WP-Tonic | WordPress | SaaS | Bootstrap SaaS | Startups

This week, we are blessed to have Rachel Andrew as our guest. Rachel is an accomplished web developer, co-founder of Perch CMS, a Google Developer Expert, an invited expert to the CSS Working Group (which sets the direction for how CSS works in the future).

For the past four years, Rachel has also been the leading authority on CSS Grid, which is set to be supported in most major browsers in early 2017.

We're very glad Rachel spent some time with us, and talked about both the past and the bright future of the web.

You can find Rachel in various places. Here are just a few:

Website: https://rachelandrew.co.uk/

Perch CMS: https://grabaperch.com/

Edge of My Seat: http://www.edgeofmyseat.com/

Table of Contents for Episode 158

0:00 Podcast intros

2:50 Rachel's origin story: How she became a web developer

5:05 Are we entering the next Golden Age of the web? Especially when it comes to CSS and layout?

8:24 Have CSS frameworks killed the creativity of the web? Will CSS Grid end up being a replacement for Bootstrap? Or will industry-wide the creativity return?

11:12 What are some of the things that you will be able to do with CSS Grid as browser support becomes more widespread?

13:26 Why do CSS specifications take so long to get full implementation in browsers?

20:33 What are some ways that the Perch CMS differs from other CMS like WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla?

23:45 What have some of the challenges been developing and supporting a CMS?

26:15 How has the growth been with the e-commerce add-on for Perch?

28:33 Have Rachel and Drew ever considered taking VC money to invest in Perch? Why or why not?

30:23 What are Rachel's thoughts on open-source, and how does open-source contribute to the development of the web? Is there a balance that needs to be struck between donated time and sustainability?

36:12 How the Perch business model is both sustainable and supporting the growth of the agencies that use it.

37:45 Why Perch is built to be streamlined, and why that is in the best interest of the businesses that build their sites on top of Perch?

41:30 Does Rachel feel that hosted solutions like Wix or Squarespace are the main competition to Perch? How has the market for websites changed in recent years?

45:00 Rachel says specialization is the way to stand out as a web service provider.

48:59 Podcast outros.

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Other Links mentioned during the show:

CSS Zen Garden

http://www.csszengarden.com/

Grid By Example

http://gridbyexample.com/

Using Flexible Boxes (MDN)

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/CSS_Flexible_Box_Layout/Using_CSS_flexible_boxes

W3C CSS Working Group

https://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/members.en.php3

CSS Working Group - Drafts on GitHub

https://github.com/w3c/csswg-drafts

Perch Runway 3 as a Headless CMS

https://grabaperch.com/blog/archive/perch-runway-3-as-a-headless-cms

The High Price of Free

http://alistapart.com/article/the-high-price-of-free

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Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/158-rachel-andrew-perch-css-grid/

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

WP-Tonic is both a WordPress support and development service, and the publisher of a twice weekly WordPress podcast. On our podcast, we talk to some of the brightest people in web development, online marketing,and business.

Our WordPress panel discusses the planning, coordination, and execution of a complex site migration from one hosting environment to another. We'll also cover what type of content planning you'll need to put together when moving from one platform to another (like from an external CMS to WordPress.)

Our panel this week:

Sallie Goetsch: https://www.wpfangirl.com/

Jackie D'Elia: https://jackiedelia.com/

Robert Abela: https://www.wpwhitesecurity.com/

Jonathan Denwood: https://www.wp-tonic.com/

John Locke: https://www.lockedownseo.com/

Table of Contents for Episode 157

0:00 Podcast Intros

3:15 WordPress Story #1: Tom McFarlin to Launch Marketplace for Blogging Plugins, Finds New Maintainer for WordPress.org Plugins

https://wptavern.com/tom-mcfarlin-to-launch-marketplace-for-blogging-plugins-finds-new-maintainer-for-wordpress-org-plugins

10:42 WordPress Story #2: What makes a great editor?

https://make.wordpress.org/design/2017/01/11/what-makes-a-great-editor/

27:39 WordPress Story #3: WordPress Hosting Review 2017: The Results

https://wpshout.com/wordpress-hosting-review-2017-results/

39:32 Main Topic: Coordinating Complex Site Migrations

39:42 Why would someone want to migrate their site to a new host or platform?

