From the initial WordPress release in 2003 to the present day, WordPress has evolved a lot. The non-fundamental tool of blogging which now underlies more than 43% of all websites on the internet. This on the other hand has a positive impact on the size of its market which increases every year.
Thus, what’s the real reason behind WordPress’s breathtaking popularity? For what will be open source locomotives in the years to follow? It is time to examine the ways by which WordPress is changing as well as the thrilling future opportunities that await us.
WordPress Usage Continues to Expand
This feature of ease as well as the extensive selection of themes and plugins has resulted in WordPress being used to create all kinds of websites. Small wordpress blogs, large websites, internet stores – you can use wordpress to power them all.
As for the use of a content management system (CMS), WordPress is responsible for almost 6 in 10 websites. In the top 10,000 websites, WordPress has accounted for 38%. Many top WordPress brands like TechCrunch, Sony Music, and the White House use this platform as well.
E-commerce creates a big engine of growth. WooCommerce, which allows WordPress sites to also function as an online store, currently manages over 25% of the 1 million e-commerce sites that rank the highest. For content creation, WordPress gets 70 million posts and comments every month processed.
It is not surprising that the use of WordPress will continue to increase along with the improving of the system, and the more countries, industries that will be covered with it. Increasingly, internet site owners from all over the globe will tap on the openness and versatility that WordPress has to offer.
Exciting New Features on the Horizon
The WordPress community is constantly working to develop the software with new versions released several times a year. Let’s explore some of the powerful new features that are recently added or coming soon.
1. More Intuitive Editing with Gutenberg
In 2018, WordPress started its new Gutenberg editor. The main advantage of this block-type editing system is that it is a big step up from the previous text editor. This system makes things a lot easier and more convenient for the user.
It is much more convenient for authors to write and edit with the Gutenberg block editor than with a regular page. You can add or edit the content and rearrange the layout with the blocks of content that contain text, images, videos, and more. It is easier to design multimedia pages as the interface turns into an interactive one.
Part of the Gutenberg project is made by hundreds of contributors globally. In the future, Gutenberg will be a lot more user-friendly and efficient, allowing more features to be added to create more types of websites.
2. Expanding Layout and Design Options
WordPress themes define the design and the style of a website. Tons of free and paid themes of various kinds are all around. However, your design choices won’t be just reliant on your theme anymore.
The more recent WordPress features such as Full Site Editing are more visual and interactive via drag-and-drop customization. You will have an opportunity for template development and modification which will be site wide. They will not be limited to the pages or posts only.
This will make it easier to get an exact look and do the exact things you want for your site without digging into the code. WordPress is the ultimate choice for all who prefer building advanced, customized sites without exorbitant service charges.
Stronger WordPress Security
And the fact that WordPress has become the most popular CMS worldwide, it is important to have WordPress secure. The WP group and community put a lot of heart in ensuring that the websites they own are secure and thus they are always on the lookout for other means of making the website more secure.
Some of the latest security improvements include:
- Automatic WordPress version updates to make sure that security measures are constantly being applied.
- The use of stronger encryption along with secure communication between the servers and browsers.
- Make them use a safer password and give them a suggestion to use random secure passwords.
- The number of attempts should also be limited in case of hacking attacks.
Top security plugins like Wordfence, iThemes Security and Jetpack are also constantly updating to respond to new threats. They offer robust features like malware scanning, firewalls, and brute force attack protection.
As cybersecurity keeps evolving, WordPress will continue to build cutting-edge protection. This will help keep the open source CMS secure for its millions of users.
Smoother Multilingual Sites
This also highlights the fact that as the number of WP users increases worldwide, making multilingual WordPress sites becomes more and more imperative. WordPress takes on the challenge of making its admin interface easily accessible in each of the languages which are possible.
In its present translation state, WordPress is translated into 57 languages from Spanish to Swahili. Small fragments have been translated for dozens of those. This fact gives WordPress the advantage of being able to reach out to people from different areas of the globe.
Plugins such as Polylang and WPML are another way webmasters can make their site content available in several languages. With its increasing translation options and partnerships, expect WordPress to take its services for international communities to the next level.
Harnessing the WordPress Plugins of the Future
The plugins constitute a big part of the diversity that WordPress is built on. These plugins provide you with the chance to install various features and functions to your WordPress site without writing any code.
Now (at the end of 2023), there are over 60,000 free WordPress plugins at one’s disposal – a significant growth from the number of 55,000 plugins from the previous year. Moreover, there are advanced and well-supported plugins for the best ones on the premium markets.
Let’s look at how WordPress plugins are evolving to become even more powerful tools for site owners and developers.
1. Artificial Intelligence Integrations
Just like the rest of the tech world, WordPress developers are exploring ways to integrate AI and machine learning. Imagine:
- Chatbots that can answer any of the visitor’s questions and help them navigate your site
- Artificial intelligence which assists you create SEO-minded blogs and product descriptions
- Machine learning to scrutinize and block spam comments and traffic from suspicious sources
- Smart tags, categorization, and optimization are the methods used
The possibilities are endless. There are WordPress plugins that have machine learning and AI already implemented. As this technology is upgraded expect it to be implemented in other even more useful applications.
