State of the Word 2023  ## Metadata - Author: [[ByMatt Medeiros]] - Full Title: State of the Word 2023 - Category: #articles - Document Note: --- tags: - #wordpress - #opensource - #stateoftheword Author: ByMatt Medeiros Source: The WP Minute Reference: https://thewpminute.com/state-of-the-word-2023/ date created: 2025-08-21 00:00 --- # Title: State of the Word 2023 — Highlights, Analysis, and Action Plan ## Table of Contents: - [📚 References](#-references) - [📝 Summary](#-summary) - [📖 Main Content](#-main-content) - [🗒️ Notes](#-notes) - [📖 References](#-references-1) - [🗣️ Paraphrase](#-paraphrase) - [📰 Newsletter](#-newsletter) - [✅ Action Items](#-action-items) - [🧪 Hypotheses](#-hypotheses) - [📊 Methodology](#-methodology) - [❓ Questions](#-questions) - [🔮 Future Research](#-future-research) - [💡 Implications](#-implications) - [🧠 Learning Styles Assessment](#-learning-styles-assessment) - [📊 Accessibility Assessment](#-accessibility-assessment) - [🌍 DEIB Assessment](#-deib-deib-assessment) - [✅ Logical validity](#-logical-validity) - [🔍 DARVO Analysis](#-darvo-analysis) - [🔍 SEO Evaluation](#-seo-evaluation) - [🎯 Conclusion](#-conclusion) ### References: - WordPress.org Showcase: https://showcase.wordpress.org - Openverse: https://openverse.org - WordCamps: https://central.wordcamp.org/ - WordPress Playground: https://developer.wordpress.org/playground/ ## 📝 Summary: WordPress marked its 20th anniversary with strong community momentum, significant Gutenberg advances (customization completed, collaboration underway), performance improvements, and tooling like Playground. Matt Mullenweg emphasized “Data Liberation” as the primary initiative for 2024 to eliminate lock-in via first-party migration tools, while also exploring AI for environment generation and translations. Community highlights included 70+ WordCamps, 1,300+ new contributors, and renewed focus on accessibility and education. ## 📖 Main Content: - Milestone year - 20 years powering 40%+ of the web. - Community reconnection post-pandemic; record attendance at WordCamps. - Community and inclusion - Leadership from underrepresented groups in WP 6.4. - “Shared responsibility” ethos guiding the next decade. - Gutenberg updates - Customization phase essentially complete; collaboration prototype in plugin. - Major speed gains (2–3x), formatting options (footnotes), better custom fields integration. - Zoom Out mode for high-level site structure; pattern flexibility with global style control. - Interactivity API for SPA-like front-end performance. - Playground and AI - Rapid growth with live plugin previews, local sync, persisted playgrounds. - Early AI prototype to generate WP environments from natural language. - AI-translated State of the Word for global reach. - Data Liberation - 2024 pivot: first-party migration tools, Slack channels, GitHub repos, faster plugin reviews. - Goal: remove friction migrating from other CMSs (e.g., Wix, Squarespace) and between WP sites. - Events and ecosystem - 70 WordCamps across 33 countries; 2,500+ organizers; 3,300+ gatherings; 1,339 new contributors. - WordCamp US 2024–2025 in Portland; WordCamp Asia in Taipei. - Accessibility Team revamp; relaunch of WordPress Showcase. - Openverse wins open infrastructure award. ### 🗒️ Notes - Community momentum - 70 WordCamps in 33 countries; strong post-pandemic reconnection. - 1,339 new contributors; emphasis on education-focused events. - Inclusion and leadership - Underrepresented leaders in WP 6.4; “shared responsibility” theme. - Gutenberg roadmap - Customization done; Collaboration next. - Speed: 2–3x improvements; editor speed tracker in place. - Features: footnotes, distraction-free writing, writing flow tweaks. - Patterns: flexible local edits with global style governance; swap sections; style segmentation. - Custom fields → blocks linkage without building custom blocks. - Interactivity API to boost front-end responsiveness. - Playground - Live plugin previews, local dev sync, local storage of playgrounds. - AI prompt-to-environment prototype for faster onboarding and testing. - Data Liberation (2024+) - First-party migration tooling; Slack channels, repos, expedited reviews. - Aim: eliminate vendor lock-in and friction moving across platforms and WP instances. - Accessibility and recognition - Accessibility Team revamp. - Openverse recognized by Open Education. - Showcase relaunch to emphasize scalability examples. - Events - WordCamp Asia in Taipei; WordCamp US Portland (2024 & 2025). ## 📖 References: - The WP Minute article: https://thewpminute.com/state-of-the-word-2023/ - WordPress Showcase: https://showcase.wordpress.org - Openverse: https://openverse.org - WordPress Playground: https://developer.wordpress.org/playground/ - WordCamp Central: https://central.wordcamp.org/ ## 🗣️ Paraphrase: 1) Original idea: Josepha Haden Chomphosy emphasized optimism driven by a welcoming, inclusive community, citing leadership from underrepresented contributors in 6.4 and the “shared responsibility” that powered the first 20 years of WordPress. - Paraphrase: Josepha Haden Chomphosy spotlighted the community’s inclusive culture as a key source of optimism, pointing to 6.4’s leadership by underrepresented folks. She argued that the same collective stewardship that