WordPress Web Development Certificate Program

CERTIFICATE OF COMPLETION

All students who finish this program will receive a signed certificate of completion verifying their participation in the program.

In this certificate program you will learn how to efficiently create custom WordPress themes using industry-standard web development tools, a robust parent theme called WP Jump Start and a variety of labor-saving plugins. This is a 6-day Tuesday program extending over 7 weeks - please see scheduled dates.

Program Description

Learn to build robust, responsive, mobile-friendly, and completely customized WordPress websites in this six-week Certificate Program.

We will use a full-featured WordPress theme (WP Jump Start) that is based on Twitter Bootstrap (the most popular HTML, CSS, and Javascript framework on which to build any type of website, whether it is WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, or static HTML).

You will learn how to build sites start to finish, including how to create a local development environment and deploy to a web server using Desktop Server software (https://serverpress.com/get-desktopserver/).

The WP Jump Start framework comes with an incredibly versatile page/template builder that allows you to create very dynamic and modern-looking websites featuring:

  • Full-width content blocks with optional parallax scrolling, background images, sliders, transparency, and more! View details and video demonstration at: https://wordpress.org/plugins/theme-blvd-layout-builder/
  • Layout elements including Jumbotron text over a slider, columns, Google maps, pricing charts, progress bars, promotional blocks, calls to action, and much more!
  • Shortcodes for components such as accordions, tabbed content, buttons, dividers, columns, alert boxes, icon lists, and much more!
  • Options for sticky header, deep footer, and mega menu.

Using a combination of engaging lectures and hands-on coding activities, you will build a fully-functional "Sweet Nothings" candy shop website that takes advantage of all the cool features of this dynamic theme. Click on the thumbnail below to see a preview of the theme you'll build in class.

To see the sophisticated sites others have created with this theme framework, see our Pinterest board.

During and shortly after taking this class, students have created very beautiful websites for clients around the world.

Following the course, you are invited to join a Google Group for ongoing support and attend monthly meetups where past students gather to discuss tools, resources, and strategy as well as collaborate on projects.

Prerequisites

You should have a good understanding of HTML and CSS and solid experience working with the WordPress dashboard (posts, pages, media library, categories, settings, adding plugins and themes). Ideally, you should have some experience customizing WordPress themes for clients and are ready to take your skills and what you can offer to the next level both in terms of efficiency and function as well as modern aesthetic. We highly recommend the following courses to support your getting the most out of this certificate program:

* These two classes will introduce you to concepts we will go into depth with and give you a good foundation for this advanced six-week course.

Computer Requirement

This is a hands-on class where you'll "learn by doing" - therefore you'll need a computer (Mac or PC). If you need any particular software installed, that will be detailed below. Not all programs require special software so if there isn't any detailed listed below you will only need a computer with an up-to-date web browser.

If you would like to take your class work and sample projects home, please be sure to bring a Mac compatible portable drive with 4GB of free space.

Adobe Creative Cloud

This class will be presented from the latest version of the Adobe Creative Cloud. If you are using your own computer for the class, it is important that you have the latest version installed! Adobe offers a free 7-day trial of the Creative Cloud.

You will be contacted by the instructor before class to schedule a private session to set up your WordPress development environment properly before the first day of class, including how to set up a work environment on your local computer and how to set up a dev environment on a web host and effectively edit and transfer files with minimum fuss.

As noted above, we will use a full-featured WordPress theme (WP Jump Start), and you are responsible for having purchased and installed this on your own computer.

Agenda

Week 1 - Getting Started and Overview

  • Setting up an integrated development environment using coding application with built-in FTP
  • Creating a local development environment using DesktopServer
  • How WordPress works - all about the database and template files
  • How child themes and frameworks work
  • Adding pages and menus, setting permalink preferences
  • Overview of Jump Start theme, child theme, and plugins (including the Template Builder)

Week 2 - Using CSS to Customize Your Theme

  • CSS and HTML review and quiz
  • How to edit CSS in a child theme
  • Using plugins to help manage widget content and styling more effectively
  • Loading web fonts like Google Fonts, Typekit, and Fonts.com
  • Creating image sprites for website graphics

Week 3 - Working with Post Lists, Grids, and Showcases

  • Working with post grids, post lists, and page templates
  • Modifying content templates in the child theme
  • Understanding Masonry layout, post formats, and archives
  • Creating custom page templates
  • Defining custom image sizes

Week 4 - Understanding Functions and Hooks

  • What is the WordPress functions file
  • Introduction to Hooks, Actions, and Filter
  • How to Write a Function
  • WordPress Action Hooks and Theme Support
  • WordPress Filter Hooks
  • Theme Blvd Action Hooks and Filter Hooks
  • Adding custom styles to the Visual Editor
  • Creating your own icon font and ensuing a stylesheet for it
  • Creating your own template parts
  • Working with the Twitter Bootstrap 12-column and 10-column grids
  • Defining widget locations

