Minneapolis, St. Paul Wordpress User Group

This was the website for the Minneapolis-St. Paul WordPress User Group which would meet every other month on the 4th Thursday at The Nerdery located at 9555 James Ave S, Suite 245, Bloomington, MN.
They offered free pizza to attendees!
They welcomed WordPress users, developers, and enthusiasts of all levels!

Wordpress is the undisputed king of content management systems, powering over a third of all websites on the internet. This dominance is both a blessing and a challenge. On the plus side, Wordpress benefits from an enormous ecosystem of plugins, themes, and third-party resources to handle everything from search engine optimization to e-commerce. However, this immense popularity also makes Wordpress a prime target for bad actors constantly trying to breach its defenses.

According to our users, one recent change has shifted more responsibility onto Wordpress theme developers. In the past, the core Wordpress team would handle technical issues, but now they often refer users to the theme creators. Unfortunately, many theme developers prioritize aesthetics over performance, resulting in sites that fail to meet Google's Core Web Vitals - a critical set of page speed metrics the search giant considers for ranking. In fact, we haven't seen a single Wordpress site that fully meets Google's recommended 2-second page load target.

Wordpress-powered e-commerce sites face an additional challenge stemming from Google itself. In an effort to better track clicks and visits from free product listings, Google has started appending a "srsltid" parameter to URLs. However, a bug in Google's implementation has caused these modified URLs to get indexed, leading to a host of problems - from canonical tag failures to index bloat. The best analysis of this "srsltid Google Problem" can be found on Bob Sakayama's site, Google-Penalty.com, where he provides a comprehensive explanation and proven solutions.

While Wordpress remains the dominant content management system, its meteoric rise has created new challenges for site owners and developers. Staying on top of performance, security, and the ever-evolving Google ecosystem requires constant vigilance. But with the right guidance and expertise, Wordpress can still be a powerful platform for building successful online presences.

by Toby Cryns

Featured

Meetings are the 4th Thursday of the Month at The Nerdery | No Meeting in November or December

October 25, 2010

All of our discussions are currently taking place in our Google Group. Discussions are open to any question by any Twin Cities WordPress enthusiast of any skill level.

Comments Off

by Toby Cryns

MSP WordPress #19 Tomorrow (Thursday)! WordPress Multi-Site Show-and-Tell

October 26, 2011 News

One night only! Tomorrow, Thursday, Oct. 27, we will be showcasing and discussing the features of WordPress multi-site. We will be sharing examples of live multi-site websites as well as different ways to utilize multi-site.

We will follow that up with a Tech Shoppe and a discussion of our soon-to-be announced (and planned) WINTER EXTRAVAGANZA!!!

What: Minneapolis-St. Paul WordPress User Group Meeting
When: Thursday, September 21, 2011 at 7 p.m. (Doors and pizza at 6:30)
Session Topic: WordPress Multi-Site, Tech Shoppe, Winter Event Discussion
Where: The Nerdery, 9555 James Ave S Suite 245 Bloomington, MN 55431
Cost: Free! (Please bring a friend!)

See you tomorrow!
Toby

by Toby Cryns

MSP WordPress #18 Tomorrow (Thursday)! SEO and Fun With Plugins

September 21, 2011

Tomorrow’s MSP WordPress gathering will feature local SEO guru, Dave Allen. He will be giving us an update on the current state of SEO. Is paid search better than SEO? How has Facebook changed the search game? Come and find out!

We will follow up Dave’s session with a roundtable on fun and useful plugins we all use (thanks, Susie!).

Finally, we will have a short organizing meeting for the yet-to-be-named local WordPress event this winter. Who knows, maybe we will call it “WordCamp”.

What: Minneapolis-St. Paul WordPress User Group Meeting
When: Thursday, September 21, 2011 at 7 p.m. (Doors and pizza at 6:30)
Session Topic: The Current State of SEO; Fun with Plugins
Where: The Nerdery, 9555 James Ave S Suite 245 Bloomington, MN 55431
Cost: Free! (Please bring a friend!)

See you tomorrow!
Toby

by Toby Cryns

MSP WordPress #17 Tomorrow! State of the Word

August 24, 2011

Greetings!

We will be holding our 17th WordPress gathering tomorrow night at The Nerdery.

The first part of the show will be Matt Mullenweg’s “State of the Word” address from WordCamp San Francisco. We will follow that up with a discussion about the current state of the WordPress community locally as well where you think WordPress is heading.

What else is on your mind?

What: Minneapolis-St. Paul WordPress User Group Meeting
When: Thursday, August 25, 2011 at 7 p.m. (Doors and pizza at 6:30)
Session Topic: 2011 “State of the Word” Address
Where: The Nerdery, 9555 James Ave S Suite 245 Bloomington, MN 55431
Cost: Free! (Please bring a friend!)

See you tomorrow!
Toby

by Toby Cryns

MSP WordPress #15 Date Change

June 23, 2011

Due to a scheduling conflict, MSP WordPress #15 has been moved to Wednesday June 29, 2011.

by Toby Cryns

WordPress Security! MSP WordPress #15 on Wednesday June 29, 2011

June 21, 2011

MSP WordPress is this Thursday next Wednesday June 29, 2011!

