Interview with WCSTL Speaker: Michelle Ames

Are you missing out on some features of WordPress that could be useful? Well, Michelle Ames will be speaking on The “Hidden” Features of WordPress at WordCamp St. Louis. Come read a little about Michelle’s WordPress journey.

Interview with Michelle Ames

This is a self-portrait of Michelle Ames. She’s an avid photographer and loves shooting nature, portraits, and events.

NILE FLORES: When did you start using WordPress?

MICHELLE AMES: My best friend and I started a non-profit about 8 years ago. Her husband created a WordPress site for us, gave us logins and told us to populate it. I fell in love with WordPress immediately. Now I make a living with it.

NILE FLORES: What are a few takeaways that attendees will get from your talk?

MICHELLE AMES: My talk is about the things in WordPress that make it even easier to use, but that people seldom know about. Almost every time I give this talk, people learn new things, but it’s really funny when developers come up to me surprised that they learned something new about WordPress.

NILE FLORES: WordPress is turning 15 years old. What would you like to see in the future for WordPress?

MICHELLE AMES: I would love to see built into core the ability to set a login page that isn’t the same for every site, and an easy way to customize 404 pages.

NILE FLORES: “And just for funsies”, over the past few years, the WordPress community has seen the rise of the cute Wapuu character? Heard of it? And if so, what’s your favorite Wapuu? (Wapuu Reference: https://wapu.us/ )

MICHELLE AMES: I’ve created two Wapuus (for WordCamps Rochester and Buffalo), but my favorite is the Wonder Woman Wapuu!

NILE FLORES: What is your favorite area of the WordPress admin?

MICHELLE AMES: The customizer. Hands-down. I love the CSS window, and I love how well most themes work with the customizer, too.

NILE FLORES: What are the top three WordPress plugins that you believe every WordPress user should have installed?

MICHELLE AMES:

  1. Something for automated backups
  2. Something for security
  3. A great dynamic form plugin

Want to see Michelle’s talk? Come out to WordCamp St. Louis!