[kijin]

There's much more to WordPress than the ecosystem. If we just think of it as a legacy tool that is only limping along because of the plugins, we will forever be perplexed that it continues to exist.

WordPress is the FLOSS alternative to Wix et al. It is the only practical software that enables people to create and self-host an online presence without having to type a single line of code, and without being beholden to a large centralized platform.

No, a static site generator that requires knowledge of Markdown and a few lines of bash doesn't count. A CMS that requires you to hire a professional to even get started doesn't count, either. It might seem strange to developers like us, but there are lots of people out there who are simply allergic to code. They can use PowerPoint and maybe even Photoshop, but show them a blank terminal and they'll just freeze. WordPress, on the other hand, can be navigated with a bunch of point-and-click, drag-and-drop, buy this and add that and change the options a bit. Just like PowerPoint, it barely works, but it works.

Very few people in our startup bubble seem to care about these "I want a website, but no code please" people, and when we do we often treat them with contempt. How hard can it be to copy and execute a few commands, after all? But apparently that market is large enough to attract a sustainable ecosystem of plugin and theme sellers. WordPress has this market completely cornered. It won't magically disappear just because it's built in crappy code. Understand the users, on the other hand, build a good alternative, and that billion-dollar market might become yours. :)

[minusf]

php's success is tightly connected with LAMP, namely apache mod_php and mysql/mariadb.

it wouldn't be hard to put together the base of wordpress in python on top of django. but hosting companies for decades cared only about mod_php and had no one click uwsgi/fastcgi solutions.

although this still doesnt answer why wordpress became king of the hill in the php ecosystem. was textpattern/drupal/joomla/etc that much worse/harder to use?

in the end wp just looked a tiny bit more professional and an easier name to remember for the masses. this technical dept will be paid for many years to come.

[cricalix]

Anecdotally, yes Joomla and Drupal were much harder to work with and get them to look "nice".

[MonaroVXR]

Using other static website generators and CMS would be easy, but I beg to differ with Gatsby, Sanity, Vercel and more.

1-point-click installations failing, to failing standard templates, tutorials that are only for version 2 and not 3, because that's a video right now.

Talk is cheap, but execution is where it is.

[DoctorOW]

> Understand the users, on the other hand, build a good alternative, and that billion-dollar market might become yours.

Isn't that the entire point of Ghost?

[kijin]

The installation guide for self-hosted Ghost assumes that you have at least a virtual private server, and gives you a bunch of commands to type into a root shell. By that time, you've already lost 90% of the people who would have chosen WordPress.

[MonaroVXR]

I thought Ghost was pay only?

[beezlewax]

Its written in node js though right? You can run php and mysql almost anywhere you want. Even the most basic hosting setups are pre configured for this. Apache is preinstalled on most cheap shared hosting.

That's the thing.. if you want to take down wordpress it should be something current wordpress users can easily install on their current hosting with zero extra config to do. No terminals no server settings to deal with.

A wordpress install is literally drag and drop the files onto the server with ftp and open the web address. Enter some details for the mysql dB via a ui and that's it.

After that there are thousands of themes and plugins that let you do anything from ecommerce to a drag and drop blog without much effort.

[nicoburns]

The "run everywhere" advantage is eroding. These days you can get container based hosting that can run anything for cheap too. It's not quite as easy for the non-technical user yet. But I suspect it will get there.

[MonaroVXR]

Even developers and tech people are having difficulties with installing Wordpress, but that's just my experience. So I don't think it's that easy.

[igetspam]

> WordPress, on the other hand, can be navigated with a bunch of point-and-click, drag-and-drop, buy this and add that and change the options a bit.

Can it? I can write code but I'll be damned if I can figure out how to make something that doesn't look like a fourth grader in an Intro to the Internet, 1995 Edition class made it.