Hummingbird604.com » WordCamp Fraser Valley

Learn some basic coding/HTML if you have a WordPress blog

Raul — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 17:00:36 +0000

After careful reflection on the fact that I was NOT at WordCamp Victoria 2011, it just occurred to me the kind of talk I *could* have given had I remembered at the time of proposal submission. One of the things that I think facilitates my blogging and allows me to crank as many posts as I do per week is that I learned a little tiny bit of coding and HTML to facilitate my workflow. I know exactly which plugins I want to use, and how a plugin or a theme should be hacked to make it do what I want. I try to write for the web and think for the web (two very useful complementary skills). As Ariane Colenbrander said to me at my WordCamp Fraser Valley talk: “I’m a good art designer”. There’s also a little back story to this, actually two.

Photo credit: Peregrino Will Reign on Flickr

The first one: I started using computers when I was very little, inspired by the American TV show Whiz Kids. So, I have had a penchant for computer programming. Yeah, this is probably one of the reasons why I enjoy blogging so much, and doing my own stunts. Heck, the computer geekery has stayed with me even as I grew older. When I was deciding what to do a Masters’ degree in, I dipped my feet wet and took 1 semester of courses in a Masters of Science in Computer Science. Yes, I took Boolean Logic, Set Theory, C++ Programming and Visual Basic.

The second story has to do with my good friend Rebecca Bollwitt. When we first met, I was pretty much a newbie. I had blogged for over a year and a bit, but I hadn’t moved to WordPress, I hadn’t really learned much of the code behind it, etc. I was just a writer. I knew nothing about WordPress. Rebecca taught me A LOT of what I know about WordPress and the PHP and HTML behind/underneath it, over coffee, lunches, liveblogging the same events, etc. And she immediately understood what I meant when I said that I liked doing my own stunts: even if I’m not a web developer, I love being able to create my own websites. Basic as they may be, but I just love being able to do some of the basic HTML coding. Rebecca taught me and enabled me to do that with my websites.

Much of the customization you’ve seen here on Hummingbird604.com was done by good friends of mine: Rebecca taught me a lot of the basic inner workings of WordPress, J. Karen Parker adapted the Deviant art WordPress theme for me, and several other good friends have helped me with stuff here and there (Ianiv Schweber with some of the theme issues, Mike Yurechko, Tris Hussey, Andy Peatling and almost every time I scream for help, someone on Twitter is willing to help me.

photo credit: Charles Williams

But still, I code by hand a lot of the HTML tags that make WordPress do the things they do (e.g. embedding my photos and align them to the left or right, change fonts, etc). I *love* doing this basic coding. It makes me feel that I am independent and self-reliant. So, even if you are a blogger or a website copy writer, I would very strongly recommend you to learn some basic HTML and learn a bit more in-depth.

And a fun fact – I wrote by hand all the HTML code around the photo shown to force it to align to the left and provide the photo credit underneath with a link back to Flickr (pretty much the way my PhotoDropper plugin does). How cool is that?

Building an Online Community with WordPress (aka Blogging 101)

Raul — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 06:36:35 +0000

photo credit: shizhao

This past month I gave a talk around how to build an online community with WordPress at WordCamp Fraser Valley 2010. This is a topic I am quite interested in, so I organized a follow up Vancouver Blogger Meetup on How to Build an Online Community Through Blogging, where 3 local blogging superstars (and all dear friends of mine, Rebecca Bollwitt, Arieanna Schweber and Robert Ballantyne).

Thanks so much for sharing your expertise with us!

Normally, I would post my slides on SlideShare, but this time, I think all I’m going to do is post my 20 tips on how to build an online community through blogging on WordPress. Hope they are valuable to my readers.

0. Say thanks. Always.
1. Write your blog in WordPress.
2. Never forget to put the social in social media.
3. Write with pretty visuals.
4. Tell a good story.
5. Link, attribute and thank people.
6. Respond to comments on the blog.
7. Rise above the trolls.
8. Stop worrying about your stats.
9. Meet other bloggers in real life.
10. Cross-link your content through your social platforms.
11. Promote other’s stuff just as much as you do yours.
12. Write for you, before you write for others.
13. Spell-check and good grammar are your friends.
14. Optimize your blog for mobile reading.
15. Re-blog with a purpose.
16. Encourage your readers to stay in your blog and read other posts.
17. Write often, and write well.
18. Remember that content is king.
19. Maximize your use of the minimal number of WordPress plugins.
20. Go self-hosted.

And a key one that I just remembered: Your blog should be your home base. Don’t ever direct people to Facebook. You should have a website or blog, and all of your directionality should point out to the blog.

