News, South EastTags , , , Leave a comment on WordPress London Meetup #wpldn – 25 Jan. 2018

The first WordPress London Meetup for 2018. We’ll be looking ahead at what changes 2018 will bring to #wpldn, we’ll also be looking at getting production-ready.

Missed a #wpldn recently? Catch up at wpldn.uk

Production-ready WordPress: Deploy your code using version control and continuous integration

It is common practice to move code through a series of servers in a multi-tiered development workflow. This talk will discuss best practices for deployment from local development environment to production servers. We’ll dive in to in how to push changes from collaborative version control tools to build, deploy and deliver WordPress. Learn basic concepts around deployment, testing and dependency management and see how it all ties together.

Presented by Edmund Turbin. Edmund is Senior Solutions Engineer at WP Engine, London. Over the past ten years he has built websites with content management systems and has held technical roles in media, publishing and ad tech in New York City. Edmund is passionate about front end coding, development workflow and architecting scalable WordPress solutions for enterprise. Edmund has recently achieved certification as an AWS Solutions Architect – Associate. In his free time, Edmund enjoys electronic music production, snowboarding, cycling and discovering new places across the globe to explore with his family & kids. Follow him @spicecadet.

Running Order (STC):

18:30 – Arrive for networking and refreshments
19:00 – Opening remarks
19:10 – Looking ahead for #wpldn
19:50 – wp_update_post
20:05 – Break
20:15 – Speaker – Edmund Turbin
20:50 – Closing remarks
21:00 – Social

Follow #wpldn on Twitter for all the latest and join the Facebook Group to take the conversation further. Have a talk you’d like to present? We’d love to hear from you.

The WordPress London meetup is supported by a team of volunteers: Annabelle, Dan and Gary

WordPress London Meetup – Jan. 2018

Thursday, Jan 25, 2018, 7:00 PM

City, University of London (Tait Building),
10 Northampton Square LONDON, EC1V 0HB, GB

74 WordPress Community Members Went

The first WordPress London Meetup for 2018. We’ll be looking ahead at what changes 2018 will bring to #wpldn, we’ll also be looking at getting production-ready. Missed a #wpldn recently? Catch up at wpldn.uk (https://wpldn.uk/) Production-ready WordPress: Deploy your code using version control and continuous integration It is common practice to mov…

Check out this Meetup →

Three WordPress Glasgow meetups in January

Posted on by Carme Mias.Categories Meetup, News, ScotlandLeave a comment on Three WordPress Glasgow meetups in January

We start 2018 with three events instead of our usual two:

  • WordPress Community Workshop + Learn Gutenberg – Thursday 11th January, 6:30pm at the Citizen M‘s ground floor lounge.
    We had to move from our usual space due to maintenance work but we still managed to give Gutenberg a good go!WPGlasgow Community Workshop + Learn Gutenberg, January 2018


     

  • Talk by Heather Burns (title TBD) – Tuesday 23rd January, 6:00pm at iCafe Sauchiehall St.
    You’ve probably heard about GDPR, the upcoming overhaul of Europe’s data protection rules, and what you’ve probably heard is a load of rubbish. We’re going to help you to separate the fact from the fiction by walking you through what the new rules mean for you. Take an hour to learn what you’ll need to do to bring your web sites and your businesses into healthy compliance.


     

  • “Public Speaking for Techies”, by Martin Sproul – Tuesday 23rd January, 6:00pm at Skyscanner, Glasgow.This event is organised in conjunction with 9 other Glasgow Tech Meetups and currently limited to 6 spaces per group.

    Please refer to the event’s Eventbrite page for further details.
    WPGlasgow Public Speaking for Techies Jan2018
     

You can join the WordPress Glasgow community and find out more about these and other events from our meetup.com site.

See you soon!

WordPress London Meetup #wpldn – 30 Nov. 2017

Posted on by Dan Maby.Categories England, London, Meetup, News, South EastTags , , , , Leave a comment on WordPress London Meetup #wpldn – 30 Nov. 2017

The final ‘formal’ WordPress London Meetup of 2017.  We’ll be looking at the discovery stage, our favourite plugins & scaling WordPress.

Missed a #wpldn recently?  Catch up at wpldn.uk

Winning at Discovery

That phase of any project that, if not pinned down and given the attention it needs, can trip us up big time. The Discovery process needs to be as thorough as it can possibly be.

Discovering just what the client expects and all the things around being able to make that happen. That’s what we want to do.

The thing is, we all know this. Some include this already in their process and from this they have become successful (surely!!). Each of us has a horror story of the client’s expectations not being met because we did not understand quite what they had in mind; there was a mismatch and the client holds us accountable for that. Or what they want and expect is just not possible on their hosting. Or the client’s data needs significant translation to be usable.

Being clear at the start is essential. If we do this, document it, get the client to confirm that this document is what they want and understand they’re paying for, then we’re winning and so are they.

Presented by Barbara Saul.  Working with the Internet for nearly 20 years now and wrangling web design clients for at least 15, Barbara has learned many things about keeping customers happy, how to handle a customer always being right, and mostly learning from when she gets it wrong... Follow her @babssaul.

Plugins Uncovered 

We all have our favourite go-to plugins, often using them repeatedly on our client projects.  We may have plugins we’ve used for years, or sometimes we come across handy plugins by chance.

Let’s spread the word about these great little plugins available to us.  Let’s find those hero plugins that will get us hooked!

In this session, Mike Pead will demonstrate two plugins he regularly uses, which are useful for all levels of abilities.  He’ll also open the session to the floor, so if you have any favourite plugins that could be useful to others, please share your suggestions!.

