Next month sees the 15-year anniversary of WordPress. Released on May 27th 2003, it now supports over 60 million websites and accounts for 30% of all websites found online.
WordPress was envisaged originally as a blogging platform. Since then, it has undergone some key changes and overhauls to become the world’s leading Content Management System on the world wide web.
The first of these big changes came about in 2010 following WordPress’s release of its custom post types. The changes made to the core of WordPress created the ability to modularize content fields, and made WordPress a truer CMS.
The next big change to WordPress came half a decade later in 2015 with the WordPress core release of the WordPress rest API. The update made the modularized content of WordPress extensible. The much-lauded release ensured WordPress had the ability to connect with other devices and applications.
The next big change happened in 2017, with the release of WordPress core’s “WP-CLI” enabled developers to manage the functions of WordPress using command line interface functions. The update enabled developers to create in WordPress, more automated experiences, increasing their development velocity.
The fourth change is yet to be fully rolled out with mixed reviews for the “Gutenberg” update in its previews. Regarded as the biggest update ever, the Gutenberg release will make it far easier for content creators to create experiences using WordPress, by adding functionality like the “page builder” to WordPress.
What’s Next for WordPress
A lot hinges on the Gutenberg update. WordPress tools are becoming more and more developed and the Gutenberg project is aimed at aiding the content creation process. From a mobile perspective, the impending roll out of 5g will see the speed advantages allowing webmasters to create more dynamic and far richer user experiences on mobile platforms.
However, one much discussed feature is not in the pipeline just yet for WordPress. Voice activation isn’t on the WordPress agenda at the moment with the focus entirely on the Gutenberg project. Yet voice activation is creeping more and more into our daily lives and slowly impacting on SEO practices.
What is encouraging is that WordPress is paying significant attention to the needs of developers. Having seen off the challenge of Wix, WordPress, by staying developer friendly, can enjoy another 15 years at the top of the CMS tree and even increase their market share beyond its current 30%.
