EmDash Did Cloudflare Kill WordPress - CourtneyR.dev's 2nd Brain

EmDash: Did Cloudflare Kill WordPress? ![rw-book-cover](https://img.youtube.com/vi/q6rzvqZ-Pzc/maxresdefault.jpg) 🔗 **Source:** [EmDash: Did Cloudflare Kill WordPress?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6rzvqZ-Pzc) > [!note]+ Document Notes > tags: #content-management #open-source #cloudflare #astro #typescript > author: WP Minute > source: YouTube > reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6rzvqZ-Pzc > date created: 2024-12-19 16:30 > > # 🏷️ Title: EmDash: Did Cloudflare Kill WordPress? >  ## 🧰 Action Inbox - [H1] Test EmDash deployment and compare content editing UX — 00:00-08:30 #cloudflare - [H2] Evaluate WordPress export/import functionality via M-exporter plugin — 12:45 #migration - [H3] Monitor EmDash development roadmap and marketplace ecosystem — throughout video #competition ## 🧭 Table of Contents - [[#📝 Summary]] - [[#📖 Main Content]] - [[#🗒️ Notes]] - [[#📚 References]] - [[#🗣️ Paraphrase]] - [[#📰 Newsletter]] - [[#✅ Action Items]] - [[#🧪 Hypotheses]] - [[#📊 Methodology]] - [[#❓ Questions]] - [[#🔮 Future Research]] - [[#💡 Implications]] - [[#🧠 Learning Styles Assessment]] - [[#📊 Accessibility Assessment]] - [[#🌍 DEIB Assessment]] - [[#✅ Logical Validity]] - [[#🛡️ DARVO Analysis]] - [[#🎯 Conclusion]] ### 🔗 References - [EmDash CMS](https://blog.cloudflare.com/mdash) - [Astro Framework](https://astro.build) - [M-Exporter Plugin](https://github.com/cloudflare/m-exporter) ## 📝 Summary - Cloudflare launched EmDash (stylized as M-), a TypeScript-based CMS they call a "spiritual successor to WordPress" - Built on Astro framework with serverless architecture and sandboxed plugins to address WordPress security concerns - Early 0.1 version shows basic functionality but lacks WordPress's rich content editing and ecosystem - Host emphasizes WordPress's community strength as its biggest competitive advantage - Raises questions about potential market fragmentation and WordPress's future positioning ## 📖 Main Content Cloudflare has announced EmDash, a new content management system positioned as WordPress's "spiritual successor." Built entirely in TypeScript and powered by Astro, EmDash aims to solve what Cloudflare sees as fundamental security and architecture issues with WordPress, particularly around plugin isolation and shared hosting vulnerabilities. The system features passkey-based authentication, role-based access control, and sandboxed plugins that run in isolated workers. It's open source (MIT license) and can deploy to Cloudflare's infrastructure or any Node.js server. However, the current 0.1 release shows a very basic interface reminiscent of early CMS systems, with limited content editing capabilities compared to modern WordPress. The announcement notably begins with praise for WordPress's accomplishments in democratizing publishing, suggesting Cloudflare wants to position itself as evolution rather than competition. However, questions remain about hosting portability, ecosystem development, and whether this represents genuine innovation or an April Fool's announcement (given the March 31 timing). ## 🗒️ Notes #### ⏱️ [00:00](https://youtu.be/q6rzvqZ-Pzc?t=0) — [H1] Introduction to EmDash announcement - Key idea: Cloudflare launched EmDash as WordPress's "spiritual successor" - Evidence: "Did Cloudflare just kill off WordPress with its spiritual successor called M Dash?" #### ⏱️ [01:23](https://youtu.be/q6rzvqZ-Pzc?t=83) — [H2] EmDash technical specifications - Key idea: Built on TypeScript, Astro, with sandboxed plugins for security - Evidence: "It's written entirely in Typescript. It is serverless, but you can run it on your own hardware" #### ⏱️ [02:45](https://youtu.be/q6rzvqZ-Pzc?t=165) — [H3] Cloudflare's homage to WordPress - Key idea: Announcement acknowledges WordPress's transformative impact - Evidence: "The story of WordPress is a triumph of open source that has enabled publishing at a scale never seen before" #### ⏱️ [04:12](https://youtu.be/q6rzvqZ-Pzc?t=252) — [H2] WordPress community as competitive advantage - Key idea: Community ecosystem is WordPress's hardest asset to replicate - Evidence: "This is the thing that a lot of people have a hard time challenging with WordPress is that community feel" #### ⏱️ [05:30](https://youtu.be/q6rzvqZ-Pzc?t=330) — [H3] Technical hosting considerations - Key idea: WordPress's PHP/MySQL stack offers broader hosting compatibility - Evidence: "You can pick it up and plop it onto one of the 3,000 web hosts throughout the world who offer WordPress support" #### ⏱️ [06:45](https://youtu.be/q6rzvqZ-Pzc?t=405) — [H3] Plugin security and marketplace critique - Key idea: EmDash addresses WordPress plugin security through isolation - Evidence: "Plugins are securely sandbox and can run in