41:41 Some things that should be on your migration checklist. Some things to look out for when setting up your website.

47:16 Separation of DNS concerns, and a debate on A Records vs CNAME Records for DNS.

49:20 Moving email from CPanel or Plesk requires some planning. How do you move email archives from your hosting server to another service?

53:50 A great definition of site migration.

55:00 Sallie describes a complex migration, and how to migrate comments, and moving categories into different custom posts types (starting from just Posts).

58:43 Why you should plan 301 redirects and site mapping far in advance of the site migration.< /p>

1:00:53 Making a strong case for doing a content audit before the site migration.

1:03:20 Be sure to change the TTL (Time to Live) in your DNS days before the migration.

1:07:38 Is migrating a website on a Friday a bad idea?

1:15:07 Our recommendations for tools to make tricky site migrations a bit easier.

1:24:13 Closing thoughts and podcast outros.

===================

LInks mentioned during the show:

CMS 2 CMS

https://cms2cms.com/

Zoho Email

https://www.zoho.com/mail/

GSuite

https://gsuite.google.com/

Migrate Email Between Servers Using IMAP

https://mediatemple.net/community/products/dv/204405444/how-do-i-migrate-email-between-servers-using-imap

Moving Email

http://www.how2lab.com/internet/email/moving-emails.php

Migratng Comments in WordPress with Disqus

http://rockt.tech/migrating-comments-wordpress-disqus/

Post Type Switcherhttps://wordpress.org/plugins/post-type-switcher/

HTML Import 2 Plugin

http://stephanieleary.com/code/wordpress/html-import/

Term Management Tools

https://wordpress.org/plugins/term-management-tools/

WP All Import

http://www.wpallimport.com/

BigDump

http://www.ozerov.de/bigdump/

WP Migrate DB Pro

https://deliciousbrains.com/wp-migrate-db-pro/

Better Search Replace

https://wordpress.org/plugins/better-search-replace/

BackupBuddy

https://ithemes.com/purchase/backupbuddy/

Duplicator

https://wordpress.org/plugins/duplicator/

BlogVault

https://blogvault.net/

Updraft Plus Premium

https://updraftplus.com/shop/updraftplus-premium/

WP Engine Automated Migration

https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-site-migrate/

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Thanks to our sponsor for this episode:, WP Security Audit Log

https://www.wpsecurityauditlog.com/

===================

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/157-complex-site-migrations/

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

WP-Tonic is a WordPress development and support service, and the publisher of a weekly WordPress business podcast, where we talk to some of the most successful people in web development, online marketing, and business.

Carrie Dils returns to WP-Tonic for her third appearance. She is the queen of the Genesis Framework and also the host of the popular Office Hours FM podcast.

We ask her about the future of Genesis, multiple income streams, teaching courses, and podcasting.

You can find Carrie at https://carriedils.com/.

She also hosts one of the top WordPress podcasts at https://officehours.fm/.

Episode 156 Table of Contents

0:00 Podcast intros

1:23 Carrie's origin story and how she got into web development.

2:48 How has the WordPress ecosystem changed over the past few years?

5:03 Has the bar gotten higher for making a living in the WordPress community?

6:29 What advice would you give to WordPress entrepreneurs?

8:45 The value of positioning and hiring for roles that you don't enjoy.

10:39 We all want diversification of revenue streams. How did Carrie build multiple streams of revenue?

12:31 Some practical advice on podcasting and teaching.

15:38 How important is it to teach others? How does this build your authority for the future?

18:17 The hidden value of hosting a WordPress podcast.

21:28 How does Carrie balance all the things she has going at any one time?

