The WordPress Philosophy: What Is It and Why Should You Care?

Ave you ever installed a plugin into your WordPress website and notion, “Ummm… that’s distinctive”? Something about it just stood out as now not quite proper. The settings felt ordinary, or there have been way too many settings, or maybe it changed parts of your web page in approaches you didn’t assume.

Most often, this experience entails a plugin or a subject that doesn’t do things “The WordPress Way.” If you’ve ever heard that word, it probably sounded a piece mysterious. That’s due to the fact while “The WordPress Way” does have a definition, it’s nonetheless a chunk fuzzy; it’s not so easy to boil it down to a sentence or. It’s not merely approximately the settings interface or in which to position the menus — it’s a whole philosophy of know-how user experience, development, or even freedom itself.

This series is ready for the WordPress Philosophy. Yes, WordPress has a real philosophy! This simple document will keep loads of sway over the whole thing you interact with for your WordPress admin.

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By the end of this collection, you’ll have a more potent grasp of WordPress Philosophy. You’ll be empowered to make more knowledgeable and discerning choices with your plugins and subject matters to your internet site. For you developers reading alongside, you’ll be knowledgeable about the way you construct out your next characteristic set, plugin, or subject.

Why Does Software Have a Philosophy at All?

Before we jump into the primary item of the philosophy, permit’s ask, “Why?” Why does the WordPress Philosophy exist, and why does it count at all?

Philosophy clearly approaches “the love of knowledge.” In this case, the WordPress Philosophy is technically now not a philosophy at all, however a hard and fast of recommendations and concepts. The philosophy is a listing of beliefs and beliefs that instruct and inform builders and designers in how they method implementing new features of WordPress.

Virtually each fundamental software developer has a fixed of guiding standards. While Microsoft is focused on structure or “architecture,” Apple is driven by means of design, and Google’s is pushed through personal experience. If you’re familiar with the goods of those corporations (and who isn’t!?), then this sounds obvious to you, whereas Microsoft excels with records systems, Apple entices you with beauty, and Google needs you to go looking with one click. Their ideas tell the products that we all use, and WordPress is not exclusive.

How Does WordPress Benefit from Having a Philosophy?
WordPress is designed with its philosophy the front and center.

Did you know that after WordPress launched, it did now not have the potential to install plugins? Instead, it had “hacks” — literally a file in which code changed pasted so one can extend WordPress. According to Ryan Boren within the open supply WordPress History Book:

…the plugin machine enabled middle builders to implement the eighty/20 [philosophy]: ‘Is this useful to 80% of our users? If no longer, try it in a plugin.’

For a yr after release, WordPress had no plugins at all. The want arose from the guiding precept that now, not each characteristic belonged inside the middle product. This is the “Clean, Lean, and Mean” precept. It’s truthful to say that WordPress has its 29% market proportion of the net in large part because of its plugin system, which changed into born out of the WordPress Philosophy.

Why Does This Matter for Me As a WordPress User?

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I’m the kind of character who thinks that records and philosophy continually rely on, so this has to simply clearly be interesting as is. But in this example, I accept as true that there are very realistic motives you as a business proprietor, internet site admin, blogger, or employer-owner must be interested in the WordPress Philosophy.

It facilitates you higher understand your internet site. Here are 3:

The WordPress Philosophy is embedded into your WordPress admin location’s layout, layout, and preferred usability. It’s why you do not have a “links” menu. However, you do have a “Custom CSS” place now. It’s the force behind the whole thing, approximately Gutenberg. It’s the reason why you don’t need your subject to also be a page builder and why your admin may be swapped with a click into dozens of different languages.

Understanding the WordPress Philosophy helps you understand your internet site.

It informs how you construct your internet site to your traffic.
The WordPress Philosophy gives treasured guidance for the rest of your internet site outside of the admin displays. Will 80% of your site visitors use that Google Map you embed to your touch page? When you build out your content material calendar, do you just create dates for you individually or ensure your “closing dates aren’t arbitrary”?

The WordPress Philosophy will assist you to be a better website builder.

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It publications your choice of themes and plugins.
Of all of the approaches wherein the WordPress Philosophy affects your internet site, that is the principal motive I am writing this collection. As a plugin creator and subject writer, I see a long way too many WordPress customers loading up their website with plugins that damage their admin and bloat their gadget. Choosing plugins is hard, and difficult plugins are frequently tough to hit upon. Still, understanding “The WordPress Way” will assist you to grow to be a more knowledgeable subject and plugin consumer, which in turn will gain your entire website.

What’s Next?

Starting next month, you’ll see a brand new article from me as soon as a month on this situation. We’ll go item by means of an item through the WordPress Philosophy in phrases of what it says, what it approaches, explore exquisite and terrible examples of it in plugins and themes, and in the end, perceive why you ought to care and what you have to do approximately it.

Next month we’ll begin with the ultimate object inside the philosophy: Our Bill of Rights. This phase is foundational because it’s far embedded in each unmarried WordPress website, plugin, and topic in the world.

Jessica J. Underwood
Subtly charming explorer. Pop culture practitioner. Creator. Web guru. Food advocate. Typical travel maven. Zombie fanatic. Problem solver. Was quite successful at developing wooden tops in the aftermarket. A real dynamo when it comes to exporting glucose in Bethesda, MD. Had moderate success managing action figures in New York, NY. Set new standards for selling crayon art in Salisbury, MD. In 2009 I was getting my feet wet with sock monkeys for the underprivileged. Spoke at an international conference about merchandising toy elephants in Nigeria.