their own isolate via dynamic workers" #### ⏱️ [07:30](https://youtu.be/q6rzvqZ-Pzc?t=450) — [H2] Passkey authentication implementation - Key idea: EmDash uses passwordless authentication by default - Evidence: "MD uses a pass key based authentication by default, meaning there are no passwords to leak" #### ⏱️ [08:15](https://youtu.be/q6rzvqZ-Pzc?t=495) — [H1] EmDash dashboard demonstration - Key idea: Current interface is extremely basic compared to WordPress - Evidence: "The TLDDR of this experience is it's super sparse. It's super basic, but it's also 0.1" #### ⏱️ [09:30](https://youtu.be/q6rzvqZ-Pzc?t=570) — [H3] Content editing experience - Key idea: Content creation lacks modern WordPress features like Gutenberg - Evidence: "It is literally nowhere near the content building experience that you have in WordPress" #### ⏱️ [11:00](https://youtu.be/q6rzvqZ-Pzc?t=660) — [H2] Content types functionality - Key idea: EmDash includes native custom post types and fields - Evidence: "Being able to define your core post types and core fields that are associated with that post type makes a whole heck of a lot of sense" #### ⏱️ [12:45](https://youtu.be/q6rzvqZ-Pzc?t=765) — [H2] WordPress import functionality - Key idea: Site migration tool analyzes existing WordPress installations - Evidence: "Gives you a little report. Hey, there's 468 posts, 12 pages, 972 media" #### ⏱️ [13:30](https://youtu.be/q6rzvqZ-Pzc?t=810) — [H1] WordPress community collaboration imperative - Key idea: WordPress stakeholders must work together to maintain platform relevance - Evidence: "It is crucial that the folks in the WordPress community do work together to save the platform" #### ⏱️ [14:15](https://youtu.be/q6rzvqZ-Pzc?t=855) — [H2] Market positioning and competition - Key idea: WordPress may lose certain segments to AI builders and infrastructure players - Evidence: "We could be losing ground to that, but I think that's okay" ## 📚 References - [Cloudflare EmDash Announcement](https://blog.cloudflare.com/mdash) - [Astro Framework](https://astro.build) - [M-Exporter Plugin GitHub](https://github.com/cloudflare/m-exporter) - [WordPress.org Plugin Directory](https://wordpress.org/plugins/) ## 🗣️ Paraphrase - Cloudflare launched EmDash, a TypeScript CMS built on Astro that aims to address WordPress security issues through plugin sandboxing and modern architecture - The announcement respectfully acknowledges WordPress's success while positioning EmDash as an evolution rather than direct competitor - Current 0.1 version shows promise in areas like authentication and content types but lacks the rich editing experience and ecosystem that make WordPress powerful ## 📰 Newsletter **New CMS Alert: Cloudflare's EmDash Takes Aim at WordPress Architecture** Cloudflare just dropped EmDash, calling it WordPress's "spiritual successor." Built on TypeScript and Astro, it tackles plugin security through sandboxing and offers passwordless auth out of the box. While the 0.1 version is extremely basic, it includes native custom post types—something WordPress developers have wanted for years. The real story? Cloudflare starts by praising WordPress's community impact, suggesting this is about evolution, not replacement. For WordPress pros, this reinforces what we know: our ecosystem's strength isn't just code—it's people. **Key takeaway**: WordPress's hosting flexibility and rich editing experience remain major advantages, but keep an eye on how infrastructure companies are reimagining content management. Resources: [Learn WordPress](https://learn.wordpress.org/), [Developer Docs](https://developer.wordpress.org/), [WP-CLI](https://wp-cli.org/) ## ✅ Action Items #### DevRel - Developer advocacy: Create comparison content showing WordPress vs EmDash capabilities, demo migration tools - Education: Develop workshops on WordPress hosting advantages and ecosystem benefits - Developer experience: Document WordPress's plugin security best practices to address EmDash's positioning - Community management: Monitor developer discussions about CMS alternatives and gather feedback #### WordPress - Core: Evaluate EmDash's custom post types implementation for potential WordPress improvements - Security: Review plugin isolation strategies and sandboxing possibilities for WordPress architecture - Community: Strengthen narrative around WordPress's community ecosystem as competitive advantage - Documentation: Create clear guides comparing WordPress hosting flexibility vs serverless alternatives - Plugins: Streamline plugin review process to address criticism about review queue length - Marketing: Develop messaging that emphasizes WordPress's unique community-driven development model #### Community - Maintainers: Study EmDash's TypeScript approach for potential WordPress TypeScript initiatives - Contributors: