Northern Rivers Talking Turkey

Dion Hulse, 22, of Kyogle has become one of only a handful of Web Developers in the world, and, to his knowledge, the only one in the Asia-region currently, to become a trusted contribution developer to the ‘WordPress’ software project, a personal web content management system.
Dion, who told the NRTT he had an early interest in computers and computer programming which later developed into an interest in web design, describes WordPress as an application which, “simplifies the addition of content to web sites”, enabling non-web experts to manage their web sites.
Traditionally WordPress has been used by ‘Blogger’s’ to post to their ‘Blogs’ (much like an online diary anyone can read), but is becoming more widely used in the management of web site content. The software is free to users, and has been developed with the help of a dedicated network of enthusiasts throughout the world. The latest version of the software has been downloaded over 4 million times, and is estimated to be the power behind over 200 million websites worldwide.
As a trusted contributing developer, Dion looks at different issues within the software they arise and writes computer ‘code’ to fix those problems or enhance the software.
Dion said he was surprised at first to be recognised as a contributing developer to the program, given the small number of developers in the past. Dion, who has been involved in development of the program for about three years, told the NRTT he was able to “gain acceptance among the community that I knew what I was doing.” “I enjoy programming and I find WordPress a great platform to work off,” said Dion.
Dion is currently working on features to be included in the upcoming release of WordPress version 3.0.