Week 5 - Understanding Image Sizes and Responsive CSS

  • How are image sizes generated in WordPress
  • Managing and defining image sizes
  • Lightbox integration
  • Understanding the new responsive WordPress image src set
  • How responsive layouts work
  • Understanding @media queries
  • Changing responsive menu toggle
  • Bootstrap grid and utility classes

Week 6 - Going Live, Troubleshooting, and Best Practices

  • Hosting considerations
  • Migrating from localhost to server
  • How to make a local copy of a site
  • Mapping the local path to server path in coding application
  • Validation and Browser Bugs
  • Troubleshooting and identifying PHP errors
  • Go Live Checklist
  • Updating safely
  • Maintenance checklist
  • Helpful development tools

Instructor

Angela BowmanAngela Bowman of MoonGooseDesigns.com and AskWPGirl.com has been involved with internet technologies since 1996 when she became a member of the online tech support team at Quark, Inc. After learning about WordPress at BDA, she became a full-time WordPress guru, serving individuals and small- to medium-size organizations. She stretches the boundaries of WordPress by making extensive use of its built-in features combined with judicious use of plugins and creative CSS. Angela will help you think outside the blog box by helping you understand the nuts and bolts of WordPress and to endlessly customize your WP themes.

Location

This certificate program will be held in the Boulder Digital Arts Boulder location classroom.

$1199
BDA Members
$1299
Non-Members

Registration:

BDA Members: $1,199.00

Non-Members: $1,299.00

Available Dates

Sorry, we don't have this event scheduled right now but we'll probably be adding it again soon! If you're interested in this event, we recommend using our follow feature to be notified the next time we add it to our schedule. You can also email us to request that we add it soon.

Customer Comments

I can’t recommend Angela’s class(es) highly enough. She knows her stuff and, more uncommon, she knows how to teach. She works hard to stay up-to-date and she’s amazingly generous with her time. She’s honest about what she does not know (that’s very little btw), and if you have a question she can’t answer you can be sure she’ll get back to you with an answer before you’ve given it another thought. Sign up, open up, put in your time, and you’ll learn.michael
Read All Comments

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Comments For: WordPress Web Development Certificate Program

