WordPress had a big year in 2022. WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg shared many of the highlights in this year’s State of the Word.
The annual review of what’s happening with WordPress and where it’s headed took place Dec. 15. If you missed it, don’t worry. You can watch a State of the Word 2022 replay on the WordPress website. The presentation is about an hour long and includes tons of good information. But if you don’t have an hour to spare, below are our top hot takes from the event.
The future of the web is block-based, and Gutenberg will be at the center of it. Total internet domination might be a bit of an exaggeration, but Mullenweg said he expects Gutenberg to be much bigger than WordPress.
In his speech, he gave some examples of ways people are using Gutenberg beyond its original intent as a WordPress editor, including:
That’s just the beginning for Gutenberg, as licensing is in place to allow more developers to use it in mobile and web applications. For example, EngineAwesome used Gutenberg for its UI because it’s popular and easy to use and offers more advantages to its users. It’s a smart move. WordPress powers more than 40% of websites, meaning large numbers of potential users have been exposed to the Gutenberg interface.
The key takeaway: Don’t be surprised when you go to use a new app in the coming years, and the interface looks like you’re creating a new WordPress post.
Speaking of Gutenberg, the project will soon enter a new phase of development.
As we wrote in our post on the latest Gutenberg updates, the project has four main phases.
At the event, Mullenweg announced work will begin soon on Phase 3 after the release of the WordPress 6.2 update in March.
The key takeaway: If you’ve been waiting before fully embracing Gutenberg blocks, your wait is over. While the collaboration and multilingual tools will improve the experience, the recent improvements from Phase 2 mean blocks are more than ready for prime time.
Attending WordCamp US was one of the Pressable team’s big highlights of the year. We were so excited to be back to in-person events after COVID-19 forced many community events and conferences to cancel or go virtual.
The key takeaway: If you haven’t been to an in-person event in the last couple of years, make plans to attend one in 2023.
WordPress turns 20 this year! It’s time to put on your party hats. Details on how you can join the fun aren’t quite ready. Follow along on the official anniversary website as more plans become available.
One of the best things about WordPress is that it’s free forever. Before Mullenweg took the podium at the State of the Word, Josepha Haden Chomphosy, WordPress executive director, talked about the importance of open-source projects like WordPress and the four freedoms in the WordPress Bill of Rights:
The key takeaway: Twenty years and still going strong. WordPress powers 40% of the websites in the world. That’s unlikely to change. If you’re not already building with WordPress, It’s time to make the switch.
Openverse, WordPress’s search engine for open-source media, expanded quite a bit in 2022. The search engine allows people to search for royalty-free images and other media to use on their websites and other creative works.
While it’s not fully embedded into WordPress yet, it’s still a valuable tool with 22 million images and 1.1 million audio files. Read our post on the Openverse benefits for more ideas on how to take advantage of this resource.
The key takeaway: Before you pay for a stock image or audio file, consider checking the Openverse.
The official WordPress.org plugin and theme directory now use a new taxonomy to allow developers to identify different types of plugins and themes clearly. The main purpose of the new taxonomy is to distinguish between commercial and community plugins.
Community plugins are free and maintained by collaboration within the WordPress community.
Commercial plugins are maintained by companies and often operate on a freemium model where some features are free, but a subscription is required to unlock the full functionality of the plugin or theme.
The key takeaway: When searching for a plugin, this new taxonomy should help you identify which ones are truly free and which ones have commercial support behind them.
Many of WordPress’s new features change how we build and design pages.
Read our e-book on the basics of full site editing for more details.
At the State of the Word, Mullenweg took things a step further, suggesting that the new Create Block Theme plugin could change or eliminate the need for themes as we know them today. The plugin is still in development and not intended for use on live sites, but it’s worth downloading and checking out.
The key takeaway: A lot of features and options that used to be dependent on your theme are moving to blocks. Blocks are the future of WordPress, and it’s worth learning more about how they can work on your site.
The biggest takeaway from State of the Word is that WordPress will only get better. There’s so much to be excited about as WordPress enters its 20th year. We loved hearing about everything that’s in store for WordPress in 2023 and beyond. We can’t wait to see all the amazing things you’ll build with WordPress.
No matter what project you’re tackling in 2023, the experts at Pressable are here to help. Our managed WordPress hosting plans are the fastest and easiest way to host a WordPress site. Pick a plan and start building your WordPress future today.
WordPress 6.3, the second major WordPress release of 2023, is finally here! This release is packed full for features and improvements, primarily focused on the full site editing experience.
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