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The History of WordPress

July 5, 2023

Michael DuncanCreative Director at Meta Creative

WordPress

From a Blogging Platform to a Global Phenomenon: The Evolution of WordPress

WordPress has come a long way since its inception in 2003 as a blogging platform. Over the years, it has evolved into a versatile content management system that powers millions of websites worldwide. In this article, we’ll take a journey through the history of WordPress, tracing its humble beginnings to its current status as a leading website development platform.

Birth of WordPress

WordPress was created by Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little as a fork of an existing blogging software called b2/cafelog. The first version, WordPress 0.7, was released in May 2003, with a primary focus on simplifying the process of publishing and managing blog content.

Growth and Adoption

As WordPress gained traction, it quickly expanded beyond blogging and became a full-fledged CMS. The introduction of themes and plugins made it more versatile, allowing users to create various types of websites. Its open-source nature and strong community support contributed to its rapid growth and widespread adoption.

Major Milestones

WordPress reached significant milestones throughout its history. The release of WordPress 2.5 in 2008 brought a revamped user interface and improved media management. In 2010, the introduction of custom post types expanded WordPress’s capabilities beyond traditional blog structures. With the release of WordPress 5.0 in 2018, the Gutenberg editor was introduced, revolutionising content creation and providing more flexible page-building options.

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