{"id":793,"date":"2015-05-03T13:38:13","date_gmt":"2015-05-03T03:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/2015.brisbane.wordcamp.org\/?p=793"},"modified":"2015-06-30T11:13:16","modified_gmt":"2015-06-30T01:13:16","slug":"speaker-meryl-mccay-these-are-a-few-of-my-favourite-themes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brisbane.wordcamp.org\/2015\/speaker-meryl-mccay-these-are-a-few-of-my-favourite-themes\/","title":{"rendered":"Speaker: Meryl McCay &#8211; These Are A Few Of My Favourite Themes"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_791\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-791\" class=\"size-full wp-image-791\" src=\"https:\/\/2015.brisbane.wordcamp.org\/files\/2015\/05\/Meryl-McCay.jpg\" alt=\"Meryl McCay\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/brisbane.wordcamp.org\/2015\/files\/2015\/05\/Meryl-McCay.jpg 300w, https:\/\/brisbane.wordcamp.org\/2015\/files\/2015\/05\/Meryl-McCay-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-791\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Meryl McCay<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"p1\">We have another speaker announcement for WordCamp Brisbane. This is another great talk for the WordPress users. Selina will be giving you the run down on WordPress <a href=\"https:\/\/2015.brisbane.wordcamp.org\/04\/17\/speaker-selina-power-plugin-paradise\/\">plugins<\/a>\u00a0and our next speaker Meryl McCay will be giving you the low down on WordPress themes so you&#8217;ll have all aspects of WordPress covered.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">There are so many themes out there; how do you choose? Especially if you&#8217;re not a coder, so building one from the ground up is not an option. Or your CSS skills are more like &#8220;What on earth is CSS?&#8221; Where can you find quality themes? Meryl will\u00a0introduce you to several sources of WordPress themes and some of the pitfalls for the unwary beginner, such as &#8220;I&#8217;ve installed the theme but it doesn&#8217;t look anything like the demo!&#8221; Plus, Meryl&#8217;s\u00a0got a couple of favourite themes\u00a0she&#8217;d\u00a0like to share with you.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Meryl&#8217;s talk will cover the following topics:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Introduction<\/li>\n<li>Sources of themes (e.g. ThemeForest, WooThemes, StudioPress, Elegant Themes, etc)<\/li>\n<li>Why doesn&#8217;t it look like the demo; There&#8217;s more to implementing a theme than just installing it!<\/li>\n<li>Pitfalls for the unwary (e.g. image sizes, theme option panels, support, etc)<\/li>\n<li>Tweaking CSS for the novice &#8211; where do you start? (including a look at Firebug and the CSS Hero plugin)<\/li>\n<li>A few of my favourite themes (Canvas by WooThemes, Divi by Elegant Themes, KingSize from ThemeForest)<\/li>\n<li>Questions<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Meryl has been using WordPress since 2011, but still considers herself to be a novice. Having seen the list of august speakers coming to the WordCamp, people with serious dev skills, entrepreneurs and the like, she has some trepidation about volunteering to present; however, we all had to start somewhere and if she can inspire another newbie to think \u201cHey, I can do that too\u201d, then the anxiety will have been worth it!<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">As a non-coder she finds the WordPress platform perfectly suited to the skills she can bring to the table. With over 20 years\u2019 experience as an Information Professional (aka a Librarian), helping small businesses and not-for-profit organisations to create well-structured websites, with quality content, that they are able to manage themselves (to a large degree) is something she finds very satisfying.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Being programmatically challenged, Meryl uses quality commercial themes to do the heavy lifting and has begun to delve into the mysteries of CSS in order to tweak the design to suit the client. Still unsure about whether this fascination with WordPress can actually generate an income, she has nonetheless taken the plunge and finally got a business card.\u00a0\u263a<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">You can follow Meryl on <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/merylmccay\">Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>See this and other great talks:<\/h3>\n<p><a class=\"button cta\" title=\"WordCamp Brisbane 2015 Tickets\" href=\"https:\/\/register.eventarc.com\/29601\/wordcamp-brisbane-2015\" target=\"_blank\">BUY YOUR TICKET!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We have another speaker announcement for WordCamp Brisbane. This is another great talk for the WordPress users. Selina will be giving you the run down on WordPress plugins\u00a0and our next speaker Meryl McCay will be giving you the low down &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/brisbane.wordcamp.org\/2015\/speaker-meryl-mccay-these-are-a-few-of-my-favourite-themes\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"assistive-text\">Speaker: Meryl McCay &#8211; These Are A Few Of My Favourite Themes<\/span>  <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13428714,"featured_media":791,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Speaker: Meryl McCay @merylmccay - These Are A Few Of My Favourite Themes https:\/\/wp.me\/p5LFb3-cN #wcbne","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12,5015],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-announcements","category-speaker"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/brisbane.wordcamp.org\/2015\/files\/2015\/05\/Meryl-McCay.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5LFb3-cN","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":891,"url":"https:\/\/brisbane.wordcamp.org\/2015\/speaker-ricky-blacker-how-to-tweak-your-wordpress-theme\/","url_meta":{"origin":793,"position":0},"title":"Speaker: Ricky Blacker &#8211; How To Tweak Your WordPress Theme","author":"Bronson Quick","date":"May 6, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"We've got yet another speaker announcement for you! Once you've learnt about WordPress themes you'll probably want to start customising and creating child themes so Ricky Blacker will teach you how you can get started doing that. Ricky will present a\u00a0simple guide to bending your WordPress theme to your will!\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Announcements&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Announcements","link":"https:\/\/brisbane.wordcamp.org\/2015\/category\/announcements\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brisbane.wordcamp.org\/2015\/files\/2015\/05\/Ricky-Blacker.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brisbane.wordcamp.org\/2015\/files\/2015\/05\/Ricky-Blacker.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brisbane.wordcamp.org\/2015\/files\/2015\/05\/Ricky-Blacker.