Creating usable, maintainable, and upgradable WordPress sites

You’ll find thousands of tutorials, snippets, and other advice online advising you to “just add this to your functions.php file.”

It’s a bit more complicated than that…

I’ll cover:

  • Why that’s rarely the best strategy for anyone (yes, even a non-technical user)
  • Why developers and designers should never do this on client sites
  • What best practices are regarding adding custom functionality to your site
  • Tools for users of all levels to avoid functions.php bloat

I’ll also cover:

  • Why “app themes” are probably a bad way to start a business/website
  • Which code belongs in plugins vs. themes
  • How using a theme framework/starter theme can save you hassles and headaches

Speaker

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About Nick Ciske

Nick has a degree in Multimedia Design and over 20 years of experience working in web development and digital media. In his career he’s built or rebuilt just about every kind of website, including many content management systems (before WordPress), several custom e-commerce systems, and hundreds of websites. Widely regarded as an expert developer, Nick is sought after as a speaker at many conferences across the country. He remembers spacer gifs, table layouts, font-face, and when Flash was the new kid on the block. He specializes in custom Genesis websites, bespoke plugins that teach WordPress new tricks, and architecting amazing and brilliant application solutions.