It’s that time of the year again when the entire WordPress community eagerly awaits Matt Mullenweg’s yearly keynote talk, “The State of the Word.” This is the event that everyone looks forward to, to discover the key highlights of the WordPress project from the previous year and learn of its future directions – a complete 360-degree overview of the platform’s progress. So, if you missed the event or its live stream, don’t worry; we’ve got your back – just dive right into our blog for a quick recap.
State Of The Word: All WordPress Highlights From 2023
For the first time ever, the State of the Word was held outside North America. This event was organized by the Spanish WordPress community in Madrid, Spain, and live-streamed for WordPress enthusiasts worldwide.
The co-founder of WordPress, Matt Mullenweg, recapped all the amazing highlights of 2023 and talked about the milestones reached.
20th Anniversary Of WordPress
WordPress has come a long way. From just a blogging platform to now the most popular content management system, WordPress turned 20 on May 27th, 2023. Enthusiasts around the world celebrated this incredible journey in various ways – with parties, meetups, and even WordCamps. Throughout the year, this was the most highlighted and celebrated occasion for the entire community!
70 WordCamps In 33 Countries
This year, 33 different countries have hosted 70 WordCamps around the world. We, at WPDeveloper, are delighted to be a part of the largest WordCamps globally and in different countries as well as continents. We participated in every major WordCamp throughout 2023, including the first-ever regional WordCamp Asia, the biggest WordCamp Europe, and of course, the premier WordCamp Sylhet.
Recognition For Openverse
Openverse, the open-source media library, brought about a revolution in this open-source platform. Currently, over 700 million creative items—including audio, images, and more are available there for resuing. This initiative got the Open Education Award for Excellence in the Open Infrastructure category.
WordPress Playground
The revolutionary WordPress Playground was introduced this year. It helps create a WordPress environment within your browser without any additional local environment. From now on, testing a WordPress plugin or theme is super easy. This new WordPress feature created a buzz among the WordPress community and will be more stable in the coming years.
Twenty-Twenty Four Theme
The latest Twenty-Twenty-Four theme was introduced with WordPress 6.4 back on November 27. It is the most advanced theme created with WordPress full site editor, proving Gutenberg’s capability, flexibility, and versatility. And within a month since it’s release, this theme is already powering up more than 100,000 websites.
The Site Editor’s Capabilities
The Gutenberg editor is now more powerful than ever. From getting lots of negative reviews, it became the most favorite. Gutenberg came a long way. Now, you can enjoy features like footnotes, distraction-free writing mode, and others are available in this default WordPress editor. A huge number of themes are now available in the repository to build your website with the block editor.
What’s Coming Next For WordPress?
Another important aspect of the State of the Word event is WordPress’s future. You can find out what to anticipate in the upcoming years from this event. Let’s have a look at what the upcoming year has in store for us.
Seamless Migration Process
If you have ever migrated WordPress websites, you know the hassles the user has to face. In the coming years, WordPress will unlock the web, focusing on migration tools. You can not only seamlessly switch from one WordPress to another WordPress website, but you will be able to migrate from Wix or Squarespace without any hassle.
Real-time Collaboration
Real-time collaboration, the most anticipated feature of WordPress, will be released in the upcoming year. You can work together with your team to make changes to your website’s design and content simultaneously.
Next-level Patterns
A significant area for development in 2023 was the patterns. In the upcoming year, expect even more advanced synchronization, personalization, and full-site application of cutting-edge patterns. So, building WordPress websites will be much easier for you.
Performance Improvements
The goal of the next WordPress release is to achieve quicker overall performance than before. You are going to see that typing, uploading media, and publishing speeds will all be 2-3 times faster.
Dashboard/Admin Refresh
The WordPress dashboard will get a new appearance in the coming year. Over 2024, the user interface will be improved and you can shape your admin dashboard as you need. For instance, if you have an eCommerce website, you can customize your website dashboard and keep the relevant tools where you want to.
Question & Answer Session With Matt
Right after the presentation of State Of The Word, Matt Mullenweg attended to thousands of WordPress users and enthusiasts’ questions and shared insights. There was an overflow of questions, and we bring them to you with a complete video. Check it out for yourself below.
Here’s To A New WordPress Year!
The year 2023 was an eventful one. The upcoming 2024 will be even more exciting for the WordPress community. To get the next State of Word event update subscribe to our blog and stay connected to the WPDeveloper Community. Keep in touch for the latest WordPress-related updates.
