WordPress Turns 19 – WP Tavern
Immediately marks 19 years since 19-year previous Matt Mullenweg partnered with Mike Little to release the primary model of WordPress primarily based on the b2/cafelog software program. The weblog the place he shared his ideas on life and tech was beginning to get extra site visitors and he needed to make sure its future after the b2/cafelog’s major developer disappeared.
Mullenweg had the imaginative and prescient for what WordPress must be, even earlier than it had a reputation. It centered on extensibility, an indicator function that has made the platform as standard as it’s at present:
What ought to it do? Nicely, it might be good to have the pliability of MovableType, the parsing of TextPattern, the hackability of b2, and the convenience of setup of Blogger.
Matt Mullenweg – The Blogging Software Dilemma, January 24, 2003
Though Textpattern, the attention-grabbing new publishing software on the time, had every little thing Mullenweg would possibly need in a running a blog software, he wasn’t positive about its licensing on the time. He determined to fork b2/cafelog, which lives on at present in a distinct type as WordPress, due to its GPL licensing. Mike Little joined the trouble and the remaining is historical past.
The spotlight of this yr’s anniversary celebrations is the wp19.day web site created by David Bisset and his daughter Olivia Bisset, who additionally managed the venture. WordPress customers and contributors from everywhere in the world left their heartfelt greetings to have a good time the event. Studying via, it’s simple to get a way of the great good WordPress has carried out for the world, giving so many a voice, a livelihood, and an opportunity to reside their desires.


The wp19.day web site additionally featured video submissions from WordPress lovers. Though many first got here for the software program, the frequent thread amongst those that have stayed is the worth of the neighborhood that has grown up across the venture and the management it has cultivated. WordCamp and meetup organizer Joe Simpson mentioned WordPress empowered him to take a management position in his area people.
“Our neighborhood right here is nurturing – it’s a household,” Simpson mentioned. “I’m excited to see the place we go from right here. Blissful birthday, WordPress.”
Matt Mullenweg additionally joined within the enjoyable of celebrating the milestone by contributing his personal greeting to the wp19.day venture. In his video submission, he mentioned it’s very uncommon for a 19-year-old software program venture and its neighborhood to not simply nonetheless be surviving however really thriving and “doing higher than ever.” He thanked contributors of every kind who’ve helped folks discover their approach with WordPress.
“That may be a testomony to each single one that has ever instructed a pal about WordPress, participated on the boards, had a translation, contributed code,” Mullenweg mentioned. “Something that’s been a part of the WordPress ecosystem is a part of why WordPress is remodeling the online and making it into a spot that’s extra open, extra inclusive, extra democratic, and a spot that we wish our future generations to develop up in.”