@davew asks us to
Think Different about WordPress, and reflects on the future of WordPress, and interfaces to interact with WordPress, whether it is to create or to consume content from a WordPress site. He talks about WordPress in comparison to social networks like Bluesky or Mastodon. It’s a compelling vision, and that comparison is very appropriate at a time where it’s easier than ever to turn a WordPress site into a Fediverse presence, thanks to the work of
@pfefferle and
@obenland on
the ActivityPub plugin. My home on the web is my WordPress site, and I’m still very happy with that choice.
Dave has been working hard on a new way to interact with your WordPress site: an opinionated, minimalist editor built with writers in mind. As I watch WordLand grow, I can’t help but think about my beginnings with WordPress, more specifically with third-party WordPress editors.
Where did the all the third-party editors go?
15+ years ago, third-party editors weren’t just nice to have. They were essential. If you were a serious blogger, you probably used MarsEdit on your Mac, or Windows Live Writer on PC. Those 2 editors were probably the biggest third-party editors for WordPress at the time, and were built on top of WordPress’ XML-RPC API. It worked well, except when your hosting provider blocked XML-RPC altogether as a quick fix to avoid XML-RPC pingbacks being used to DDoS sites! That API is still around, and is a good testament for WordPress’ promise of backwards compatibility.
Not only did those editors work well, they were a great alternative to the default post editor in WordPress, which, frankly, sucked for writers using it every day. I remember using it almost exclusively with the “code” view to avoid the dreaded HTML adjustments in the visual editor.
Over the years, MarsEdit and Windows Live Writer slowly disappeared, and a few other options appeared. Here are a few that come to mind:
Fast-forward to today, I don’t think any of those options are that popular anymore. WordPress’ classic editor is still around, but there is a new(-ish) kid on the block with the Gutenberg editor. That editor is still very divisive, especially for folks used to editors of the past.
But if Gutenberg is so problematic, why haven’t third-party editors made a comeback? I have a few theories.
Maybe it’s just “good enough”?
Maybe, despite all its flaws, Gutenberg crossed a critical threshold. It’s not perfect, but it does the job, better than the classic editor did back when third-party editors were necessary, even if some still struggle to adopt the new editor.
Did Elementor and other page builders take over the third-party editor market?
Page builders like Elementor have become increasingly popular in the past 10 years. For many new WordPress users, they’re the default post editor interface, they’re the definition of “editing in WordPress” for many. They offer many more visual editing options that third-party editors just cannot offer.
Maybe the market for text-focused editors shrank because WordPress itself pivoted away from text?
Maybe, once again, “blogging is dead”?
While WordPress was largely viewed as a blogging platform 15 years ago, it’s no longer the case today. It powers online stores, small and large business sites, portfolios, and more.
For such site owners, there is no need for an external editor. In fact, there is often no need for posts at all.
Custom blocks can only be managed in the core editor
This may be my number 1 theory. 15 years ago, shortcodes were the most popular way to add custom content to your WordPress posts. This could be done from a third-party editor with no issues.
Nowadays, many plugins offer blocks that are useful for bloggers. Calls to Action, ads, newsletter popups, social media embeds, … They’re not just formatting tools, they’re useful every day, and they’re all available natively in the core editor. A third-party editor can’t replicate them without rebuilding half of WordPress.
Writers may choose the core editor because using anything else may mean losing traffic and revenue tools.
Copy/paste is just better than it was
Third-party editors focused on publishing to WordPress may have become obsolete because there are so many other editors out there, none of them publishing to WordPress. Folks can write in Obsidian, Notion, ChatGPT, … and then copy / paste the output into the core editor. The Gutenberg editor is now a lot more capable of picking up the right format on paste.
Editing consequently happens in custom tools not dedicated to publishing. WordPress is just the final step, the publishing pipeline.
Platforms now offer more than an editor
I think there is another force at play that directly challenges Dave’s vision: the rise of bundled publishing platforms like Substack.
Platforms like Substack don’t just offer an editor. They offer you an audience. Your posts can be promoted to Substack readers that are already logged in, can receive newsletters via email, are used to rely on Substack for their daily reading, and have payment methods saved and available in one click to pay you.
This goes against Dave’s ideas of interop and open standards like RSS, because as a creator you don’t have to think about any of that anymore. Instead of thinking about their content flowing freely between platforms with things like ActivityPub or RSS, folks can pick a walled garden where there is no friction. You don’t have to worry about an editor, plugins, you don’t have to know what RSS or ActivityPub is. You can just focus on publishing and trust the platform to do the rest.
“Trust” is the operative word here. You lose a lot of control over your content and your workflow. You lose ownership and data portability, but you may gain something that matters a lot more to you: the eyes of an audience through recommendation engines built by the platform to keep their readers there, and monetization tools to make money from your audience.
What This Means for WordLand
I think Dave’s WordLand faces a lot of those challenges, like the other third-party editors I mentioned above. It’s not just a technical challenge though ; it’s a challenge to build something with values that differ from some of the popular platforms out there, like Substack or Bluesky.
That’s not to say it cannot work. 🙂 There will always be a group of people who value content ownership and the open web. In my experience, that group of people actually blogs quite a bit!
I consider myself one of those people. The web still means something special to me.
#EN #WordPress
