Introduction
We will start by assuming you have heard of WordPress, you might even be using it on a day-to-day basis for your own company website.
WordPress is a powerful and very popular Content Management System (CMS) that has revolutionised the way people create and manage websites. Launched in 2003, WordPress has grown to become the most popular website building platform in the world, powering more than 35% of all websites on the internet. Indeed, our own website is built on WordPress and it is the platform that we have specialised in for website development projects.
In this Journal Entry we will take you through the humble beginnings of the platform, as well as giving you some background on the founders.
WordPress ‘A Brief History In Time’
The early days of WordPress were characterised by rapid growth and innovation. The platform quickly gained a reputation for being easy to use and highly customisable, making it a popular choice for bloggers and small businesses. By 2005, WordPress had released version 1.5, which included a number of new features such as themes and plugins, making it even more versatile and powerful.
As WordPress continued to grow, it became clear that it was not just a blogging platform, but a full-fledged content management system. In 2008, WordPress released version 2.5, which included a redesigned dashboard and improved media management tools. This marked a significant milestone in the evolution of WordPress, as it became more than just a platform for blogs, but a platform for all types of websites.
Over the years, WordPress has continued to evolve and improve. The release of version 3.0 in 2010 marked another major milestone in the platform’s history. This version included a new custom post types feature, which allowed users to create custom content types, such as portfolios or testimonials. This made WordPress even more flexible and customisable, and opened up new possibilities for website design.
The platform has come a long way since its beginnings as a simple blogging platform, and it continues to evolve and innovate. WordPress is now used by everyone from bloggers and small businesses to large corporations and government agencies.
For example, some noteworthy mentions are; Sony Music, TechCrunch, Meta Newsroom, TIME Magazine, CNN, Angry Birds, Jay-Z, Mercedes-Benz and BBC America (to name just a small selection).
At the time of this writing, WordPress is powering 30+ million live websites and it has 43.1% CMS market share. WordPress continues to lead the market by a wide margin. In terms of the entire Internet (websites built with or without a CMS), 35.6% are WordPress websites.
Why is it so popular?
WordPress doesn’t have just one USP, it is a tool with layers and add-ons to help its users dominate their markets, and here are some of the ways in which it does this;
- Easy to Use: One of the main reasons for the popularity of WordPress is its ease of use. The platform is designed to be user-friendly and intuitive, with a simple and easy-to-navigate interface. This makes it easy for even beginners to create and manage websites without any technical expertise.
- Customisable: WordPress is highly customisable, and it can be used to create a wide range of websites, from simple blogs to complex e-commerce sites. WordPress allows users to customise their websites extensively, from basic design elements to advanced functionalities, offering a high degree of flexibility.
- Themes and Plugins: WordPress offers a vast collection of themes that allow users to change the look and feel of their websites easily. Additionally, there are thousands of plugins available, which can be added to the site to add new features and functionality without requiring extensive coding knowledge.
- Large Community: WordPress has a large and active community of users and developers who contribute to the development and improvement of the platform. This community offers support, guidance, and resources for users, making it easier to learn and use the platform.
- Open Source: WordPress is an open-source platform, which means that its source code is freely available and can be modified and redistributed by anyone. This makes it a flexible and adaptable platform that can be used for a wide range of purposes.
- SEO-Friendly: WordPress is designed with search engine optimisation (SEO) in mind, and it has many built-in features that help improve a website’s search engine rankings. This includes features such as customisable permalinks, meta descriptions, and title tags.
- Integration Capabilities: It easily integrates with a wide range of third-party services, APIs, and platforms, making it convenient to add various tools and services to the website.
- Scalable: WordPress is scalable and can be used to create websites of any size, from small personal blogs to large corporate websites. It can handle a large amount of traffic and data without any issues.
The Founder
Matt Mullenweg, was born on January 11, 1984, in Houston, Texas. He attended the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston, where he studied jazz saxophone, before pursuing his interests in computer science and programming.
As a teenager, Mullenweg discovered the world of open-source software and blogging, after experimenting and learning about this form of software, he quickly became involved in the development of the blogging platform b2/cafelog, and once the project stopped being actively developed, Mullenweg decided to create a new platform that would be based on the code of b2/cafelog.
Of course, this new platform was WordPress, which Mullenweg co-founded with Mike Little in 2003. Mullenweg has been heavily involved in the development of WordPress ever since, and he has played a significant role in the growth and success of the platform.
For all his work in the sector, Mullenweg has received numerous awards and honours for WordPress and his advocacy for open-source software. In 2011, he was named one of Forbes’ “30 under 30” in technology, as well as in 2012, he was awarded the Young Innovator Award at the World Technology Summit. To this day Mullenweg continues to be actively involved in the development of WordPress and the promotion of open-source software and the open web.
Conclusion
Clearly we are big fans of WordPress at Big Dog and it holds a special place inside our digital hearts. In our 11-year history we have yet to find a situation where WordPress is not the right fit for a client’s project requirements. Its flexibility and scalability are key to us when developing a digital solution for our clients and with no sign in it slowing its website dominance it looks like it will be our preferred platform for sometime to come.