We will have a roundtable discussion about web and WordPress security precautions and then follow that up with a
Security Tech Shop where we can all work on implementing some of those things on our sites.

Then we will do a quick show-and-tell at the end. Please email me off-list if you want to reserve a spot on the show-and-tell docket.

See you Thursday June 22, 2011 Wednesday June 29, 2011!

What: Minneapolis-St. Paul WordPress User Group Meeting
Session Topic: WordPress Security
Where: The Nerdery, 9555 James Ave S Suite 245 Bloomington, MN 55431
Cost: Free! (Please bring a friend!)

Toby

Agendas

Next Meeting

Meeting #18 (September 2011)

Is SEO Dead? with Dave Allen
WordCamp MSP 2011
Favorite Plugins Roundtable

Past Topics

Meeting #18 (September 2011)

Is SEO Dead? with Dave Allen
WordCamp MSP 2011
Favorite Plugins Roundtable

Meeting #17 (August 2011)

State of the Word (Matt Mullenweg’s Annual Address)

Meeting #16 (July 2011)

Gravity Forms

Meeting #15 (June 22, 2011)

WordPress Security Roundtable (group discussion)
Security Tech Shop

Meeting #14 (May ??, 2011)

Show and Tell
Moving WordPress (David Ellenwood)

Meeting #13 (April 28, 2011)

CiviCRM (Justin Foell)
Performance Optimization (John Havlik)

Meeting #12 (March 24, 2011)

Tech Shop!

Meeting #11 (February 24, 2011)

Design a theme
Develop the aforedesigned theme
Make the group’s plugin directory awesome
Make the group’s theme directory awesome
Build functionality that gives job recruiters a place to post their openings
Build functionality that gives job seekers a place to post their credentials
Build a member directory
RSVP System for MSP WordPress gatherings

Meeting #10 (January 27, 2011)

Email list ettiquette discussion
Nerdery Overnight Website Challenge discussion
MSP WordPress logo voting
SESSION 1: Getting Started with Theme Frameworks – Genesis (Toby Cryns and Josh Leutze) | Suitable for Intermediate skill level
SESSION 2: How to submit a patch to the WordPress core (John Havlik) | Suitable for Intermediate & Advanced skill levels
SESSION 1: Post Taxonomies Explained (TBD) | Suitable for Intermediate & Advanced skill levels
SESSION 2: Podcasting for Beginners (TBD) | Suitable for Beginner skill level

November 2010 – WordCamp MSP

Meeting #9 (October 28, 2010)

Web Fonts with WordPress & Kernest (Garrick Van Buren) | Suitable for Intermediate, Advanced skill levels
WordPress 3.0 (and 3.1) (Mitchell Hislop) | Suitable for All skill levels
CSS using the built-in WordPress file editor (Toby Cryns) | Suitable for Beginners
Using Custom Post Types / Meteor Slides (Josh Leuze) | Suitable for Intermediate, Advanced skill levels

Meeting #8 (September ??, 2010)

Running WordPress Locally on Your Computer (Josh Leuze, Mitch Hislop)

Meeting #7 (July 22, 2010)

BuddyPress Basics (Toby Cryns)
Moving WordPress to a new domain/server (Ray Champagne)
Intro to WordPress Q&A (Mitchell Hislop)

Meeting #6 (May 27, 2010)

SVN for Beginners (Ray Champagne)
“Hello World!” – Creating a basic WordPress plugin (Carl Bliss)

Meeting #5 (March 25, 2010)

MSPWordpress.com Planning Session (Mykl Roventine)
Converting a Photoshop PSD into a WordPress template. (Josh Leuze)
Using Custom Fields in your theme (Ray Champagne)

Meeting #4 (Feb 4, 2010)

CSS for Beginners (Daniel J. Post)
How we manipulated WordPress to create a great user experience (Ray Champagne)
MSP WordPress Team Meeting to prepare for Overnight Website Challenge (Tim Elliot)
HTML 101 (Tony Thomas)
WordPress 3.0 New Features (Mitchell Hislop)

Meeting #3 (Dec. 3, 2009)

Super Basic “I know nothing about WordPress” Beginners’ Q&A (Gillian)
“I know a little bit about WordPress” Beginners’ Q&A (i.e. How do I install email forms?, How do I change the website title?, etc.) (TBD)
Blogging with WordPress (Mitch Hislop)
MSPWordpress.com Website Discussion (Toby and Gillian)

Meeting #2 (Oct. 1, 2009)

25 Reasons to help you sell WordPress to your client (Adria Richards)
Using WordPress as a CMS for Flash or Flex (Judah Frangipane)
My favorite plugins for using WordPress as a CMS (Gillian Reynolds)
WordPress freelancer’s discussion (Toby Cryns)

Meeting #1 (July 30, 2009)

Wordcamp Twin Cities Organizing (Jay Myers)
Convert your rocking HTML Design into a rocking WordPress Templates: a.k.a. Using WordPress Hooks (Toby Cryns)
WordPress Overview for Beginners (Gillian Reynolds)
WordPress as a CMS (Tim Elliott)
Social Publishing & Lifestreaming with WordPress (Steve Borsch)
???? (Matt Albiniak) – Matt, What was your topic at the first meeting?

