{"id":1728,"date":"2017-10-27T12:10:55","date_gmt":"2017-10-27T17:10:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/2017.dfw.wordcamp.org\/?p=1728"},"modified":"2017-10-27T12:10:55","modified_gmt":"2017-10-27T17:10:55","slug":"wcdfw-speaker-spotlight-amanda-giles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/wcdfw-speaker-spotlight-amanda-giles\/","title":{"rendered":"WCDFW Speaker Spotlight: Amanda Giles"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Topic:\u00a0The Way to Theme Enlightenment<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Amanda Giles is WordPress Evangelist and Enthusiast who loves converting people to WordPress. She\u2019s been developing websites since 1994 and has been building WordPress themes since 2009. She hails from New Hampshire where she founded the Seacoast NH WordPress meetup in 2011. She works as an independent consultant and also as part of Spark Development, a small agency focusing on WordPress web development. You can often locate Amanda by her loud sneezes and it\u2019s likely because of these sneezes that she leads such a blessed life.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How did you get involved in WordPress?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve been a programmer for years and started developing websites around 2000. These were sporadic projects and often simple and small. I started working with WordPress in 2009 when my brother-in-law handed off a small WordPress site to me which he was too busy to work on. This was a fantastic start as he was still there to advise me, but I got to get my hands dirty and build a site on my own.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What do you do with WordPress?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I develop sites in WordPress for individual clients and agencies. These websites often have complex data needs or interaction. I&#8217;m usually receiving a design from a designer and I&#8217;m both building the front end of the site as well as architecting and building out the back end. Most often I&#8217;m creating a custom theme, but sometimes it&#8217;s a plugin (or a theme and a plugin) instead.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What has your experience with the WordPress community been like?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The WordPress community is amazing. I love going to WordCamps because it feels like going to a family reunion and I learn so much. The people I meet are always so friendly and I love that the ethos of the community seems to reflect the open source philosophy. I love it so much I started the Seacoast NH WordPress meetup in 2011.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why did you want to speak at WordCamp DFW?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I love visiting new WordCamps and I have a good friend who moved to Dallas a few years ago (from NH where I live). That combined with a JetBlue sale made it an easy decision!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why did you decide to speak on themes?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>My session is an attempt to teach all the things I wish I had known when I first started writing themes. I&#8217;ve been creating themes for a while now and I want to pass on what I can and demystify some aspects of theme development.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What do you hope the audience gets from your talk?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I hope that folks already developing themes will up their game. I want them to learn some new techniques, better understand other things, and be unafraid to try some new things.<\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/2017.dfw.wordcamp.org\/tickets\/\">Tickets are now on sale<\/a>\u00a0for this year\u2019s WordCamp DFW held on Nov. 11-12. There are also plenty of opportunities to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/2017.dfw.wordcamp.org\/call-for-sponsors\/\">sponsor the event<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/2017.dfw.wordcamp.org\/call-for-volunteers\/\">help run it<\/a>. We hope to see you there!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Topic:\u00a0The Way to Theme Enlightenment Amanda Giles is WordPress Evangelist and Enthusiast who loves converting people to WordPress. She\u2019s been developing websites since 1994 and has been building WordPress themes since 2009. She hails from New Hampshire where she founded the Seacoast NH WordPress meetup in 2011. She works as an independent consultant and also &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/wcdfw-speaker-spotlight-amanda-giles\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;WCDFW Speaker Spotlight: Amanda Giles&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8005857,"featured_media":1729,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"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":"WCDFW Speaker Spotlight: Amanda Giles","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":[1158652],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wordcamp-dfw-speakers"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/files\/2017\/10\/amanda-giles.jpg?fit=2000%2C1200&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8K1gz-rS","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1509,"url":"https:\/\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/wordcamp-dfw-speakers-round-three\/","url_meta":{"origin":1728,"position":0},"title":"WordCamp DFW Speakers: Round Three","author":"Jacob Martella","date":"October 2, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"With WordCamp DFW just 40 days away, the organizing team is ready to announce the next round of speakers for this year\u2019s event. The schedule for WordCamp DFW 2017 will be released in the near future. So, here is the next round of confirmed speakers for WordCamp DFW 2017: Adam\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;WordCamp DFW Announcements&quot;","block_context":{"text":"WordCamp DFW Announcements","link":"https:\/\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/category\/wordcamp-dfw-announcements\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Interior of symphony hall","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/files\/2017\/09\/symphony-hall.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/files\/2017\/09\/symphony-hall.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/files\/2017\/09\/symphony-hall.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/files\/2017\/09\/symphony-hall.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/files\/2017\/09\/symphony-hall.