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

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.

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

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 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.

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

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.

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

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 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.

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

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.

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.

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 https://www.lockedowndesign.com/

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

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/

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

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

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

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

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 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.

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?

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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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Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

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.