This year, the Trew Knowledge team had the privilege to visit New York City for the annual WordCamp New York conference. The unique location of the venue (moments away from Time Square) gave us the opportunity to do some sightseeing in between a jampacked WordPress weekend.
JavaScript in WordPress Core: Past, Present and Future
Adam Silverstein gave us a thorough history of JavaScript in WordPress Core. From when JS was just being introduced to how most of the WordPress interface uses JS. One of his suggestions was to turn off your JS and see what can still be done. Overall the presentation was very informative and has made us even more excited for what is to come in WordPress. If you want to be as pumped as we are, take a look at his presentation here: https://github.com/adamsilverstein/javascript-in-wordpress.
The What and Why of Gutenberg
Gutenberg is set to make its official WordPress debut in version 5.0. This new editor will allow content creators to build posts or pages using rich content blocks in a visually appealing manner. Andrew Roberts, CEO and found of Ephox, the company behind TinyMCE, showcased some of the powerful capabilities of Gutenberg and you can create various different page layouts with ease. While Gutenberg is yet to be merged into Core, users can download the plugin and start testing.
CSS Grid is Here!
The CSS Grid layout is a 2-dimensional system that can handle the position of elements in rows and columns. Juan Pablo Gomez walked us through some simple yet exciting examples that showcase the power of CSS Grid. With the increasing support for most major browsers, now is the perfect time to start learning and implementing CSS Grid on your next project.
WORKSHOP: Learn JavaScript & The WP REST API
With the rise of JavaScript in WordPress and frameworks like React, Vue, or Angular – to name a few – learning the WP Rest API can be a great benefit for any developer, which is why Zac Gordon’s workshop was a great introduction for getting started as a developer. He made sure to go over the JS basics so everyone had a clear understanding of working with JavaScript and then proceeded to take us through the required steps of accessing the WP Rest API data. Although this was just a brief introduction, Zac also offers “The JavaScript for WordPress: Master Course” to become a pro: https://javascriptforwp.com/
Intermediate SEO Strategies
Pam Aungst took us through why SEO is definitely an important factor for all websites. She had some great information on ways to keep your site at the top of your favourite search engine’s list. Her list included avoiding “Pogo” sticking for mobile, AMP, providing structured data, and avoiding orphaned content. All of which can be found in her presentation slides: http://stealthsearch.com/slides
Design Patterns With Advanced Custom Fields & WordPress
When it comes to the process of designing a great website, there are plenty of different avenues to take. We had the pleasure of hearing from Daniel Schutzsmith, the Digital Technology Manager / Senior Web Developer of Amnesty International USA and how their team introduced a hybrid version of the Atomic Design System into their workflow. It was great to hear how they took a small and modular approach and how scoping lead them to their fresh new design layout. Not only did this approach influence their components of design, but integrating this concept with Advanced Custom Fields helped create a more modular experience, making the overall development of the website flexible and organic.
We Love NYC!
Overall, it was a great learning and team building experience for Trew Knowledge. We were able to expand our knowledge of WordPress and bring back some of the new trends in WordPress development that can be applied moving forward.
Thank you for a great time WordCamp NYC! We are proud to be a sponsor of such a great event promoting community, knowledge, and fun. Looking forward to what next year has to offer!
