Cameron Barrett (@camworld) has been blogging since you were in grade school (well, some of you). He pioneered the blog format in the late 1990s and remembers an eager, bright-eyed young man named Ma.tt being excited to meet one of the “founding fathers of blogging” in 2003. He’s since designed and built web sites for presidential candidates, the U.S. Army, the World Economic Forum, Teach for America and is now leading the migration of 70+ web sites from a terrifically-bad, proprietary SaaS to WordPress for New Jersey’s largest public school district. He hails from Northern Michigan and currently lives in Northern NJ with his family.

Cameron will be presenting WordPress in Schools – How We Saved Taxpayer Dollars And You Can Too.

Interview

Why do you use WordPress?

It’s ease-of-use and user interface for content management is hands-down the best on the market. The fact that it’s free is something my clients have a hard time understanding.

When and how did you start using WordPress?

As a very early blogger (circa 1997) I was hand-rolling my own CMS by storing blog entries in flat HTML files that I would stitch together with Apache server-side includes. Then MovableType came out and I migrated to that. I stopped blogging in 2005 but started investigating WordPress as a CMS solution for my various web design and small e-commerce clients. That was 2004 or so and I’ve been doing a lot of work in WordPress and Drupal ever since.

What tips or resources would you recommend to a new WordPress user?

Read the Codex. Learn what the hooks are. Even if you’re not developing for WordPress, knowing the available hooks can save you a lot of time and money when talking with developers.

What advice would you give someone who’s building a business around WordPress design or development?

Vet your plugins. If a plugin has only been downloaded a few hundred times and has no ratings, there’s usually a reason why. If you can afford it, have a professional plugin developer vet the quality of your plugins for you. Those relationships will help in the future when you need to have a custom plugin developed for you.

How do you stay informed about WordPress (news, tips, etc.)?

The wordpress.com newsletters. I wish I had more time to hang out in IRC and participate in the forums.

What do you like most about WordCamps?

Friendly format. You can hang out in the halls and learn more than in the sessions.

Where can we find you online?

cameronbarrett.com
chalkpress.co
Twitter: @camworld
linkedin.com/in/camworld/
about.me/cam

Joel Worsham will be presenting Register, Enqueue, Confusion! The proper way to include files in WordPress.

Interview

Why do you use WordPress?

Because it rocks my socks off. It’s so incredibly easy to use and to customize. From the simple user to the developer, it has everything. And it is ALWAYS growing and improving. Plus the community for WordPress is so great and expansive.

When and how did you start using WordPress?

Actually, quite recently. I started using WordPress about a year ago and hated it.

“What? It keeps removing all of my nice HTML code I pasted in the editor!”

Well… once I learned how to truly use WordPress, I fell in love with it and have been using it as my sole CMS from then on.

What tips or resources would you recommend to a new WordPress user?

User? Be sure to learn the ins and outs of what you can do within the admin interface, it’s powerful.

Developer? Learn the ins and outs of how freaking customizable and flexible it is. It will change your life… Or maybe just your development process.

What advice would you give someone who’s building a business around WordPress design or development?

Go for it and don’t look back. This CMS will do what you want. End of story.

How do you stay informed about WordPress (news, tips, etc.)?

I don’t stay as informed as I’d like to be. I’ve been trying to get more in the loop, but for now I attend WP meetups frequently as well as as many WordCamps as possible.

What’s a cool WordPress-based site you’ve seen recently?

Hmm, man that’s a toughie. It’s like picking my favorite song or movie.

I’ll toot my own horn here. I really like crossfit517.com. A site a put together for the gym I go to.

What do you like most about WordCamps?

The community. It’s incredible.

Where can we find you online?

Well, my site is in the making and will HOPEFULLY be complete by WordCamp. It’s joelworsham.com.

Ian started off his career by swearing off web design entirely. This lasted through most of college, at which point he realized that print design is not a super viable career path any more and succumbed once more to the toxic allure of the World Wide Web™.

Since then his voracious appetite for learning has led him through design, development, writing for a fashion blog, and culminated in running his own design and dev agency – build/create.

WordPress just so happens to combine all of that goodness into a beautiful, user-friendly package, and thus, here we are.

Ian Wilson will be presenting Introduction to WordPress Hooks and Learn From My Mistakes: 8 Years in the Game.

Interview

Why do you use WordPress?

Because it’s easy for our clients to use, and easy to develop for, AND has an amazing community! It’s just that simple.

When and how did you start using WordPress?

I started in 2006 – I was working in-house at a printing company and it was in Fantastico!

After some dabbling in other content management systems in PHP and Rails throughout the years it became clear that WordPress was the only solution that didn’t make me feel like I was losing my mind on a daily basis.

What tips or resources would you recommend to a new WordPress user?

The Codex. (Nearly) All truth lies within.

The WordPress community is big, vibrant, and awesome. Lean on it, leverage it, I don’t know a single person I’ve met that isn’t happy to help a newb find their path.

What advice would you give someone who’s building a business around WordPress design or development?

Start now, don’t wait. And equally important, keep track of the tactics you’re going to use to grow, and any changes you make to them so you can look back and see what you did that worked and what didn’t so you don’t keep making the same mistakes over and over again.

How do you stay informed about WordPress (news, tips, etc.)?

Twitter mostly, also WordCamps.

What’s a cool WordPress-based site you’ve seen recently?

I’ve been having a mad crush on Easy Digital Downloads lately. Technically it’s a plugin, not a site, but what you can do with it does build awesome sites 🙂

What do you like most about WordCamps?

It’s the best, seriously. You can make the most out of every second by talking to people, asking tons of questions, and of course attending the sessions that best address your weaknesses.

Once you do one, you won’t be able to stop. It becomes an addiction.

Where can we find you online?

Twitter: @buildcreate
Personal Twitter: @wilsonography
buildcreate.com

Don’t be a stranger!