2015 was a rich year for WordPress. Four major updates (4.1, 4.2, 4.3 and 4.4) were released, 89 WordCamps were held in 34 countries, WordPress passed the milestone of powering 25% of all the websites in the world, WordPress.com has been recoded with 100% JavaScript, and the REST API has been merged into the core halfway through. (If you want a bit more detail, check out this cool infographic over at Torque.)
So, what awaits us and WordPress in 2016? I’m going to make some predictions about WordPress changing the world and the world changing WordPress. Let’s begin.
The REST API Will Change everything
There are three major updates that’s been planned to be released in 2016: 4.5, 4.6 and 4.7. The one closest to us now, 4.5, is particularly important, because with 4.5, the REST API will be fully merged into the core of WordPress. All hell will break loose after this release.
In 2016, we will be able to use WordPress core to be a part of our project, and not the project itself. Let’s hear it from Tom Ewer from his article on WPMU DEV:
To put it in a nutshell, the integration of the JSON REST API will mark the final transformation of WordPress from its humble roots as a blogging solution into a fully-featured application platform.
Let’s put it this way: In the REST API era, you will be able to use WordPress as a foundation to your new application, in any language that supports parsing JSON. How cool is that?
There are already examples utilizing the REST API, open-sourced ustwo.com being the most recent. By far, this will be the most important change in WordPress. And the most important message on this topic comes from the founder of WordPress, Matt Mullenweg:
Learn JavaScript, deeply.
More and More WordPress Apps Will Arise
With the rise of the REST API, we will see a huge number of WordPress apps in 2016. Web apps, desktop apps and mobile apps.
The REST API will allow to write apps separate from WordPress core, and apps and services that can connect to your WordPress core will bloom. In the first half of 2016, we will see a ton of apps for content editing, website managing and more.
WordPress.com already released its Calypso wrapper in desktop.wordpress.com. It works with all your WordPress.com blogs and websites with Jetpack enabled. And they’ve just open-sourced it! After the 4.5 release, it will let you manage your websites with the REST API, and lead the way to other apps as well.
The WordPress Community Will Grow Faster
With the passing of the 25% milestone, and the new opportunities that’s going to be created with the REST API, WordPress will continue to rule as the number one content management system–slash–application platform in 2016.
And the growth of the community will accelerate even further. With new developers utilizing the REST API, there will be more room for WordPress to be used in new websites and applications. That will also open the road for the user community of those new WordPress-powered apps and websites, making the WordPress ecosystem grow faster than ever.
Conclusion
Since 2003, WordPress has never stopped growing. Evet. And in 2016, it seems that it will grow even faster. Let’s see what happens and enjoy the show.
Have you got anything to say? Feel free to share your thoughts in the Comments section below. And thanks for reading!