WordCamp Fraser Valley 2010

Raul — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 18:46:03 +0000

I love WordPress. I love it because it gives me an opportunity to share my thoughts with the world using a very flexible platform. WordPress also gave me an opportunity to make new friendships.

One of the sweetest texts I’ve ever received was a note saying “it’s not a WordCamp without you here” (sent by one of my closest friends who was attending WordCamp San Francisco). Many of my very good friends are either WordPress bloggers or WordPress developers. Or both.

I am not a WordPress developer by any stretch of the imagination, so I am always trying to think of innovative topics that I can speak about whenever I get invited to speak at a WordCamp. At WordCamp Fraser Valley 2010, I’ll be speaking for the third year in a row, and this time I’m doing a WordPress Blogging 101: Building Your Online Community with WordPress. I think that’s a topic I can speak to.

I met this week with a fellow environmental blogger, who asked me how I grew my online community. I provided her with a few tips to grow her readership, which I will expand on at WordCamp Fraser Valley on Saturday. In addition to a few tips based on the platform itself, I will be speaking about blogging tips in general.

My advice to you, if you are interested in WordPress and can make it to the Fraser Valley (takes place in Surrey, very accessible by transit), you should attend. There will be many WordPress experts there that you can meet in person and ask questions to, including friends of mine like John Bollwitt and Tris Hussey, both of whom will speak too.

My talk at WordCamp Fraser Valley ’09 #wcfv

Raul — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 18:01:58 +0000

I gave a talk on the top 10 plugins I use to maximize the reader’s experience. Here is the SlideShare of the talk. For more of my presentations on SlideShare you can click on the link.

Accessorize Your Blog: 10 Ways To Maximize Reader Experience

View more presentations from Raul Pacheco-Vega.

Rebecca Bollwitt on More Than A Blog – #wcfv (liveblog)

Raul — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 17:31:32 +0000

Rebecca Bollwitt on Using WordPress for More than A Blog

WordCamp Fraser Valley – The aftermath

Raul — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 13:10:24 +0000

After a really long and exhausting day (I had only 3.5 hours of sleep), I am at home, it’s past midnight on Thursday already and I really shouldn’t be blogging, but I should be sleeping. However, I think I need to take a few minutes to take stock of WordCamp, and ask my readers and the participants to give us feedback. Normally, I would also take some time to mention all the wonderful people I met and send them some link love (I did indeed lose the bet to Jodi), but I am really exhausted, so you’ll have to forgive me for that.

We are our worst critics and I think some of us who presented felt that we could have done a better job. Let me say that this is completely natural. With the exception of John Chow, who seems like he’s done dozens of these presentations and he is a natural, I think that we all thought we did an ok job but we wish we had done better. The funny thing is that the feedback that we all got was that our presentations were great. And you know, since the people who told us that were actually the audience, we should pat ourselves in the back.

I want to take a minute to thank Gary AND his team for superb organization (I saw Brady Valentino there as well, I am assuming as a volunteer). It was a real delight to share this experience with all of you, and the chocolates were definitely a very nice and classy touch. You guys did a great job. All of this work as well as that of Rastin, Jenn, Ash and Teresa when the first WordCamp Vancouver happened, only comes to show that we are indeed a great WordPress community. Gary and his team put together WordCamp Fraser Valley, Rastin and his team put together WordCamp Vancouver, now who is going to take the baton and organize WordCamp British Columbia or WordCamp Canada? Inquiring minds want to know…

Thanks to a wonderful audience as well. You guys were simply awesome, and I couldn’t have asked for a better group of people. Everyone was supportive, friendly and I am delighted that people came and introduced themselves to me.

Those of you who attended but did not have a chance to talk to us, I would really appreciate it if you left a comment on my blog regarding what you thought of the presentations. I’m going to speak to you as I would to my own students – just when you provide your feedback, be constructive and remember that we are human beings with feelings and that we did all of this in a total volunteer manner and we are not making money out of this.

We came and spoke because we are passionate about blogging, about the WordPress platform, and about sharing this with the larger community. I think I can speak for my fellow presenters when I say that this, same as WordCamp Vancouver, was a really wonderful experience. Thank you all. To my fellow presenters: Rebecca, Kulpreet, John, Gary – your work inspires me and I’m grateful to have shared this experience.

Also, thanks are due to Andy for recording pretty much all of my talk on my Flip camera and being such a good sport taking photos and videos (while I was busy giving my presentations). Thanks to Gregg for saving me with the battieries! Tyler, Gregg, Liam, Jodi, Dale, Lorraine, Ryan, Tom, and everyone whom I might have missed but I saw at WordCamp, thank you all.