sustained WordPress for two decades can propel it into the next. 2) Original idea: Mullenweg pivoted 2024’s focus to “Data Liberation,” committing resources to first-party migration tools and community coordination to reduce vendor lock-in and ease movement across platforms. - Paraphrase: Matt Mullenweg reoriented the project’s near-term priorities around Data Liberation, promising official migration utilities and organized collaboration so users can switch between WordPress sites and other CMSs without being trapped. ## 📰 Newsletter: WordPress turned 20—and it’s sprinting, not strolling, into the next decade. Highlights from State of the Word 2023: - Gutenberg grows up: Customization is essentially done; Collaboration is next, bringing real-time co-editing prototypes, footnotes, and 2–3x editor speed boosts. Patterns get smarter, and custom fields can now power blocks without custom block code. - Playground power-ups: Test plugins live, sync with local dev, and save your playgrounds. An early AI prototype can spin up environments from plain English prompts. - Data Liberation is the 2024 North Star: Expect official migration tools and coordinated community efforts to remove lock-in—good news if you’re hopping from closed CMSs. - Community wins: 70 WordCamps across 33 countries and 1,339 new contributors. Accessibility efforts are reorganizing for impact. Openverse snagged an open infrastructure award. Explore: WordPress Playground, the refreshed Showcase, and Openverse. Keep building, keep sharing, and don’t forget to try the Interactivity API for SPA-like performance on the front end. Links: - WordPress Playground: https://developer.wordpress.org/playground/ - Showcase: https://showcase.wordpress.org - Openverse: https://openverse.org - WordCamp Central: https://central.wordcamp.org/ ## ✅ Action Items: A prompt tailored for your role (Developer Advocate at GoDaddy; open-source/WordPress focus; educator; aspiring OSPO director): “Analyze how this article advances: - Open-source advocacy: Identify where WordPress reinforces software freedom (e.g., Data Liberation initiative, Openverse recognition) and how these align with OSPO principles of openness, governance, and community health. - Contributor engagement: Extract concrete pathways for onboarding (e.g., new migration repos, Slack channels, Playground + AI for faster environment spin-ups), and propose contributor journeys (first contribution → mentorship → leadership). - Education and curriculum: Map Gutenberg’s new features, Interactivity API, and Playground to teachable modules for PHP/JS/HTML/CSS/Git. Draft lab exercises that use Playground for zero-setup lessons and migration tools for real-world projects. - Sustainable funding and inclusion: Note accessibility team revamp and diverse leadership in WP 6.4; recommend funding models (grants, sponsorships) that prioritize DEIB and maintenance. - OSPO-aligned strategy: Outline how an OSPO can support Data - Summary: WordPress celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2023, having powered over 40% of websites. The open-source CMS saw improvements to its editor Gutenberg, default themes, and new tools like Playground. The community gathered in Madrid to recap the milestone year and discuss future plans. The State of the Word address highlighted the welcoming and inclusive community, record-breaking WordCamp attendance, and advancements in Gutenberg. There was also a focus on AI capabilities and data liberation, with plans to ease migrations between platforms. The future of WordPress looks promising with its ongoing development and innovative initiatives. - URL: https://thewpminute.com/state-of-the-word-2023/  Some content could not be imported from the original document. [View content ↗](https://share.transistor.fm/e/2ca52c75) WordPress celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2023, marking two decades of powering over 40% of websites. Over the past year, the open-source CMS saw significant improvements to its editor Gutenberg, default themes, innovative new tools like Playground, and a growing contributor community. A portion of that community gathered in Madrid to recap the milestone year for WordPress and unveil future plans. Some content could not be imported from the original document. [View content ↗](https://www.youtube.com/embed/1MwT9EEkguE?feature=oembed) Kicking off the annual keynote, WordPress Executive Director Josepha Haden Chomphosy highlighted reasons for optimism across the open-source project she has served for close to a decade. She pointed to strong indications of a welcoming and inclusive community, noting leadership from underrepresented groups in the recent WordPress 6.4 release. Haden Chomphosy said witnessing diverse collaboration across global timezones filled her with “hope for the future of WordPress and the web and the world.” This spirit of “shared responsibility” has powered WordPress’s first 20 years, she continued. She predicted it may fuel the next 20 as well if nurtured properly. **Community Milestones in 2023** * 70 WordCamps held across 33 countries, more than double 2021’s number * Over 2,500 event organizers powered 3,300+ WordPress gatherings * 1,339 new contributors joined the project Kicking off the project’s third decade, Mullenweg