David Perel is the co-founder, designer and product manager at Obox design, a Premium Themes company based in Cape Town. David founded the company along with his brother Marc, and beyond themes Obox has become known for the Obox Mobile WordPress plugin that converts your website into mobile compatible theme. David will be presenting a session on The Story of Obox Mobile on the Tech/Development Track. He is a panelist on the Making Money with WordPress panel.
Tell us a bit about yourself
Co-founder of Obox Design, I am the designer and product manager at the company.
Why WordPress?
Since we started Obox in 2006 we always wanted to create templates which we could use for client projects. Initially we made our own CMS in ColdFusion but decided to move to WordPress as there was more scope.
What are your thoughts on the WordPress community as a whole? And the South African WP community?
To be honest I am no fan of the word ‘community’. There are a select few of people who genuinely contribute to the core of WordPress and the greater good of the CMS, whereas the majority tend to sit on the sidelines and criticize those who do most of the work.
Why did you decide to speak at WordCamp Cape Town?
We have a very popular and successful WordPress theme business, it would be unfair not to speak and give something back to those who may be willing to listen.
What is your talk going to be about?
It will be about the Obox story and Obox Mobile.
What are you most looking forward to at WordCamp Cape Town?
Speaking.
What is the one thing you want people to walk away with from your talk?
I want people to be inspired by hard work.
What is your favourite WordPress theme and/or plugin, and why?
Obox Mobile is my favorite plugin for sure. Since the latest update we made to it (version 1.5) I strongly believe that it’s the best mobile plugin out there.
Share one WP tip
NEVER hack it, with WordPress you can always use the core code to achieve your goal.
Who in the WordPress community inspires you? Who do yo u follow?
Orman Clark (Themeforest theme designer) inspires me big time. His designs are probably the best out there. Adii in terms of this business sense.
What is the most exciting feature/addition/improvement to WordPress that you have noticed in the last year?
The UI of WordPress has become a bit better but I still feel that there is huge room for improvement. I think that custom post types were the breakthrough for WordPress in terms of making it a proper CMS.
Where do you see WordPress 2 years from now?
I am not entirely sure. No one can possibly know.
