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State of the Word 2023: Insights, Trends, and Exciting Developments
WordPress Co-Founder Matt Mullenweg delivered the State of the Word 2023 from Madrid, Spain, the first time the annual keynote was held internationally. Here are the key highlights.
20 Years of WordPress
WordPress turned 20 in 2023. What started as a blogging tool now powers over a third of all websites worldwide.
The community celebrated big:
- 70 WordCamps in 33 countries
- 3,300 community events including WordPress School Days and Kids Camps
- 2,500 organizers volunteered their time
- 1,339 new contributors joined WordPress.org
New Features and Tools
Mullenweg showed off the “Nearby Events” widget on the WordPress dashboard. It uses your location to show upcoming WordPress events near you.
The WordPress Showcase got a relaunch too. During peak traffic (when Taylor Swift was named Person of the Year), it handled over 100,000 requests per second.
Gutenberg’s Four Phases
Gutenberg Lead Architect Matías Ventura shared the progress of Gutenberg’s development roadmap:
- Phase 1: Editing, Done
- Phase 2: Customization, Done
- Phase 3: Collaboration, Current focus
- Phase 4: Multilingual, Coming next
Phase 3 brings real-time collaborative editing. Multiple users can work on the same content at the same time. The Site Editor and Patterns got streamlined too, giving designers more control.
WordPress Playground Updates
The WordPress Playground lets you test plugins, themes, and designs right in your browser. No hosting needed.
New features include direct code interaction, in-browser data persistence, extra PHP extensions, and network access for API calls. Great for beginners learning WordPress or devs testing ideas quickly.
Twenty Twenty-Four Theme
The new default theme, Twenty Twenty-Four, ships with 35+ built-in patterns. It works for artists, entrepreneurs, and writers. It showcases everything Gutenberg Phase 2 can do.
Performance Improvements
Ventura stressed the importance of keeping WordPress fast. A dedicated dashboard monitors core operations to make sure new features don’t slow things down.
New moderation frameworks help users migrate data smoothly. The focus: fast editing, fast loading, and a responsive experience for everyone.
AI in WordPress
Mullenweg called 2023 a breakthrough year for AI in WordPress. He encouraged developers to explore tools like CoPilot.
The team demoed AI with WordPress Playground, using natural language to create complex websites. WordPress is actively building toward AI-driven website development.
WordCamp US Moves to Portland
Big announcement: WordCamp US will be held in Portland, Oregon for the next two years. Portland’s creative and tech culture makes it a natural fit for the WordPress community.
What’s Next
WordPress enters its third decade focused on collaboration, performance, and AI. The community is growing. The tools are getting better. And the platform continues to set standards for the open web.
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