Recap for April 12, 2016 Meeting

Slack Log (Requires SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. login to view. Set one up if you don’t have a Slack account)

  1. Welcome
  2. Lesson plan updates
    1. @bethsoderberg will write the post about what needs to happen with the speaker lessons.
  3.  Copyediting updates
    1. @toniaslimm finished a first copyedit of the Static Page as a Homepage plan.
  4. Volunteering for Tier 2 PluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party Lessons
    1. @melindahelt will work on “Managing Spam on your Site”
    2. @chanthaboune will work on “Connecting Your Sites”
    3. @c3zh will work on “Adding Forms to a Site”
    4. @Becks979 will work on “What is WordFence Security”
    5. @melindahelt will work on “Plugins: Where to find Answers”
    6. @bethsoderberg will work on “Editing Plugins and Themes” (and will think up a better title!)
    7. @chanthaboune will work on “Site Backup”
    8. @toniaslimm will work on “Keeping WordPress Sites Secure”
    9. @bethsoderberg will work on “Migrate, Copy, or Clone a site”
    10. Would @taupecat be interested in/have time to work on “Adding Additional Fields”?
    11. Though not a plugin lesson, @juliekuehl suggested (and we all agreed) that having a plan on how WordPress image management works would be hugely helpful. We collectively thought that adding a plan like this to Tier 1 would be useful and @melindahelt may attempt to add this to Pittsburgh’s training over the next few weeks. If she can, she’ll format what she’s done in lesson plan format.
  5. Tier 2 Theme Lessons
    1. From all of our brainstorming the last few weeks, the initial list of Tier 2 theme lesson plans that we’re considering include:
      1. Anatomy of a Theme (ready to test)
      2. Evaluating a theme (in spreadsheet)
      3. Finding a Theme for Your Site (use from Tier 1)
      4. Activating Themes on Your Site (use from Tier 1)
      5. Basic Theme Configuration
      6. Include how to find theme-specific configuration documentation.
      7. CustomizerCustomizer Tool built into WordPress core that hooks into most modern themes. You can use it to preview and modify many of your site’s appearance settings.
      8. Intro to Theme Testing (in spreadsheet) – needs definition
    2. @juliekuehl suggested a lesson plan on how to configure widgetWidget A WordPress Widget is a small block that performs a specific function. You can add these widgets in sidebars also known as widget-ready areas on your web page. WordPress widgets were originally created to provide a simple and easy-to-use way of giving design and structure control of the WordPress theme to the user. areas for a homepage that are built into a theme. She will work on this plan.
    3. We brainstormed things that we frequently do with the customizer and had a few other suggestions for these lesson plans:
      1. @tlctara suggested favicons and the new 4.5 logo option
      2. @c3zh suggested “Css changes, taglines/logos, and static front pageStatic Front Page A WordPress website can have a dynamic blog-like front page, or a “static front page” which is used to show customized content. Typically this is the first page you see when you visit a site url, like wordpress.org for example. or not”
      3. @mikemueller suggested “Site icon, HeaderHeader The header of your site is typically the first thing people will experience. The masthead or header art located across the top of your page is part of the look and feel of your website. It can influence a visitor’s opinion about your content and you/ your organization’s brand. It may also look different on different screen sizes. image, background images”
      4. @juliekuehl suggested “Menus in the Customizer”
      5. @courtneyengle suggested that “simply mentioning that some things in customizer can be done in 2 places would be helpful, and vice versa in their lesson plans…. menus, widgets, site title, etc….cross-link the lesson plans, and mention that people can do these from either place”
  6. @chanthaboune very eloquently thanked everyone for contributing: “What you all are doing is fantastic; creating lessons to help people know WordPress better. But how you do it is even better. People come for the WordPress, but they say for the warmth. They stay because you all are welcoming and non-judgemental and kind. This work can feel really thankless, so I’m taking a moment to thank you all.”