Author: Jeremy Ward

What inspired or motivated you to give this talk at WordCamp?

We’ve been working on getting more involved in community events, and enjoy helping other developers increase their skills.

Do you have any advice or words of encouragement for those who are thinking about getting involved in the WordPress community?

The best way to improve your WordPress skills is to dive in and start building a website! CSS, HTML, and PHP knowledge is essential to truly succeed in this industry, but there are plenty of resources available to help you become comfortable with these languages.

If you could make one improvement to WordPress today, what would it be?

When creating a new page, autofocus should be on the Title field, and not the Content field.

Who do you most admire and why?

Grace Hopper

What’s your favorite quote from a book or movie?

“Inconceivable!” … “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

What inspired or motivated you to give this talk at WordCamp?

The tools for getting your ideas and helping other people get their ideas out into the world are getting more elegant and easier to use all of the time. The real struggle, though, remains the same. What do we say? How do we say it? Understanding story structure and how it affects people helps with that.

Do you have any advice or words of encouragement for those who are thinking about getting involved in the WordPress community?

No one does it alone. You’re here and you’re creating and you’re being goofy old you because of others who have gone before you, and others who surround you today. The music that inspires you? The clothes on your back? The tools that you use to rock the Internet every day? Thousands of people helped make that happen. You can either pretend that you’re a lone wolf and try to figure stuff out on your own, or you can embrace that you’re part of something bigger and actively learn from a diverse group of people. You can keep to yourself or contribute to something that’s helping hundreds of thousands of people express who they are who they want to become.

If you could make one improvement to WordPress today, what would it be?

Honestly, I’d split it into two versions. One for super beginners and people who need to get started really quickly on something and one for designers and developers who know what they’re doing. We might not even call them the same thing. But there’s a path to more robust features as people grow with their website. They start super simple with a one-pager and when they’re ready, they get the full power of WordPress with all the add-ons and themes and customization. There are some plugins and some host providers working on this sort of thing. They’re pretty sweet. I think it would be cool if it were built in by default.

Who do you most admire and why?

Oof. Good question. I’m revisiting 1984 and I’m really digging George Orwell. Two reasons: 1) he was always willing to get in the trenches to understand and empathize with people and 2) he understood more than most that words are our most powerful weapons. The dude intentionally lived homeless to better understand what was going on in Europe. He wrote one of the best essays on language and how it manipulates how we think. I mean, I think everyone knows who he is and what he wrote, but I think he’s genuinely underrated.

What’s your favorite quote from a book or movie?

Here’s one of my favorites from Harold and Maude. If you haven’t seen it, please do. This movie changed my life. It’s just fantastic. This is Maude speaking to Harold, who continues to stage fake suicide attempts over and over again:

“A lot of people enjoy being dead. But they are not dead, really. They’re just backing away from life. Reach out. Take a chance. Get hurt even. But play as well as you can. Go team, go! Give me an L. Give me an I. Give me a V. Give me an E. L-I-V-E. LIVE! Otherwise, you got nothing to talk about in the locker room.”

What inspired or motivated you to give this talk at WordCamp?

I gave a talk at WordCamp Chicago that went over its time because of the audience participation, and there were so many great tips from the audience that I thought it would be fun to do something more interactive.

Do you have any advice or words of encouragement for those who are thinking about getting involved in the WordPress community?

Taking the first step towards getting involved is always the hardest, but the WordPress community can be invaluable for knowledge sharing and networking.

If you could make one improvement to WordPress today, what would it be?

better mobile app

Who do you most admire and why?

I most admire Nisi Shawl, one of my favorite authors, who is one of the greatest genre authors of our time and spends a lot of time and energy giving back to the speculative fiction community.

What’s your favorite quote from a book or movie?

“It may help to understand human affairs to be clear that most of the great triumphs and tragedies of history are caused, not by people being fundamentally good or fundamentally bad, but by people being fundamentally people.” -Good Omens, by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

What inspired or motivated you to give this talk at WordCamp?