Organize discussions about addressing legitimate WordPress pain points highlighted by competitors - Ecosystem: Coordinate response strategy that emphasizes WordPress's strengths without dismissing innovation ## 🧪 Hypotheses - EmDash's serverless architecture will attract developers but limit hosting provider adoption - WordPress's PHP/MySQL stack provides hosting flexibility that TypeScript/Node.js solutions cannot match - Community ecosystem strength is more valuable than technical architecture improvements - Plugin security concerns are not significant enough to drive WordPress user migration ### 📊 Methodology - Survey hosting providers about Node.js vs PHP support and pricing - Compare EmDash vs WordPress content editing workflows with content creators - Analyze GitHub activity and developer engagement metrics for both projects - Track WordPress plugin security incident rates vs reported concerns ### ❓ Questions - How will EmDash's MIT license affect ecosystem development compared to WordPress's GPL? - Can serverless CMS solutions achieve the hosting ubiquity that WordPress enjoys? - What specific WordPress pain points does EmDash address that WordPress cannot? ### 🔮 Future Research - Monitor EmDash's plugin ecosystem development and marketplace strategy - Track WordPress's response to custom post types and modern editing demands - Study enterprise adoption patterns for serverless vs traditional CMS solutions ### 💡 Implications - Practice: WordPress developers should understand modern CMS architectural approaches - Policy: Consider how GPL vs MIT licensing affects ecosystem development strategies - Security: Evaluate plugin isolation techniques for improving WordPress security model - Education: Update WordPress training to address modern alternatives and positioning - Funding: Assess investment in WordPress infrastructure vs newer CMS platforms ### 🧠 Learning Styles Assessment Reading level estimate: 10th Grade (technical content with accessible explanations) #### 👀 Visual learners - Present: Screenshots of EmDash dashboard, WordPress comparison visuals - Improve: Architecture diagrams showing plugin isolation, hosting comparison charts #### 🔊 Aural learners - Present: Video walkthrough with narrated demo of EmDash interface - Improve: Audio summary of key technical differences and implications #### 🗣️ Verbal learners - Present: Clear definitions of TypeScript, serverless, and plugin sandboxing - Improve: Analogies comparing CMS architectures to familiar systems #### 🧩 Kinesthetic learners - Present: Hands-on EmDash deployment walkthrough, interactive comparison - Improve: Step-by-step WordPress vs EmDash setup checklist #### 🧠 Logical learners - Present: Technical specifications comparison, security model analysis - Improve: Decision tree for choosing between CMS options, performance metrics #### 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Social learners - Present: Community discussion prompts, collaborative analysis framework - Improve: Guided group evaluation of CMS alternatives, peer review process #### 🧘‍♀️ Solitary learners - Present: Self-guided exploration of EmDash features, reflection questions - Improve: Personal assessment worksheet for CMS evaluation criteria #### 🌿 Naturalistic learners - Present: CMS ecosystem metaphors, organic community growth patterns - Improve: Technology lifecycle thinking, platform sustainability analysis ### 📊 Accessibility Assessment #### Screen reader semantics - Present: Clear heading hierarchy, descriptive link text - Improve: Alt text for dashboard screenshots, landmark navigation #### Keyboard navigation - Present: Logical tab order through content sections - Improve: Skip links for video content, focus indicators #### Contrast and readability - Present: Good text contrast in article content - Improve: Address UI contrast issues mentioned in EmDash demo #### Text resizing and reflow - Present: Responsive design at standard zoom levels - Improve: Test at 200% zoom, ensure no content clipping #### Media and captions - Present: Video walkthrough with clear narration - Improve: Auto-generated captions, downloadable transcript #### Forms and interactions - Present: Standard web form accessibility - Improve: Error handling for any interactive elements ### 🌍 DEIB Assessment #### Cultural breadth - Present: Focus on global WordPress community impact - Improve: Examples from diverse geographic regions, multilingual considerations #### Inclusive language - Present: Gender-neutral technical terms, defined jargon - Improve: Plain language summaries of complex concepts #### Neurodiversity support - Present: Clear section breaks, consistent structure - Improve: Content warnings for rapid interface changes in demo #### Representation - Present: Acknowledgment of diverse WordPress contributor