Talking WordPress and WooCommerce with Chris Coyier from CodePens

Update: 2020-08-06

Description

Thanks to our sponsors

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Chris Coyier is a veteran to the web. He dabbled first with WordPress and has used it for years. WooCommerce also drifted in and out of Chris’s web life, and recently he took it a bit deeper on his site CSS-Tricks. Although he isn’t deep into the WooCommerce community, he is a huge fan and and we can gain useful insights and perspectives from his web experience.

A Chat with Chris

In episode 66, Mendel and I chat with Chris about:

The start and evolution of CodePens and CSS-Tricks
When Chris started WordPress and his fond memories of that first install after downloading a zip file
Cowboy coding and does Chris still do it
How Chris views local installs vs. working live on a WordPress site
A bit of history with Chris and WooCommerce
Selling t-shirts of CSS-Tricks
Adding posters to sell on CSS-Tricks
How Chris is making out during these challenging times
More on the evolution of both CodePens and CSS-Tricks and where this has led Chris
His perspectives on the WordPress and WooCommerce communities
What it means to him to have his site under the WordPress roof
Why he applauds the devs in the WordPress ecosystem
The tools Chris uses most in web design and development

Connect with Chris

Find all you need to know about Christ at chriscoyier.net

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The Conversation

Yes, this is the transcript. But not in the traditional sense, transcribed word for word. We do not speak as we write. Often the flow of transcribed content is hard to follow. So I have taken it a few steps further by seriously editing, at times, the conversation and even using my editorial freedom to clarify some points. So enjoy.

Bob: Hey everybody, BobWP, and we are back with Do the Woo. My cohost that was supposed to be here is stuck in a hurricane, and I hope he's safe. Brad Williams let me know about an hour and a half ago he lost power, and I'm just hoping that he's still continuing to find ground, I guess is what I would say. But I had to reach out and get Mendel "who is always there for me" Kurland. Mendel, how you doing?

Mendel: Hey, Bob, how you doing? Hey, what episode are we on by the way? Is this 66?

Bob: Let's see. What episode are we on? 66. Yeah, we are on 66.

Mendel: I'm really excited to be on this particular episode just because both numbers are the same number. I know it's silly, but I love double numbers. Six, six, that's awesome, super awesome.

Bob: I'll keep that in mind as I schedule these and try to move them around a little bit, just to make your day. I want to add to your enjoyment.

Mendel: Hey, thanks a lot, Bob. So how's the weather over there?

Bob: Weather is fine. We're a little foggy this morning, but no hurricanes, no big winds. How about yourself?

Mendel: Doing well over here. I say we get this thing kicked off.

Bob: Cool. Before I do that, quick shout out to our sponsors.

WooCommerce.com, they are our community sponsor and, just to let you know, a couple of days ago they released 4.4 Candidate. So want to make sure you get that checked out. I believe it's on track for the 18th.

We have Recapture.io, an abandoned cart and email marketing solution. Make sure you get that taken care of.

And Sezzle. It's a buy now, pay later option, allowing shoppers to purchase today and pay later with no interest. And they have a pretty slick and easy to-set-up plugin for WooCommerce. So get on that.

Well, without any further delay, I'm excited to bring our guest on. I've never met Chris in person or actually virtually. This is the first time, but welcome to the show, Chris Coyier.

Chris: I couldn't be happier. Thanks so much for having me. Hey, I'm very glad you have WooCommerce as a sponsor on your WooCommerce podcast. It feels like a good fit.

Bob: Yeah, that seems like a natural fit.

Chris: I hope so. Shopify would be a really weird mix. I'd be like, "They reached out?"

Bob: I just had somebody email me, and they pulled out one post on my site that's had Shopify in it, and they said, "Dear Bob," which was really weird they called me dear Bob. But they said, "Dear Bob, we see that you love Shopify." And then went into trying to get me to put a link in or something. But I thought, "Well, I guess if one post out of about four or 500 posts means I like Shopify or love it, well, so be it I guess, in their eyes."

Anyway, Chr