Having to learn WordPress, and seeing how disparate and scattered all the information and tutorials are, pushed me to want to push others to better document their code.

Do you have any advice or words of encouragement for those who are thinking about getting involved in the WordPress community?

If you’re going to do something, do it all the way. There are a myriad of ways to contribute to the community, and you can choose and follow through with any of them. You just have to find that one thing you’re passionate about, and then follow through with it. And in the end, everyone will be better off thanks to your effort.

If you could make one improvement to WordPress today, what would it be?

Cleaner, richer, and better organized documentation. Please. It would make my life so much easier. Even as you get better at programming, even as you get better at figuring out cryptic lines of code, good documentation would save me and all other WordPress developers countless hours of having to dig through the code.

Who do you most admire and why?

A bit of a cop-out, but it would be anyone who cares enough to do something. It doesn’t really even matter what they care about, but just by putting forward some action, they are, in my eyes, admirable. Nothing will ever get done if a person never does anything. Society makes it easier to be apathetic, to just go on with life as it is, go to work, go home, go to sleep, get paid. But there is so much more out there, so much more that can be taken in, and so much more that can be put forth. People who give to the world give me inspiration.

What’s your favorite quote from a book or movie?

“I’ve come to send a signal out into the dark. In the end, it seemed like the only thing worth doing.” – Grant Morrison, Animal Man #26

What inspired or motivated you to give this talk at WordCamp?

WP-CLI changed the way that I use WordPress, both during the development cycle and during site maintenance. I wanted to share this experience with the world!

Do you have any advice or words of encouragement for those who are thinking about getting involved in the WordPress community?

Do it. Get involved in your local WordCamp, answer questions in the support forums, contribute to core, to documentation, assist with translation…. whatever you feel is the best fit for you. The people I’ve met through WordPress have been nothing but amazing mentors, encouragers, and friends. You really do get out of it what you put in.

If you could make one improvement to WordPress today, what would it be?

Better dependency management.

Who do you most admire and why?

The “young ones” who are getting involved, publicly, in the community. Looking at you Nikhil, Lucas, etc. To be traveling to conferences around the country and abroad, as teenagers, speaking to the WordPress community, is awesome! At that age, I was programming, but the thought of joining a community around those interests hadn’t crossed my mind. Keep it up!

What’s your favorite quote from a book or movie?

“Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need…. roads” – Back to the Future

What inspired or motivated you to give this talk at WordCamp?

Working in the field of climate change, I am interested in helping people understand the science, impacts, and solutions to this immense problem. The web hosting industry will soon produce more greenhouse gas emissions globally than the aviation industry. I want to let people know that they can find and take part in solutions to decrease their footprint while using WordPress.

Do you have any advice or words of encouragement for those who are thinking about getting involved in the WordPress community?

I don’t work in the industry, but as someone who has volunteered and used WordPress personally, I know that the community is like nothing I have ever seen. The amount of knowledge and skill sharing in the WordPress community is unprecedented and so wonderful to see. Be a part of it!

What’s your favorite quote from a book or movie?

“We’ve all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on. That’s who we really are.” -Sirius Black in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

What inspired or motivated you to give this talk at WordCamp?

I attended and volunteered at WordCamp Miami and all of the questions at the business track were legal and contract questions from small business owners looking for answers, I want to provide reliable answers to help the WP limit their legal liability and protect themselves and their businesses.

Do you have any advice or words of encouragement for those who are thinking about getting involved in the WordPress community?

Immerse yourself! This is a strong community full of people ready and willing to help, encourage and inspire so volunteer, ask questions, help out where you can and you will find assistance when you need it.

If you could make one improvement to WordPress today, what would it be?

I do not have any suggested improvements.

Who do you most admire and why?

