She has completely and utterly changed the way I view the world, for the better.

My presentation at Wordcamp LasVegas 2012: An introduction to the Multisite feature of WordPress that will help you understand what Multisite is, how to activate the features on you WordPress.org installation, and a walk through of basic features of Multisite. This is followed by several use case scenarios and examples to assist you in determining if Multisite is a viable solution for your next WordPress project. Here are my presentation slides from that talk, if you\’re interested.

We have another HUGE WDS announcement for next Monday.I think that announcement will put all the new hires for WDS in context

— Brad Williams (@williamsba) December 10, 2012

Scott Basgaard, Brad Williams, Lisa Sabin-Wilson and Brian Messenlehner – WordCamp Chicago 2009.

I started referring work to WebDevStudios back in 2009 when some of the requests I was getting at eWebscapes were more advanced, from a programming standpoint (custom plugins, etc), then what was currently within our scope. I first met Brad & Brian and their team at WordCamp Chicago in 2009 and have enjoyed their friendship and business partnership ever since.

I have been fortunate enough to spend time with them over the years, regularly, at events like WordCamps, Blog World and SXSWi – each time they’ve impressed me with stories of the work they are currently involved with and amazing tools and applications they’ve been building. Usually those times involved Brad, Brian and I having a few drinks and joking around about how awesome it would be if we joined forces and took over the world, building rainbows to the moon and back. One time, on a rooftop in NYC, after several beers, I, jokingly, gave Brad a number of what it would take for me to merge – - I am pretty sure he didn’t speak to me for an entire year after that.

Lisa Sabin-Wilson & Brad Williams WordCamp Raleigh 2010

Over the years, WebDevStudios has always impressed me with their work – as well as their involvement in various aspects of the WordPress community, either through live events (Brad is a co-organizer for WordCamp Philly and the WordPress Philly MeetUp group), contributing core code to the WordPress and BuddyPress projects, free plugins in the repository and more.

Brad Williams is a fellow Wiley author with an impressive bibliography of his own as the co-author of the successful line of Professional WordPress books: Professional WordPress and Professional WordPress Plugin Development. Between Brad & I – we have 5 best selling books on the topic of WordPress, with more to come down the road!

Brad, Brian and their team have a passion for the work they do that equals my own, and if I really think about it, our pairing was inevitable – it was just a matter of timing. That time came earlier this year at the WordCamp Baltimore event. The after party to that event involved more than a few adult beverages where Brad, Brian and I, once again, began to talk joining forces and dominating the world….or at least our little corner of it. One late night – after a short journey in the Inner Harbor, which involved pirates, a pirate ship and a bottle of rum, we were all three in agreement: Let’s do it, Arrrrr!

After each of these events, and years of similar conversations, we would usually travel back to our respective homes and get back to the tasks of running our respective businesses. This time, however, when I returned home from Baltimore, I sent an email to the two of them that basically said “Hey guys, what if we stopped joking around about it and had a serious conversation?”

Brad & Brian apparently think I bring a thing or two to the table and were interested. Several phone calls and one trip to Philly later – it was a done deal.

It sounds so easy, doesn’t it? Actually, the merging of two small business LLC’s is a bit more complicated than it seems like it should be – involving lawyers, accountants and LOTS of frank and honest discussion between partners to figure out the fine details. To me it seems like we’ve been working on this for a long time – - and on the same hand, it feels like it’s moving really fast, too! It’s been a lot of fun trying to keep this quiet, as we worked on the details, and went through the process of hiring a handful of new staff – it’s been HARD keeping my mouth shut.

New blog post:Welcome Tom Carney! bit.ly/R2hLha

— webdevstudios (@webdevstudios) December 3, 2012

New blog post:Another Addition to the WDS Family- Jayvie Canono!bit.ly/R7Yzyx@onefinejay

— webdevstudios (@webdevstudios) December 5, 2012

New blog post:We’re not done yet! Welcome Ryan Duff! bit.ly/TRlcW1 cc @ryancduff

— webdevstudios (@webdevstudios) December 10, 2012

We’re not quite done hiring yet, and with a few more new staff announcements to come in the new year, we’re excited!

For friends of ours who knew of our plans over the past few months (You know who you are – it was kinda hard to keep it from our happy WordPress family of geeks!), I thank you for keeping it our little secret until we could get all our ducks in a row to finally make it happen!

I’m happy to announce, effective January 1, 2013, I am officially a full partner at WebDevStudios and am excited to be joining this talented team of code pirates. We have some really exciting plans in store for WebDev in the new year and I’m beyond excited about it. Aside from Brad and Brian, I get to work with amazingly talented folks like Brian Richards, Justin Sternberg, Ryan Duff, Jayvie Cannono, Corey Collins, Michael Beckwith, Tom Carney and April Williams, to name just a few.

For my clients and partners at eWebscapes – you, as well as our history and services, are an important part of the plans we have in store for 2013! After 14 (!!) years of providing web solutions to my clients and partners at eWebscapes – I am more than a little excited about this new chapter and merging with a company like WebDev with their collective caliber of talent and brains – this is a move that I feel awesome about!

