Today May 27, is marked as the 18th birthday since the first release of WordPress, the most popular Content Management System online, encouraging people to build unique websites. That’s right, it’s been 18 years since a 19-year-old freshman, Matt Mullenweg, and British - Web developer Mike Little launched the initial version of what would become the Web’s most popular Content Management System (CMS).
WordPress has also had countless releases throughout its history, each filled with varying degrees of updates and new features. There have been more than 30 major WordPress releases since 2003. Here are some of the highlights:
1.2 – released in May 2004, WordPress 1.2, or Mingus (every major release named after a jazz musician), saw the introduction of plugin architecture, which allowed users and developers to build out the platform’s functionality.
1.5 – released in February 2005, version 1.5, named after jazz pianist Billy Strayhorn, saw the introduction of pages and a new theme system to the WordPress platform.
2.0 – released in December 2005, “Duke” or WordPress 2.0 saw a complete overhaul of the admin dashboard and, for the first time, allowed users to perform several admin tasks.
2.5 – released in March 2008, version 2.5, named for saxophonist Michael Brecker, saw a significant overhaul to the existing WordPress dashboard and the introduction of dashboard widgets, multi-file upload, and extended search.
3.0 – released in June 2010, “Thelonious” saw WordPress take significant strides towards bridging the gap from a simple blogging platform to a full-fledged CMS.
3.8 – released in December 2013, “Parker” (for Charlie) introduced MP6, which was the first responsive WordPress admin interface.
4.0 – released in September 2014, “Benny” made several significant improvements to WordPress core, including improved media management and embeds, and improved writing interface, the ability to change languages easily, a new theme customizer and compatibility with PHP 5.5 and MySQL 5.6.
4.9 – released in November 2017, version 4.9, named for bandleader Billy Tipton, is the most recent major update to WordPress and includes an improved theme customizer, a new gallery widget and updated text and video widgets.
5.0 – On December 6, 2018, WordPress Version 5.0, named for jazz musician Bebo, was released to the public. WordPress 5.0 will revolutionize content editing with the introduction of a new block editor and block editor-compatible.
5.1 - On February 21, 2019, WordPress 5.1 “Betty”, named for the jazz musician Betty Carter, was released to the public. Following the introduction of the new block editor in 5.0, 5.1 focuses on polish, particularly by improving the editor's performance. In addition, this release paves the way for a better, faster, and more secure WordPress with some essential tools for site administrators and developers.
5.2 - On May 7, 2019, WordPress 5.2 “Jaco”, named for the jazz musician Jaco Pastorius, was released to the public. WordPress 5.2 gives you even more robust tools for identifying and fixing configuration issues and fatal errors. Whether you are a developer helping clients or managing your site solo, these tools can help get you the correct information when you need it.
5.3 - WordPress 5.3 “Kirk” released to the public on November 12, 2019. 5.3 expands and refines the block editor introduced in WordPress 5.0 with new blocks, more intuitive interactions, and improved accessibility. New features in the editor increase design freedoms, provide additional layout options and style variations to allow designers complete control over the look of a site.
5.4 - WordPress 5.4 “Adderley” was released to the public on March 31, 2020. More ways to make posts and pages come alive with your best images. Also, bring your visitors in, and keep them engaged with the richness of embedded media from the Web’s top services.
5.5. - WordPress 5.5 “Eckstine” was released to the public on August 11, 2020. This was the second major release of 2020 and aims to include a navigation menus block, automatic updates for plugins and themes, a block directory, XML sitemaps, lazy loading, and update Gutenberg to the latest release version.
5.6 - WordPress 5.6 “Simone” was released to the public on December 8, 2020. WordPress 5.6 brings you countless ways to set your ideas free and bring them to life. With a brand-new default theme as your canvas, it supports an ever-growing collection of blocks as your brushes. Paint with words. Pictures. Sound. Or rich embedded media.
5.7 - WordPress 5.7 “Esperanza” was released to the public on March 9, 2021. An Easier Way to Send Password Reset Emails/Links. A site upgrades from HTTP to HTTPS with a Single Click. Easy drag and drop blocks directly from the inserter panel. Availed with custom icon and background colours & sizes for social icons block and enabled with font size support for the List Block & much more.
WordPress is a major release with tons of features and changes for both users and developers. We’ve enjoyed watching its progress and rapid adoption around the globe. And are excited to see how the evolution of web technologies directly affects WordPress security, performance, usability, and accessibility.
In the meantime, it’s been an incredible 18 years, and from the entire Ucartz team, here’s to many happy returns!
Happy Birthday, WordPress!
