“WordPress was created for publishing and editing and we should have the best interface in the world for that,” – Matt Mullenweg, WordPress Original Developer
Powering 27% off all sites on the web – more than a billion websites – WordPress is the most popular content management system (CMS) on the web. Around the world, WordPress sites publish 31 posts per second, has 24.3 billion page views per month and is translated into 120 languages.
(To see posts in real time around the globe check out this fun link.)
This past January, WordPress leader Matt Mullenweg announced where he sees the most popular web platform headed in 2017. In his annual State of the Word address, Mullenweg celebrated WordPress’ progress over the years, and made several key announcements about what to expect this year:
Key WordPress News in 2017
In previous years, WordPress has been known to operate on a predictable update release schedule. In 2017 though, in order to check off some of larger operating to-do’s, WordPress will only announce updates when they are complete and ready to go.
The plugin directory, which saw a 20% growth in 2016, Â will have a new design and better search ability.
The editor itself will be getting a makeover, making it easier for all users to create content.
Beginning this year, WordPress will only make certain upgrades available to encrypted sites (Tip: KartHost provides all its web hosting clients a free SSL certificate. Get yours HERE)
But there was one piece of news that we found the most exciting. WordPress is improving it’s Customizer.
In an effort to simplify how small business owners and amateur page designers customize their sites, WordPress is working diligently on improving their Customizer in 2017. The Customizer is “a framework for live-previewing any change to WordPress. It provides a unified interface for users to customize various aspects of their theme and site, from colors and layouts to widgets, menus and more.”
Currently, to make truly custom changes to a site on WordPress one needs to invest a lot of time, work and have previous design knowledge. This year, with the improvements WordPress is dedicated to achieving, you can hopefully look forward to such luxuries as an enhanced on-boarding experience for your users, previewing page layouts before you create a page, revert changes, and much more – maybe even the ability to build your entire website from your mobile device.
To accomplish these goals, WordPress has already started a check list of customization upgrades and goals in 2017. See the lists HERE