24:15 Carrie's insights on WordCamp US 2016.

27:11 Thoughts on the announcements about the release schedule of WordPress cycles in 2017.

30:40 Recent WordPress news that Carrie finds positive.

31:21 Thoughts on Genesis in combination with Beaver Builder.

33:10 How Genesis is different from vanilla WordPress, and how it is similar.

37:28 Carries thoughts on putting content behind a paywall and types of membership sites that work.

40:30 Thoughts on work-life balance, and what true freedom in entrepreneurship really means.

43:07 Podcast outros

===================

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/156-carrie-dils/

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

WP-Tonic is both a WordPress development and support service, and the publisher of a weekly WordPress business podcast. We talk to some of the most successful and helpful people in online marketing, web development, web consulting, and business.

In this WP-Tonic round-table we discuss Web Accessibility. What tools does the panel use to test sites for accessibility? What are the key factors that you must know about web accessibility in 2017?

We discuss web accessibility standards and guidelines. How do you make sites more accessible? What needs to be included and tested? Why do web developers tend to put accessibility on the back burner? What are the benefits of building accessible sites?

Our panel this week:

Jackie D'Elia https://jackiedelia.com/

Lee Jackson http://angledcrown.com/

Jonathan Denwood https://www.wp-tonic.com/

John Locke Lockedown SEO

Podcast 155 Table of Contents:

0:00 Podcast Intros

1:38 WordPress News Story #1: Renewing Medium's Focus

https://blog.medium.com/renewing-mediums-focus-98f374a960be#.qxrop598x

14:33 WordPress News Story #2: W3Techs Ranks WordPress as the Fastest Growing CMS of 2016

https://wptavern.com/w3techs-ranks-wordpress-as-the-fastest-growing-cms-of-2016

23:44 WordPress Story #3: Matt Mullenweg Announces Tech and Design Leads for New Focus-Based Development Cycle

https://wptavern.com/matt-mullenweg-announces-tech-and-design-leads-for-new-focus-based-development-cycle

31:30 Why is accessibility important?

33:15 How many clients are actually aware of accessibility?

42:33 How many WordPress themes on the free repository are accessibility ready? (there's some, but not a ton).

45:07 Balancing visual design and accessibility.

47:10 The right way to do ALT tags for images.

48:01 WordPress plugins that help you check accessibility, and setting expectations for accessibility.

1:05:56 How web standards and browsers have changed in recent years.

1:07:48 What types of projects will require accessibility.

1:09:32 Accessibility and SEO.

1:13:58 Podcast outros.

===================

Links mentioned during the show:

Rethink.fm Episode #7: Why Web Accessibiity Matters

http://rethink.fm/podcast/episode-7-why-web-accessibility-matters/

WP Accessibility plugin

https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-accessibility/

AChecker

http://achecker.ca/checker/index.php

Browse Aloud

https://www.texthelp.com/en-gb/products/browsealoud

A11y Project

http://a11yproject.com/resources.html

Accessible Ready Themes on WordPress.org

https://en-gb.wordpress.org/themes/tags/accessibility-ready/

W3C Validator
https://validator.w3.org/

WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool

http://wave.webaim.org/

wA11y - The Web Accessibility Toolbox

https://wordpress.org/plugins/wa11y/

Colorblind Web Page Filter

http://www.color-blindness.com/2006/04/10/colorblind-web-page-filter/

ARIA Roles

https://www.w3.org/TR/wai-aria/roles

A11y Toolbar

https://github.com/downzer0/a11y-toolbar

Using JAWS to Evaluate Web Accessibility

http://webaim.org/articles/jaws/

Varvy

https://varvy.com

===================

Find additional content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast-episodes/

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

WP-Tonic is both a WordPress support service, and the publisher of one of the top weekly WordPress podcasts. In each episode, we talk to some of the smartest and most successful people in web development, consulting, online marketing, and business.

