This talk will be given by Tim Bowen and go over the WordPress theme and plugins which make up TucsonDigitalArts.com.  We’ll go through basic CSS manipulation, PHP template editing, and plugin implementation.  The following features will also be explained:

• Integrating an Event Calendar (as well as a Google Calendar)
• Building Polls
• Newsletter sign up and management
• Forums
• Contact Forms
• Member Management
• and more!

Please come with snacks, drinks, suggestions and questions.  The talk will start shortly after 6:30 and last about an hour.

Location: 115 East Broadway Blvd., Tucson, AZ 85701

Follow Up:

For those of you at this workshop I’ve uploaded the TDAC WordPress Theme and the Plugins folder to explore.

WordPress Download
http://wordpress.org/download/

WordPress Hosted Version
http://www.wordpress.com
Want to play with wordpress but don’t want to install it, and don’t care if you can’t modify the templates?

WordPress Codex
http://codex.wordpress.org/Main_Page
This is the official WordPress documentation wiki.

Template Tags
http://codex.wordpress.org/Template_Tags
These are the calls you can make from any of your templates. I refer to this more than any other page.

Template Hierarchy
http://codex.wordpress.org/images/1/1d/wp_Template_Hierarchy.png
Which template do you need to edit when you want to make a change? This should help you find out.

WordPress Plugins
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/
This is the master repository.

Favorite WordPress Plugins
http://www.blueprintds.com/2008/03/13/top-10-wordpress-cms-plugins/
http://www.creativeslice.com/ideas/wordpress/
Two good lists.

MAMP & XAMPP
Want to install WordPress on your local machine?
http://wordpress.org/download/
http://www.mamp.info/en/download.html (LAMP for Mac)
http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp-windows.html (LAMP for Windows)

Web Developer Toolbar
http://chrispederick.com/work/web-developer/
Every web developer should have this plugin installed in firefox. Amazing.

Also — WordPress 2.5 is coming out this week (or soon) It may make some of these plugins obsolete.

We’ll go through an entire basic installation of WordPress and also cover some essential template modification tricks. It would be helpful if you take a look at this before then:

http://codex.wordpress.org/Installing_WordPress

Come with questions based on issues that come up when you’re going through it. Also, bring snacks or beer if you’re so inclined.

After the fact:

• The handout you never received during the talk

We had over 15 people show up for this TDAC Workshop. (photos below)