Justin Tadlock published his thoughts on whether WordPress is more difficult to get involved with as a developer these days. It’s a good read as it comes from a longtime developer who has written hundreds of WordPress tutorials over the years. My favorite part of the article is the following.
The Getting Started With Code Contribution section of the Block Editor Handbook is a dizzying list of installation notes and procedures that can be off-putting to even the most seasoned developer. Because just about everything is a third-party tool, any trouble you run into just setting up your system is likely to land you in support forums or chatrooms outside of WordPress. Even moving past setup, contributing code to Gutenberg is unlike the days of yore.
What is lacking is the history. We had a decade and a half to perfect our systems for classic WordPress. It was often ugly and brutal building the platform and the ecosystem around it to a point where it was a comfortable space for developers. We have had only three years for modern WordPress to feel as natural as in years past.
I am ever the optimist, hoping that in another 15 years’ time, we are having these same discussions about the new technology stack that WordPress 10.0 has introduced. In the meantime, I look forward to seeing our documentation evolve, our developer community expanding its skillset, and new WordPressers coming along for the journey.
Justin Tadlock – Is WordPress Development Really All That Hard To Get Into Today?
This is along the same thought process I had when I said that the Learn WordPress project has the potential to become the shoulder’s new and existing developers can stand on to further their skillsets. His post is a great addition to the conversation and I encourage you to read the comments as there is a good conversation taking place.