WordPress

Infobox Software
name = WordPress|class="wikitable"



caption = WordPress's default configuration
developer = Matt Mullenweg
Ryan Boren
Donncha O Caoimh
latest release version = 2.6.2
latest release date = release date and age|2008|09|08
latest preview version =
latest preview date =
operating_system = Cross-platform
platform = PHP
genre = Blog publishing system
license = GNU General Public License version 2 [http://wordpress.org/about/gpl/]
website = http://wordpress.org/

WordPress is an open source blog publishing application. WordPress is the official successor of b2cafelog, developed by Michel Valdrighi. The name "WordPress" was suggested by Christine Selleck, a friend of lead developer Matt Mullenweg.

The latest release of WordPress is version 2.6.2, released on 08 September 2008.

Features

* Templating system
* Integrated link management
* Search engine-friendly permalink structure
* Support for plugins
* Support for widgets
* Nested categories and multiple categories for articles
* Trackback and Pingback
* Typographic filters for proper formatting and styling of text
* Static pages
* Multiple authors
* Can store a list of users who visit your blog
* Can block site visitors by IP address
* Tag support

History

"b2cafelog", more commonly known as simply "b2" or "cafelog", was the precursor to WordPress. b2cafelog was estimated to have been employed on approximately 2,000 blogs as of May 2003. It was written in PHP for use with MySQL by Michel Valdrighi, who is now a contributing developer to WordPress. Though WordPress is the official successor, another project, b2evolution, is also in active development.

WordPress first appeared in 2003 as a joint effort between Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little to create a fork of b2. [cite web | url = http://www.wordpress.org/about/ | title = WordPress › About | accessdate = 2007-03-04 | publisher = wordpress.org | quote = WordPress started in 2003 (…) ]

In 2004 the licensing terms for the competing Movable Type package were changed by Six Apart, and many of its users migrated to WordPress – causing a marked and continuing growth in WordPress's popularity. [ [http://www.google.com/trends?q=wordpress%2C+blogger%2C+moveable+type%2C+typepad Google Trends: wordpress, blogger, moveable type, typepad ] ]

In 2007 WordPress won a Packt Open Source CMS Award. [http://www.packtpub.com/open-source-cms-award-previous-winners]

Releases

WordPress releases are named after well-known jazz musicians. For example, WordPress 1.2 was code named "Mingus" (after Charles Mingus).

WordPress 1.5 was released mid-February 2005 and code named "Strayhorn". It added a range of new vital features. One such is being able to manage static pages. This allows content pages to be created and managed outside the normal blog chronology and has been the first step away from being simple blog management software to becoming a full content management system. Another is the new template/theme system, which allows users to easily activate and deactivate "skins" for their sites. WordPress was also equipped with a new default template (code named "Kubrick" [ [http://binarybonsai.com/kubrick Kubrick at Binary Bonsai ] ] ) designed by Michael Heilemann.

WordPress 2.0 was released in December 2005 and code named "Duke". This version added rich editing, better administration tools, image uploading, faster posting, an improved import system, and completely overhauled the back end. WordPress 2.0 also offered various improvements to plugin developers. [ [http://wordpress.org/development/2005/12/wp2/ WordPress › Blog » WordPress 2 ] ]

On 22 January 2007, another major upgrade, WordPress 2.1, code named "Ella", was released. In addition to correcting security issues, version 2.1 featured a redesigned interface and enhanced editing tools (including integrated spell check and auto save), improved content management options, and a variety of code and database optimizations.

WordPress 2.2, code named "Getz", was released on 16 May 2007. Version 2.2 featured widget support for templates, updated Atom feed support, and speed optimizations. [ [http://wordpress.org/development/2007/05/wordpress-22/ WordPress › Blog » WordPress 2.2 ] ] Wordpress 2.2 was initially slated to have a revised taxonomy system for categories, as well as tags, but a proposed revision led to the feature being held back from release. [ [http://comox.textdrive.com/pipermail/wp-hackers/2007-April/012090.html [wp-hackers 2.2 release ] ]

WordPress 2.3, code named "Dexter", was released 24 September, 2007. Version 2.3 features native tagging support, new taxonomy system for categories, easy notification of updates as well as other interface improvements. 2.3 also fully supports Atom 1.0 along with the publishing protocol. WordPress 2.3 also includes some much needed security fixes. [ [http://wordpress.org/development/2007/09/wordpress-23/ WordPress › Blog » WordPress 2.3 ] ]

WordPress 2.5, code named "Brecker", was released 29 March, 2008. Developers skipped the release of version 2.4 so version 2.5 contained two releases worth of new code. WordPress 2.5 saw a complete overhaul of the administration interface and the WordPress website was also redesigned to match the new style.

WordPress 2.6, code named "Tyner", was released 15 July, 2008. It contains a number of new features that make WordPress a more powerful CMS: you can now track changes to every post and page and easily post from wherever you are on the web, plus there are dozens of incremental improvements to the features introduced in version 2.5.