community - Improve: Specific examples of underrepresented groups in tech #### Psychological safety - Present: Respectful tone toward both WordPress and EmDash teams - Improve: Explicit community guidelines for technical discussions ### ✅ Logical Validity #### Strong reasoning - Deductive strength: Technical comparison follows logical framework (architecture → capabilities → market fit) - Inductive strength: Community ecosystem argument builds from specific examples to general principle - Causal reasoning: Links hosting flexibility to market adoption effectively - Analogical strength: CMS competition compared to historical technology transitions #### Fallacies - Appeal to tradition: Suggests PHP/MySQL is better simply because it's established, fix: focus on specific technical advantages - False dilemma: Implies WordPress vs EmDash binary choice, fix: acknowledge multiple CMS options and use cases #### Tone of voice - Overall tone: Analytical and respectful, acknowledges strengths of both platforms while maintaining healthy skepticism about new announcements ### 🛡️ DARVO Analysis - Deny: No significant denial patterns detected - Attack: No attacks on individuals or groups - Reverse victim/offender: No victim/offender dynamics present - Emotional cues and rhetoric: Professional skepticism balanced with genuine technical curiosity ## 🎯 Conclusion EmDash represents an interesting technical evolution in CMS design, but its impact on WordPress depends more on execution than innovation. The key insight is that WordPress's competitive moat lies in its community ecosystem and hosting ubiquity rather than just technical architecture. WordPress practitioners should study EmDash's approaches to custom post types and security while reinforcing the platform's unique community-driven advantages. ## 🧱 Refactor Appendix ### 📚 Literature Split Pad Purpose: Stage CEE units that become Literature notes. Split level: H3 ### [H1] Cloudflare positions EmDash as WordPress evolution rather than replacement > [!quote] [EmDash: Did Cloudflare Kill WordPress?](https://youtu.be/q6rzvqZ- --- ## Full Transcript [00:00] Oh boy, do we have a juicy topic today. [00:02] Did Cloudflare just kill off WordPress [00:04] with its spiritual successor called M [00:07] Dash? Such a juicy topic. We're going to [00:09] have all the effects today. Don't forget [00:10] to like, subscribe, and comment on the [00:12] video. Introducing Mdash by Matt and [00:15] Matt as a take on Matt reported by Matt [00:17] and the Mdash logo with a cross out of [00:20] the M. Very interesting stuff here. [00:22] There's a big homage to WordPress in [00:25] this blog post. Cloudflare, if you don't [00:27] know, big technology company, they do a [00:29] lot of stuff. started off with like DNS [00:30] protection, then some domain [00:32] registration, then a whole bunch of [00:33] other stuff that powers the internet. [00:35] They are now uh the owners of Astro, [00:38] which I covered in the last video, which [00:40] has been on the hype cycle. And again, I [00:42] don't mean hype in a bad way. I just [00:44] mean like a lot of people talking about [00:45] it, a lot of people interested in these [00:47] alternatives, especially AI forward [00:50] alternatives to WordPress, right? And [00:51] you can go back and check out my video [00:52] if you want some more details on that. [00:54] They have now built Mdash on top of [00:57] Astro. Let's dive into some of the stuff [00:59] in this blog post. So, let's focus in on [01:01] how they define Mdash. Our name for this [01:03] new CMS is Mdash. We think of it as a [01:05] spiritual successor to WordPress. It's [01:07] written entirely in Typescript. It is [01:09] serverless, but you can run it on your [01:11] own hardware or any platform you choose. [01:13] Plugins are securely sandbox and can run [01:14] in their own isolate via dynamic [01:17] workers, solving the fundamental [01:18] security problem with WordPress plug-in [01:20] architecture. Under the hood, MD is [01:22] powered by Astro, the fastest web [01:23] framework for content driven websites. [01:25] It's M Dash's fully open source MIT [01:27] license and available on GitHub. And you [01:29] can deploy M dash.10 [01:31] preview to your own Cloudflare account [01:33] or to any Node.js server today as part [01:35] of our early developer beta. I'm not [01:37] going to cover the deployment in this [01:38] video. We are going to take a look at a [01:40] base installation in a moment, but it [01:42] was fairly painless. If you've used [01:43] Cloudflare before, it is a very similar [01:46] tree of forms that you're submitting [01:47] some content on. Connects up to your [01:48] GitHub account and it deploys it [01:50] creating all of the assets and [01:52] infrastructure you need on the [01:53] Cloudflare side. Okay, but let's get [01:55] into the nitty-gritty of some of this [01:56] stuff. What has WordPress accomplished? [01:58] The story of WordPress is a triumph of [02:00] open source that has enabled publishing [02:02] at a scale never seen before. Few [02:03] projects have had the same recognizable [02:06] impact on the generation raised on the [02:07] internet. The contributors to WordPress [02:09] core and its many thousands of plugins [02:10] and theme developers have built a [02:12] platform that democratized publishing [02:14] for millions, many lives and livelihoods [02:16] being transformed by this ubiquitous [02:18] software. It it is a great homage like I [02:20] said before like we are saying, hey, [02:22] WordPress has done a great job. I assume [02:25] they didn't want to come out swinging [02:27] like a lot of other CMSs have in the [02:29] past, which is here's all the negatives [02:31] of WordPress. There's nothing good here. [02:33] Come see our stuff. So again, I am [02:35] looking at this like, is the rug going [02:37] to get pulled out? Is this an April [02:39] Fool's joke? Well, I guess we'll find [02:40] out in a day or two if this thing is [02:42] actually going to be continue to be [02:44] developed and adopted. There'll be some [02:46] GitHub links that I'll I'll provide [02:47] below. So, this is good that they have [02:50] recognized this and and I'm just going [02:52] to get this out of the way first. [02:55] What WordPress has accomplished is [02:57] pretty amazing. everyone top to bottom [03:00] from Matt to automatic to core [03:03] contributors to community contributors [03:05] to plug-in ecosystem, theme ecosystem, [03:08] hosting providers, users, volunteers at [03:11] word camps, anyone who has contributed [03:13] in any way, at least in my opinion, has [03:16] given to WordPress in some shape or [03:20] form. [03:21] This is very difficult to compete [03:24] against, right? And we're going to look [03:26] at some of the mdash experience in the [03:29] back end in a moment. But this is the [03:30] thing that a lot of people have a hard [03:33] time challenging with WordPress is that [03:35] community feel. This is something that I [03:38] think is uh paramount for WordPress to [03:41] focus on. I think this is something that [03:43] has really driven the adoption of [03:45] WordPress. Not just leadership, not just [03:49] Matt, not just a plugin, not just a [03:51] theme. It is a entire body that has [03:56] built and elevated WordPress to where it [03:59] is today. This is why we can sit here [04:01] and debate technologies and frameworks [04:03] and should we have AI, should we not [04:04] have AI, post types, content types, all [04:07] of these things, but really it is how [04:10] are we all working together for this [04:12] thing? Because without the community [04:15] certainly WordPress does not excel or [04:18] continue to serve such a huge market [04:21] share throughout the globe, right? the [04:24] the community. It is a collective of [04:27] people who sometimes have a tugof-war [04:29] with each other, but at the end of the [04:31] day, have something that's open source, [04:34] number one, and number two, something [04:35] that can help with their own [04:38] livelihoods, brand, mission, nonprofit, [04:41] or cupcake business. All right, so the [04:43] next thing that they get into is a lot [04:45] more technical. I'm not going to break [04:46] this down because I've only been looking [04:48] at this thing for like 30 minutes. What [04:50] they're saying is, here's a typical [04:52] WordPress installation. We know the [04:53] problems that we have with WordPress, [04:55] especially in a shared hosting [04:56] environment. Got themes, we've got [04:57] plugins, we've got multiple providers, [04:59] we've got multiple people accessing this [05:00] thing. Allegedly, Mdash installation is [05:04] isolating all of this stuff thanks to [05:05] Cloudflare and thanks to some of the [05:08] infrastructure that Cloudflare has in [05:10] its place. We read earlier that this [05:12] could be moved around to any hosting [05:15] provider, presumably if you can run a [05:17] Node.js server or something similar. [05:20] This is where I find solutions like this [05:23] on that hype cycle because yes, these [05:26] are really cool to look at and play with [05:28] in through the lens of AI like we have [05:30] today. But the other strength on a [05:33] technical level of WordPress is that you [05:34] can pick it up and plop it onto one of [05:37] the 3,000 web hosts throughout the world [05:40] who offer WordPress support. A lot of [05:42] the technically advanced folks out there [05:44] who have switched to remember Jamstack. [05:46] Does everybody remember Jamstack? who [05:48] have have