So, well ….. happy new year!

Your task this holiday season is to reach out to that person you know – - and we all know one – - the one who needs help…or struggles…or the one who is different, or doesn’t fit in. That person who doesn’t feel good enough. The one who is depressed and feels shame in talking about it. Reach out to that person and talk – and listen. Really listen….and then engage.

That doesn’t mean that it’s all on you to solve their problem – but you just never really know what a difference a willing, honest and open ear can make to someone who is in pain. It’s not for you to judge them and it’s not on you to cure them .. but what if a few moments of your time and a well-intentioned ear helped them get something off their chest … or helped them sort something out, internally … what if that prevented something awful? Or what if it is the impetus for that person to realize that they are not in this life alone and that other people really do care…and really can help.

You call yourself a friend? Then be one. Stop being afraid of behaviors that are different. Stop being ashamed of illness that affects our mental health. Human beings are fragile and mental illness is not a sign of weakness or unworthiness, nor it it a sign that the person afflicted with mental illness is somehow…..less than. Mental illness is a sign that something is wrong – - not unlike symptoms of the common cold, or cancer….something is wrong that needs treatment.

None of us … not a single one of us .. is immune and not one of us deserves a seat on the high horse in life from where we can point fingers of blame and spout solutions without action.

The solution, if it exists, is multi-faceted – but primarily, the solution is organic and it starts with you… with me…reaching out to help …. or reaching out to ask for help, if it is in our capacity to do so.

Mental health is so overwhelming with no easy answers. But it is society’s problem and if you can help, even just a bit, why wouldn’t you try, instead of waiting and hoping that someone, somewhere will legislate it away?

Please just do what you can to try and help someone who has lost their way. As part of the greater community – we owe ourselves that much.

Listening is easy and it is a good first step for those of us who feel helpless in the face of senseless tragedy.

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National Institute of Mental Health

Transforming the understanding and treatment of mental illness through research.

Gift Fund
6001 Executive Boulevard, Room 8104, MSC 9655
Bethesda, MD 20892-9655

A letter should be sent along with the check indicating that the donation is to be used for research and related activities at NIMH. If a contribution is to be made as a memorial, please indicate the name of the deceased as well as a name and address of the individual to whom an acknowledgment can be sent. All donors are acknowledged.

If you are considering a bequest in a will, the will should show the address of the National Institute of Mental Health to avoid confusion about your intentions. Again, the will should indicate that the bequest is to be used to support the research and related activities of NIMH.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to write to the address above or call the NIMH Financial Management Branch at (301) 443-3704.
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― Milton Berle

“Hello little drop down menu, you don’t get nearly as much love as you deserve”.

So, I thought I’d bring it to your attention, in case you are just as guilty as overlooking this little gem as I am.

Now, admittedly, I do not use the Theme Editor in WordPress often, if at all. I love my Coda – so I rarely see that Theme Editor. However, today I was taking screenshots of various Dashboard screens and there it was – - in all it’s goodness – the Theme Documentation drop down menu. Behold:

×

So, when you’re in the Theme Editor and you’re looking at one of the template files – this drop down menu will appear underneath the text editor. Contained in the drop down menu are all of the template tags contained within the template file you’re looking at. Go ahead, select one. See what happened there?

Allow me to show you – - I’m looking at the page.php template file, and when I click on the drop down menu, I can see the template tags I’m dealing with:

×

…and because I’m a naturally curious person at heart, I want to know exactly what the get_footer() tag is doing – so I click it (wouldn’t you??) and then click the Lookup button and LOOK:

×

The documentation is pulled from trunk – and yea, you could just as easily go there and look stuff up – but this is sorta convenient, eh?

So, without asking anyone, or filing a support ticket, or looking it up in the codex, or Googling it, or…. or…anything else – I have ready reference front of my face, just like that.  Now, granted, the references here could stand a bit more meat – for instance, some very popular theme functions don’t have any documentation at all:

×

The tool isn’t supposed to replace actual and full documentation, so you’re not going to find everything you need to know about a certain tag and/or function – but it does give you a quick reference for it and, in most cases, references to sources like the Codex where you can go and find more information.  As a reference tool goes, it’s nice…needs work and could potentially save Googling time since it already tells you where to go to get the information you seek about a certain function (for some, but not all – see the previous image…)

Back when I was first cutting my teeth on WordPress in 2003-2004, what I would have given for something like this at my fingertips.  I think it’s a pretty cool tool

Do you ever use this?  Did you know it was there?  Do you find it helpful/useful at all?  Do you have a scenario where it really, really helped you out?  Just wondering…

WordCamp Grand Rapids – August 18-19th:  Because who doesn’t want to travel to Grand Rapids, Michigan??  It’s always been a dream of mine….  I am speaking Saturday afternoon on the topic of WordPress Multisite – - a user-level presentation focused on introducing the user to the Multisite feature: how, when and why to use it on your own WordPress web site.  I’m also presenting on Sunday morning as part of the WordPress Study Hall hopefully introducing users to the WordPress.Org Support Forums – - a session on how to jump into the Support Forum at WordPress.Org and get started helping users with their burning questions.  You may feel like you don’t know much about WordPress, but odds are – you know more than someone who is just starting and, more than likely, there’s a question or two that you can provide answers to.  Contributing to the WordPress project doesn’t always have to mean contributing code!   The goal of this session is to get users into the support forums helping other users and contributing by helping others find solutions.   (note: my own presence in the .Org Support Forums has been woefully low – using this session to kick myself in the pants!)

