Jason Schuller, of Press75 fame, has posted his thoughts on life beyond WordPress. Two paragraphs that stick out:
For me, WordPress has become what used to be that “tiny cubicle” back in 2007. I feel trapped by something that is heading in a direction that I’m finding harder and harder to align my ideas of what a website solution should be.
and
My issues with WordPress stem from how complex and bloated it has become over the last few years. WordPress used to be this “charming” little piece of software that had you at “hello”. Now that all simplicity has been left behind in versions past, WordPress seems to be void of any personality. It no longer has any specific purpose or individuality that sets it apart from the rest, and that’s where I am lost.
It looks to me that if you add Jason’s post to John O’Nolan’s Ghost concept and Tony Perez’s post on WordPress commercialization, we seem to have a trend here.
I think it’s a positive sign but I take it more as looking beyond but also then in some cases bringing that back into what is done with WordPress. One thing I’ve been very aware of myself is WordPress can be a bit of a bubble when it comes to design and development. That’s not always a bad thing and the passionate supportive community that is WordPress is one of great value.
However, as a creative I feel you are at risk of stagnation if you don’t push and challenge yourself with new experiences and influences. Even if it’s going to a non WordPress conference or having a side project – these all can stretch and even teach things you can bring back into your WordPress work.
The danger to business is also of ‘putting eggs into one basket’ and I think in some respects that is what I’m seeing from a business perspective for several people. I’m not that worried about that myself but I can see others maybe are thinking along those lines.
I don’t see it as bad though, the platform is growing and evolving and with it so will the people involved in it.
For a piece of software that has been downloaded tens of millions of times, I’m not sure I’d call three people’s opinions a trend, especially as they are each addressing different concerns.
I think a lot of these problems could be avoided by just keeping it all simpler. Stuff keeps getting added rather than improving the stuff that is already there. I wish WordPress tried to be an easy to use framework rather than a Joomla competitor.