My grandmother, she is a strong and courageous woman. She lost a child and the love of her life at 26 years. At a time when women working was unheard of and she lacked formal education for nursing or secretarial work, she worked the graveyard shift at an automotive factory to provide for her 4 children. Despite many hardships she is happy, generous and grateful. She inspires me.

What’s your favorite quote from a book or movie?

I have many leather bound books and my apartment smells of rich mahogany.

What inspired or motivated you to give this talk at WordCamp?

I’m a designer at heart, and I’ve seen how effective design leadership can radically change a project, and an organization. The design conversations that happen within the WordPress space at large often struggle to move projects forward. Regardless of your discipline, design can radically change how you approach your work.

Do you have any advice or words of encouragement for those who are thinking about getting involved in the WordPress community?

While the WordPress community is incredibly rich, and generally welcoming – it can be hard to ‘break in’. If I have any advice about getting involved it’s to focus on the work. Design interesting things and share them. Build interesting things and share them. Everything else will work itself out.

If you could make one improvement to WordPress today, what would it be?

Modular Content Management FTW. I want to be able to remix and repackage content on the fly.

Who do you most admire and why?

Uffda. That’s a little personal.

It’s either Yvon Chouinard, the founder of Patagonia, who made me think I could run a business and not lose my soul or Raymond Chandler – I want to do one thing as well as he could write a single sentence. Or Ghandi. Or my dad. Or…

What’s your favorite quote from a book or movie?

Graphic Design will save the world. Right after Rock n’ Roll Does. ~ David Carson

What inspired or motivated you to give this talk at WordCamp?

As a small agency owner with a vision of moderate growth, hiring has been one of the biggest challenges I’ve faced. While I don’t have all the answers, I want to encourage others with a similar vision and help them get through some of the same challenges I’ve encountered.

Do you have any advice or words of encouragement for those who are thinking about getting involved in the WordPress community?

Just do it! The community can be large and intimidating, but you won’t find a more welcoming and supportive community. Since many of us are on our own as freelancers or part of just a small team, the WordPress community gives us a way to be part of something bigger.

If you could make one improvement to WordPress today, what would it be?

Not a core WordPress thing…but efficient and “easy” database merges would be a godsend.

Who do you most admire and why?

My parents. I could go on for days about “why”, but I’ll give the short version. They have been the perfect parents for me – supportive, loving, and always “there” (and yes, I still need them at 38 years old!).

What’s your favorite quote from a book or movie?

Dr. Brown / Back to the Future – “Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.”

What inspired or motivated you to give this talk at WordCamp?

Over the years I’ve collected loads of recorded interviews but never really had an outlet for sharing them. Podcasts changed that. Knowing some WordPress basics gave me an advantage as far as executing a vision and having maximum control over my creative work. I can really appreciate this now as I see other aspiring podcasters try to get started. This was exciting to me and I thought that was worth sharing with others.

Do you have any advice or words of encouragement for those who are thinking about getting involved in the WordPress community?

I am constantly amazed by the generosity of the WordPress community and I can say with certainty that the information shared there has helped me realize my goal of becoming a podcaster. For example, on the WordPress listserv, a few people responded to my “dumb questions”, pointing me in the right direction and ultimately saving me time and frustration. Take the help.

If you could make one improvement to WordPress today, what would it be?

Anything to make security better and more user friendly would be good.

Who do you most admire and why?

Who I admire changes daily. It could be my friend who figured out how to open a winery (Yeah! Urban Forage Winery & Cider House!). Or it might be someone who made the tough decision to leave a bad relationship or someone who gave up a secure corporate job to walk dogs or the other way around. The theme seems to be that I’m drawn to people who are engaged in figuring out how to move closer to purpose and happiness.

What’s your favorite quote from a book or movie?

I wouldn’t exactly say that this is my favorite quote, but “Nobody cares. You sound like an asshole” (from the movie “Friends with Benefits”) is applicable in more situations than it should be. It’s a phrase that can really get my spouse and I laughing, especially when it applies to either of us.