WordPress is changing its minimum required PHP version to 7 this year. This opens WordPress up to the PHP ecosystem. This talk explores how WordPress could benefit from technological advancements and skills present in the PHP ecosystem, while at the same time keeping true to its own philosophies and culture. This talk is designed for an audience of PHP engineers, inviting them to reconsider WordPress as a project worth contributing to.
I am working on an alternative version which specifically targets a WordPress audience. In that second talk I plan to include an overview of standards developed in the PHP ecosystem in the last 10 years and I will invite the audience to (re)consider the benefits those could have for WordPress.
4. • Poor separation of concerns. No separation between
representation and data. Echo statements
EVERYWHERE… Lack of framework.
• PHP 5.2 as minimum supported PHP version, isolating
WordPress from the PHP ecosystem.
• Hacker culture. Bias against engineering as a central
concern.
WordPress’ historical (technical) issues
5. • WordPress core team has consistently optimised for low
barrier of entry over managing the cost of change. People
learn to “code” because of it.
• WordPress is built to empower a vulnerable target
audience, both in terms of the kind of developers it targets
and its end users.
Why WordPress, Why?
6. • WordPress has become the OS of the web, with 32,5%
market share. Its ecosystem of plugins and themes is huge.
• This isn’t the web of the 90s anymore. In order to serve its
mission, WordPress needs to innovate and modernise.
• This is the moment to start lowering the cost of change and
open up to engineering.
And the winner is… WordPress
7. • The future of all user interfaces is JavaScript.
• Engineers are entering our community on the JavaScript
side, bringing with them engineering practices.
• WordPress has launched a project called ServeHappy,
which will enable us to stay up-to-date with modern server
technology more easily.
WordPress is changing
8. • Because of the user interface being moved to React +
Redux, a separation between data and representation is
organically emerging. The PHP app will become a data
layer. Speed and data processing will become its guiding
concerns and reasons for change. Developers will become
the primary users.
JavaScript as a PHP opportunity
9. • One of WordPress core strengths and success factors is
that it is easy to hack. This is not going away.
• Engineers can now be successful in WordPress if they keep
hackability as a concern. Abstraction or tooling can be
introduced, but not without extra education / docs efforts to
keep the barrier of entry low.
Engineering vs hacker culture
10. • A first generation of PHP engineers has acknowledged the
WordPress philosophy and is working on an information
framework called ServeHappy which helps vulnerable users
transition technology. This will allow us to finally keep
WordPress in par with modern technology.
ServeHappy
11. • We’ll be able to rely on PHP 7 soon. (coming from 5.2) This
means that:
• WordPress could slowly open up to composer.
• WordPress could start adopting PSR’s.
• WordPress could start contributing back to the PHP
ecosystem.
The goodies
13. • Technical: Dependency management and backwards
compatibility.
• Cultural: Educating a community of hackers. Bringing
everybody along. There is still a serious lack of technical
skill and knowledge. We need help and we need education.
The big challenges
