Stephanie Leary

Writer and WordPress consultant

  • Books
    • Content Strategy for WordPress (2015)
    • WordPress for Web Developers (2013)
    • Beginning WordPress 3 (2010)
  • Blog
    • Fascism Watch (2016-17)
    • Content Modeling for WordPress series
    • WordPress Hidden Gems series
  • Work
    • Portfolio
    • Services
    • WordPress Plugins
    • WordPress Themes
    • Presentations and Interviews
    • on GitHub →
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Scott Westerfeld, Afterworlds

November 20, 2014 Stephanie Leary Leave a Comment

Scott's new book, Afterworlds, needed a very different look from his previous WWI-era steampunk trilogy. The change gave me the opportunity to rebuild the site from the ground up--including the SMF theme, something I'd never done before. It's now responsive, which makes everyone … [Read more...]

Client: Scott WesterfeldType of work: Design, Theme DevelopmentUses: CSS3, HTML5, Responsive Design, Simple Machines Forum, WordPressIndustry: Publishing

Justine Larbalestier, 2013

November 20, 2014 Stephanie Leary Leave a Comment

Justine still loved the 2008 version of her site, but wanted to refresh and update it a little. We decided to keep the background, which had become a signature look for her, and give the main content more contrast. We rethought the navigation entirely and replaced some of the … [Read more...]

Client: Justine LarbalestierType of work: Design, Plugin Development, Plugin Integration, Theme DevelopmentUses: Child Themes, Craftory Framework, CSS3, Custom Fields, HTML5, Responsive Design, WordPressIndustry: Publishing

Cassie Alexander

December 30, 2013 Stephanie Leary Leave a Comment

Cassie had been using WordPress with free themes for some time when she sold her first novel. As its release date approached, she needed a "more grown-up" look. I took advantage of the striking cover art and worked a little magic so the text of Cassie's blog posts wraps around … [Read more...]

Client: Cassie AlexanderType of work: Design, Maintenance, Theme DevelopmentUses: CSS3, Responsive Design, WordPressIndustry: Publishing

PressBooks Importers

March 12, 2013 Stephanie Leary Leave a Comment

The crew at PressBooks asked me to customize the standard WordPress importer to behave a little differently: instead of immediately publishing the stuff from the old blog, they wanted to put the imported content into a queue and let the user select where it should go: their … [Read more...]

Client: PressBooksType of work: Plugin DevelopmentUses: Custom Post Types, jQuery, Multisite, WordPressIndustry: Publishing

Team Human

July 25, 2012 Stephanie Leary Leave a Comment

The authors of this collaborative novel wanted a small website, separate from their own, to showcase the new book. To get things up and running quickly and inexpensively, I wrote a WordPress theme based on _s and Bootstrap, with a color scheme based on the book's cover. Since … [Read more...]

Client: Justine LarbalestierType of work: Design, Theme DevelopmentUses: Bootstrap, CSS3, Custom Post Types, jQuery, Multisite, Responsive Design, WordPressIndustry: Publishing

Scott Westerfeld, Leviathan

July 25, 2012 Stephanie Leary Leave a Comment

When Scott's Leviathan was published, his publisher hired a graphic designer to revamp his website in fine steampunk style. Alas, the firm wasn't entirely conversant with WordPress's best practices, and the result was a table-based (!) design that broke every time Scott added a … [Read more...]

Client: Scott WesterfeldType of work: Code Audit, Maintenance, Plugin Development, Theme ModificationsUses: jQuery, Simple Machines Forum, WordPressIndustry: Publishing

Month of Letters

February 28, 2012 Stephanie Leary Leave a Comment

I worked with Mary Robinette Kowal to set up the Achievements plugin for the Month of Letters BuddyPress site. Members earned badges for sending various kinds of mail, and cumulative points for the number of letters or packages they sent. These were reported via a Gravity Form … [Read more...]

Client: Mary Robinette KowalType of work: Plugin DevelopmentUses: BuddyPress, Custom Post Types, Gravity Forms, jQuery, WordPress, WP EngineIndustry: Publishing

VP Alumni

July 25, 2011 Stephanie Leary Leave a Comment

This is an alumni network for graduates of the Viable Paradise writing workshop. It's a basic BuddyPress site with a few plugins (maps, extended profiles) and a Gravity Form to let users register for Paradise Lost, the alumni workshop. This was the site that spurred me to … [Read more...]

Client: VP AlumniType of work: Content Editing, Plugin Development, Theme ModificationsUses: BuddyPress, Gravity Forms, WordPressIndustry: Non-Profit, Publishing

Hungry Monkey

November 5, 2008 Stephanie Leary Leave a Comment

The author of this charming book asked me to do a simple promotional site. At first, in order to keep the cost of the project low, we planned to simply modify an existing theme. However, by the third iteration of changes, the design was so different that I simply wrote the theme … [Read more...]

Client: Matthew Amster-BurtonType of work: Design, Theme DevelopmentUses: WordPressIndustry: Publishing

Justine Larbalestier, 2008

October 28, 2008 Stephanie Leary Leave a Comment

By the summer of 2008, Justine had been blogging in WordPress for some time, and wanted to use it to manage the 100 or so static pages that made up the rest of her site. She also wanted to update the look of the site and make it easier to maintain. The old design included … [Read more...]

Client: Justine LarbalestierType of work: Design, Import and Migration, Plugin Development, Theme DevelopmentUses: CSS3, Multisite, Responsive Design, WordPressIndustry: Publishing

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Latest WordPress Book

Content Strategy for WordPress

A short book for content strategists and managers on implementing a complete content strategy in WordPress: evaluation, analysis, content modeling, editing and workflows, and long-term planning and maintenance.

Read the sample chapter

Kindle Nook iBooks Kobo Smashwords

WordPress for Web Developers

WordPress for Web Developers (9781430258667)

This is a book for professional web designers and developers who already know HTML and CSS, and want to learn to build sites with WordPress. The book begins with a detailed tour of the administration screens and settings, then digs into server-side topics like performance and security. The second half of the book is devoted to development: learning to build WordPress themes and plugins.

This is the second, much-revised and updated edition of Beginning WordPress 3, with a more accurate title. Everything’s been updated for WordPress 3.6.

WordPress for Web Developers is out now. See what's inside...

The best WordPress features you’ve never noticed

  • WordPress Hidden Gems: Screen Options
  • WordPress Hidden Gems: Bulk Edit
  • WordPress Hidden Gems: Private Status
  • WordPress Hidden Gems: Dashboard Feed Readers
  • WordPress Hidden Gems: Options.php

Content Modeling for WordPress series

  • Content modeling for WordPress, part 1: analyze content
  • Content modeling for WordPress, part 2: functional and organizational requirements
  • Content modeling for WordPress, part 3: a sample content model

This is an excerpt from Content Strategy for WordPress.My latest books are Content Strategy for WordPress (2015) and WordPress for Web Developers (2013). Sign up to be notified when I have a new book for you.

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