History of WordPress Detailed Guide – How It Started and What It Is Today!
If you are planning on launching a blog or a website, there are solid chances a close friend of yours would have already suggested you rely on nothing else but WordPress. In fact, it is regarded as the best online software that powers more than 32% of the existing website on the internet.
You can’t know much about something if you don’t know its story so here we will take a look at how WordPress actually started and the obstacles it had to face to become what it is today i.e. a go-to platform for all developers.
It started much like any other famous software that was required to cater to a growing need of society. When Michael Valdrighi, the owner and developer behind b2, decided to discontinue the only existing logging software in 2003, Matt Mullenweg had to do something to make sure his troubled website survived.
Soon afterwards, Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little joined hands to launch the first WP version.
The newly launched software integrated the basics of b2 Cafelog but at the same time, it made sure that issues related to updating and availability were well taken care of. Furthermore, it hosted an admin interface and brand new templates that developers could not use before.
The Journey Was Long and Utterly Fruitful!
Luckily, WordPress was not up for a slow start. It quickly integrated a number of plugins in May 2004, that users could avail to expand their web development functionality.
In the very next year, the use of WordPress skyrocketed with version 1.5 offering a new theme system, comment moderation tools, flexible categories, and a new admin dashboard with DHTML and JavaScript to make it more user-friendly.
One of the most evident developments in the history of WordPress took place in March 2006 when Automattic filed the trademark registration for the WordPress logo.
Two years later, in January 2008, Happy Cog initiated a joint venture with WordPress to develop a new admin interface for usability. Additionally, the software underwent a number of improvements including the introduction of shortcodes and one-click updates.
WordPress Growth In The Last Decade
Undoubtedly, 2010 was a happening year for this software. The start of this year marked the transfer of the ownership of the WordPress trademark from Automattic to WordPress Foundation. Since the tool now did not have to rely on any other company to grow, this ensured that WordPress will continue to be a go-to platform for many years to come.
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Later in the same year, on June 17, 2010, WordPress 3.0 was launched that came with several features like custom taxonomies, custom post types, custom menus, help buttons on the admin screen, etc.
From the mid of January 2011, WordPress introduced the admin bar, post formats, and many other cool features that made it the favourite choice especially for web developers who were focused on launching powerful eCommerce platforms.
Most of the changes that took place in 2012 focused on the improvement of image galleries and themes. These included enhanced theme previews, theme customizers, and a brand new media manager.
WordPress 3.8 was launched in December 2013 that came with MP6, responsive interface, and better screen size. In the next year, version 3.9 was released soon followed by 4.0 and 4.1 accompanied by non-English downloads in WordPress.
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Versions till 4.4 were released in 2015 mainly focusing on the improvement of localization, theme customization, basic infrastructure, and emoji support that the software had.
Thereafter, each new release offered some sort of improvement that the users could not help but love. For example, browser storage was enhanced in 2016, new default widgets were added to images and videos in 2017, and block editor was introduced in 2018.
What Does The Future Hold For WordPress?
As you can see, WordPress has come a long way since its launch in 2003. It has introduced 55,000 new plugins, a number of themes, a variety of editing options and much more in the past 17 years. The best part is that its growth and popularity seem to be not slowing down at all.
If you think WordPress did not struggle with competitors, you would be completely wrong! There were many other content management systems that were launched around the same year but failed to keep up with the pace and requirements of a quickly developing web ecosystem. You can say its the best free website builders in the market. So, here’s all you need to know about History of WordPress.
On the other hand, WordPress not only won the race as a commendable blogging platform but has also grown to cater to many types of mobile and web apps.
We hope that this article has provided you with a clearer understanding of WordPress history. We assembled the data in such a way as to let you know about different features and tools that the software hosts as well. If you think there is anything missing, feel free to drop the information in the comment section below. Thank you for reading our little piece and come back for more!