Angela, thanks for the great, great experience of your WordPress theme development class. I have been struggling for a few years to bring all the pieces of WordPress development together into a working knowledge of WordPress. I certainly appreciated all the content and your generosity in sharing all of your resources. I had high expectations for this series of classes and you exceeded them at every step. I love that I can now call myself a WordPress developer! Thank you!Doug on 11/30/2016
Angela’s class on how to customize themes with the JumpStart Framework has been the foundation for all of my website work since taking the class. Although I’d been making websites for years before taking the class, the tools I acquired gave me a leap forward. Angela is an engaging and patient teacher. She not only does a thorough job of teaching the class, but is extremely generous with her support after the class. I highly recommend this class, and Angela as a teacher.Eliana on 11/30/2016
Angela’s WP Jumpstart class is so rich with content that I went back again this past year to review. Review? No way! I learned all new things that I am applying daily to my websites. Everything was perfectly layed out in an easy to follow program. The supplemental material has been super helpful. Don’t miss out on your chance to impact your business, your web design and your stress levels with Angela’s teaching.INGRID on 11/30/2016
As a graphic designer focusing on branding my clients were always asking me if I could develop the websites I designed. After I went to a javascript based full-stack web development bootcamp I felt a lot more comfortable navigating code and building websites and even web apps from scratch, but I still wasn’t confident in building sites for clients that they could update easily themselves. I wasn’t about to start offering a service that I didn’t feel completely comfortable with and that’s where Angela’s course came into play. Not only is WordPress a great solution for client sites, but I learned how to navigate a very robust theme framework that allows me to actually build the custom designs I create. Without guidance I would have been floundering around it for ages and not even be able to fully utilize it’s custom abilities, but with Angela’s instruction it was actually a really easy class for me. Angela went above and beyond her role as the instructor to really try to answer any question we had during the course. Thanks to her sage advice from being in the industry for years I am confident not only about building client websites but also about how to talk to clients as an expert in the industry, anticipate problems that may arise, and how to recognize and avoid time-sucking projects.Katherine on 11/30/2016
The jumpstart WordPress class by Angela Bowman is a fantastic resource for professionals that want to keep their skill up to date in the ever changing sea of WordPress. Angela is a highly informed, dedicated and determined teacher. I really like the detailed notes that she provides on her website, so you can always go back and reference the lessons in the future. I would highly recommend this class.Homa on 11/30/2016
I can’t recommend Angela’s class(es) highly enough. She knows her stuff and, more uncommon, she knows how to teach. She works hard to stay up-to-date and she’s amazingly generous with her time. She’s honest about what she does not know (that’s very little btw), and if you have a question she can’t answer you can be sure she’ll get back to you with an answer before you’ve given it another thought. Sign up, open up, put in your time, and you’ll learn.michael on 11/30/2016
As a science illustrator new to website development, I was leery about keeping up in Angela Bowman's advanced JumpStart theme customization class. How surprised was I?! It was exciting to go these classes packed with information, resources, and sense of camaraderie inspired by Angela as an outstanding teacher. Not only was Angela a gifted and deeply knowledgeable teacher, but she also was able to create a sense of community between us as students. This, in turn, helped all of us to learn, despite our wide-ranging levels of experience. I ended up accomplishing my goal. As a fledgling website designer, I gained a solid "under-the-hood" understanding of website development, with all its byzantine online complexities. In fact, the class was so valuable that I'll be taking it again to move up a notch or two in my skill level! Thank you, Angela!Jenn Paul on 11/30/2016
It was a great experience! The teacher was able to provide technical information and real-world experiences. The attendees of the class were of all levels, and with that said, the teacher was able to accommodate everyone's needs. I will be attending more classes, especially if Angela Bowman is teaching.Kimberly on 11/30/2016
This class gave me a quantum leap into the world of WordPress customization. I am so much improved at my customization skills now then when I began, and it feels so good. Angela provides a wealth of information and I often refer to her online documentation that is, as well, filled with useful snippets and wise counsel. If you are curious about how you might find your WordPress niche and gain experience with a flexible WordPress theme, ‘WPJumpstart with Angela Bowman’ is for you!Zoe on 11/30/2016
"Angela is a great instructor with an incredible depth of experience. She is very helpful and works very hard at helping the students to be successful."Scott on 3/26/2016
Angela is a great instructor with an incredible depth of experience. She is very helpful and works very hard at helping the students to be successful.Scott on 3/16/2016
"Angela is an incredibly organized and knowledgeable teacher. This was hands down the most useful/worthwhile course I have taken at BDA. I'm truly sad it's over."Ali on 3/16/2016
[The instrustor's] enthusiasm about building websites made it a really fun class! It was money AND time well spent! Donna on 3/22/2015
Great info. Thanks!anonymous on 1/19/2015
Angela, thanks for the great, great experience of your WordPress theme development class. I have been struggling for a few years to bring all the pieces of WordPress development together into a working knowledge of WordPress. I certainly appreciated all the content and your generosity in sharing all of your resources. I had high expectations for this series of classes and you exceeded them at every step. I love that I can now call myself a WordPress developer! Thank you!Doug on 11/4/2014
Angela's class on how to customize themes with the JumpStart Framework has been the foundation for all of my website work since taking the class. Although I'd been making websites for years before taking the class, the tools I acquired gave me a leap forward. Angela is an engaging and patient teacher. She not only does a thorough job of teaching the class, but is extremely generous with her support after the class. I highly recommend this class, and Angela as a teacher.Eliana on 11/4/2014
Angela's WP Jumpstart class is so rich with content that I went back again this past year to review. Review? No way! I learned all new things that I am applying daily to my websites. Everything was perfectly laid out in an easy to follow program. The supplemental material has been super helpful. Don't miss out on your chance to impact your business, your web design and your stress levels with Angela's teaching.INGRID on 11/4/2014
I can’t recommend Angela’s class(es) highly enough. She knows her stuff and, more uncommon, she knows how to teach. She works hard to stay up-to-date and she’s amazingly generous with her time. She’s honest about what she does not know (that’s very little btw), and if you have a question she can’t answer you can be sure she’ll get back to you with an answer before you’ve given it another thought. Sign up, open up, put in your time, and you’ll learn.michael on 11/4/2014
This class gave me a quantum leap into the world of WordPress customization. I am so much improved at my customization skills now then when I began, and it feels so good. Angela provides a wealth of information and I often refer to her online documentation that is, as well, filled with useful snippets and wise counsel. If you are curious about how you might find your WordPress niche and gain experience with a flexible WordPress theme, 'WPJumpstart with Angela Bowman' is for you!Zoe on 11/4/2014
Wildly useful. Gave me a great base of WordPress knowledge.Gwendolyn on 3/6/2013
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Optional Payment Plan for Certificate Programs:

We want to make our training as accessible as possible so we offer a simple payment plan for our Certificate Programs. For classes that are $400 - $998, each of the two payments is simply 50% of the total cost of the Certificate Program or "bundle" with no finance charges or other costs. For classes that are $999+, each of the four payments is simply 25% of the total cost of the Certificate Program or "bundle" with no finance charges or other costs. BDA membership is required to obtain a payment plan. Click here to learn about membership. The first payment will be taken at the time of registration and the remaining payments are paid once a month for the following three months. Details the payment amounts for this particular program are listed in the table below.

It's easy to take advantage of this option and we encourage you to sign up early since these programs often fill up fast! If you're interested, don't register online. Instead, please contact BDA staff at 720-282-1435 or email us with the name and start date of the class you wish to attend (info@boulderdigitalarts.com) and we'll get you setup, take your first payment, and confirm your registration.

 

Payment Program Details

  Payment Amount
Payment 1
Paid at time of registration.
$299.75
Payment 2
Due one month after registration.
$299.75
Payment 3
Due two months after registration.
$299.75
Payment 4
Due three months after registration.
$299.75
Note: you must be a BDA member to take advantage of our payment plans. Registrants using the payment plan are not eligible for any early registration discounts and always pay the standard registration fee ($1,199.00).
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