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2396,"url":"https:\/\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/wcdfw-speaker-spotlight-sara-graybill\/","url_meta":{"origin":1728,"position":1},"title":"WCDFW Speaker Spotlight: Sara Graybill","author":"Jacob Martella","date":"November 7, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Topic:\u00a0Creating A Digital Marketing Strategy That Works Sara is the owner of Graybill Creative, a web design and digital marketing agency. She has been helping business owners and non-profits with their digital marketing since 2009. She does that through website design and development, technical services, and online marketing consulting. Find\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;WordCamp DFW Speakers&quot;","block_context":{"text":"WordCamp DFW Speakers","link":"https:\/\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/category\/wordcamp-dfw-speakers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/files\/2017\/11\/sara-graybill.jpg?fit=1200%2C720&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/files\/2017\/11\/sara-graybill.jpg?fit=1200%2C720&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/files\/2017\/11\/sara-graybill.jpg?fit=1200%2C720&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/files\/2017\/11\/sara-graybill.jpg?fit=1200%2C720&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/files\/2017\/11\/sara-graybill.jpg?fit=1200%2C720&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1847,"url":"https:\/\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/wcdfw-keynote-speaker-spotlight-carrie-dils\/","url_meta":{"origin":1728,"position":2},"title":"WCDFW Keynote Speaker Spotlight: Carrie Dils","author":"Jacob Martella","date":"October 26, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Carrie Dils enrolled at Texas Christian University in the late 1990s. She graduated four years later with a degree in criminal justice. She\u2019s never used that degree since. Instead, during her time at TCU, Dils took an HTML course, created a website for her department at TCU and became hooked\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;WordCamp DFW Speakers&quot;","block_context":{"text":"WordCamp DFW Speakers","link":"https:\/\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/category\/wordcamp-dfw-speakers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/files\/2017\/10\/carrie-dils.jpg?fit=1200%2C720&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/files\/2017\/10\/carrie-dils.jpg?fit=1200%2C720&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/files\/2017\/10\/carrie-dils.jpg?fit=1200%2C720&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/files\/2017\/10\/carrie-dils.jpg?fit=1200%2C720&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/files\/2017\/10\/carrie-dils.jpg?fit=1200%2C720&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1363,"url":"https:\/\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/wordcamp-dfw-speakers-round-two\/","url_meta":{"origin":1728,"position":3},"title":"WordCamp DFW Speakers: Round Two","author":"Jacob Martella","date":"September 25, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"With WordCamp DFW just 47 days away, the organizing team is ready to announce the next round of speakers for this year\u2019s event. The schedule for WordCamp DFW 2017 will be released in the near future. So, here is the next round of confirmed speakers for WordCamp DFW 2017: Kevin\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;WordCamp DFW Announcements&quot;","block_context":{"text":"WordCamp DFW Announcements","link":"https:\/\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/category\/wordcamp-dfw-announcements\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Interior of symphony hall","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/files\/2017\/09\/symphony-hall.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/files\/2017\/09\/symphony-hall.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/files\/2017\/09\/symphony-hall.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/files\/2017\/09\/symphony-hall.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/files\/2017\/09\/symphony-hall.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1188,"url":"https:\/\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/wordcamp-dfw-speakers-round-one\/","url_meta":{"origin":1728,"position":4},"title":"WordCamp DFW Speakers: Round One","author":"Jacob Martella","date":"September 20, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"With WordCamp DFW just 52 days away, the organizing committee is ready to announce the first round of speakers for this year\u2019s event. If you still want to speak at this year\u2019s WordCamp DFW, don\u2019t worry; there\u2019s still time. You can still fill out an application here. The deadline for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;WordCamp DFW Announcements&quot;","block_context":{"text":"WordCamp DFW Announcements","link":"https:\/\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/category\/wordcamp-dfw-announcements\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Interior of symphony hall","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/files\/2017\/09\/symphony-hall.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/files\/2017\/09\/symphony-hall.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/files\/2017\/09\/symphony-hall.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/files\/2017\/09\/symphony-hall.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/files\/2017\/09\/symphony-hall.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1339,"url":"https:\/\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/wcdfw-speaker-spotlight-treva-marshall\/","url_meta":{"origin":1728,"position":5},"title":"WCDFW Speaker Spotlight: Treva Marshall","author":"Jacob Martella","date":"October 4, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Topic: SEO, Design, and Analtyics \u2013 The WordPress Tifecta That Brings In More Traffic, Leads, and Income Treva Marshall is the owner of Marshall Web Studio, where she uses her signature SMART Website System\u2122 to help small businesses create a powerful website that\u2019s not only beautiful but also search engine\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;WordCamp DFW Speakers&quot;","block_context":{"text":"WordCamp DFW Speakers","link":"https:\/\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/category\/wordcamp-dfw-speakers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/files\/2017\/09\/treva-marshall.jpg?fit=1200%2C720&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/files\/2017\/09\/treva-marshall.jpg?fit=1200%2C720&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/files\/2017\/09\/treva-marshall.jpg?fit=1200%2C720&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/files\/2017\/09\/treva-marshall.jpg?fit=1200%2C720&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/files\/2017\/09\/treva-marshall.jpg?fit=1200%2C720&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8005857"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1728"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1728\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1956,"href":"https:\/\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1728\/revisions\/1956"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dfw.wordcamp.org\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}