George Ortiz is the founder of PressTrends, a WordPress theme and plugin analytics platform. He got his start in WordPress on 2.7 after being introduced to it by Matt Jones. Shortly thereafter, they started posting themes on Themeforest and eventually launched Storefront Themes.

George launched PressTrends to tackle the massive amount of data being produced by WordPress and try to make it valuable for everyone. Since then, PressTrends has amassed a significant data set of metrics. “The integration between the API and WordPress core has been tricky, but working through it has been the most rewarding.” Like many other users and developers, his favorite part of WordPress is the ease of use leading to WordPress supporting almost 17% of the entire web. “It’s a truly amazing platform and the continued focus on the end user experience will continue to drive that percentage up. From the New York Times to that student publishing their first post with WordPress, it’s awesome.”

George’s presentation is about best practices for WordPress plugin development. “My goal is to share some development best practices…and encourage people to develop and design better themes and plugins.”

When not working on WordPress, George spends enjoys travelling and the outdoors. “I love experiencing new cultures and ways of life.” George’s favorite jazz musician is John Coltrane.