WordCamp Chicago – August 25-26th:  Ahhh, Chicago!  No offense to any Camp organizers out there – but Chicago sits in a soft spot in my heart!  I am the former organizer of WordCamp Chicago (2009 and 2010) – - in 2011, when other life-related obligations sprang up and I couldn’t do it anymore – an amazing group of people stepped in and kept it rocking and rolling and moved it forward bigger and better than before!  I’m speaking in Chicago on Sunday August 26 and my session name is “Here’s BuddyPress, Install it Maybe” – an introductory look at the BuddyPress plugin for WordPress.  Discover what BuddyPress is and determine if the features of the BuddyPress plugin meet your needs.  This session takes you through a quick discovery of the features and components of BuddyPress, a walk through on installation and real world examples of BuddyPress in action.  By the end of this session, you’ll have a complete grasp on what BuddyPress is (and isn’t) to enable you to answer the questions “Do I really need it?” and “How hard is it to work with?”

WordCamp Baltimore – September 8-9th:  Run by my long-time friend, Jayvie Canono and his friend, Andy Stratton, this Camp brings me to the Inner Harbor in Baltimore and this trip will be my second visit – - the first one was for the WordCamp Mid-Atlantic gathering in 2010.  I am doing Opening Remarks in Baltimore on Saturday morning at the Maryland Science Center – so my job is to get the Camp rolling, bright and early in the morning.  Anyone who knows me knows that early mornings are a challenge for me – so coffee, or other caffeine related products, are welcome and encouraged!

WordCamp Las Vegas – October 6-7th: Even though organizer, John Hawkins, is a personal friend, PLUS he filled in for me at WordCamp Phoenix last year when I came down with a version of the flu that puts the black plague to shame – - I have never attended the WordCamp in Las Vegas.  This year, I’m changing that by not only attending, but presenting on the topic of WordPress Multisite: an introduction to the Multisite feature of WordPress that helps users understand what Multisite is, how to activate the features on their WordPress.org installation, a walk through of basic features…followed up with several use case scenarios and examples to assist users determine if the Multisite feature is a viable solution for their WordPress project(s), and candy.  Yes, candy – - WordCamps are really great, but candy + WordCamp = teh AWESOME!

WordCamp Philadelphia – October 20-21st: Organizers Brad Williams and Doug Stewart always put on a fine, fine event – this one is usually on my annual “DO NOT MISS” Camp.  They are just getting things rolling over there in Philly, I’ll be submitting my session topic as soon as they start accepting them – so my topic is TBA.  What I do know is that I still have the Aaron Rodgers jersey for Brad – and he has to wear it during WordCamp Philly because last year, he was so certain that the Packers would lose to the Steelers….but he was wrong (wah, wah, wah, wah…) – in return for his misplaced overconfidence, he has to wear the coveted #12 Green & Gold jersey.  Look on the bright side, Brad – it’s not like I’m asking you to wear a Ben Roethlisberger jersey, or anything!

WordPress Community Summit – October 29th:  This is a brand new event this year run by the folks at WordPress.Org, and organized primarily by Jane Wells; the purpose of the event is to: build bridges between the people making WordPress (via the contributor groups) and the people doing the best and most influential work built on top of it, open channels of communication between project leaders, volunteers, and professionals in the community, learn more about each others’ goals, challenges, and ways we can help each other, share best practices and have a few drinks and get to know each other better.  This is a by-invite only event and I am happy, and quite honored, to be among those invited (the list of invites is pretty stellar – the talent that will be descending down on Tybee is downright amazing).  The event is being held on Tybee Island, GA – which I have visited twice in the recent past and LOVE having the opportunity to go again (the seafood at the Crab Shack is to DIE FOR).

Pressnomics – November 8-10:  Held in Chandler, AZ, this is also a brand new event and that I am happy to be attending.  WordPress supports a hugely successful commercial ecosystem. Commercial entities of all stripes serve the market of ~72 million WordPress powered websites with themes, plugins, hosting, and service based consulting.Pressnomics aims to bring these companies and professionals together in an atmosphere of learning and collaboration.  PressNomics aims to be a once year gathering of global WordPress professionals to learn, foster collaboration, and build new strategies for commercial success in the growing WordPress ecosystem.  This is a new kind of event in the WordPress world, I’m interested to see its success and future growth!

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So, yea….that’s my itinerary for the next few months…guess who will be living out of a suitcase?

Please let me know if you’ll be in attendance at any (or several) of these events – would love to meet you, say hi and press a few words! (see what I did there??)