Nate Wright provides WordPress themes and plugins to build better restaurant websites. After more than three years delivering products for restaurants, cafes and bars, he's built up a suite of free and commercial products to help you take reservations online, manage your restaurant menus and boost local SEO.

Nate Wright runs Theme of the Crop, a WordPress company that specializes in themes and plugins for restaurants. We'll talk to him about the specific challenges in digital marketing for restaurant owners and those in the food and beverage industry.

You can find Nate's website at https://themeofthecrop.com/ .

Episode 154 Table of Contents

0:00 Podcast Intros

1:13 The Theme of the Crop origin story

2:58 The web scene in Edinburgh

4:14 Are restaurants valuing marketing and their web presence more than before?

7:03 How does Nate educate the people who use his products? What are some examples of restaurants using content marketing successfully?

11:00 Nate's experience selling products to quickly build restaurant websites, as opposed to being in the SaaS (software as a service) space.

13:50 How difficult is it marketing WordPress products outside of a a site like Envato?

17:29 How does Nate decide what features to include in his products?

25:13 What common mistakes does Nate see on restaurant websites? What components are important on a restaurant website?

30:29 Nate's plans for Theme of the Crop in 2017.

33:57 How does Nate feel about allowing third-party developers to build on top of the Theme of the Crop core products?

40:15 Where does the feedback come from to improve Nate's products? From site builders, restaurant marketing specialists, or restaurant site builders?

43:12 Podcast outros

===================

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/154-nate-wright-wordpress-restaurant-themes/

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

WP-Tonic is both a WordPress support service, and the publisher of a weekly WordPress business podcast where we talk with some of the brightest minds in business, online marketing, and WordPress development.

We look back through 2016 at what were the most interesting WordPress stories. Also, what guest interviews we found personally the most insightful or surprising. For me personally, the best part of 2016 connected to the show is having John Locke join the team and agreeing to be my full-time co-host.

I’ve known John for slightly over two years and I got to say he one of the most hard-working and knowledgeable guys I know in the WordPress Community.

For me, 2016 was one of those years where I look back not at how fast it went, but how much we accomplished individually and collectively. WordPress itself has 27% of the market share. The Sacramento WordCamp team put on their second WordCamp. Jonathan was gracious enough to invite me to co-host WP-Tonic, and since then, we’ve continued to put out great shows week after week.

2016 has been a real turning point for so many people in the WordPress community. We’ve seen new companies launch, and others get acquired. Many solo consultants are putting out products, and others are putting on conferences of their own. It’s an exciting time.

The biggest thing I’ve taken away from this year is that it’s never too late to begin your bold journey into entrepreneurship. All things have small beginnings, but they can grow, if you hang in there, work hard, and believe in what you’re doing.

WP-Tonic published 78 podcast episodes this year, and we do our best to cover our favorite episodes in this 2016 year in review episode. We also look at the year in WordPress, and what major stories unfolded in 2016.

We hope you’ll continue to tune into the podcast in 2017. We’ll see you this time next year for another year in review episode.

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Leave WP-Tonic a review on iTunes:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

Bonus content for this episode is on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/153-year-in-review-2016

We look at a number of tools and services that we use on a daily basis. These are services that make a big difference in how we run our businesses. We move at speed and cover a lot of ground in this pre-Christmas show!

Summary:

We talk about our favorite web tools of 2016. Covered: tools for productivity, project management, accounting, invoicing, social media, content management, and content creation.

Episode 152 Table of Contents

0:00 Podcast intros.

1:37 What we use for video conferencing.

4:50 Our choice for video hosting.

8:32 John's choice for invoicing software.

10:56 Jonathan's choice for invoicing software.

11:44 An alternative for external email addresses.

13:54 Jonathan's choice for a CRM.

16:44 A tool John uses for local SEO citations.

20:09 Jonathan has a pick for SEO keyword research.

21:04 Another pick for email outreach.

23:00 A tool we are using for project management internally.

24:54 John's tools for migrating websites.

