Join Our Meetup.com Group

Hi everyone,

For those not already aware, we now use meetup.com for publicising our events, so be sure to join our meetup.com group.

This blog is no longer used to announce our events.

We look forward to seeing you at our next event!

WordPress Melbourne September 2011 Meetup Wrap-Up

Thanks to everyone that attended the September 14th 2011 WordPress Melbourne User Group meetup.

Below is a summary of the meetup:

Please, please, please…

• Tweet the meetings using #wpmelb
• Checkin on Foursquare or Meetup.com

WordPress News

• WordPress Melbourne is a year old. It’s grown from 5 people getting locked out of rooms RMIT to 40+ people each month at Openhub. Any suggestions for a new venue would be appreciated, WordPress Melbourne can’t grow any further without a new location.
• WooThemes have forked Jigoshop into WooCommerce.
• Plugins that haven’t been updated for two or more years will soon drop out of the WordPress.org plugin directory
• Yoast’s WordPress SEO plugin has moved out of beta, Version 1.0.1 is available in the WordPress.org plugin repository
• Videos from WordCamp San Francisco have been released
• WordPress 3.3 has improved performance around permalink structure

WordPress Job Opportunities

• Dillon is after front end contractors/freelancers.
• TedX Melbourne are looking for freelancers willing to do some probono WordPress work.

WordPress Events

• Software Freedom Day; Sept 17, 12-7pm; The Hub, Docklands; Free entry
• WordCamp Gold Coast; November 5 and 6; Bond University; $75

General questions

• Andrew is after events management registration and payment plugin. Anthony feels that there are no decent plugins available & up to date in the WP.org repository.
• Will the WP.com comments system be integrated in WP.org?
  This uses the IntenseDebate plugin, an automattic competitor to Disqus.
• Has anyone used SEO Scribe? No, many members recommended Yoast’s SEO plugin.

We then ate Pizza.

Talks

Anthony Cole – Themes

• What is a theme
• How themes are built
• Theme Features
• History of themes
• Child Themes

Dee Teal – Getting to grips with Genesis

• What: A theme framework
• Why: Faster than coding from scratch and is security tested
• How: Start with the basic setting within WordPress.

Below is a gallery photos taken at the WordPress Meetup with special thanks to Andrew Davis.

A Special thanks goes out to Peter Wilson (@pwcc) for writing this post!

WordPress Melbourne August 2011 Meetup Wrap-Up

Thanks to everyone that attended the August 2011 WordPress Melbourne User Group meetup.

Below is a summary of the meetup:

WordPress News

• WordPress 3.3 scope (November 15)
• Media Uploader rewritten
• Responsive admin/dashboard for large monitors and other devices
• Performance improvements (/%postname%/ permalinks)
• BuddyPress 1.5 betas
• TimThumb exploit
• WordCamp San Francisco on this weekend

WordPress Job Opportunities

Who has any WordPress job vacancies/opportunities?

• Aaron – Sitepoint are hiring a WordPress gun
• David – freelance ad-hoc WordPress developer (can work remotely). Government and small business eCommerce projects. @davemac
• Vernon – simple WordPress site. Good sports program.
• Vernon – social network (possibly BuddyPress) project.
• Cullen – troubleshooting end of WordPress project.

WordPress Job Seekers

Who is looking for work in the WordPress industry?

None.

BuddyPress Case Study – BuddyPress use in an English Language School – Vernon Fowler

Vernon’s excellent BuddyPress presentation is available here: BuddyPress case study

WordPress Melbourne Meetup: Wed 10th August 2011

The August 2011 WordPress Melbourne Meetup is scheduled for Wed 10th August 2011.

Head over to the event page on meetup.com to check out what we’re doing! And don’t forget to share us on Facebook and Twitter.

Numbers are limited, so be sure to RSVP to reserve your spot!

WordPress Melbourne July 2011 Meetup Wrap-Up

Thanks to everyone that attended the July 2011 WordPress Melbourne User Group meetup.

Below is a summary of the three new features for the meetup:

WordPress News

What’s new in the WordPress arena in the last month?

• WordPress 3.2 (and 3.2.1) releases
• WordPress 3.1.4 security fix release
• WordPress now responsible for over 50 million websites!
• WordPress 3.3 to be dropping IE7 support (according to Mark Jaquith)?
• WordPress 3.1 downloaded 15,000,000+ times in 4 months (approx. 1 per second!)
• BuddyPress 1.2.9
• New Amazon Web Services (AWS) User Group
• WordCamp Gold Coast – November 5-6 2011! Ticket sales open ($75)
• Help for WordCamp organisers at plan.wordcamp.org
• Web hosting company Distribute.IT hacked. Bought by NetRegistry

WordPress Job Opportunities

Job vacancies/opportunities in the WordPress industry:

• Aaron from Sitepoint seeking WordPress developer(s). Email aaron [at] sitepoint.com
• Visual producer in Fitzroy using WordPress. Looking for talented WP devs/designers. Email hi [at] hodyhong.com
• Lucille Richards
• Vernon maybe looking for BuddyPress devs
• Digital magazine on WordPress looking for 1-2 devs. Michelle. TheGlobalYogi.com

WordPress Job Seekers

Attendees looking for work in the WordPress industry:

• Andrew Davis – ad-hoc 1-1 WordPress training with non technical people. How to use WordPress

WordPress Meetup: Wed 13th July 2011

The July 2011 WordPress Melbourne meetup is on Wed 13th July 2011.

See Meetup.com for more information and to register.

WordPress Meetup: Wed 8th June 2011

The June 2011 WordPress Melbourne meetup is on Wed 8th June 2011.

See Meetup.com for more information and to register.