Interview with Joe Dolson

Interview, Speakers

Joe Dolson – twitter dark blue jeans social media icons designed by icons.mysitemyway.com

Joe will be presenting Accessibility Ready: Theming for a larger audience on Saturday in the Development track

Joe Dolson is a WordPress plug-in developer and accessibility consultant. He’s the author of several popular WordPress plug-ins, including WP to Twitter and My Calendar, and works to promote accessible development with WordPress.

He teaches a course at the University of Colorado at Boulder on developing accessibly with WordPress, and works with the WordPress Accessibility task force on the accessibility of WordPress itself.

Joe has been working in marketing and web development since 2001, providing web consulting and development services to clients in the US and in Europe. Joe writes and speaks regularly on important topics in accessible web development and web standards. Keep up with Joe at Joe Dolson Accessible Web Design.

Interview:

Why do you use WordPress?
WordPress is powerful, flexible, and stable. It’s well documented, has a friendly community, and makes a killer sandwich.

What’s not to like?

What would you say to convince someone to attend a WordCamp?
For $20 you’ll hear a full day of speakers who’ll help you learn everything you need to know about WordPress. Add in some great networking opportunities and lunch, and you should be pretty completely convinced already.

What is your favorite WordPress project you have worked on recently?
In the last few months I’ve significantly increased my time committed to working on WordPress core. What could be better than that?

What is your favorite WordPress-related resource?
Maybe I’m old fashioned, but 95% of my time is spent either browsing the documentation in the WordPress Codex or browsing source. I don’t think there’s a better resource out there for getting your hands dirty on WordPress.

Tell us something awesome about yourself that is not WordPress related
My education is in music. I got my degree in violin performance and composition, and although it’s not how I make my living now, I’m still active as the concertmaster of a community orchestra in Saint Paul.