27:20 Jonathan's choices for site backups.

29:28 Two cautionary tales of why you want to have a reliable plan for website backups.

34:54 John's advice for getting blog posts written.

36:53 Jonathan has some picks for spell-checking and editing.

37:55 Our mutual pick for capturing screenshots.

38:34 Some more picks we have for cloud storage and productivity.

39:40 Podcast outros.

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Links mentioned during the show:

Zoom

https://zoom.us/

Go To Meeting

https://www.gotomeeting.com/

Wistia

https://wistia.com/

FreshBooks

https://www.freshbooks.com/

Zoho Invoice

https://www.zoho.com/us/invoice/

Harvest (Time Tracking)

https://www.getharvest.com/

Zoho Mail

https://www.zoho.com/mail/

G Suite (formerly Google Apps for Business)

https://gsuite.google.com/

Agile CRM

https://www.agilecrm.com/

Drip - Email Marketing Automation

https://www.drip.co/

Active Campaign

http://www.activecampaign.com/

Moz Local

https://moz.com/local

Yext (DON'T use this)

http://www.yext.com/

Get Found (Go Daddy)

https://www.godaddy.com/products/business-marketing.aspx

Moz Whiteboard Friday

https://moz.com/blog/category/whiteboard-friday

Rand Fishkin on Twitter

https://twitter.com/randfish

Distilled on Twitter

https://twitter.com/distilled

Wil Reynolds on Twitter

https://twitter.com/wilreynolds

SEMrush

https://www.semrush.com/

Majestic (SEO Tools)

https://majestic.com/

Raven Tools

https://raventools.com/

KWFinder

https://kwfinder.com/

Mailshake

https://mailshake.com/

Teamwork - Cloud Productivity Software

https://www.teamwork.com/

Basecamp

https://basecamp.com/

WP Engine Automated Migration

https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-site-migrate/

WP Migrate DB Pro

https://deliciousbrains.com/wp-migrate-db-pro/

BlogVault

https://blogvault.net/

UpDraftPlus

https://updraftplus.com/

BackupBuddy

https://ithemes.com/BackupBuddy/

WP Site Care

https://www.wpsitecare.com/

Maintainn

https://maintainn.com/

Slack

https://slack.com/

Grammarly

https://www.grammarly.com/

Awesome Screenshot

https://www.awesomescreenshot.com/

Dropbox

https://www.dropbox.com/home

Google Drive

https://www.google.com/drive/

===================

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/152-favorite-web-tools-2016/

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

WP-Tonic is a WordPress support service, and publisher of a weekly WordPress podcast where we talk with some of the brightest minds in WordPress development, web design, and online marketing.

We have an insightful and enjoyable interview with Josh Pollock, the co-founder of Caldera Forms. We cover a lot of stuff in this conversation. Josh tells us how he got started in WordPress development, and his philosophy for running a commercial plugin shop in the WordPress ecosystem.

Josh also talks with us about Caldera Forms, product stories, and the future of WordPress.

Caldera Forms: https://calderaforms.com/

Josh Pollock on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Josh412

Josh's site: https://joshpress.net/

Episode 151 Table of Contents

0:00 Podcast intros

1:32 Josh's web development origin story.

3:57 Do you need a computer science degree to be a successful WordPress entrepreneur?

4:53 What made Josh decide to strike out on his own as an entrepreneur?

7:17 Why did Josh decide to target contact forms as a product category?

11:06 How important is storytelling in product marketing?

15:13 Finding your target market and target customers.

19:32 How did Josh figure out what he wanted to be different about Caldera Forms from other forms plugins?

24:36 What will the future of the WordPress admin look like? As WordPress integrates more JavaScript, what JS libraries would Josh recommend? Does Josh have more philosophical advice for learning modern front-end development?

29:40 Will the REST API attract talent to WordPress from other corners of the web?

34:16 Josh has thoughts on frameworks and page building tools.