WordPress 2.6.1 was released on 15 August, 2008. It contains several bug fixes. [ [http://wordpress.org/development/2008/08/wordpress-261/ WordPress › Blog » WordPress 2.6.1] ] WordPress 2.6.2 was released on 08 September, 2008. It contains a handful of bug & security fixes. [ [http://wordpress.org/development/2008/09/wordpress-262/ WordPress › Blog » WordPress 2.6.2] ]

Vulnerabilities

BlogSecurity currently maintains a list of WordPress vulnerabilities. [ [http://blogsecurity.net/wordpress/blogwatch/blogwatch/ BlogSecurity » Blog Archive » WordPress BlogWatch ] ]

In January 2007, many high-profile Search engine optimization (SEO) blogs, as well as many low-profile commercial blogs featuring AdSense, were targeted and attacked with a WordPress exploit. [ [http://www.threadwatch.org/node/11333 Wordpress Exploit Nails Big Name Seo Bloggers | Threadwatch.org ] ]

A separate vulnerability on one of the project site's web servers allowed an attacker to introduce exploitable code in the form of a back door to some downloads of WordPress 2.1.1. The 2.1.2 release addressed this issue; an advisory released at the time advised all users to upgrade immediately. [cite web | url = http://wordpress.org/development/2007/03/upgrade-212/ | title = WordPress 2.1.1 dangerous, Upgrade to 2.1.2 | publisher = WordPress.org | accessdate = 2007-03-04 | date = 2 March 2007]

In May 2007, a study revealed that 98% of WordPress blogs being run are exploitable. [ [http://blogsecurity.net/wordpress/articles/article-230507/ Blog Security | Survey Finds Most WordPress Blogs Vulnerable ] ]

In a June 2007 interview, Stefen Esser, the founder of the PHP Security Response Team, spoke critically of WordPress's security track record, citing problems with the application's architecture that make it unnecessarily difficult to write code that is secure from SQL injection vulnerabilities, as well as some other problems. [ [http://blogsecurity.net/wordpress/interview-280607/ BlogSecurity » Blog Archive » Interview with Stefan Esser ] ]

Multi-blogging

WordPress supports one weblog per installation, though multiple concurrent copies may be run from different directories if configured to use separate database tables.

Wordpress Multi-User (Wordpress MU) is a fork of WordPress created to allow simultaneous blogs to exist within one installation. Wordpress MU makes it possible for anyone with a website to host their own blogging community, control, and moderate all the blogs from a single dashboard. Wordpress MU adds eight new data tables for each blog.

Lyceum is another enterprise-edition of Wordpress. Unlike WordPress MU, Lyceum stores all of its information in a set number of database tables. Notable communities that use Lyceum are TeachFor.Us [ [http://theblog.teachfor.us/2006/07/25/thanks-are-in-order TeachFor.Us » TeachFor.Us News » Thanks are in order ] ] (Teach For America teachers' blogs), BodyBlogs and the Hopkins Blogs.

Developers

WordPress development is led by Ryan Boren and Matt Mullenweg. Mullenweg and Mike Little were co-founders of the project.

The contributing developers include:
* [http://dougal.gunters.org/ Dougal Campbell]
* [http://markjaquith.com/ Mark Jaquith]
* [http://ocaoimh.ie Donncha O'Caoimh]
* [http://skeltoac.com/ Andy Skelton]
* [http://intraordinary.com/ Michel Valdrighi]
* [http://blog.ftwr.co.uk/ Peter Westwood]

Though much developed by the community surrounding it, WordPress is closely associated with Automattic, where some of WordPress's main contributing developers are employees. [ [http://automattic.com/about/ About « Automattic ] ]

WordPress is also in part developed by its community, among which are the WP testers, a group of people who volunteer time and effort to testing each release. They have early access to nightly builds, Beta versions and Release Candidates. Upgrading to these versions, they can find and report errors to a special mailing list, or the project's Trac tool.

Sponsored themes

On 10 July 2007, following a discussion on the WordPress ideas forum [cite web
url=http://wordpress.org/extend/ideas/topic.php?id=553
title=Idea: Remove Sponsored Themes from WordPress.org
work=WordPress Ideas
accessdate=2007-08-20] and a post by Mark Ghosh in his blog Weblog Tools Collection, [cite web
url = http://weblogtoolscollection.com/archives/2007/07/10/no-sponsored-themes-on-weblogtoolscollection/
title = No Sponsored themes on WeblogToolsCollection
date = 2007-07-10
accessdate = 2007-07-18
author = Mark Ghosh] Matt Mullenweg announced that the official WordPress theme directory at http://themes.wordpress.net would no longer host themes containing sponsored links. [cite web
url = http://photomatt.net/2007/07/10/wltc-high-ground/
title = WLTC High Ground
date = 2007-07-10
accessdate = 2007-07-18
author = Matt Mullenweg] Although this move was criticized by designers and users of sponsored themes, it was applauded by some WordPress users who consider such themes to be spam. [cite web
url = http://lorelle.wordpress.com/2007/07/11/its-official-sponsored-wordpress-themes-are-out/
title = It’s Official. Sponsored WordPress Themes Are Out.
date = 2007-07-11
accessdate = 2007-07-25
author = Lorelle van Fossen
work = Lorelle on WordPress] The official WordPress theme directory ceased to accept any new themes, including those without sponsored links, shortly after the announcement was made. [cite web
url = http://themes.wordpress.net/blog/4421/version-30/
title = Version 3.0
date = 2007-07-15
accessdate = 2008-05-18
author = Matt Mullenweg] Ironically, the closure of the official site and its consequent lack of up-to-date themes drove many people into downloading themes from unofficial sites which inserted their own spam links into all themes downloaded from them. [cite web
url = http://weblogtoolscollection.com/archives/2007/08/04/warning-templatebrowser-dot-com/
title = WARNING: TemplatesBrowser dot com
date = 2007-08-04
accessdate = 2008-05-18
author = Mark Ghosh
work = Weblog Tools Collection] [cite web
url = http://weblogtoolscollection.com/archives/2007/11/09/blogsthemecom-warning/
title = Blogstheme.com WARNING
date = 2007-11-09
accessdate = 2008-05-18
author = Mark Ghosh
work = Weblog Tools Collection]

On July 18, 2008, a new theme directory opened at http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/. It was styled along the same lines as the plug-ins directory. [cite web
url= http://wordpress.org/development/2008/07/theme-directory/
title = Theme Directory
date = 2008-07-18
author = Joseph Scott
work = Wordpress Blog
accessdate=2007-08-20] Any theme that is uploaded to it will be vetted, first by an automated program and then by a human.

Wordpress native iPhone & iPod Touch app

On 11 July 2008, with the launch of iTunes App Store by Apple, Wordpress has also released its native app for iPhone and iPod Touch [cite web
url=http://www.altafsayani.com/2008/07/12/wordpress-app-for-iphone-and-ipod-touch/
title=Idea: WordPress App For iPhone and iPod Touch
work=WordPress iPhone & iPod Touch
accessdate=2008-07-12] The Wordpress app has all the features that the Wordpress Admin panel has. This app works for all the Wordpress.com and self hosted Wordpress 2.5.1 or above blogs.

Criticisms

* Several security issues [cite web |date=2007-06-21 |title=Wincent Colaiuta |url=http://wincent.com/a/about/wincent/weblog/archives/2007/06/wordpress_flaw.php] [cite web |date=2007-06-28 |title=David Kierznowski|url=http://blogsecurity.net/wordpress/interview-280607/] but reasonable turnaround time on fixes. According to Secunia, Wordpress has 7 unpatched security advisories, with a maximum rating of "Less Critical," as of September 2008 [cite web |date=2008-09-20 |title=Secunia|url=http://secunia.com/advisories/product/6745/] .

* No built-in ‘Preview Post’ link when writing a post. A link was added to open a preview in a new window or tab, but that has caused its own confusion [cite web |date=2007-02-24 |title=Thomas McMahon|url=http://www.webpronews.com/blogtalk/2007/02/23/wordpress-pros-and-cons] [cite web |date=2008-02-22 |title=TwisterMc|url=http://bloggerdesign.com/151/my-pros-and-cons-of-wordpress-21/] [cite web |date=2008-XX-XX |title=Lorelle|url=http://lorelle.wordpress.com/2007/09/22/wordpress-tips-previewing-your-post-in-wordpress/] .

* Not great for large project with a very large amounts (hundreds or thousands) of page (rather than post) content. You could easily outgrow it if your needs grow beyond what WordPress can do [cite web |date=2008-02-13 |title=Michael Martine|url=http://michaelmartine.com/2008/02/13/pros-and-cons-of-using-a-wordpress-blog-as-your-entire-business-site/] . Extendable, but there are limitations [cite web |date=2008-06-09 |title=James Mowery|url=http://performancing.com/wordpress/wordpress-and-drupal-compared-pros-and-cons-each-cms] . Still very good for small scale projects. Blogging is not the answer to everything for everyone. There are many advantages to making your entire website a blog, but there are some disadvantages to it as well [cite web |date=2008-02-13 |title=Michael Martine|url=http://michaelmartine.com/2008/02/13/pros-and-cons-of-using-a-wordpress-blog-as-your-entire-business-site/] .

See also

* Comparison of content management systems
* WordPress.com

References

Further reading

*
*
*

External links

* [http://wordpress.org/ Wordpress official site, including documentation]
* [http://mu.wordpress.org/ Wordpress MU official site, including documentation]
* [http://translate.sourceforge.net/wiki/decathlon/wordpress Localising WordPress]