The first half-hour of the meeting we discussed some WordCamp Buffalo 2014 ideas. Easy WP_Query’s @AndyStaple showed a very simple, yet handy website that lets you easily get code for WP_Query’s called the WP Query Generator. UB Students building WP Themes Next, @djlicata discussed a neat project his class at UB was working on, which in short was teams of 6 students building websites for non-profit companies in the area. One of the final steps was making these designs into WordPress themes and overall it was a success despite some common stumbling points that many hit when first building custom WordPress themes. What Theme File? Scott demonstrated this is a neat little snippet of code to show what theme template file is loading for the page you’re on. /*————————————*\ This show what template page was used. \*————————————*/ add_action(‘wp_head’, ‘show_template’); function show_template() { global $template; print_r($template); } Page-Preview Plugin @empireoflight demonstrated his nifty little plugin built to display small previews

This month we went over the basics of jumping into WordPress Theme development and built a very minimalistic Theme with a few files. Discussions on the positives and negatives of using a Theme “Framework”, or going another route a Starter Theme like Bones, Roots, or Underscores. Andy & Ben build from the ground up, while others in the room preferred frameworks like Genesis. During the live-demo of building the theme we also talked about using a Theme Wrapper, which is a way to use a more DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself) philosophy and save you time later in development. More details can be found at Scribu with detailed information and instructions. A github repository with the steps we got through of the theme from scratch. https://github.com/field2/mytheme-wrapper  

This Months Designer/Developers Meetup main discussion was based upon someone new to WordPress, and how they can start to understand themes, and how to go about editing or building their own. Ben Dunkle (@empireoflight) gave a demonstration of installing and editing a theme, as well as started to build his own theme from scratch.

Andy Staple (@AndyStaple) gave a intro and demo to Custom Post Types, and used the Custom Post Types article on Smashing Magazine so others could follow along and look back. As mentioned in the article, if you’re using this on a live site it is probably a good idea to turn this into a plugin which we also demonstrated at the end of the discussion. A good example for that is also at Smashing Magazine; How to create a WordPress Plugin. Also discussed was the MP6 Plugin which showcases the likely WordPress Dashboard Admin Panel Design and new flat icon design by our own Ben Dunkle (@empireoflight)

This week we had Dennis Gaebel (@gryghostvisuals) showcase two projects he has been working on recently. WP Flex – A blank, responsive, WordPress theme boilerplate adhering to best practices and requirements set forth by the official WordPress Codex and theme review guidelines. Also makes a great starter theme for any of your WordPress theming needs. Typeplate – a “typographic starter kit”. We don’t make aesthetic design choices, but define proper markup with extensible styling for common typographic patterns. A stripped-down Sass library concerned with the appropriate technical implementation of design patterns—not how they look. Andy Staple (@AndyStaple) also gave a brief overview of Custom Fields, and a great way to use them with the Advanced Custom Fields plugin. We’ll have a more detailed discussion on Custom Post Types and Custom Fields in the near future.

Chris Van Patten gave a modified version of his presentation “Developing a Client-Focused Admin Panel” that was originally given at WordCamp Toronto: Developers. Topics include: How to simplify the main dashboard Building a more realistic WYSIWYG editor Adjusting the left-hand menu