Let's get to know WordPress - we talk about hosting unofficial

WordPress is the most popular content management system in the world. From a simple solution for creating blogs, it has transformed over the course of several years into a multi-dimensional tool, on which we can successfully create both websites and complex stores or course platforms. We would like to invite you to a series of articles about WordPress. Here, you will find advice, tips, and tutorials for beginner WordPress users, as well as for those more advanced.

The begginings of WordPress

WordPress is over 20 years old. The first version, 0.70, was released on May 27, 2003, and was based on the b2/cafelog script, created by Mike Little and Matt Mullenweg. It wasn’t the WordPress we know today, but a very simple system without advanced capabilities. However, changes were yet to come. Just a year after version 0.70, version 1.2 was introduced, which is said to have given the green light for dynamic growth thanks to the introduction of plugins.
Plugins provided additional functionality, and just a year later, the ability to publish pages was implemented (version 1.5). This marked the point where WordPress ceased to be just a CMS for bloggers and became a fully-fledged tool for building websites. A clear step in this direction was the introduction of the option to set a static homepage instead of displaying a list of posts. It is believed that by 2007, the blog had ceased to play a key role and became an optional feature. Content creators could decide for themselves whether it should be displayed at all or if they preferred a project solely based on pages. This move allowed WordPress to stop being a tool exclusively for bloggers and attracted a growing number of supporters. Something that was once reserved for web developers became accessible to anyone who wanted to have their own website.
The following years brought more changes and implementations – 2010 saw the introduction of menu management and the ability to customize headers (version 3.0), and in 2013, the Dashboard design we know today was introduced. At the same time, the independent developer industry was also growing, with developers creating new plugins, themes, and other WordPress solutions.

The Emergence of WooCommerce

A milestone in the further expansion of WordPress was the appearance of the WooCommerce plugin. It debuted in 2011 and surpassed half a million downloads just 16 months after its release. WooCommerce was developed by the WooThemes team and was purchased a few years later by Automattic, the company behind the wordpress.org platform.

Thanks to WooCommerce, WordPress gained the ability to support online sales, which, during the rapid growth of e-commerce, was something many had been waiting for. Along with the emergence of new stores based on this plugin, a market for various integrations, payment systems, and shipping options began to grow, all of which could be added to one’s store using plugins. Over the years, simple online stores have not only improved in terms of appearance but have also seen the development of numerous additional features, such as customer newsletters, wishlists, advanced product presentation options (including product variations), and many more.

WordPress is all about a community

The success of WordPress is not solely due to its functionality and accessibility. It’s primarily driven by a passionate community that continues to develop it. Millions of users and developers are engaged in various WordPress-related projects. Anyone can join this community for free at the official CMS website, make.wordpress.org.

As Smarthost, we also actively support the WordPress community. We share knowledge through lectures and presentations. So far, we have sponsored events such as: