Comparing Google Trends for WordPress - which has a multi-million blog network as part of the results - against framework names seems to have some pretty significant issues.
PHP was already popular and widely available when WordPress became popular. WordPress benefited from that - it was much easier to install and find hosting versus the then-leader MovableType.
Just as a warning: Manuel Lemos is the most clueless and destructive clown in the entire PHP community. PHPclasses is a collection of worst practices and anti-patterns.
Nothing he writes is in any way plausible, it's all just a feeble attempt at arguing that any engineering practice he can't wrap his head around is wrong. The man is just desperately trying to defend his limited understanding of software development.
Excuse the ad hominem, but there's really zero plausible content to this, or any other of the delusional utterings he has published over the last decade.
I agree in as much as I think that PHPClasses is an anachronistic throwback to the bad old days of PHP. It has a shameful history of promoting terrible code with dubious "awards" as if it were the greatest thing ever built. Newcomers to PHP development would be better served by a web that lacked phpclasses.org in its current form.
For example, in a recent article entitled "26 Ways to Show that PHP Can Be Better Than PHP" (http://www.phpclasses.org/blog/post/203-26-Ways-to-Show-that...), they showcased a series of "multithreading" implementations in ascending order of WTF, culminating with this:
Mohammed Yousef from Egypt has written the PHP
Threader class that also takes advantage of the
fact that a Web server can run multiple scripts
in parallel, except that it uses AJAX requests
sent from the browser to start the scripts.
I disagree, however, with the idea that Manuel Lemos is a clueless, destructive clown. I think he's a well-meaning, intelligent person who has somewhat failed to keep pace with the "proper software engineering" standards that have infiltrated PHP in recent years.
For example, in an article from 2013 comparing development using Wordpress vs using a framework, I would have expected some comparison of the viability of automated testing in each approach. And unless my name was Fabien Potencier, I would not expect to be advised to "use your own framework if you have a good capable framework to address your needs".
But this is only destructive to the extent that others fail to make a strong case for building well-tested software using high quality open source libraries where suitable instead of endlessly reinventing wheels. There is room for competing ideas, and I don't see these particular ideas as an especially worrying competitive threat.
WordPress benefited from the fact that PHP hosting was always cheaper (even free) than hosts that supported Perl or Python (this was a little before Ruby became popular through Rails). You could find oversold hosting plans for as little as $1,99/mo.
As ceejayoz mentioned, PHP was already popular before WP.
Arguably, forum software written in PHP made PHP popular before b2/cafelog (WP's predecessor) appeared.
> WordPress benefited from the fact that PHP hosting was always cheaper (even free) than hosts that supported Perl or Python (this was a little before Ruby became popular through Rails). You could find oversold hosting plans for as little as $1,99/mo.
Wordpress had the right product at the right time with the right message.
There were other PHP blog systems. And Movable Type was, for a while, the undisputed king.
Then the great GPL kerfuffle happened. Wordpress had a pretty site and Matt Mullenweg was proactive in seeking out high profile bloggers and getting them to convert.
Add in PHP's ease of installation and the favourable situation for hosts (mod_php is closer to shared-nothing than mod_perl), and I guess it was inevitable.
At this point it's network effects and path dependence that keeps it at the top.
I don't see network effects or path dependence keeping it at the top. In fact its share of the universe of free open source CMS installs, has I believe been increasing in recent years.
I think there is a shared experience out there that when you put it up against alternatives such as Joomla, Drupal, ModX, and to some extent even Magento that it's the only CMS you can ship to a client without having to field calls all day on how to use the thing.
Plus, the ease of simple templating and plugins available allow small shops to deliver products with which they can actually make a profit. I believe this reason alone is a big driver of WordPress recommendations.
I'll also mention that my comment is from the point of view of design shops, contractors, and freelancers. If someone is building, maintaing or planning a free standing product website that will have engineering resources dedicated to it then yes, there are probably better alternatives.
For one thing, if you go on google trends, you are basing this on someone doing a search. Chances are, this being a user friendly CMS, "WordPress" will be in the search. While if someone using a more complex PHP framework, they might look for OOP searches or simply cURL and such. I have used google trends to decide on my future projects and found it a bit deceiving. Though I must say, Wordpress has done well and fits a niche from total noob to advanced programmer.
So we're wrong to wish for WordPress to adopt PSR standards instead of their own idiosyncratic coding style?
I really like PSR compliant PHP code (it's almost PEP 8-ish), the WordPress standards are frustratingly opposite on some key concepts (braces, indentation). But WP is so popular, I don't see how this might ever be resolved.
Code style is the least of Wordpress' faults.