moved to one of these like [05:51] nodebased solutions or JavaScript first [05:53] solutions. They're great. They're [05:55] fantastic, but you still have a [05:58] technical acumen that you need to get [06:01] these things running. Hosting is not as [06:05] ubiquitous for these types of [06:06] technologies. I mean maybe we see the [06:08] increase of it because of everything [06:09] that's happening with AI but that old [06:12] lethargic MySQL PHP HTML CSS with a nice [06:18] portion of JavaScript these days can be [06:21] forklift to a lot of providers whether [06:23] you like it or not whether it's [06:25] performant or not it's giving people the [06:27] ability to move around and I think that [06:30] that is a hard thing to compete with [06:32] against WordPress. Let's continue. The [06:33] blog post does get into talking about [06:35] again solving the plug-in security means [06:37] solving the marketplace lockin. It's [06:39] funny that they call it a marketplace. [06:41] I guess anybody could call WordPress.org [06:43] anything these days. I mean, we're [06:44] technically finding out the definition [06:46] of that as we speak. They site that at [06:49] the time of this writing the review Q is [06:50] 800 plugins long, although I thought [06:52] that was recently taken down, so I don't [06:54] know, or brought down to a a lower queue [06:56] and takes at least two weeks to [06:58] traverse, which is what kind of [06:59] embellishing. Like I mean 800 plugins in [07:02] line taking 2 weeks not a bad thing. I [07:04] wait for a half a pound of sliced turkey [07:05] at my market uh longer than that. So the [07:08] vulnerability surface area of WordPress [07:10] plugins is so wide that in practice all [07:12] parties rely on marketplace reputation [07:14] ratings and reviews because WordPress [07:16] plugins run in the same execution [07:17] context as WordPress itself. They're so [07:19] deeply intertwined with WordPress code. [07:22] Some argue they must carry forward [07:23] WordPress GPL license. And we they [07:26] continue to break down like how they're [07:27] trying to solve this with with Mdash. [07:30] But again, it is that ecosystem [07:34] on the technical level again that has [07:36] allowed WordPress to flourish because it [07:39] is open and people can develop anything [07:40] and largely you can just go ahead and [07:42] install things through a browser which [07:44] could be good or bad. That has been a [07:47] thing that has allowed WordPress to [07:50] create such a large market. You could [07:52] argue that till the cows come home. Not [07:54] the two cows, but the cows. You can [07:56] argue that till the cows come home. But [07:58] I think that it is a positive for [08:01] WordPress. This was really cool and [08:03] we're going to dive into the example [08:04] really quick. So MD uses a pass keybased [08:06] authentication by default, meaning there [08:08] are no passwords to leak and no brute [08:09] force factors to defend against. User [08:11] management includes familiar role-based [08:12] access control out of the box, [08:14] administrators, editors, authors, and [08:15] contributors. Uh each scoped strictly to [08:18] actions that they need. This was pretty [08:19] cool. When you do the installation, it [08:22] is reminiscent of the five minute [08:23] install which I talked about in the [08:25] other video. It was really quick. Site [08:27] title, name, email, set up the pass key [08:30] in your favorite password app, and it [08:32] just worked. So, that was really cool [08:34] and really quick, but then we get into [08:37] remembering that one, is this a April [08:39] Fool's joke? Two, this is just point [08:41] one, and we can see why. All right, here [08:43] we are in the dashboard of Mdash. It's [08:45] going to be a weird thing to keep [08:46] saying. Look, the TLDDR of this [08:48] experience is it's super sparse. It's [08:51] super basic, but it's also 0.1. And do I [08:54] have to keep saying it might be an April [08:55] Fool's joke? I have one basic post that [08:58] I published. Let's take a look at this. [09:00] We'll click on to my first blog post. I [09:02] have a featured image there. I put put [09:04] in a bunch of text. I can just tell you, [09:06] and I'm not going to spend time breaking [09:07] this all down because again, one, it's [09:09] super early, and two, it is literally [09:11] nowhere near the content building [09:14] experience that you have in WordPress. [09:17] Let's not even talk about building [09:18] websites uh with page builders or [09:20] blocks. Let's just talk about writing [09:22] content, publishing content, managing [09:24] blocks of content and patterns. Uh it's [09:27] nowhere near this. In fact, I'm [09:28] surprised Cloudflare could have forked [09:30] Gutenberg, right? They could have forked [09:32] their own version of Gutenberg or just [09:34] use Gutenberg in this project and then [09:37] contributed back to Gutenberg. It's [09:39] probably something that Matt was saying [09:40] if this in fact is a true thing. Put a [09:43] bunch of text here. Let's take a look at [09:45] what this looks like. It's not very [09:46] pretty. I'm going to hit preview and see [09:48] if this pulls into the front end of the [09:50] site. And it does. Here it is. My first [09:51] blog post. Very simple, very basic. This [09:54] is just a default theme which is largely [09:57] just like a a blog type of site. You can [10:00] click on edit and you can edit in some [10:03] of this content here which is I believe [10:05] like a plugin that Astro can support. [10:08] Fact check me in the comments. But it is [10:11] kind of nice to be able to just be [10:12] looking at the site here and editing [10:13] content. I do not believe I can edit [10:16] images. So that just brings me right [10:18] back into the post. Right. So now I can [10:21] come here and finish editing the post. [10:23] Again, you're not going to be lost by [10:24] doing something like this. If you are [10:26] somebody who wants to tinker and be sort [10:28] of ahead of the curve and just try [10:30] things out like me, you know what you're [10:32] looking at here. Post editor, a bunch of [10:35] meta content or metadata that you need [10:37] to adjust. The media assets and [10:39] everything. The nice thing is it's [10:40] deploying all of this infrastructure on [10:42] Cloudflare. So, it's like a one-click [10:43] button. Super easy. Again, I think if [10:46] you like Cloudflare, which I do, you're [10:48] going to be at home. If you're trying to [10:50] peel this away and move somewhere else, [10:51] I don't know what that process looks [10:53] like in terms of like now I have to move [10:55] my bucket of assets and of course the [10:57] code and and content and all that stuff. [11:00] Everything else is pretty [11:01] straightforward. You kind of understand [11:02] what they're doing here. Widgets is to [11:05] me this is like a red flag. Maybe a [11:08] April Fool's joke. Like I going back to [11:11] widgets. My brain simply does not [11:13] understand that that we'd be going back [11:16] to something that has like a widget area [11:18] and we're defining widgets. But, you [11:20] know, it makes sense because that's [11:22] where WordPress came from, but I think [11:24] we're well beyond that these days for [11:27] better or worse. Trying to wrap up here [11:29] and not walk through every inch of this [11:32] M dash demo. content types is one of [11:36] those things where yes, by far this is [11:38] what we've always wanted in WordPress [11:40] and something that we've had in Drupal [11:42] since Drupal four or five when I started [11:45] using it. Certainly is Drupal 5, which [11:47] is I don't know 18 years ago at this [11:49] point. Being able to define your core [11:52] post types and core fields that are [11:55] associated with that post type uh makes [11:57] a whole heck of a lot of sense. I mean, [11:58] I think a lot of content management [12:00] systems do that. I'm not here to debate [12:02] that, but it's it's here and it's in M [12:05] dash. So, if you are somebody who has a [12:07] bunch of content that you need to [12:09] organize in a true content management [12:11] style right out of the box with no [12:12] additional plugins, boom, here you go. [12:14] It's right here. But I will stop for a [12:17] second and say like when you're looking [12:19] at this UI, just like you saw in the [12:20] post editor, we're not like amazed. Like [12:23] this is not amazing. This is not like a [12:25] beautiful experience. You could argue if [12:26] you need a beautiful experience, but it [12:28] certainly isn't when you're working with [12:30] it. But you have your core components [12:32] here. I'm really interested to see how [12:34] the whole like plugin and theme and [12:37] marketplace shakes out. Obviously, this [12:40] is day one. This is like hour four that [12:43] it's been out. There's nothing here. It [12:45] ships with m- forms, which you know, my [12:47] day job is at Gravity Forms. And I don't [12:50] think I am, you know, [12:53] out of work just yet. This is creating a [12:55] form here. We'll just add a field. And [12:57] this is, you know, reminiscence of forms [13:00] back in 2002, right? Like when you're [13:02] building a form builder. Nothing nothing [13:05] crazy here. And I wonder just Oh, yeah. [13:06] We do have turn style integration. So [13:09] hopefully, you know, you'd see a lot of [13:11] this stuff start to improve. Or in fact, [13:13] maybe not. Hopefully. Let's let's let [13:15] the form stuff suck for a long