Hi there, I’m Sarah.
I’m a WordPress educator at my best and/or website mad scientist at my most interesting; this website is a collection of my work and anecdotes about my adventures in and around WordPress-land.

My Work: Learning WordPress Together

Working From
the Road

There and Back Again: My Journey to Remote Work
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Extension: WordPress Basics #1 – Picking and Styling a Theme
Congratulations! At this point, you have successfully installed a WordPress local installation, globally styled a WordPress block theme, and installed a few fonts of your choice. Bravo!
If you would like to keep learning on your own, here are some additional video resources to get you started:
Next session, we will cover (and practice!)…
- Introduction to the Site Editor and Template Editor
- Template Parts
- Your First Template Part: Headers! What goes on the top of your website?
- Footers! What goes on the bottom of your website?
Future Sessions Will Cover (*And Practice!)…
- Design a front page and get feedback from other learners!
- Other site stylings!
- Create a blog page for your website
- (Tutorial still in development)
- How to use featured images
- Taking Advantage of Query Loops
- Displaying the Comments Block
- Writing Content (Posts and Pages)
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Setting Up a Free WordPress Playground
Hi! I’m so excited you’re joining us to learn WordPress! In order to follow along, you’ll need a place to experiment with WordPress.
Important: This WordPress test environment will exist ONLY on your computer. It is meant for practice and will not be connected to the internet!
Please follow the instructions below to get set up!
1. DOWNLOAD A LOCAL ENVIRONMENT (Free!)
Directions for a local test WordPress website:
1. Download: You can use XAMPP, MAMP, or Local — we will be using Local by Flywheel.
2. Add a new WordPress installation:
3. Click the following:
- Create a new site
- Name it something, such as “My Test Website” or “My Business Name”
- Select “Preferred”
- Give it a username and a password you’ll remember ASAP.
- Click “Add Site”.
- Wait a few moments.
- Turn ON the option for “One Click Admin”:
- Click the WP Admin Button — this will take you to a free WordPress website practice area!
Congratulations! You now have a free test site!
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Website Content Planning
The heart of a good website is this: good content! When good writing, solid design, and fast loading speeds come together, a great website is created.
Start with Written Content
- Get organized! To participate in today’s interactive workshop, you’ll want access to our thought organizer.
- Make it yours!
- Do you have Google Drive? Make a copy!
- Do you have a Word Processor? Download it!
3. Write along with us! Take time to brainstorm your website’s content, step by step, as we go!
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Sneak-Peek the new version of WordPress!
Hi! I’m so excited you’re joining us for a WordPress Sneak-Peek or testing session!
You will need…
- To download a local WordPress environment
- To install the WordPress Beta Tester Plugin
- To UPDATE to the new WordPress release candidate.
1. DOWNLOAD A LOCAL ENVIRONMENT (Free!)
Directions for a local test WordPress website:
To download and set up a new, local installation of WordPress.
1. Download: You can use XAMPP, MAMP, or Local — we will be using Local by Flywheel.
2. Add a new WordPress installation:
3. Click the following:
- Create a new site
- Name it something, such as “My Test Blog”
- Select “Preferred”
- Give it a username and a password you’ll remember ASAP.
- Click “Add Site”.
- Wait a few moments.
- Turn ON the option for “One Click Admin”:
- Click the WP Admin Button
Congratulations! You now have a free test site!
2. Install the plugin, Beta Tester.
- Go to Plugins > Add New
- Search for “WordPress Beta Tester”
- Install and Activate the beta tester.
- Go to Tools and select Beta Testing
- Select “Bleeding Edge”, then select “Release Candidates Only”.
- Make sure to SAVE CHANGES. 🙂
3. Update to the 6.2 version of WordPress!
- Go to Dashboard > Updates
- Update to the latest version of WordPress:
You’re DONE! Now you can explore with us! We’re excited to see what you find with us as we go. Cheers!

About Me
My professional hobbies include breaking WordPress websites in front of audiences, leading hands-on remote learning spaces, being routinely surprised by all the things I don’t know that I don’t know about WordPress, fighting tech limitations while working from the road, and designing lesson plans, workshop, interactive remote learning spaces, and courses for learn.wordpress.org.
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Learn With Me!
Click the button below to find a (free!) remote learning WordPress learning experience — led by me or another WordPress Training Team contributor — of your very own!