Over the weekend, roughly 1,800 people from all over the world attended the first ever WordCamp US at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in downtown Philadelphia.
One of the biggest highlights of the weekend was the 10th annual State of the Word, delivered by WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg.
The room is filling up for @photomatt‘s State of the Word. #WCUS pic.twitter.com/7tMUanUQOl
— WordCamp US (@WordCampUS) December 5, 2015
Mullenweg kicked off the address by showcasing some WordPress statistics and other highlights that illustrate the platform’s tremendous growth and power. Later, he dug into what to expect from WordPress 4.4, Calypso, the WordPress REST API, and JavaScript.
Let’s take a look at some of the takeaways.
Celebrations And Stats In 2015
Story Of WordPress
On Dec. 11, The Story of WordPress, by Siobhan McKeown, will be officially released. The book provides a comprehensive overview on the history of WordPress, starting with the creation of b2, back in 2000.
WordCamp And Meetup Stats In 2015
- There were 89 WordCamps, with 21,000 attendees in 34 countries.
- WordCamps were put together by 601 organizers — 60 percent of them being first-time organizers.
- 1,600 speakers presented at 2,100 sessions at WordCamps around the world.
- 40,000 people attended 2,000 MeetUps across the country.
Adoption Of Slack
At last year’s State of the Word, Mullenweg announced the WordPress Slack Channel. In 2015, more than 2 million messages have been sent on the WordPress channel alone. It has been a central part to core collaboration and is used by thousands of WordPressers. In fact, Mullenweg said it is one of the largest Slack groups.
Plugins Surpassed 1 Billion Downloads
More than 1 billion plugins have been downloaded in the history of the plugin directory. This is a testament to the vibrancy of the WordPress plugin ecosystem.
Twenty Fifteen Default Theme Is The Most Popular Theme
The Twenty Fifteen Default theme is the most popular WordPress theme of all time. It’s actively installed on more than 1.6 million WordPress sites.
Other Milestones And Highlights
- WordPress.tv now open source
- Localized plugin and theme directory
- Plugin repository to display active installs instead of downloads
- 2015 saw three major updates: 4.1, 4.2, and 4.3
- Going SSL with LetsEncrypt
- Fewer than 100 themes and plugins have been translated in more than a couple of languages
- WordPress will reverse the trend of closed APIs
- 205 accessibility tickets were completed in 2015, which is an 80 percent increase from last year
WordPress 4.4
WordPress 4.4 release lead Scott Taylor took the stage to discuss some of the highlights to expect in WordPress 4.4, slated for release on December 8.
To modernize the way users expose data, and as an alternative to obsolete technology, WordPress 4.4 will include the infrastructure to the WP REST API. It also includes the new Twenty Sixteen default theme, responsive images, term meta, and oEmbed for WordPress.
The update features more than 2,000 commits made by more than 400 contributors.
Mullenweg announced the release leads for the next three updates:
- WordPress 4.5: Mike Schroder
- WordPress 4.6: Dominik Schilling
- WordPress 4.7: Matt Mullenweg
Calypso
Mullenweg talked about the new WordPress.com, Calypso. It’s 100 percent JavaScript, leveraging React, and has a totally functional and fluid database.
“Calypso when cached runs 14x faster than wp-admin.” @photomatt #wcus
— David Bisset (@dimensionmedia) December 5, 2015
Since its release just a few weeks ago, it’s been downloaded more than 50,000 times. Mullenweg pointed out that Calypso is still in its early days, and, like WordPress, it will mature and become more powerful with each iteration.
WP REST API And JavaScript
Mullenweg talked about the three stages in WordPress’s evolution. In its first few years, it was a blogging system and then a full CMS. And then, in 2012, “we started to see glimmers of WordPress being used as an application platform,” he said. More and more things can be built off of WordPress, and with the integration of the WP REST API the possibilities are seemingly endless. Mullenweg discussed some of the opportunities presented by the inclusion of the WP API. He also urged the audience to learn JavaScript.
“I believe quite strongly that JavaScript and API-driven interfaces are the future of not just WordPress but the web,” Mullenweg said.
APIs and JavaScript are both fundamental for the future of WordPress. For example, the WP REST API allows for JavaScript-powered apps to run on WordPress and the new WordPress.com, Calypso, is 100 percent JavaScript. There’s no question that knowing JavaScript is important for the future of WordPress development.
Despite the focus on JavaScript, PHP is not going away. “PHP7 is the most significant update to PHP since WordPress has started,” Mullenweg said.
. @photomatt says PHP is not going away! #StateOfTheWord #WCUS #WordPress pic.twitter.com/p8DYhAtr9l — Chris Edwards (@ChrisEdwardsCE) December 5, 2015
Mullenweg left the audience with a homework assignment: “to learn JavaScript, deeply.”
You can watch the full State of the Word 2015 now on WordPress.tv!
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