39:57 An intriguing idea for making WordPress leaner and more adaptable. Josh tells us what dependency clashes currently keep it from happening at the present moment.

42:54 Podcast outros.

===================

Links mentioned during the show:

Exceed Expectations With the REST API

https://joshpress.net/rest-api/

===================

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/151-josh-pollock-caldera-forms/

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

WP-Tonic is a WordPress support company, and the publisher of a weekly WordPress business podcast where we talk with some of the brightest minds in WordPress development and online marketing.

For our 150th episode, we discuss a busy week in WordPress news and our main topic, the best starter themes and theme frameworks for WordPress development.

Our panel this week:

Carrie Forde https://carrieforde.com/

Kim Shivler https://whiteglovewebtraining.com/

Sallie Goetsch https://www.wpfangirl.com/

Jonathan Denwood https://www.wp-tonic.com/

John Locke Lockedown SEO

============

Episode 150 Table of Contents

0:00 Podcast Intros

2:06 WordPress News Story #1: State of the Word 2016: Mullenweg Pushes Calypso as Future of WordPress’ Interface, Proposes Major Changes to Release Cycle

https://wptavern.com/state-of-the-word-2016-mullenweg-pushes-calypso-as-future-of-wordpress-interface-proposes-major-changes-to-release-cycle

11:21 WordPress News Story #2: Pantheon’s $100K WordCamp US Sponsorship Revoked the Night Before the Event

https://wptavern.com/pantheons-100k-wordcamp-us-sponsorship-revoked-the-night-before-the-event

25:53 WordPress News Story #3: GoDaddy Acquires WP Curve: What This Means For Customers Of The WordPress Services Provider

http://www.techtimes.com/articles/187902/20161206/godaddy-acquires-wp-curve-what-this-means-for-customers-of-the-wordpress-services-provider.htm

38:45 What are the pros and cons of developing with a theme framework?

46:39 What are the learning curves of working with a theme framework?

52:32 Some of the other theme frameworks that aren't named Genesis.

1:03:58 Why do many agencies lean so heavily on ThemeForest themes instead of building custom themes using a theme framework? What are the considerations that go into this business model?

1:09:38 How long does it actually take to develop a basic theme framework?

1:11:39 More theme frameworks we've seen people using for building WordPress themes.

1:13:18 The trouble with "Swiss army knife" themes.

1:17:33 A quick discussion about ecommerce sites.

1:23:20 Thanks to the rest of the panel members not here today.

1:24:40 Podcast outros.

============

Links mentioned during the show:

Siteground: PHP 7 available on all servers

https://www.siteground.com/blog/php7-available-on-all-siteground-servers/

CNN: Google will soon call out websites for not being secure

http://money.cnn.com/2016/09/08/technology/google-chrome-flag-non-secure-sites/

The Value of Sponsoring a WordCamp from a Business’ Perspective

https://wptavern.com/the-value-of-sponsoring-a-wordcamp-from-a-business-perspective

WP Curve joins GoDaddy

https://wpcurve.com/wp-curve-joins-godaddy/

What is a WordPress theme anyway? — Draft podcast

https://poststatus.com/wordpress-theme-anyway-draft-podcast/

Underscores - A Starter theme for WordPress

http://underscores.me/

Alcatraz - A framework for creating awesome, flexible WordPress themes

https://github.com/carrieforde/Alcatraz

Genesis Framework by StudioPress

http://my.studiopress.com/themes/genesis/

Divi by Elegant Themes

https://www.elegantthemes.com/gallery/divi/

Hybrid Core: A WordPress Theme Framework

http://themehybrid.com/hybrid-core

DIYthemes - Thesis

http://diythemes.com/

Visual Composer

https://vc.wpbakery.com/

Cherry Framework

https://www.templatemonster.com/properties/features/cherry-framework/

Carrie Forde's talk on Atomic Design - WordCamp Sacramento 2016

https://2016.sacramento.wordcamp.org/speaker/carrie-forde/

Bootstrap

http://getbootstrap.com/

Foundation by Zurb

http://foundation.zurb.com/

Roots.io (Sage starter theme)

https://roots.io/sage/

============

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/150-frameworks-starter-themes-for-wordpress/

============

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

============

WP-Tonic is a WordPress support company, and also the publisher of a twice weekly WordPress business podcast where we talk with some of the brightest minds in WordPress development and online marketing.

