3 ms·

I think people are attached to Wordpress for the same reason we are attached to Javascript. At the time, it was one of the only ways of easily creating a blog.

I think people are attached to Wordpress for the same reason we are attached to Javascript. At the time, it was one of the only ways of easily creating a blog. The problem with Wordpress is that once you need to do something outside of the norm then all of the sudden you need deep knowledge of Wordpress's inner workings.

pc86 3y ago
There was never a time when WordPress was the only easy way for even a non-technical person to create a blog, they just did a great job marketing that that was the case. I spent a very brief time as a contributor to WP internals (not core by any means but a handful of contributions) and not only do you need a lot of internal knowledge to do anything outside of point-and-click, like you said, a lot of the core folks had never worked on any other large software projects, didn't do anything outside of WordPress, and had very little desire to make sure what they were doing was sound from a software engineering / code quality standpoint. It's a pretty great example of the big ball of mud / spaghetti code cliche.
- actionfromafar 3y ago
  From a social standpoint, it was though. You could ask a lot of non-expert people for help on Wordpress and get it.
  - pc86 3y ago
    That's exactly what I mean. They did a great job making people think that if you wanted a blog and weren't a programmer, WP was your only choice.
    - codegeek 3y ago
      Ok I will bite. What was an alternative to WordPress especially back then that actually was as easy to use as WP AND had the ecosystem of plugins that WP has. Focus on non technical users only who have no idea how to write code.
      - chiefalchemist 3y ago
        You're correct. Alternatives were slim. But in retrospect, perhaps that was part of the problem? WP had zero incentive for clean code, QA, industry standards, etc. The more it grew, ironically the less it cared. The embedded base of site and dev as well as the plugin and theme ecosystem maintain the momentum forward, somehow.
      - _jal 3y ago
        The main competitor was Movable Type. I recall there being several other also-rans, but am having trouble recalling names.
        eropple 3y ago
        Movable Type was pretty great, but it also cost money. The open-source era of MT was brief and after its primary period of relevance.
- civilitty 3y ago
  I don't think it was even the marketing but the product placement. I remember in the 2000s if you wanted hosting that wasn't a dedicated server, the scene was dominated almost entirely by CPanel with a one click installer for Wordpress. Once the plugin ecosystem sprung up around it, WP was off to the races.
- stOneskull 3y ago
  wp can be the choice for an e-commerce site.. woocommerce is pretty good and hard to match

pc86 3y ago

There was never a time when WordPress was the only easy way for even a non-technical person to create a blog, they just did a great job marketing that that was the case. I spent a very brief time as a contributor to WP internals (not core by any means but a handful of contributions) and not only do you need a lot of internal knowledge to do anything outside of point-and-click, like you said, a lot of the core folks had never worked on any other large software projects, didn't do anything outside of WordPress, and had very little desire to make sure what they were doing was sound from a software engineering / code quality standpoint. It's a pretty great example of the big ball of mud / spaghetti code cliche.

actionfromafar 3y ago
From a social standpoint, it was though. You could ask a lot of non-expert people for help on Wordpress and get it.
- pc86 3y ago
  That's exactly what I mean. They did a great job making people think that if you wanted a blog and weren't a programmer, WP was your only choice.
  - codegeek 3y ago
    Ok I will bite. What was an alternative to WordPress especially back then that actually was as easy to use as WP AND had the ecosystem of plugins that WP has. Focus on non technical users only who have no idea how to write code.
    - chiefalchemist 3y ago
      You're correct. Alternatives were slim. But in retrospect, perhaps that was part of the problem? WP had zero incentive for clean code, QA, industry standards, etc. The more it grew, ironically the less it cared. The embedded base of site and dev as well as the plugin and theme ecosystem maintain the momentum forward, somehow.
    - _jal 3y ago
      The main competitor was Movable Type. I recall there being several other also-rans, but am having trouble recalling names.
      - eropple 3y ago
        Movable Type was pretty great, but it also cost money. The open-source era of MT was brief and after its primary period of relevance.
civilitty 3y ago
I don't think it was even the marketing but the product placement. I remember in the 2000s if you wanted hosting that wasn't a dedicated server, the scene was dominated almost entirely by CPanel with a one click installer for Wordpress. Once the plugin ecosystem sprung up around it, WP was off to the races.
stOneskull 3y ago
wp can be the choice for an e-commerce site.. woocommerce is pretty good and hard to match