WordPress as an application framework makes perfect sense

Writing this as a follow up to Jeff Chandler’s “What Would it Take For WordPress to Lose its Dominance?”, I started out with the title “Can WordPress be displaced?”, but as I wrote, I reached a conclusion that prompted the title you see now.

WordPress is able to do so many things now, that to be “better than WordPress” the only thing you can feasibly do is “do one thing better than WordPress” — and do it well, as they say. But even that is easier said than done. With WordPress pivoting towards becoming an “application framework”, by the time its competitors have caught up with merely one of its most common use cases, WordPress could be a different beast entirely.

Statement: WordPress is bloated.

• If WordPress is just a blogging engine, this is true.
• If WordPress is a CMS, this is true, albeit to a lesser extent.
• If WordPress is an application framework, this is not true.

The more I read about constructive criticisms and feedback directed at WordPress, the more I’m convinced that the app framework pivot is a brilliant move.

Recently we’ve seen the default WordPress dashboard becoming optional:

Jason Schuller to Re-Enter WordPress Theme Market with Niche Admin Designs

AppPresser Debuts Reactor: A WordPress-Powered Mobile App Creator Built with the WP JSON REST API

John Saddington Releases Desk, a Premium Publishing Application For The Mac

And this is only the beginning.

For a long time, Drupal has had this really cool concept of distributions. It never took off in a big way though, and I suspect it comes down to Drupal’s lack of backwards compatibility. It’s no fun to build on top of a foundation that changes drastically every few years.

WordPress is a much more suitable starting point for distributions. Just like Linux, it only changes incrementally. Imagine: “Introducing Wupuntu, a kick-ass CMS built on top of the WordPress kernel.”

PHP, powered by WordPress

To top if off, PHP is getting its renaissance with the likes of HHVM (and Docker to ease the setup). Suddenly, WordPress is fast again. Budding web developers only need to learn PHP for WordPress development to get started. The result, provided WordPress starts treating its API and its accompanying developer tools as the core of the product, is a lower barrier of entry and a shortened learning curve.

This blog runs on Ghost (as of October 2016 I’ve moved to Medium) because I wanted something simpler than WordPress and the geek in me was craving something new and exciting. Though I’m a happy customer thus far, it wouldn’t take much for Ghost to be displaced by a WordPress-powered Ghost-like app, with an easy theme-switcher and wide plugin selection to boot.

Originally published at blog.erlend.sh on December 7, 2014.