We talk with front end architect/designer Carrie Forde about atomic design and front-end development for WordPress. Carrie's Forde day job is as a front-end developer at the highly-respected WebDevStudios.

Carrie Forde on Twitter: https://twitter.com/carrieforde

Carrie's site: https://carrieforde.com/

Table of Contents for Episode 149

0:00 Podcast intros.

1:22 Carrie's origin story.

3:44 What Carrie's work typical work day looks like right now.

4:56 How difficult is it to break into front-end development in today's environment?

7:20 Carrie tells us about her Alcatraz framework for WordPress that she developed.

9:05 What are style tiles? And what is Carrie's style tiles plugin for WordPress?

12:27 Carries teaches us about atomic design and the benefits of using it in UI design.

17:10 More resources for learning about Atomic Design.

19:38 What the WordPress community can do to make themes more accessible?

21:43 A habit to develop when creating WordPress themes to make them translatable.

22:48 What inspired Carrie to build the Alcatraz framework and what ideas in Genesis she wanted to improve on.

25:06 Carries philosophy on creating themes and making them developer friendly.

27:23 What goes into a CSS refactoring project.

28:56 Where does a CSS refactoring project make sense?

30:33 What is Carrie's preferred naming or organizational convention for writing CSS?

31:48 What are some great resources for learning JavaScript?

34:31 Are there any trends in CSS and front development that Carrie sees becoming prominent in 2017?

36:10 Any resources that Carries recommends for learning front-end development?

===================

Links mentioned during the show:

WebDev Studios

https://webdevstudios.com/

Mighty Minnow

https://www.mightyminnow.com/

Alcatraz - A framework for creating awesome, flexible WordPress themes

http://alcatraztheme.com/

https://github.com/carrieforde/Alcatraz

Style Tiles (Samantha Warren)

http://styletil.es/

Style Tiles and How They Work (A List Apart)

http://alistapart.com/article/style-tiles-and-how-they-work

Faster Design Decisions with Style Tiles (An Event Apart)

https://vimeo.com/115992327

WordPress Style Tiles (Carrie Forde plugin)

https://github.com/carrieforde/WordPress-Style-Tiles

Creating Themes with Atomic Design (WC Sac 2016)

https://speakerdeck.com/carrieforde/creating-themes-with-atomic-design

Atomic Design Methodology

http://atomicdesign.bradfrost.com/chapter-2/

Atomic Design: The Book

http://bradfrost.com/blog/post/atomic-design-book/

PatternLab.io

http://patternlab.io/

Strengths Finder 2.0

https://www.amazon.com/StrengthsFinder-2-0-Tom-Rath/dp/159562015X

BEM - Block Element Modifier

http://getbem.com/introduction/

ITCSS - Scalable, Maintainable CSS Architecture

https://www.xfive.co/blog/itcss-scalable-maintainable-css-architecture/

SMACSS - Scalable and Modular Architecture for CSS

https://smacss.com/

JavaScript Is Sexy

http://javascriptissexy.com/how-to-learn-javascript-properly/

JavaScript for WP

https://javascriptforwp.com/

Treehouse

https://teamtreehouse.com/

CSS Grid (MDN)

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/CSS_Grid_Layout

ES6 for Everyone (Wes Bos course)

https://es6.io/

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Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/149-carrie-forde-front-end-architect/

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https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

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WP-Tonic is both a WordPress maintenance and support service, and also publishers of a twice weekly business-focused WordPress podcast where we talk with some of the brightest minds in WordPress development and online marketing.