Faculty, Alumni Lead Workshops at WordCamp Fayetteville

Two University of Arkansas professors and several alumni will present workshops at this year’s WordCamp Fayetteville, Arkansas’ premier web technology event dedicated to all things WordPress.

WordCamp Fayetteville will take place Saturday, July 30 at the Donald W. Reynolds Center for Enterprise Development on the University of Arkansas campus. Registration is at 8 a.m. and workshops begin at 9 a.m. It is sponsored by the non-profit WordPress Foundation.

University of Arkansas art professor Tom Hapgood and Bret Schulte, assistant professor of journalism will present an in-depth look at the way WordPress was used to produce the online student magazine Arkansas Angle.

“WordPress was the obvious choice when we were deciding on how to deliver the Arkansas Angle student web publication,” said Hapgood, who teaches visual design. “The easy-to-use interface and abundance of plugins enabled the student reporters to focus on the subjects and the successful telling of their stories through videos, writing and photographs. We're excited about sharing our experience launching the Arkansas Angle with the attendees of WordCamp.”

Hapgood will also present “Embrace the Mullet: CSS is the Party in the Back (a CSS ‘how-to’)” during WordCamp Fayetteville. This will be Hapgood’s second year as a workshop presenter.

“Based on my concept last year of the mullet hair style and its relationship to web markup (HTML is the ‘business front’ and CSS is the ‘party in the back’), this presentation will be a demonstration on the fun and effectiveness of implementing graphic design with HTML and cascading style sheets, with special attention to CSS3 techniques,” Hapgood said.

University alumni leading workshops at WordCamp include Angela Belford of The Belford Group, who will be presenting on analytics; Jody Dilday, who will co-present on how non-profits can use WordPress to create their own website; Sonia Davis Gutierrez, who will discuss the elements of design; Sara White, who will present on writing for the Internet; and Jon Schleuss, who will moderate the “Finding Your Niche Online” forum.

A full schedule of workshops is available at the WordCamp website.

Sunday, July 31 the Belford Group, a Fayetteville web design/software development company, will host an “unconference day.” This will be a Guru Gallery where participants can connect with expert users to learn more one-on-one.

“This is our second year for WordCamp Fayetteville and we think it’s putting Northwest Arkansas on the map among web developers,” said event founder Christopher Spencer, publisher of Ozarks Unbound.

“We encourage students to come. We’ve set aside around 20 scholarships for students so that they can attend free of cost,” Spencer said. Those scholarships are available by contacting WordCamp Fayetteville at site