2. Voice Search Optimization
Smart speakers and voice-activated systems such as Alexa and Siri are bringing a revolutionary shift in how people search for information on the internet. The experts forecast that the entire search process will be done by voice commands and not by the keyboard by the year 2025, reaching a percentage of 60%.
To adopt, WordPress is focusing on structured data integrations which would help voice assistants to search and read content from WordPress sites. Plugins too would probably come up to be tweaked in such a way that your wordpress site is optimised for the responses for voice searches.
3. Virtual and Augmented Reality Integration
Technologies like virtual reality which for many years were only the realm of sci-fi are now getting into the real world. Organisations including the real estate and educational sectors are creating VR/AR tours, training, interactive graphics, and so on.
WordPress developers are looking at what’s going on. You can be sure in the near future that various WordPress plugins will be produced to help you build and present VR/AR content. This will simplify the process of immersing your users, as well as, improving the interactivity of your WordPress site.
WordPress as an App Platform
WordPress is not only meant for website development. It also has the ability to be used to produce web apps – the interactive tools and software that you can find in your browser.
Some WordPress plugins are making it into web applications, for example, learning management systems like this or appointment booking interfaces. With the growth of technologies like PWAs, WordPress has a chance to expand and become a more powerful app development solution.
Advantage – You could create an app even without starting from scratch or mastering some unknown systems. Developers who are experienced with WordPress can gain the skills needed to work on the blockchain with minimal efforts.
Changes in the WordPress Plugin Ecosystem
The world of WordPress plugins is thriving – but it’s not without its challenges and opportunities. A few key shifts to watch include:
1. More Open Source Plugins
A lot of the widely used WordPress plugins are licensed on an open-source basis. Therefore, their code is open for anyone to use, modify, and develop as per their wishes.
Open source plugins drive innovation, as developers around the world can contribute improvements. And they make powerful website features accessible to people who couldn’t afford premium plugins.
The WordPress community encourages open-source contributions. Expect to see even more collaboration between developers as open source plugins become the norm.
2. A Balancing Act for Commercial Plugin Devs
Being a commercial WordPress plugin developer, your team must be ready to give 100 % and provide even more value to the users. They’re in the same way as other app developers who are creating a high-end tool that users will be willing to pay for.
Some of the commercial plugin developers are shifting to a business strategy of “freemium.” In their plugin, they offer users a free version to entice them and then upsell them on other features and support.
Some are catering to a segmented or integration market while the others focus on mass market. Besides, some are leveraging WordPress consultants and providing support services to raise their revenue.
New Web Technologies to Watch
WordPress does not exist in a vacuum. The community of developers is looking forward to something much bigger in the web development world. Some key technologies that could shape WordPress’ path forward:
- WebAssembly: Allows other programming languages, for example, C, C++, and Rust, to be integrated with the browser. In addition to the already existing WordPress plugins, it could make it more powerful and efficient.
- Headless WordPress: The result of getting WordPress to the “headless” CMS state – where the data layer is separated from the visual layer – offers integrations with modern JavaScript frameworks.
- Serverless/Cloud Tools: WordPress can be run on the serverless architecture and tapping into cloud functions would give developers an opportunity to come up with applications that are more scalable and lower-cost, respectively.
- GraphQL: These inquiries apply API query language to extracting the data you want to use for external integrations, single-page apps and more.
As these technologies gain steam, WordPress will keep evolving to stay modern and flexible.
A Fast-Growing Global Community
WordPress fundamentally is an open source project that is constructed by a multifaceted community of contributors. And this community is growing.
This group had about 2 million members in 520 cities and 100 countries worldwide. Furthermore, you can attend WordCamps, which are WordPress conferences that take place regularly in a significant number of places around the world.
WordPress.org is running polyglot translation project through which people can contribute their WordPress version in their own languages. Additionally, there are official WordPress resources in Arabic, Ukrainian and other languages to cater to the needs of a global audience.
This worldwide, united effort is what will power the motion that keeps driving WordPress. Nevertheless, WordPress is a community-owned platform, which means that one company won’t be the sole driver of its fortune.
It seems that we have the added advantage of multiple curious minds working together; the future is boundless. WordPress will be responsible for continuing the process of democratizing publishing and letting people all over the world develop the sites of their dreams.
Conclusion
From its humble beginnings, WordPress has evolved into a multipurpose and durable platform, which has withstood the test of the ever-evolving digital era. The future of WordPress platform is requiring special attention on the area of user experience, headless architecture, artificial intelligence, performance, security, and multilingual support.
Through these innovative and trendy approaches, WordPress will continue to enjoy the reputation of being the first-choice website owners, developers, and content creators. Being a co-creative force with the community, it is encouraging to see the platform evolve and become a fundamental part of the web for decades to come.