Completely fucking insane architecture (or lack thereof) and ridiculous use of the database should be much higher concerns
WP didn't made php popular as it was already #1 choice for entry level web developers and had active helpful community (all webmaster forums had a php or similar section), something which other languages lacked.
Wordpress became huge because it is modular, plug and play and the go to choice for beginners. Not to mention, it is also a huge marketplace and tens of thousands of people make money creating themes, PSD, custom design, plugins etc.
[+] [-] ceejayoz|12 years ago|reply
PHP was already popular and widely available when WordPress became popular. WordPress benefited from that - it was much easier to install and find hosting versus the then-leader MovableType.
[+] [-] krapp|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jwatte|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] maratd|12 years ago|reply
And I remember renaming all those .php3 files to .php when upgrading to php4. Thanks a lot! =)
[+] [-] Spooky23|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bowlofpetunias|12 years ago|reply
Nothing he writes is in any way plausible, it's all just a feeble attempt at arguing that any engineering practice he can't wrap his head around is wrong. The man is just desperately trying to defend his limited understanding of software development.
Excuse the ad hominem, but there's really zero plausible content to this, or any other of the delusional utterings he has published over the last decade.
[+] [-] h2s|12 years ago|reply
For example, in a recent article entitled "26 Ways to Show that PHP Can Be Better Than PHP" (http://www.phpclasses.org/blog/post/203-26-Ways-to-Show-that...), they showcased a series of "multithreading" implementations in ascending order of WTF, culminating with this:
I disagree, however, with the idea that Manuel Lemos is a clueless, destructive clown. I think he's a well-meaning, intelligent person who has somewhat failed to keep pace with the "proper software engineering" standards that have infiltrated PHP in recent years.For example, in an article from 2013 comparing development using Wordpress vs using a framework, I would have expected some comparison of the viability of automated testing in each approach. And unless my name was Fabien Potencier, I would not expect to be advised to "use your own framework if you have a good capable framework to address your needs".
But this is only destructive to the extent that others fail to make a strong case for building well-tested software using high quality open source libraries where suitable instead of endlessly reinventing wheels. There is room for competing ideas, and I don't see these particular ideas as an especially worrying competitive threat.
[+] [-] dictum|12 years ago|reply
As ceejayoz mentioned, PHP was already popular before WP.
Arguably, forum software written in PHP made PHP popular before b2/cafelog (WP's predecessor) appeared.
[+] [-] nonchalance|12 years ago|reply
Why was/is that the case?
[+] [-] jacques_chester|12 years ago|reply
There were other PHP blog systems. And Movable Type was, for a while, the undisputed king.
Then the great GPL kerfuffle happened. Wordpress had a pretty site and Matt Mullenweg was proactive in seeking out high profile bloggers and getting them to convert.
Add in PHP's ease of installation and the favourable situation for hosts (mod_php is closer to shared-nothing than mod_perl), and I guess it was inevitable.
At this point it's network effects and path dependence that keeps it at the top.
[+] [-] ereckers|12 years ago|reply
I think there is a shared experience out there that when you put it up against alternatives such as Joomla, Drupal, ModX, and to some extent even Magento that it's the only CMS you can ship to a client without having to field calls all day on how to use the thing.
Plus, the ease of simple templating and plugins available allow small shops to deliver products with which they can actually make a profit. I believe this reason alone is a big driver of WordPress recommendations.
I'll also mention that my comment is from the point of view of design shops, contractors, and freelancers. If someone is building, maintaing or planning a free standing product website that will have engineering resources dedicated to it then yes, there are probably better alternatives.
[+] [-] shaneofalltrad|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] elchief|12 years ago|reply
Your dumb-ass boss can use it. It has 100x more, prettier, themes than everyone else. It has 100x more devs than anyone else.
Related: my buddy still makes $30,000 a month off a plugin he wrote 3 years ago.
[+] [-] onedev|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] brass9|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] joemaller1|12 years ago|reply
I really like PSR compliant PHP code (it's almost PEP 8-ish), the WordPress standards are frustratingly opposite on some key concepts (braces, indentation). But WP is so popular, I don't see how this might ever be resolved.
https://github.com/php-fig/fig-standards/blob/master/accepte...
http://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/coding-standards/php...
[+] [-] stephenr|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] luisehk|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ceejayoz|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pushkargaikwad|12 years ago|reply
Wordpress became huge because it is modular, plug and play and the go to choice for beginners. Not to mention, it is also a huge marketplace and tens of thousands of people make money creating themes, PSD, custom design, plugins etc.
[+] [-] lmeyerov|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] shire|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] PBxdId7wFr|12 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] grumps|12 years ago|reply
blah blah blah "WordPress is awesome..."