Presented by Mike Pead. Mike runs Primary Image, based in Westcliff-on-Sea in Essex, and designs, supports and hosts WordPress websites for clients.  Primary Image specialises in the transport sector, with Mike creating websites for Transport for London, National Express and Network Rail, amongst many others. Follow him at @mikepead.

Scaling WordPress with containers

With the REST API in full swing, SPAs (Single Page Apps) are popping up all over the place, built using <insert JS framework here>. In this presentation, I will show you how to get a simple site using the WordPress REST API from local development, through to production on Kubernetes (with a demo, or two mixed in), that scales.

Presented by Craig Willis.  Craig is a Full-Stack Developer working on internal and external products for Ayima, Digital Marketing Agency in London. He is also the co-organiser of PHP London. https://www.meetup.com/phplondon/. Follow him @craigwillis85.

Running Order (STC):

18:30 – Arrive for networking and refreshments
19:00 – Opening remarks
19:10 – First Speaker – Barbra Saul
19:50 – Plugins Uncovered – Mike Pead
20:05 – Break
20:15 – Third speaker – Craig Willis
20:50 – Closing remarks
21:00 – Social

Follow #wpldn on Twitter for all the latest and join the Facebook Group to take the conversation further.  Have a talk you’d like to present?  We’d love to hear from you. 

The WordPress London meetup is supported by a team of volunteers: Annabelle, Dan and Gary.

WordPress London

London, GB
2,368 WordPress Community Members

Welcome to the WordPress London Meetup #wpldn.WordPress London is a monthly meetup for developers, designers, business owners and users of WordPress, held the last Thursday o…

Next Meetup

WordPress London Meetup – Nov. 2017

Thursday, Nov 30, 2017, 6:30 PM
92 Attending

Check out this Meetup Group →

WordPress Essex Meetup – 9 Nov. 2017

Posted on by Dan Maby.Categories England, Meetup, News, South EastTags , , , Leave a comment on WordPress Essex Meetup – 9 Nov. 2017

For this month’s WordPress Essex Meetup we’ll be exploring how to make our websites faster and discussing how we can improve our sites for 2018.

We’ll be holding another informal meetup for WordPress developers, designers, users and business owners.

Waterfall & Unicorns

“I want my site to load fast” – every site owner.

Getting a site running fast even with lots of visitors is something that plagues most sites at some point.  No one wants to see a 502 error page or simply a whitescreen while the page is loading.

Tim will take you through some of optimisation tips and tricks to increase concurrency and real time load times.  He will also look at tools and services and why sometimes worrying about getting good metric results can often be detrimental to load times.

Presented by Tim Nash.  Tim is the WordPress Platform Lead and Developer Advocate for 34SP.com, one day he will find out what he is meant to actually be doing. He is also a author, blogger at timnash.co.uk, videographer and has even been known to give the occasional talk. He codes too, but not as much as he would like.. Follow him @tnash.

The Year That Was…

As this will be the last formal event for 2017, we’ll be taking a look back through the year that was and see what’s worked, what’s not and how we can improve our websites for 2018.

This will be an interactive group discussion, looking at all areas of our WordPress sites.  Examples of topics we’ll be discussing include: hosting, support, SEO, design and anything else that’s relevant to your site.

Running Order (STC):

18:30 – Arrive for networking
19:00 – Opening remarks
19:10 – First speaker – Tim Nash
19:45 – wp_update_post
20:05 – Break
20:15 – Group Discussion – The Year That Was…
20:50 – Closing remarks
21:00 – Social

How to find us

The Anglia Ruskin University website has a comprehensive list of way to access the venue.

  • Car – The University car parks are free after 16:30.  Sawyers Car Park is the closest, just off Hoffmanns Way.
  • Train – The Chelmsford Train Station is an 11 min. walk to the venue.  See this map.
  • Bus – Regular bus services run to and from the venue.

Code of conduct

The WordPress Essex Meetup is intended to be a safe, judgmental free event for the local WordPress community to come together, share knowledge and grow.  We have a code of conduct that all attendees, speakers, volunteers, and organisers are expected to abide by.

Sponsors & Supporters

This event is supported by Blue 37 – a strategic-thinking team of digital experts with a creative edge.

WordPress Essex Meetup – Nov. 2017

Thursday, Nov 9, 2017, 6:30 PM

Location details are available to members only.

11 WordPress Community Members Went

For this month’s WordPress Essex Meetup we’ll be exploring how to make our websites faster and discussing how we can improve our sites for 2018.We’ll be holding another informal meetup for WordPress developers, designers, users and business owners.Waterfall & Unicorns”I want my site to load fast” – every site owner.Getting a site running fast e…

Check out this Meetup →

Two WordPress Glasgow meetups in November

Posted on by Carme Mias.Categories Meetup, News, ScotlandLeave a comment on Two WordPress Glasgow meetups in November

Here’s what we did in November 2017:

  • WordPress Community Workshop, Thursday 9th November, 6:30pm at the CitizenM’s ground floor lounge.
    This is our very popular and relaxed get-together. We all sit around the big table and talk about the WordPress projects or conundrums we are working on at the moment. Bring your laptop or tablet, as well as questions and answers for your co-members. We all help each other get better at WordPress!
  • WordPress for Business, Tuesday 28th November, 6:00 pm at the CCA, Clubroom (2nd floor)
    A special event for BLOGGERS and BUSINESS OWNERS. Two talks plus ample time for chatting and networking.

    • “WooCommerce Website Considerations for Beginners” by CJ Andrew
    • “How to Build your Business Blog” by Claire Brotherton

 

Plus we got some lovely feedback!

 

 
You can join the WordPress Glasgow community and find out more about these and other events from our meetup.com website.