WordCamp Fraser Valley – The tekkie part

Raul — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 02:54:28 +0000

I gave my presentation at the very beginning (Rebecca is being her usual awesome self and live-blogging – she even has video of my talk!) and even though I was nervous with my first non-academic talk in about a decade, people seemed to have a positive reception. Andy was kind enough to take photos and video with my cameras, since, well, it would be kind of hard to do it for myself while speaking (thanks Andy!)

I did lose my bet to Jodi but I’m glad that she thinks her husband should go directly to WordPress. I got a chance to hang out and meet Tyler, Jeremy, Gregg, John Berr, and other friends whom I have been talking to for a long while (Ryan, Jodi, Liam, Lorraine).

My laptop has been acting up but all I want is to have a chance to liveblog Rebecca’s talk, since I know that she will have notes on everyone else who is presenting. So, please, laptop, be kind and stay working (everyone laughs at the fact that it has so much hardware failure, but oh well – I don’t have the cash yet to shell out implement an upgrade to MacBook (or MacBook Pro)

REBECCA BOLLWITT – CUSTOMIZED PAGES AND SIDEBARS – TEMPLATES 101

Rebecca has used WP since 2006. An intermediate presentation – how to customize your theme. This doesn’t apply if you’re on WP.com.

Why would you want a custom page? If you want a custom sidebar, you can link to a new page. Rebecca has links on her sidebars. If you want to customize your sidebar, then this presentation is for you.

Say you want your “About” page to be blue.

How much code do you need to learn? Not a heck of a lot.

Page.php Code
THE LOOP – Displays your page and content
Header
Sidebar
Footer

You tell WP which sidebar to get. If you want the WordCamp page to have different things, she takes her Page.php.

She copied it and renamed it to WordCamp page (template Name: wordcamp-page)

For sidebar – she took the standard one and renamed it, so that WP will look for this sidebar instead of the other sidebar.

They show up now as WordCamp page templates on the Dashboard. It now has what Rebecca specified in the WordCamp Page PHP.

You don’t need to know a lot of PHP, but basically it’s easily customizable. You take what comes with the theme, copy them over, add the specific elements that you want and you can have custom pages and sidebars on WordPress.

John Bollwitt is showing something he coded. NoBoundaries.org

GARY – How does Miss604 get so out there and have so much exposure on media? Rebecca says that SEO is great for that, and she puts keywords in her posts and so on so that Google picks on that. WordPress does work great for that.

RAUL (me) – question – Themes and CSS – Rebecca explains that themes are the overall view of the blog, and the CSS is the style/appearance. She shows now different themes (the Theme Viewer). And how you can change your theme on WordPress.com, you can change your theme any way you want.

She showcases with the Brave Bull site. She is showing how the previews work.

TWITTER – Now Rebecca is showing Twitter. I’ll throw a Tweet back at her.

GARY – Are you finding that people go online more to talk about local stuff? Now Facebook – the blogosphere – what is your opinion on that. Rebecca – yes, Vancouver is becoming more of a hub for all these online things (we’re close to Silicon Valley). We’re known as TechCouver. There’s a lot of businesses in Vancouver who hit all these technologies.

How much time of the day do you spend blogging – 8 to 10 hours – now I am a social media consultant, so I write on my own site, an author on MetroBlogging (50 hyperlocal blogs). A few freelance gigs, an entertainment blog, a technology blog. I do dedicate time to

You can post-date posts. Time-stamping rocks!

Question – How long does it take for you to get your own WordPress installed, if you want to set your own design and so on (if you’ve never done it).

John is blogging on his site and on Sixty4Media, which is very cool.

Rebecca is now showing the WordPress CODEX, which is something everyone who wants need to learn about WordPress needs to check. Andy clarifies that the Codex is a wiki, so people can add to it. Wiki – website that everyone can add stuff to.

And I request that we plug Blogathon 2008.

After this, is John Chow and I am sure Rebecca will live-blog it so I can now stop worrying about my laptop dying.

Switching to WordPress from another platform: What do you want to hear?

Raul — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:13:30 +0000

I’m a bit of a keener (surprise, surprise!). I had my PowerPoint slides for Word Camp Fraser Valley (which is taking place tomorrow, Wednesday July 16th, from 6-9pm) prepared since last week. I know what you’re going to say and yes, I always sat at the front of the class, and yes my notes were written in very neat handwriting, and my distillation towers were designed with different color pens, and I was probably the only chemical engineer in my undergrad who chose to do his homework instead of going out and drink heavily (actually, I did my homework in between dance classes, language classes, going out with my friends, training for competitive volleyball, and martial arts).

