Description:
THIS IS A TWO-EVENING CLASS (takes place on two nights, to allot enough time to cover all the material both nights are covered in the tuition)

This class is for WEB DEVELOPERS. All participants MUST have and know how to use an FTP program, have a good grasp of HTML and CSS and have installed and been working with the current version of WordPress (3.0+). All participants must have FTP access to their WordPress website. This is not a beginning web development class and is not intended for beginning web developers.

If you want an easy, powerful way to update your website often, you want WordPress.  This flexible, highly customizable content management system (CMS) is ideal for blogs, small business websites, online art galleries, and more.

This workshop, the third in BDA's WordPress series, is for web developers who want to move beyond the basic themes and widgets and really take visual control of their site.

This workshop will cover:

• What is a WordPress theme?
• How do the theme’s files work together to display your content?
• Where is the WordPress database?
• Understanding the template hierarchy and what template files are used to show which content
• What are the best themes to use for easy modification?
• Using FTP vs. Admin Editor – how to create an efficient work environment 
• Creating custom header and menu items
• Understanding WordPress page navigation and styling
• Controlling the look of your entire WP site through custom page, category, index, and single template files
• Creating multiple sidebars and using different sidebars on different areas of the site
• Modifying the footer
• Great plugins and widgets to use for page navigation, SEO, and more
• Using custom fields to expand the content areas that you can style and control
• Using conditional tags to automatically style content differently for different pages
• Writing custom queries and loops
• Misc. tips, tricks and hacks

Please note that WordPress.org is different from WordPress.com. WordPress.com is only for blogs and non-commercial sites. BDA's workshops cover WordPress.org.

Presented as a Lecture-Style Workshop:
These are our most affordable training programs, designed to introduce a subject quickly and efficiently. Students can take notes from the instructor's projected computer screen, and/or bring their own computer to follow along. Lecture-style workshops are normally held on weekday evenings from 6 pm – 9 pm and contain a maximum of 30 students (average is 8-20).

Who Should Take This:
EXPERIENCED web developers who have created a site in WordPress 3.0+ and are ready to take customization farther. Students should have taken WordPress - Installing & Getting Started or have equivalent experience. Basic PHP skills are helpful but not required.

Instructor:
Angela Bowman of MoonGooseDesigns.com and AskWPGirl.com has been involved with internet technologies since 1996 when she became a member of the online tech support team at Quark, Inc. After learning about WordPress at a BDA class three years ago, she became a full-time WordPress website coder, customizing themes for individuals and small- to medium-size businesses and organizations. Her focus is on stretching the boundaries of WordPress beyond a blogging tool by making extensive use of the built-in features of WordPress combined with judicious use of plugins and creative CSS. Angela will help you think outside the blog box by helping you understand the nuts and bolts of WordPress and how you can endlessly customize your WordPress themes.

BDA Member Cost: $139.00 ($149.00 after Saturday, September 11, 2010)
Non Member Cost: $159.00 ($169.00 after Saturday, September 11, 2010)
Become a member to save $20.00