time. [13:17] I'll be happy with that. A lot of other [13:19] interesting things here. You can go and [13:20] download your site. So this will be what [13:22] I wrap up on. I'm just going to put in [13:24] one of my blog WordPress blogs. [13:27] We'll check the site. [13:30] And this is kind of cool. Gives you a [13:32] little report. Hey, there's 468 posts, [13:33] 12 pages, 972 media, probably under the [13:36] hood. This is maybe knocking on the door [13:37] of API, possibly the RSS feed. This is [13:41] probably cached, but when I ran it the [13:42] first time, it didn't take very long for [13:44] it to report back on this. Again, [13:46] speaking about the UI, it's pretty [13:48] awful. This is got a huge contrast issue [13:50] right here. But it says down with a [13:52] little magical AI SVG, for the best [13:55] import experience, install the [13:57] M-exporter plugin for your WordPress [13:59] site. Oddly enough, it doesn't link to [14:01] it here, but if you just search for [14:03] M-Exporter plugin, you can find it on [14:05] GitHub, and I will leave it in the [14:07] comments below so that you can see that [14:09] or upload your export file from [14:11] WordPress right here. I haven't tried [14:13] that yet, but I suspect that the plugin [14:16] will do that from your WordPress site to [14:18] this site when you do a search like [14:20] this. Other than that, everything else [14:22] is pretty straightforward in terms of [14:24] what you're looking for in the core of a [14:26] CMS site name, site title, users, uh, [14:29] email address, all that stuff. I'm not [14:31] going to go into that. Very, very early [14:33] days. I'm much more interested to see, [14:35] of course, how this project uh improves. [14:38] Much more interested to see how [14:39] WordPress improves. again forward- [14:41] facing with the community. On our [14:44] podcast of the WP Minute, we just had [14:46] Mary Hubard on to talk about her [14:49] position in sort of leading the [14:50] WordPress community. Eric Caravak did a [14:53] fantastic interview with her. Still [14:55] skeptical of that work and how we're [14:57] moving forward and working with each [14:59] other and not just against each other in [15:01] the sort of like automatic versus WP [15:04] Engine versus community and how we're [15:05] all getting through this stuff. Um, it [15:08] is crucial that the folks in the [15:10] WordPress community do work together to [15:12] save the platform, if you will, and work [15:15] together to keep folks adopting [15:17] WordPress. As I said in the other video, [15:19] there could be a world, I mean, there is [15:21] a world where WordPress adoption does [15:23] decline and we're just losing out to [15:26] maybe a certain section of sites that is [15:29] now being served through AI builder [15:31] programs or from bigger brands like a [15:34] Cloudflare who's building off of Astro [15:36] and the framework and working with [15:37] infrastructure at scale. So, we could be [15:39] losing ground to that, but I think [15:41] that's okay. I think what we end up [15:43] finding is WordPress finds its own [15:45] footing, its own brand identity, which [15:47] we've been searching for for 20 years in [15:49] the face of competition through folks [15:51] like Cloudflare and AI. Anyway, I'm [15:53] done. Leave a comment below. Thumbs up [15:55] if you like the video. Subscribe to the [15:56] channel if you want more. I don't think [15:58] they Thanosed us yet. Anyway,  📄 **Full text:** ![[Full Document Contents/Articles/EmDash Did Cloudflare Kill WordPress|EmDash: Did Cloudflare Kill WordPress?, YouTube]] ## Highlights - of WordPress. There's nothing good here. Come see our stuff. So again, I am looking at this like, is the rug going to get pulled out? Is this an April Fool's joke? Well, I guess we'll find out in a day or two if this thing is actually going to be continue to be developed and adopted. There'll be some GitHub links that I'll I'll provide below. So, this is good that they have recognized this and and I'm just going to get this out of the way first. What WordPress has accomplished is pretty amazing. everyone top to bottom ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01kn76nmyst5xyfp40qvtmfwws)) - Tags: 👻 ai highlighted - thing that a lot of people have a hard time challenging with WordPress is that community feel. This is something that I think is uh paramount for WordPress to focus on. I think this is something that has really driven the adoption of WordPress. Not just leadership, not just Matt, not just a plugin, not just a theme. It is a entire body that has built and elevated WordPress to where it is today. This is why we can sit here ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01kn76nmzg4mj1f0zdaryag2bs)) - Tags: 👻 ai highlighted