Raise Your Glasses!
They grow up so fast, don’t they? One minute you’re helping a scrappy blogging platform figure out how to install themes, and the next you’re watching it power 43% of the internet. Today, as WordPress celebrates its 22nd birthday, we at Reaktiv are celebrating right along with it, like proud cousins who helped teach it how to ride a bike, or at least how to ship custom Gutenberg blocks.
A Look Back: 22 Milestones in 22 Years
Here are just a few of the moments that made us cheer, nod sagely, or shout “finally!”:
- 2003: WordPress is born. Forked by Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little from b2/cafelog.
- 2004: Plugin architecture is introduced. The ecosystem begins to blossom.
- 2005: Pages and themes arrive, making WordPress more than a blogging tool.
- 2008: The first major UX redesign, thanks to Happy Cog.
- 2010: WordPress Foundation is created to ensure long-term sustainability.
- 2010: Custom post types go mainstream. Suddenly, everything is a post.
- 2012: Customizer makes visualizing and scheduling front end edits easier than ever.
- 2013: REST API begins development, lighting the path for headless WordPress.
- 2014: Reaktiv releases our first major plugin in the .org repo.
- 2016: JSON REST API officially merges into core.
- 2017: The Gutenberg project is announced. Cue debates, excitement, and very long blog posts.
- 2018: WordPress 5.0 launches with Gutenberg.
- 2019: Reaktiv makes early contributions to the Gutenberg project.
- 2021: Full Site Editing roadmap unveiled.
- 2021: We work with clients to modernize legacy shortcodes into reusable blocks.
- 2022: Block Themes and Global Styles become real. The customizer takes a back seat.
- 2022: Reaktiv helps major publishers embrace block-based editing workflows.
- 2023: WordPress introduces the Twenty Twenty-Three theme with no custom stylesheets.
- 2024: Reaktiv launches Full Site Editing for enterprise clients.
- 2024: Performance improvements take center stage.
- 2024: Reaktiv ships our internal tooling for accessible, scalable WordPress components.
- 2025: And here we are. WordPress is 22, and the next era is just beginning.
What We’ve Learned Along the Way
Watching WordPress grow up has taught us so much: that good code is important, but good community is priceless. That open standards and shared goals can turn side projects into global infrastructure. The best way to future-proof your site is to lean into the present.
We’ve been lucky to contribute along the way through core contributions, plugin development, enterprise client work, and community events. As a proud WordPress VIP agency partner, we’ve worked on some of the platform’s most ambitious projects. We were early adopters of the Gutenberg editor, using it in client work even when many others stuck to the Classic Editor. Today, we’re building with Full Site Editing and helping shape the next generation of web experiences.
We’re also proud to have active core contributors on our team, including Jay Hoffmann, Nick Croft, and Danny Cohen, whose work continues to improve the foundation for millions.
The Path Forward
Turning 22 marks not just another year, but a continued evolution. It’s a sign of stability, resilience, and the drive to keep pushing boundaries. As the platform embraces AI, headless architecture, and the continued evolution of the block editor, we’re more excited than ever to be part of the journey.
So here’s to WordPress: for the community it built, the web it opened, and the future it’s still writing. From all of us at Reaktiv, happy birthday!
Cheers to the next 22.
