Genius Bar from 09.20.11 WordPress NYC Meetup

The formal presentation was “A beginners overview”. There was an introduction about the many ways you can interact with the WPNYC community. Then we split off to the Genius Bar.

I was expecting a bunch of self-dubbed geniuses to be discussing advanced WP topics. Instead, it was more like Apple’s Genius Bar, with about 15 people waiting to ask the geniuses their WP questions. Most of the people seemed to be designers. There were two developers (Steve Bruner, the organizer, and Kevin Cristiano) who were very patient and helpful. Most of the questions were regarding plugins. These are not direct quotes. And the plugin spellings might be wrong.

1. “What video plugin should I use for .mov files? WP won’t let me upload anything larger than 8 MB and I’ve been converting them to .fla … I don’t want to use Youtube/Vimeo because of I want particular privacy/sharing options.”
• Jw-player plugin is standard for video, uses HTML5, free/licensed version for business. Also, JPlayer & VideoJS are recommended.
• For reducing the file size, someone recommended using an online file convertor. They said that Dreamhost provides one in the control panel.
• Some debate as to where the file size limit is set (in WP or the host’s PHP settings).
• Some debate as to whether YouTube has separate privacy settings for each video (it does).
2. “My Google Analytics plugin doesn’t work.”
• Try: Ultimate Google Analytics, Google Analyticator, Google Analytics for WP
• You don’t actually need a plugin

3. “I have problems when copying a site (say, from local to host server). I copy all the WP files, copy the database, change the all the urls in the db & edit the config file. Almost everything copies except for some miscellaneous settings, like the custom header, menus, etc. need to be reset. Why? Am I missing a step?” (This was my question )
• Did you replace all the URLs? Yes, with a sql query.
• Try Crowd Favorite’s plugin called Ramp. $100 but worth it.
• Just point the domain/change the hostfile so localhost thinks that it’s the live URL. (Although this might cause problems with testing third-party functions like analytics, twitter feeds, etc.)
• See http://markjaquith.wordpress.com/2011/06/24/wordpress-local-dev-tips/ (uses conditionals in wp-config)
• Something about the future moving towards networks with a shared userbase & separate instances of something.
4. “My security plugin says that I have problems with x, y, z, how do I fix it?”
• “There’s a tab right here that has instructions for fixing your problems.”
• Read Hardening WordPress in the Codex.
• Use WP Security Scan plugin
5. “What social plugins do you recommend?”
• Links alpha, Twitterfeed, Autoblogged, WPematico
• Disliked: Feed WordPress
6. Something about cron, server cron, cron jobs. There’s a wp-cron control plugin. Someone has to visit your site to trigger cron.
7. “Everybody should use Google Webmaster tools.”
8. Google will ding sites running old versions of WP. Sometimes it (Chrome?) will show a warning that the site might not be safe.
9. “Why haven’t more people updated to WP 3.2?”
• It’s usually safer to wait… because of bugs & plugin updates.
• WP 3.1 and 3.2 are safe. Something about WP being ok two families back.
10. Selling themes & child themes (e.g., for Genesis). Themeforest. Next month’s talk.
11. “Best form plugin?” Gravity Forms
12. Free vs premium
• WP is moving towards not free. Takes too much time to maintain free plugins & answer questions.
• Prices are still reasonable: $60 for a theme + a couple hundred for plugins. Quality for paid stuff is better, plus you have support.
• Some people ask too many questions and are taking advantage of the WP community.
13. “Which shopping cart theme should I use for e-books/file downloads?”
• Cart66, Shopify, Marketpress. Cart66 is not recommended for retail merch.
• Definitely get an SSL certificate or use a gateway.
14. “Which SEO metatag plugin should I use?” Yost SEO, WordPress SEO, All in one SEO
15. “Why do my HTML tags get lost when I switch from the html editor to the visual editor and back?”
• That’s just what happens.
• Use the TinyMCE Advanced plugin, it will give you more options in the visual editor. It won’t be necessary to use the HTML editor (except for embed codes). Also it lets you keep the <p> tags, which will make everyone happy.
16. Best practices for staging a site
• Use Dot local
• See wp-hackers mailing list archive
• Use Subversion to keep backups of themes. Then have a cron job kickoff subversion.
• There are many scripts to move test to production.
17. Child theming: do it!
• Saves you from fixing deprecated functions with every WP update.
• Try: Genesis, Flex, Carrington, Studiopress
• New hybrid method (e.g., Devpress) allows you to activate features instead of deactivating
18. “What slider/image gallery plugin should I use?”
    Slider easing slider or Nivo with NextGen
19. “What should I use for a forum?” BBpress or Mingle
20. Post-meeting
• Graphpaper Press theme was recommended.
• Yooko theme for responsive design.
• Campaign Monitor has really good tracking for email blasts.
• “Digging into WordPress” is a good book.

Notes

• WordPress NYC Meetup
• WPNYC.org