Brendan Sera-Shriar has been an interactive designer, developer, college and university professor, community manager, author, consultant, and professional speaker at some of the largest corporations and festivals in the world, including Microsoft, Mozilla Firefox, Sun Microsystems, WordCamp, BlogWorld, SXSW and more. His work has also appeared in TechCrunch, TechVibes, WordPress TV, and a host of other blogs. He was also featured in the October 2012 issue of Marketing Magazine.
Not only does Brendan help others build their businesses he has also founded a few himself, including StartupBump, Creer Magazine, and PressWork just to name a few.
Despite being known best for his work as a WordPress designer, developer, and WordCamp speaker and organizer, Brendan’s best communications skills lie in his ability to help organizations understand how they can build communities around their products and services. thebrendans.com, @digibomb
Brendan is presenting: Build a Responsive WordPress Theme with Zurbs Foundation Framework
1) Why do you like using WordPress?
That is a HUGE question 🙂 I’ve been using WordPress since v1.2. I stumbled upon it by pure chance and it has played an important role in my career. I like it Because it is easy to use for the developer, designer, and the client. The WordPress community is one of the most active, supportive, vocal, and passionate communities I have come across. I can always find the answers I’m looking for. And, it’s pretty much a web standard these days in terms of CMSs.
2) Why did you decide to speak at WordCamp Ottawa?
To be honest, it is the only WordCamp in Canada I have yet to speak at! I’m always interested in learning about other WordPress communities and I’m looking forward to meet in person with Ottawa WP’ers I’ve only connected with online.
3) What is the one thing you want people to walk away with from your talk?
That building a responsive theme is no longer a choice – it is mandatory! And, it is easier to do than you think.
4) What is your favourite WordPress plugin or theme? Why?
Favourite theme – Reverie by Themefortress (http://themefortress.com/reverie-5), because it is the most stable and up to date Foundation theme framework. Plugin – at the moment that would be Simple Fields (http://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-fields/) as a theme developer it allows me to add extremely useful options for my clients in the dashboard for managing their sites.