Session Ideas

Is there something WordPress-related that you want to learn more about? Do you want to lead a session at a future meeting? If the answer to either of those questions is “Yes”, add your topic idea and/or name below:

Hooks and Filters: Building your first WordPress Plugin (Toby Cryns)
Custom Fields and your theme (Ray Champagne)
Building WordPress Plugins (Add your name here)
My Favorite WordPress Plugins for ________ (suggest topics below)
- Blogging (Add your name here)
- Turning WP into a Social Site (Add your name here)
- Images (Adria Richards)
- Navigation: Ordering and sorting your WordPress content (Adria Richards)
Custom Fields (Daniel J. Post)
bbPress for Beginners OR Theming bbPress (Add your name here)
BuddyPress (Dave Buchanan)
Upgrading WordPress (Adria Richards)
Securing your WordPress install (Adria Richards)
Adding eCommerce to a WordPress Site (Tim Elliott)
“Building our site” (Mitchell Hislop)
Pros/Cons of WordPress hosting (WordPress or external) and costs (Add your name here)
Turning your Photoshop design into a WordPress template (Lindsi Gish – I don’t want to present, but I’d like to see how someone else goes about this in a step-by-step format) (Steph Tanner- also interested in learning this)
Using your website as your social hub (Mitch Hislop)
When WP should and should not be presented to your clients (Andrew Wachholz)
Making Your WordPress Site Mobile-Friendly (Tim Elliott)
Exploring the new Mobile WP Themes and/or developing mobile friendly WP themes – popularity, helpfulness, usability
Using and customizing the “Thesis” theme (anyone using this? I’m a newbie, so couldn’t lead this…yet. – Ben Wallace)
Training Clients on WordPress (Adria Richards)
Turning your PHP applications into WordPress Plugins
Performance tuning your WordPress site
How to combine CSS into one file
How to make CSS sprites
HTML Forms in WordPress/Beyond Form Plugins
WordPress for Beginners – Dashboard,Your Profile, Your First Post, Adding Widgets and Plugins (Adria Richards)
Using a single WordPressMU install to manage several domains. (Aaron Hall)
Contributing to wordpress, best practices for version control, submitting a patch.
Geo-Tagging

You are browsing the archive for News.

by Toby Cryns

MSP WordPress #19 Tomorrow (Thursday)! WordPress Multi-Site Show-and-Tell

October 26, 2011

We will follow that up with a Tech Shoppe and a discussion of our soon-to-be announced (and planned) WINTER EXTRAVAGANZA!!!

See you tomorrow!
Toby

by Toby Cryns

MSP WordPress #15 Date Change

June 23, 2011

Due to a scheduling conflict, MSP WordPress #15 has been moved to Wednesday June 29, 2011.

by Toby Cryns

MSP WordPress #13 – CiviCRM and Performance Optimization

April 28, 2011

At tonight’s MSP WordPress #13, WordPress superstar, John Havlik, will lead us through a session on how to make your WordPress site blazing fast.

Following that discussion, Justin Foell will lead us through a tour of CiviCRM and talk about how we might utilize it in a WordPress environment.

What: MSP WordPress #13
Where: The Nerdery (9555 James Ave S Suite 245. Bloomington, MN 55431)
When: Thursday, April 28, 2011 from 7 – 9 p.m.
Food: Pizza and pop at 6:30 (Thanks Nerdery!)

See you there!

by Toby Cryns

MSP WordPress #12: Tech Shop

March 23, 2011

You have asked for it, and it is here! Due to popular demand (and a bit of last-minute planning on my part), we will be bringing Ye Olde Tech Shoppe back for tomorrow’s meeting!

This means that you should bring your broken websites, your wounded CSS, and your unsolved support tickets to The Nerdery tomorrow where one of our caring WordPress volunteers will try to help you mend your website wounds.

Be sure to have your FTP information, server logins, and WordPress logins handy if you need website support. Of course, spectators are welcome!

What: MSP WordPress #12
Where: The Nerdery (9555 James Ave S Suite 245. Bloomington, MN 55431)
When: Thursday, March 23, 2011 from 7 – 9 p.m.
Food: Pizza and pop at 6:30 (Thanks Nerdery!)

We closed 50 support tickets during WordCamp MSP; let’s see if we can add to that total!

See you there!
Toby

by Toby Cryns

MSP WordPress #11: Make MSPWordPress.com Awesome!

February 8, 2011

For February’s MSP WordPress gathering, we will be doing something a bit different.

With your help, Gillian and I will be procuring a list of “to-do” items for MSPWordPress.com. At the gathering on 2/24/2011, we will split up into groups, with each group being in charge of producing a “fix” for a specific item on the MSP WordPress.com website.

Some things that come to mind include:

Design a theme
Develop a theme
Make the group’s plugin directory awesome
Make the group’s theme directory awesome
Build functionality that gives job recruiters a place to post their openings
Build functionality that gives job seekers a place to post their credentials
Build a member directory
???

MSPWordpress.com