But I digress… so the point is, even though I’ve already written my presentation, I would like to ask – if you are considering WordPress as a blogging platform, and/or are considering a switch from Blogger or (dare I say) Movable Type to WP – what kind of things would YOU be interested in hearing about?

In my presentation, basically, I’m going to tell you how I switched from Blogger to WordPress (after MUCH peer pressure) and the results I got from the platform switch-over. But I’m sure you have LOTS of questions that could help me prepare (this is like preparing for a final exam!), and I’d love to hear from you.

I have a standing bet with Jodi, and I have promised her that I will buy her a Dr. Pepper if, after hearing all the presentations at WordCamp, she is not convinced of switching from Movable Type to WordPress. I’m bringing the Dr. Pepper just in case. I have faith in my abilities and those of the fabulous team of bloggers and techies who will be presenting tomorrow, but JUST in case, I’m going to err on the side of caution

Accepting suggestions for my 1000th post

Raul — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 15:10:28 +0000

I’ve been polishing the presentation for Fraser Valley WordCamp and in the process, I’ve come to realize that I am REALLY close to 1000 posts on WordPress (I lost 132 posts in the importing process, which was kind of awful, but oh well). Since I’m at 922 (this post included), I have been thinking of organizing a MargaritaCamp + NachoCamp + GinCamp to celebrate my 1000 posts.

At my current writing rate, I estimate that’s going to fall somewhere around the week of Blogathon, so I might have a middle of the week RaulCamp (or simply combine it with the Vancouver Bloggers Meetup!) because, after all, it’s all about me (inside joke, you’ll have to see the t-shirt to know what I’m talking about).

So, I’m opening the floor for suggestions for my 1000th post. I was actually thinking of holding it at a wifi-enabled site (like the Blackwater Cafe) or a bar so that we can celebrate the actual moment of pushing the “Publish” button on my WordPress Dashboard. Any interest in joining for said RaulCamp?

I want to convert you… to WordPress!

Raul — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 22:40:40 +0000

As I’ve posted before, I read pretty much every blog on my blogroll and then some. Thanks to a handy RSS feed reader, now I can do that in the blink of an eye, literally (I speed-read). However, I took some time to see who of my friends are still on Blogger (I am talking to you Barbara, Phaedra, Pat, Jennifer, Marina, Dan, Mitch, Sarah, to mention just a few).

If you’ve been reading my blog at all, you’ll know that I am speaking at WordCamp Fraser Valley, precisely on the topic of how I transitioned from Blogger to WordPress. I am in no way associated with WordPress, they don’t pay me a cent (although I do have friends who are indeed associated with Auttomatic).

The truth is that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed writing my blog on this platform. So, I’m basically plugging you to switch and since many of you Blogger friends are also my friends, friends, you should come to WCFV and hear me speak like Ulysses listened to the siren’s sweet voice “WoooordPreeeess…. WoooordPreeeess” (ok, that sounds better when I say it than when I read it).

So, join me and a roster of fabulous bloggers (Rebecca, John, Kerry, Kulpreet and yours truly) on July 16th, 2008 from 6-9pm. For more details, click on the link that says “I’m Speaking at WordCamp Fraser Valley“. And in case you didn’t know, the registration is almost full so, you REALLY want to register as in, like, right now.

WordCamp Fraser Valley and coffee/snack sponsorship

Raul — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:35:22 +0000

On July 16th, 2008, a number of local, Metro Vancouver bloggers who use WordPress as their main platform will be descending on Langley’s The Cascade Casino (no, we are NOT gambling, just in case you were wondering) to present at WordCamp Fraser Valley, and according to the most recent update from BlueFur, they’re already at 33% capacity (and it’s not even July) so be sure to register, PRONTO!

At any rate, I found out that Gary Jones is looking for coffee and snacks sponsorships. Given that I work in the environmental field, ideally I’d like to see a reduced environmental footprint. One idea would be to contact local, environmentally-conscious producers to see if we can get some type of sponsorship (e.g. organic vegetable platters, or organic, ethically-traded coffee). I’ll see what we can do – I am sure amongst my readers there must be people who work in environmental issues and the food industry, so if you do (or know of someone), drop me a comment or send me an email.

The move from WordPress.com to WordPress.org and self-hosting

Raul — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 21:30:17 +0000

My blog is looking nice and the header has been very well received. I blame social media superstar Rebecca Bollwitt for my wonderful new blog look, as she did a fantastic job with the header and the new layout, and the changes to the theme (only the ones that WP.com allows you).

