Brad Williams Blog

On My Way to WordCamp Montreal

I’m writing this blog post from an Amtrak train on my way to Montreal, Quebec for WordCamp Montreal!

As we cruise along the train tracks I’m working on the final touches to my WordPress Security presentation for the event. Taking the train really is the way to go. The ride is much longer (12 hours total from NJ), but this gives me plenty of time to work on some projects. It’s also much cheaper than flying and you get to enjoy the amazing scenary during the trip!

Amtrak doesn’t provide wireless internet onboard, but I’m equipped with an AT&T Air card so I’m able to get online. The train does provide power strips at all of the seats which is a lifesaver.

We should arrive in Montreal about 8pm EDT and ready to hit the city!

Date July 10, 2009
Author Brad Williams
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I’m Speaking at WordCamp Montreal!

Next stop on my WordCamp Tour is WordCamp Montreal! I will be giving a presentation on WordPress Security at the event.
My presentation will cover how to keep your WordPress powered website secure from hackers and exploits. I’ll show examples of hacked sites, share tips and plugins for keeping WordPress secure, and talk about my experiences with WordPress and security overall.

WordCamp Montreal will take place in Montreal, Quebec on July 11-12.

I’m taking the scenic train ride from NYC to Montreal (12 hours!) and also plan on attending the Jazz Festival while in town. WordCamps are awesome and so is traveling so I’m really looking forward to this event, aye!

Date June 30, 2009
Author Brad Williams
Comments 2 Comments

I Survived WordCamp Chicago!

The WebDevStudios team survived WordCamp Chicago 2009! We flew in Friday night, after a much delayed flight, and arrived just in time for pizza and drinks at Lou Malnati’s. During dinner we met Lisa Sabin-Wilson (author of WordPress for Dummies), Jeff Chandler (WP Weekly host and WPTavern.com owner), and a few other WordPress enthusiasts.

Saturday morning came very early, after staying up until 2am the night before, but we managed to wake up and make it to WordCamp Chicago! I met a lot of great people at WordCamp including Matt Mullenweg (founder of WordPress), Jeremy Wright (CEO of b5media), David Peralty (co-host of WP Weekly), Dan Schulz (Advisor on SitePoint), Erin Blaskie, and lots of other WP Enthusiasts.

The presentations at WordCamp Chicago were great. I would have liked to seen more of a focus on WordPress, rather than blogging and branding presentations, but I understand that users outnumber designers and developers at these conferences. The presenters all did a really great job.

If you have never been to a WordCamp, GO! These events are awesome and I can already tell I am starting to get addicted to them.

Next up, WordCamp Montreal in July (which I am speaking at)!

Date June 8, 2009
Author Brad Williams
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Advanced Thesis Techniques and Tricks

I recently gave a presentation on the WordPress Thesis theme at WordCamp Mid-Atlantic. I wanted to share that presentation with everyone so the slides are embedded below:

Advanced Thesis Techniques and Tricks

View more from Brad Williams.

Date May 20, 2009
Author Brad Williams
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I’m Speaking at WordCamp Mid-Atlantic!

I’ve been given the opportunity to speak at WordCamp Mid-Atlantic 2009!

WordCamp Mid-Atlantic will take place in Baltimore, Maryland on May 16th from 8am to 5pm. I will be giving a presentation titled:

Advanced Thesis Techniques and Tricks

Thesis 1.5 was just released yesterday so I’m very excited to share some Thesis knowledge with other WordPress enthusiasts, including new features! If you are planning on attending WordCamp Mid-Atlantic drop me a line. See you in B-town!

330 Days Later and my House is Sold!

As most of you know I moved to New Jersey in April of last year.

My house went up for sale the day I left and stayed on the market for 330 days. I am happy to announce my house has finally been sold! I think I picked the worst time in my life to put a house up for sale and move to an extremely expensive state to live in, but who knew the entire economy was going to collapse like it did?

I have to admit it was somewhat of a struggle to get on my feet in New Jersey and still maintain a mortgage payment in Indiana. I’m really proud of myself for hanging in there and not taking the easy way out with foreclosure.

I guess good things do come to those who wait!

Date March 24, 2009
Author Brad Williams
Comments 2 Comments

WordPress Theme Showcase Plugin Example

Below is a test of my WordPress Theme Showcase plugin. Below are the three themes I have loaded in my wp-config/themes folder. Each theme thumbnail has a “Preview Theme” link that lets you view the theme on your site. Great way to show off your themes to the public!

Fully compatible with WordPress 2.7 and WordPress MU 2.7

[showcase]

WordPress Weekly Podcast Episode 40

On Friday I joined Jeff and Keith for episode 40 of the WordPress Weekly podcast.

I joined the hosts at the beginning of the show to discuss a couple topics. The first topic was the freshly released WordPress MU 2.7 final. The second topic was the BuddyPress beta 2 that was released earlier in the week. I’ve had some lengthy exposure to both so it was fun to chat with the guys about my experiences.

Starting next week WordPress Weekly is moving to WPTavern.com, the new WordPress centered community created by Jeff Chandler. I wrote a guest post for Jeff last week titled The Bittersweet Taste of Bleeding Edge Software. The community is really starting to grow so if you haven’t already head over to the Tavern and get signed up! You’ll learn something, guaranteed!

The End of Nerd Week

This past week was an insanely busy nerd week for me.

On Tuesday I recorded the 7th episode of the SitePoint Podcast with special guest host Sarah Milstein. We dedicated the episode to talking about Twitter and the many uses it has, both personal and business.

On Wednesday my business partner and I attended the New York WordPress Meetup for a presentation by Johnathan Andersen on WordPress as a CMS: The Strategy of Content Publishing. Johnathan did a great job presenting how he utilizes various plugins and custom fields to transform WordPress into a CMS.

On Friday I joined Jeff Chandler on the WordPress Weekly Podcast to ask Dan Milward of the WP E-Commerce plugin some questions. It was a fun show and I’m looking forward to getting back to the round table discussions like the earlier days of the podcast.

I’ve also been pretty active on the WP Tavern Forums. WPTavern.com is a new site started by Jeff Chandler of WordPress Weekly with a focus on all topics WordPress. It’s a great site for sharing your experiences with WordPress and learning lots of valuable information. Get registered and get involved!

Oh and did I mention my company launched two new website redesigns in Thesis? MattBites.com and RetroRenovation.com. MattBites.com was migrated from TypePad and launched with WordPress and a fresh clean look provided by the Thesis theme. RetroRenovation.com was redesigned using Thesis with help from Kenneth Smith. Both sites look amazing and we are really excited to see them go live!

This has been an awesome nerd week and I hope to have many more like it!

WordCamp NYC 2009 set for October 24th!

WordCamp NYC 2009 dates were announced at the WordPress Meetup last night in New York City. Steve Bruner, the meetup organizer, is planning the event through the Meetup group on October 24th, 2009.

If anyone in the area wants to volunteer/speak/whatever contact him with details. I’ll also be getting involved and helping out where I can. Can’t wait for that event and hope to see you there!