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So Automattic, maker of the largest open source PHP CMS in the world has thrown out PHP in favor of node.js for their own site. And the announcement has nothing

So Automattic, maker of the largest open source PHP CMS in the world has thrown out PHP in favor of node.js for their own site. And the announcement has nothing about where this leaves wordpress.org, the open source PHP CMS that powers 25% of the web. If they're leading by example, we should ditch WordPress.org and PHP in favor of node.js web apps and frameworks too, since it's the way of the future? I happen to wholeheartedly agree. It's just that the developers of the 40,000 plugins who have bet their farms on PHP WordPress might at least want a clearer indication of what exactly is happening here. The only thing I could find about where this leaves wordpress.org is buried in this wired article: http://www.wired.com/2015/11/wordpress-com-gets-a-new-face-and-joins-the-javascript-age/ http://www.wired.com/2015/11/wordpress-com-gets-a-new-face-a... "For the backend code, the team used the popular server-side JavaScript platform Node.js. For users who host their own version of WordPress, Automattic will host the Node.js portion of the code on their own server, with which the Jetpack plugin will communicate, freeing up web hosts from having to support Node.js."

firasd 11y ago
I think the way forward would be for WordPress hosting to come with a version of node.js with standard packages which plugins can use, in combination with the new REST API. So even if we would move past PHP we wouldn't move past WordPress, its database, and the basic ways it stores and describes information. No need to reinvent that wheel if it works well for your site or product.
chipotle_coyote 11y ago
I think this is a bit of an overstatement. Calypso is a rewritten "dashboard" view and administration panel -- it's a client-side single page web app in React, with "a thin layer of Node.js on the server to build the initial web page," as they put it. This is communicating to the actual WordPress blog/CMS engine over a REST API, that engine is still in PHP, and I suspect it's going to remain PHP for the foreseeable future.
coldtea 11y ago
>So Automattic, maker of the largest open source PHP CMS in the world has thrown out PHP in favor of node.js for their own site. No, they kept PHP for the backend, and created a new front-end with node and JS. And that's just for the admin pages. >If they're leading by example, we should ditch WordPress.org and PHP in favor of node.js web apps and frameworks too, since it's the way of the future? Perhaps. Do you expect Automattic to tell you what your stack should be? Besides, if node/Js is the "way of the future" then there's no need to ditch "wordPress.org" since it has already embraced that future.
- mmaunder 11y ago
  >Besides, if node/Js is the "way of the future" then there's no need to ditch "wordPress.org" since it has already embraced that future. How?
  - coldtea 11y ago
    Through the availability of said announced open source node/js admin panel + client that works with it too, through its REST interface. You thought it's just for wordpress.com?
    - mmaunder 11y ago
      I did. There wasn't anything I noticed in the announcement about wordpress.org. Can you point me to where they mention it's being integrated into the wordpress.org codebase? [I'm aware of the mention about the jetpack plugin in the wired article]
      - coldtea 11y ago
        >There wasn't anything I noticed in the announcement about wordpress.org. Can you point me to where they mention it's being integrated into the wordpress.org codebase? The linked article is just the (lead?) developers recount of how they've built it. The official reveal is through the project's site: https://developer.wordpress.com/calypso/ https://developer.wordpress.com/calypso/
rralian 11y ago
The node.js aspect of Calypso is actually pretty minimal, basically to build the shell of the web page. WordPress and PHP still power the API behind Calypso as well as the entire front-end of the site (i.e., what your readers see when they visit your blog). I don't think either of them are going away anytime soon. The .org community (self-hosted WordPress) is also getting serious about API-based interactions, so this isn't an entirely new direction. I think we'll be seeing front-end JavaScript becoming more and more important there as well. There's still a lot to figure out, but I think the open-sourcing of Calypso that happened today will make it easier to share ideas with the greater WordPress community.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- rmccue 11y ago
  > The .org community (self-hosted WordPress) is also getting serious about API-based interactions, so this isn't an entirely new direction. Indeed, we're shipping the first half of the core REST API with 4.4 (just about to hit RC), and the rest in the next release.
  - e12e 11y ago
    I just learned about jetpack - does anyone know why the functionality there requires a wordpress.com account (or rather, are there any efforts towards being able to self-host that part?)? In the same vein, the wordpress.com api does indeed appear to be rather well documented -- shouldn't it be rather easy to implement enough of that to allow using this new web-app for interfacing with it? (Even if most of the calls just return 403 or 500 - presumably the app handles that somewhat gracefully)?
    - rmccue 11y ago
      My hope is that we (the core REST API team) will be able to work with the Automattic/WordPress.com REST API team to harmonise the two, yeah. :) (There are some things in the WP.com API that don't make sense for self-hosted sites, and vice versa.)

