WordPress kicked off in 2003 when Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little forked the old b2/cafelog blogging tool. Started simple for blogs, but exploded into a full CMS with plugins and themes. Now powers like 40% of the web. Wild how it grew from that.
WordPress started in 2003 as a fork of b2/cafelog, created by Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little after b2's development stalled. It launched as open-source blogging software using PHP and MySQL.
Version 1.0 came in 2004 with themes and plugins. By 2005 (v2.0), it added XML-RPC and the K2 theme. In 2007, it formed the WordPress Foundation; Automattic (Mullenweg's company) simplified hosting via WordPress.com.
It evolved beyond blogs: v3.0 (2010) merged with MU for multisite; v3.5 (2012) improved media uploads; Gutenberg block editor arrived in v5.0 (2018).
Today, it powers ~43% of websites (per W3Techs), with 22.5% of top sites as of late 2024. Key shift: From blogs to full CMS with themes, plugins, and e-commerce (WooCommerce since 2011).
WordPress kicked off in 2003 when Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little forked the old b2/cafelog blogging tool. Started simple for blogs, but exploded into a full CMS with plugins and themes. Now powers like 40% of the web. Wild how it grew from that.
WordPress started in 2003 as a fork of b2/cafelog, created by Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little after b2's development stalled. It launched as open-source blogging software using PHP and MySQL.
Version 1.0 came in 2004 with themes and plugins. By 2005 (v2.0), it added XML-RPC and the K2 theme. In 2007, it formed the WordPress Foundation; Automattic (Mullenweg's company) simplified hosting via WordPress.com.
It evolved beyond blogs: v3.0 (2010) merged with MU for multisite; v3.5 (2012) improved media uploads; Gutenberg block editor arrived in v5.0 (2018).
Today, it powers ~43% of websites (per W3Techs), with 22.5% of top sites as of late 2024. Key shift: From blogs to full CMS with themes, plugins, and e-commerce (WooCommerce since 2011).
For details: WordPress.org history or Wikipedia.