described feeling like a “proud parent” looking back on WordPress’s progress from a simple blogging engine to run over 40% of all websites. He pointed to record-breaking WordCamp attendance in Seville as evidence of the community reconnecting post-pandemic. This year saw 70 WordCamps held across 33 countries, combined with hundreds of other local WordPress gatherings. Mullenweg gave special attention to education-focused events preparing future generations. Updating standalone projects, Mullenweg noted CC-licensed creative resource Openverse won an open infrastructure award from Open Education this year. The WordPress Showcase at [showcase.wordpress.org](http://showcase.wordpress.org) also relaunched to highlight sites demonstrating scalability. **Gutenberg Editor Enhancements** * Finalized Customization phase allowing full site building with patterns * Real-time collaboration prototype available in plugin version, exploring workflows * Significantly improved editing and typing speeds, at least 2-3x faster * New formatting options like footnotes added * Custom block fields now leverage custom fields more intuitively As Gutenberg passes the Customization phase and sets sights on Collaboration, lead architect Matias Ventura gave attendees a peak at the editor’s impressive roadmap. The team continues honing the writing experience with distraction-free modes and writing flow tweaks. These will become “core offerings” according to Ventura – indicating mature tools ready for the spotlight. Ventura also teased major workflow unlocks for site building. A new “Zoom Out” mode steps back to enable high-level site structure editing with patterns. Meanwhile, patterns themselves gain advanced flexibility – designers can let users customize individual pattern text yet retain control over global styles. Streamlined interfaces for swapping pattern sections as well as segmenting style variations demonstrate Gutenberg’s workflow depth. Excitingly, Ventura revealed upcoming bridges between developer-friendly custom fields and easy to use blocks. Without needing custom blocks, standard components like headings can connect directly to custom fields. This affords creators intuitive tools while leveraging custom fields flexible storage. Performance and speed also grab attention in Ventura’s update. An editor speed tracker helps polish the interface with every Gutenberg commit. For visitors, the upcoming Interactivity API allows instant front-end performance rivaling SPAs. With these strong workflow integrations, admin upgrades, and performance boosts, Gutenberg seems set to hit its stride as WordPress’s primary interface. The editor has matured greatly since its early days – further growth appears rapid. **Exciting New Innovations** * Playground browser-based experimentation tool sees rapid user growth after updates like live plugin previews, syncing with local dev, and storing playgrounds locally **Embracing AI Possibilities** * Early prototype using natural language to generate Playground environments * Automated State of WordPress translations to spread information **Focus On Data Liberation** * Initiative to provide first-party migration tools from other CMSs into WordPress * Goal to eliminate lock-in and friction when switching platforms **Other Highlights** * Updated WordPress Showcase at showcase.wordpress.org highlighting sites built with WordPress at all scales * Revamped Accessibility Team to grow that vital work **2024 Events** * WordCamp Asia happening March 9th, 2023 in Taipei * WordCamp US set for Portland, Oregon in 2023 and 2024 After lead architect Matias Ventura’s Gutenberg roadmap update, WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg returned to discuss evolving artificial intelligence capabilities and announce a renewed focus on data liberation for 2024. Noting the explode of generative AI in 2022, Mullenweg previewed a combination of Playground and AI that allows generating full WordPress environments from conversational natural language prompts. While imperfect, he was optimistic about AI advancing democratized learning through personalized tutors available 24/7 in any language. However, the largest reveal was a pivot from Gutenberg’s original 4-phase roadmap to make Data Liberation the central effort in 2024 and beyond. Mullenweg committed to easing migrations between platforms through first-party tools and community building. New migration-centered projects will receive dedicated Slack channels, GitHub repos, and rapid plugin review timelines. The goal is eliminating vendor lock-in and friction when transitioning between WordPress instances or other closed CMSs like Wix or Squarespace. Additionally, Mullenweg announced WordCamp US 2024 and 2025 will be held in Portland, Oregon. He then concluded by noting AI-translated versions of the entire State of the Word address will be available in various languages soon. **Key URLs:** The State of WordPress annual address underscores the incredible velocity of development from the open-source CMS even after powering the web for 20 years. With exciting progress across editor collaboration, design tools, data liberation initiatives, and embracing AI, the future looks very bright., State of the Word 2023, ByMatt Medeiros, 01hhd5xc39sbgnw3vamm402fnq.