I am a WordPress theme developer and coach. I run a WP design and development agency and apart from that I conduct 1-on-1 and group sessions for WP training.

While offering my development and training services, I often come across some common questions and WP errors that trouble the users. Many times, they get horrified seeing some PHP error message.

So, you must be wondering how I am going to help you solve these problems? 

Fixing common WP errors:

1. Help Yourself:
   I will be talking about fixing these common errors and how WP users can maintain their sites with ease. I relate it to a real life example of riding a scooter or bike. Whatever we own, we should know  the basic troubleshooting as you won’t always find a mechanic come to our rescue at the earliest.
2. Patience and Google are your friends: 
   The key to fixing or troubleshooting a WP site is “patience”. Instead of being horrified or worried about  losing your site and data, it’s time to keep calm and look for the solution. A lot of common errors and their solutions can be found online on WP.org support forums and popular WP websites like WP Beginner, ManageWP Blog, Tutsplus etc.
3. Breaking the myth, “I am not a developer, I can’t fix it”
   Most WP users think that they need to be a developer to fix common issues or make minor changes to their site’s styling. But, that’s wrong. Most PHP errors are presented in plain english, clearly mentioning the cause of error, the filename and line number which needs to be fixed. A close look at the error will guide you in the right direction and you will be able to fix it. It’s no rocket science! Trust me.
4. Get control of your site’s styling – Understanding CSS
   A site’s styling is controlled by CSS and if you understand English, it’s quite easy to understand CSS. Most CSS properties relate with basic technical terms of website design.
5. Some productivity tips:
   There are times when you have tried to add a nice looking “About me” section to your site’s sidebar and you wondered you can’t do that because you don’t know how to write HTML? I have got a trick, you can use WP post editor. The post editor will write the HTML and CSS for you and you can simply copy-paste the code instead of looking for a plugin or some tutorial online.

I will be presenting a demo for editing CSS, understanding and fixing PHP errors. This session will be helpful for beginner and intermediate WP users. If you are attending WordCamp Mumbai and have any requests for topics that I should cover during my session then please feel free to drop a comment. Please make sure that your questions are related to my session and I will try my best to answer them.

Over the years, we have seen various approaches in handling code versions. From saving multiple copies of files to taking back ups on multiple machines, people have tried (and failed with) almost everything that was deemed possible. All this changed towards the end of last decade.

The Linux community gave the world Git, a distributed version control system which has since become the de-facto standard in modern workflows.

The session will start with a basic introduction and will run through basic git commands. I will then touch upon how Git can be used in WordPress development to dramatically improve your workflow. This will be followed by how to create and use a Github account.

It will conclude with a section on how to use Git from within your favorite code editor. The session will include demos for most topics covered.

Summary of the topics included in the talk

• Introduction to Git.
• Installing Git on your development machine.
• Basic features and commands.
• Setting up a WordPress theme with Git
• Setting up a Github account and hosting your work on Github
• WordPress and Github

Experienced developers may also be able to pick up something new. Either way, the session will provide you with insights to the importance of Git in modern WordPress development workflow.