Back to the future - The WordPress edition
- 1. Back to the future The WordPress edition
- 2. @OmarReiss CTO and partner @Yoast, WordPress core committer WordPress 5.0 release lead
- 4. • Poor separation of concerns. No separation between representation and data. Echo statements EVERYWHERE… Lack of framework. • PHP 5.2 as minimum supported PHP version, isolating WordPress from the PHP ecosystem. • Hacker culture. Bias against engineering as a central concern. WordPress’ historical (technical) issues
- 5. • WordPress core team has consistently optimised for low barrier of entry over managing the cost of change. People learn to “code” because of it. • WordPress is built to empower a vulnerable target audience, both in terms of the kind of developers it targets and its end users. Why WordPress, Why?
- 6. • WordPress has become the OS of the web, with 32,5% market share. Its ecosystem of plugins and themes is huge. • This isn’t the web of the 90s anymore. In order to serve its mission, WordPress needs to innovate and modernise. • This is the moment to start lowering the cost of change and open up to engineering. And the winner is… WordPress
- 7. • The future of all user interfaces is JavaScript. • Engineers are entering our community on the JavaScript side, bringing with them engineering practices. • WordPress has launched a project called ServeHappy, which will enable us to stay up-to-date with modern server technology more easily. WordPress is changing
- 8. • Because of the user interface being moved to React + Redux, a separation between data and representation is organically emerging. The PHP app will become a data layer. Speed and data processing will become its guiding concerns and reasons for change. Developers will become the primary users. JavaScript as a PHP opportunity
- 9. • One of WordPress core strengths and success factors is that it is easy to hack. This is not going away. • Engineers can now be successful in WordPress if they keep hackability as a concern. Abstraction or tooling can be introduced, but not without extra education / docs efforts to keep the barrier of entry low. Engineering vs hacker culture
- 10. • A first generation of PHP engineers has acknowledged the WordPress philosophy and is working on an information framework called ServeHappy which helps vulnerable users transition technology. This will allow us to finally keep WordPress in par with modern technology. ServeHappy
- 11. • We’ll be able to rely on PHP 7 soon. (coming from 5.2) This means that: • WordPress could slowly open up to composer. • WordPress could start adopting PSR’s. • WordPress could start contributing back to the PHP ecosystem. The goodies
- 12. • Autoloading • Exception handling • Logging • Routing • ORM What kind of changes are we talking?
- 13. • Technical: Dependency management and backwards compatibility. • Cultural: Educating a community of hackers. Bringing everybody along. There is still a serious lack of technical skill and knowledge. We need help and we need education. The big challenges
- 14. The floor is yours!