Robert Trevellyan was featured speaker at the Thursday, February 11 meeting of the Upper Hudson Chapter of the Editorial Freelancers Association, held at the Chatham Town Hall. Trevellyan presented WordPress in a Nutshell, an introduction to WordPress history, terminology and use.
“We all know how important it is that a brick-and-mortar business have a strong online presence, but what some people don’t realize is how beneficial it can be for freelancers and independent contractors,” Trevellyan said. “WordPress is a robust and flexible website creation tool that non developers can use to make something simple, and developers can use to make powerful and complex websites. My goal with this presentation was to give the audience a general overview of what is possible.”
More than a dozen people attended the event. The group included writers and editors, graphic designers and other independent business owners. Some already had websites of their own, while others didn’t. The audience was invited to ask questions throughout and many examples were given that were of direct relevance to the group.
Trevellyan began the presentation with a brief history of WordPress. This online, open source, website creation tool is exceptionally popular, running almost 26% of the world’s most popular websites. Trevellyan offered a summary of its key features, as well as a thorough explanation of the differences between WordPress.com and WordPress.org. There are many alternatives to WordPress for building a website, and Robert discussed and compared some of the most popular. He also offered advice on how to choose which platform is right for each situation.
“But what we’re here for today is to learn about WordPress, so let’s get into that,” Trevellyan said. The majority of the presentation focused specifically on WordPress – how to get it and how to use it. He discussed the basic elements of a WordPress site and gave examples of each. He talked about posts and pages, themes and plugins, widgets and updates. Knowing how to judge and select individual components is an important element in building a safe and secure WordPress website, and Trevellyan covered this in depth.
After a thorough explanation, Trevellyan offered a live demonstration of a sample WordPress website. The presentation ended with a list of resources for learning more about WordPress, followed by a question and answer period.
WordPress in a Nutshell lasted almost two hours, and was aimed at individuals interested in learning about the popular content management system. The outline of this entire discussion is available online at WPInANutshell.com, along with video clips from the event.
Interested in having WordPress in a Nutshell presented to your group?
If you are interested in having a version of this talk presented to your group or organization, or if you’d like to learn how Trevellyan.biz can help you with your website, please contact Robert Trevellyan at [email protected] or 518.392.0846.