firasd 11y ago

I think the way forward would be for WordPress hosting to come with a version of node.js with standard packages which plugins can use, in combination with the new REST API. So even if we would move past PHP we wouldn't move past WordPress, its database, and the basic ways it stores and describes information. No need to reinvent that wheel if it works well for your site or product.

chipotle_coyote 11y ago

I think this is a bit of an overstatement. Calypso is a rewritten "dashboard" view and administration panel -- it's a client-side single page web app in React, with "a thin layer of Node.js on the server to build the initial web page," as they put it. This is communicating to the actual WordPress blog/CMS engine over a REST API, that engine is still in PHP, and I suspect it's going to remain PHP for the foreseeable future.

coldtea 11y ago

>So Automattic, maker of the largest open source PHP CMS in the world has thrown out PHP in favor of node.js for their own site. No, they kept PHP for the backend, and created a new front-end with node and JS. And that's just for the admin pages. >If they're leading by example, we should ditch WordPress.org and PHP in favor of node.js web apps and frameworks too, since it's the way of the future? Perhaps. Do you expect Automattic to tell you what your stack should be? Besides, if node/Js is the "way of the future" then there's no need to ditch "wordPress.org" since it has already embraced that future.

mmaunder 11y ago
>Besides, if node/Js is the "way of the future" then there's no need to ditch "wordPress.org" since it has already embraced that future. How?
- coldtea 11y ago
  Through the availability of said announced open source node/js admin panel + client that works with it too, through its REST interface. You thought it's just for wordpress.com?
  - mmaunder 11y ago
    I did. There wasn't anything I noticed in the announcement about wordpress.org. Can you point me to where they mention it's being integrated into the wordpress.org codebase? [I'm aware of the mention about the jetpack plugin in the wired article]
    - coldtea 11y ago
      >There wasn't anything I noticed in the announcement about wordpress.org. Can you point me to where they mention it's being integrated into the wordpress.org codebase? The linked article is just the (lead?) developers recount of how they've built it. The official reveal is through the project's site: https://developer.wordpress.com/calypso/ https://developer.wordpress.com/calypso/

rralian 11y ago

The node.js aspect of Calypso is actually pretty minimal, basically to build the shell of the web page. WordPress and PHP still power the API behind Calypso as well as the entire front-end of the site (i.e., what your readers see when they visit your blog). I don't think either of them are going away anytime soon. The .org community (self-hosted WordPress) is also getting serious about API-based interactions, so this isn't an entirely new direction. I think we'll be seeing front-end JavaScript becoming more and more important there as well. There's still a lot to figure out, but I think the open-sourcing of Calypso that happened today will make it easier to share ideas with the greater WordPress community.

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
rmccue 11y ago
> The .org community (self-hosted WordPress) is also getting serious about API-based interactions, so this isn't an entirely new direction. Indeed, we're shipping the first half of the core REST API with 4.4 (just about to hit RC), and the rest in the next release.
- e12e 11y ago
  I just learned about jetpack - does anyone know why the functionality there requires a wordpress.com account (or rather, are there any efforts towards being able to self-host that part?)? In the same vein, the wordpress.com api does indeed appear to be rather well documented -- shouldn't it be rather easy to implement enough of that to allow using this new web-app for interfacing with it? (Even if most of the calls just return 403 or 500 - presumably the app handles that somewhat gracefully)?
  - rmccue 11y ago
    My hope is that we (the core REST API team) will be able to work with the Automattic/WordPress.com REST API team to harmonise the two, yeah. :) (There are some things in the WP.com API that don't make sense for self-hosted sites, and vice versa.)