WordPress is 10 – Let’s Party!

This month, on May 27, 2013, WordPress turns 10 years old!

At iThemes, WordPress is our passion (as well as our livelihood) and so we wanted to take a moment to really celebrate such a significant milestone for this awesome software that makes publishing sites on the web so easy.

When I reflect on that enormous milestone for software, it’s hard, maybe impossible, for me to imagine a world without WordPress.

The world is a better place because of WordPress. (For examples of this, just think of all the super useful blogs and sites made possible because of it. But you already know this because you’re reading this.)

On top of that, this year iThemes celebrated 5 years in business and as you know, we’ve built our entire company around WordPress. Five solid years doing work almost exclusively with WordPress!

We’re still pinching ourselves that we get to work with WordPress each day, helping thousands of customers around the globe extend and enhance this beautiful piece of open source software through our products.

The 20+ people we have employed here full-time would be earning their living somewhere else if not for WordPress.

And through my years in the community, I’ve also met countless other people whose lives have been forever changed because of WordPress.

Here are some of my personal high notes with WordPress:

• Switching my blog from Blogger to WordPress in 2006 (what a relief!)
• Releasing my first free WordPress theme — Rockin Blue
• Launching iThemes in January 2008
• Going “100% GPL” in the summer of 2009
• WordPress 3.0 version release — I haven’t been that excited about a release because he was a big step into pushing WP from just blog software to a CMS
• Attending countless WordCamps and meeting users from all over the world, in addition to core team members like Nacin, Matt Mullenweg, Jen Mylo, Mark Jaquith, among many many others
• The great lifelong friends I’ve made all because of WordPress, like Lisa Sabin-Wilson, Jason Schuller, Grant Griffiths, Brad Williams, Carl Hancock, Chris Lema, oh shoot, if I keep listing them I’m going to leave someone out like I already have so I’ll stop there!
• And the awesome opportunity it has afford me and my family to work with the great crew we have at iThemes!

So what’s next for WordPress?

I hope another 10 years!

But if someone were to ask me my birthday wish for WordPress this year and beyond I’d say … Keep WordPress Simple.

Simple enough for me to keep using it … and for my mom, and the next generation of users who aren’t programmers!

I choose WordPress all those years ago because it was simple and easy to use. The inevitable challenge with software is bloat. Like many others in the community, I’m afraid it’s getting too heavy and overwhelming for users — the millions of people who were able to use it to get their thoughts, ideas, photos, etc on the web because of it.

CELEBRATE WITH THE COMPLETE WP TOOLKIT

Oh, we also wanted to celebrate in high fashion this month by offering a big discount on our awesome package of WordPress themes, plugins and training called the WordPress Web Designer’s Toolkit …. everything you need to build virtually any site you want on the web!

Why 32%? All of the major WordPress versions have been named “in honor of jazz musicians we personally admire.” And Matt, our COO and talented musician, informs me that jazz music commonly uses 4 beats per measure. So 32 beats is 8 bars of 4, which is the perfect amount for a sweet little solo. So there you have it.

NOW, GO SAY THANKS FOR WP!

To celebrate WordPress turning 10, why not show your love for WordPress by writing a blog post on why WordPress rocks or how it has changed your life, helping someone get their first site or blog started on WP, proudly wearing your cool WordPress 10th anniversary swag around town, or hosting your own WordPress Anniversary party (or learn how to start a WordPress Meetup in your city).

Post your birthday wishes for WordPress in the comments below!

iThemes Editorial Team

Each week, the team at iThemes team publishes new WordPress tutorials and resources, including the Weekly WordPress Vulnerability Report. Since 2008, iThemes has been dedicated to helping you build, maintain, and secure WordPress sites for yourself or for clients. Our mission? Make People’s Lives Awesome.