WordCamp Philly’s Race Street Track

a wordcloud of topics for the Race Street track, including JavaScript, PHP, development, transients, website security, React, accessibility and headless CMS

The second of the WordCamp Philly 2019 tracks is the Race Street Track, one of the original streets from William Penn’s plan of the city dating to the 1680s. On Penn’s plan it was Sassafras Street; the name Race Street dates to the 1800s when it was used for horse races.

The track — which will include plenty about development, security, enterprise WordPress and headless CMS, but no horse racing — will be in the Sculpture Center on the second floor of The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

The sessions and speakers for the Race Street track are:

Create Your Own Plugin for WP Editor Blocks

Presented by Paul Barthmaier

The recent shift in the WordPress editor serves as a harbinger of the exciting changes in store for the rest of WordPress. These changes, however, also carry with them some fear and concern for developers about how to adapt their code properly. In this talk, we’ll discuss the conceptual framework surrounding the need for JavaScript blocks and the role that PHP continues to play for the new editor. We will also produce a plugin that can serve as a basis for incorporating the many snippets found in the Gutenberg Handbook documentation.

Everything I Wish I Knew Before Using WordPress as a Headless CMS

Presented by David Ryan

Large companies have used WordPress as a headless CMS for a few years now, but lately it’s easier than ever for developers to leverage technologies like the WordPress REST API and WP-GraphQL with React and Vue to build JavaScript front ends instead of traditional WordPress themes. There are some great performance, security and developer experience upgrades gained from decoupling, but also some hazards speaker David Ryan wished he knew before starting headless projects. In this presentation he’ll explore a few of the best tools for going headless and how to solve some of the problems you’ll encounter along the way.

Getting Started with Transients

Presented by Sal Ferrarello

Computers are good at doing things quickly, but some things take longer than others (even for computers). Transients are a great tool for freeing your website from repetitive, time-intensive tasks. This talk will look at examples of when a transient can be helpful and the code used to implement them.

Myths and Facts About Securing Your Site

Presented by Aaron Campbell

You know security is important and want your site to be secure, but what will actually help? There’s so much information to be found on securing your site, but what are the myths and what actually helps? Find out how to avoid the myths and implement real security.

The Unique Challenges of Enterprise WordPress

Presented by Jeff Matson

This talk addresses the unique challenges that enterprise sites face when using WordPress and various ways to combat them for a smooth experience.

The Website Auditing Process

Presented by Drew Poland

Inheriting sites and the onboard/audit process to make life easy and provide your clients with huge value.

WordPress the JAMstack Way

Presented by Daniel Olsen

Daniel Olsen will talk about the future of WordPress by starting with the past. Specifically, the challenge to learn JavaScript deeply and why he believes it’s still our biggest opportunity. He’ll also discuss the JAMstack, a modern web development approach using JavaScript, APIs, and Markup. It sounds new, but in fact, WordPress has been doing this since the first Gutenberg block. He will demonstrate using this approach with concepts related to Gutenberg, the WordPress REST API, the role of accessibility, voice as an interface, and more. This session welcomes all WordCamp attendees, from seasoned developers to community newcomers. It’s designed to inspire and set the stage for what’s possible.

Find Out More

Visit the Schedule page to see all the tracks and talks lined up for WordCamp Philly 20189. Then head over to the Tickets page to register for the event.

WordCamp Philly is over. Check out the next edition!