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":608,"url":"https:\/\/brisbane.wordcamp.org\/2015\/speaker-wil-brown-plugin-development-101\/","url_meta":{"origin":793,"position":1},"title":"Speaker: Wil Brown &#8211; Plugin Development 101","author":"Bronson Quick","date":"April 24, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Are you a master of themes? Are you ready to take the leap and start making your very first WordPress plugin? Well Wil Brown has the perfect talk for you. Wil will be teaching you how to code up your first custom WordPress plugin and he'll even be teaching you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Announcements&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Announcements","link":"https:\/\/brisbane.wordcamp.org\/2015\/category\/announcements\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Wil Brown","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/2015.brisbane.wordcamp.org\/files\/2015\/04\/Wil-Brown.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":828,"url":"https:\/\/brisbane.wordcamp.org\/2015\/speaker-kristen-symonds-15-cool-things-you-maybe-didnt-know-wordpress-could-do\/","url_meta":{"origin":793,"position":2},"title":"Speaker: Kristen Symonds &#8211; 15 Cool Things You (Maybe) Didn&#8217;t Know WordPress Could Do","author":"Bronson Quick","date":"May 4, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"By the end of the WordCamp Brisbane weekend we're aiming to make new WordPress new users leave the event feeling confident with themes, plugins and of course the WordPress admin dashboard! \u00a0Kristen's\u00a0talk is aimed at users to help them get the most out of their WordPress publishing experience. Kristen's\u00a0talk will\u00a0include\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Announcements&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Announcements","link":"https:\/\/brisbane.wordcamp.org\/2015\/category\/announcements\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brisbane.wordcamp.org\/2015\/files\/2015\/05\/Kristen-Symonds.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":506,"url":"https:\/\/brisbane.wordcamp.org\/2015\/speaker-peter-wilson-how-to-get-a-page-speed-score-in-the-90s\/","url_meta":{"origin":793,"position":3},"title":"Speaker: Peter Wilson &#8211; How To Get A Page Speed Score In The 90s!","author":"Bronson Quick","date":"April 18, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Once again we bring you another experienced developer who is also a very active speaker in the Melbourne web community. Peter Wilson has spoken at\u00a0Web Directions Respond 2015, WordCamp Sydney 2014, WordPress Melbourne Meetups, Melbourne's Be Responsive Meetup, SydCSS & MelbCSS Meetups and\u00a0Web Directions WDYK Melbourne! Peter will be teaching\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Announcements&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Announcements","link":"https:\/\/brisbane.wordcamp.org\/2015\/category\/announcements\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Peter-Wilson","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/2015.brisbane.wordcamp.org\/files\/2015\/04\/Peter-Wilson-300x300.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":671,"url":"https:\/\/brisbane.wordcamp.org\/2015\/speaker-dan-petrovic-creative-seo\/","url_meta":{"origin":793,"position":4},"title":"Speaker: Dan Petrovic &#8211; Creative SEO","author":"Bronson Quick","date":"April 25, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"More often than not, if you announce an SEO speaker for\u00a0a tech event, attendees might not get excited. However, we only deliver the best speakers around, so we've locked in Australia's #1 SEO expert! Dan is a not only the #1 SEO in Australia, he's also a worldwide SEO industry\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Announcements&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Announcements","link":"https:\/\/brisbane.wordcamp.org\/2015\/category\/announcements\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brisbane.wordcamp.org\/2015\/files\/2015\/04\/123861869-dan-petrovic-bw.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brisbane.wordcamp.org\/2015\/files\/2015\/04\/123861869-dan-petrovic-bw.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brisbane.wordcamp.org\/2015\/files\/2015\/04\/123861869-dan-petrovic-bw.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brisbane.wordcamp.org\/2015\/files\/2015\/04\/123861869-dan-petrovic-bw.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brisbane.wordcamp.org\/2015\/files\/2015\/04\/123861869-dan-petrovic-bw.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brisbane.wordcamp.org\/2015\/files\/2015\/04\/123861869-dan-petrovic-bw.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":725,"url":"https:\/\/brisbane.wordcamp.org\/2015\/speaker-kate-duffy-how-to-get-visitors-marketing-tropical-north-queensland-with-us\/","url_meta":{"origin":793,"position":5},"title":"Speaker: Kate Duffy &#8211; How To Get Visitors Marketing Tropical North Queensland With Us","author":"Bronson Quick","date":"April 26, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"We've got another great case study for WordCamp Brisbane! Kate Duffy will be giving you amazing insights into how advocacy is a key driver in moving consumers through the path to purchase, with word-of-mouth and recommendations from other travellers being the most honest and effective form of tourism marketing today.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Announcements&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Announcements","link":"https:\/\/brisbane.wordcamp.org\/2015\/category\/announcements\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Kate Duffy","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/2015.brisbane.wordcamp.org\/files\/2015\/04\/Kate-Duffy-200x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brisbane.wordcamp.org\/2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brisbane.wordcamp.org\/2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brisbane.wordcamp.org\/2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brisbane.wordcamp.org\/2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13428714"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brisbane.wordcamp.org\/2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=793"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/brisbane.wordcamp.org\/2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":804,"href":"https:\/\/brisbane.wordcamp.org\/2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793\/revisions\/804"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brisbane.wordcamp.org\/2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brisbane.wordcamp.org\/2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brisbane.wordcamp.org\/2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brisbane.wordcamp.org\/2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}