The discussion has been around with some of my geeky friends (of which, as Tyler Ingram very properly said, I now have A LOT) and Karen Parker suggested that I ask around all of you geeks who read my blog (particularly those who are self-hosted and/or WordPress Jedi Masters) about suggestions for self-hosting. With the new theme re-design, the increase in readership, my interest in being able to manipulate my own CSS, use plug-ins, customize my side-bars, etc., it appears as though the move to self-hosted would seem rather imminent. Which is kind of too bad since I already paid for the domain mapping. But whatever.

In the mean-time, while I decide what to do for self-hosting, etc., I’ve decided that I am going “self-hosting light” (as aptly named by Rebecca). I am going to buy the customization of my CSS. It’s been decided. That’s the only way I can change the color scheme in my blog.

To be quite honest, I am really enjoying the process of re-designing my blog and having a lot of fun while sharing it with the blogosphere, particularly because I have found that geeks are such a friendly bunch (of which I am now a part of, at least as a partial-geek – because, please do remember – I DO MY OWN STUNTS), and everyone is always offering to help. I am very grateful and very blessed.

And now on to the question…suggestions on the move? I know that everyone (and I’m not mentioning you by name because you know who YOU are) has been gently pushing me towards self-hosting, and giving me advice on the matter. I still have a myriad of questions – suggest providers/hosts? 2.6? *HELP!* Or maybe I should just wait until WordCamp Fraser Valley and have this conversation after the event? At any rate, do feel free to drop a comment.

The WordPress Codex – Refusing to read :-)

Raul — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 18:40:58 +0000

Sometimes I wonder if my friends (particularly the new friends I’ve made through blogging) just shake their heads in disbelief. For all my interest in blogging and platforms, and CSS, and themes, and geek-speak, I rarely visit the WordPress Codex. I talk about it. I enjoy having drinks and discussing it. Yet I avoid at all costs reading it. Why? Because I am a hands-on kind of guy.

I read blogs/news/books/journal articles/papers in a large, overview kind of approach, to help me understand the world. But if I want to use a piece of software, or a platform, my brain kind of shuts-off. It took me all of ten minutes to absorb what Rebecca did for my new theme (e.g. changing the header image, which is as far as WordPress.com will let you go). She showed me how to add text on my sidebar. Visually, it was a piece of cake. Andy helped me fix the centering problem I was having with my photos. It took me all of ten minutes to understand what exactly he had done to help me with a theme that overrides the center tags. Piece of cake. Show me once, I can do it myself. Kulpreet has also been always very helpful on Twitter giving me small bits of advice here and there.

However, the problem with me is that I am very visual when it comes to computers. I don’t like having to read to learn how to use a program or a platform. Show me how to do it. Don’t do it for me, let me do it myself. Do it along with me. So, if I could find someone who has digested the WordPress Codex and just sit down with him or her and get a tutorial (or two or three, however many I needed), then I’d be in WordPress bliss. But I am sure I am not going to get that pipe dream, so I am writing this post to encourage those of you who use WordPress and are in what I call the “intermediate” stages of geekification, to check the Codex.

And to my geeky friends whom I frequently ask questions re: WP – apologies in advance, but I’ll still keep asking you random questions about how to do this or that in WordPress. Hope you don’t mind

Thoughts on the re-design of my blog’s theme?

Raul — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 17:14:33 +0000

Dear all,

I have a LOT of posts for your reading entertainment, but at the same time, I also would like to pause for a moment and listen to feedback from all of you, readers, fellow bloggers, random visitors… what do you guys think of my blog’s re-design? Rebecca was kind enough to spend time changing the theme of my site as I told her that I wanted a change (thanks Rebecca!).

Here are the changes if you want them in a summary, point-form (e.g. the elements I told Rebecca that were important to me in the re-design):
- Narrower column for the text. Sometimes I write A LOT, and I don’t even realize it. I think that sometimes, readers may get tired from reading and that might not be a good idea. Yes, I know that content is everything and sometimes I need more space to develop an idea, but I think this looks crisper, cleaner.
- Cleaner layout and top, header-type page alignment. That is, the pages (my “About Me” page and the “Some of my most popular posts” should be on the top, right below the header.
- The header needs to have the hummingbird symbol that Rebecca kindly adapted for me.
- I wanted the header image to look ‘geeky‘ (although this element has already sparked controversy).
- I wanted to include the badge for WordCamp FraserValley 2008 on the side bar.

So, any thoughts on the theme re-design? Suggestions always welcome. Drop a comment. Thanks!