Discover the success story - how was WordPress created?

WordPress is the world's most popular content management system (CMS) today. However, it originated from a simple blog script that was written by Michel Valdrighi in 2001. This script was created using simple PHP and MySQL, Michael called it B2/Cafelog. Matt Mullenweng, who was looking for a tool to publish holiday photos, came across this script and started using it. The B2/Cafelog script met his needs as it was an open source system and was written in PHP, which supported his server. Unfortunately, shortly after this event, the creator of the blog script, Michel Valdrigh, decided that his script would not be developed further. A few months later, Matt Mullenweg announced on his blog his plan to develop the software on a blog basis, compliant with web standards and tailored to his needs. His colleague Mike Little joined the project and added a comment under his blog post: "Well, if you're interested in working on it, let's work together". And so work began on developing WordPress on top of the B2/Cafelog engine. The author of the original version of the script, Michel Valdrighi, also joined the project.

On 27th May 2003, the first version of WordPress was released with the number 0.70. Subsequent versions of WordPress soon followed, introducing new features and improvements. From a simple blogging tool, in just a few years, the system has grown into a powerful CMS with many capabilities.

In 2004, Matt Mullenweg founded Automattic, which began managing the WordPress project and other web services. In the years that followed, WordPress became one of the most popular content management systems in the world, gaining popularity among bloggers and businesses.

Along with the WordPress development, many plugins and themes have been developed to extend and customise it. Today, WordPress is available in many languages and offers many different features, such as a content editor, user management, comment system or online shops, among others.

Some interesting facts about WordPress:

• the name "WordPress" was invented by Matt Mullenweg's friend Christine Selleck
• the b2/Cafelog script is still being developed under the name b2evolution
• Mike Little and Mark Mullenweg only met in person in 2009 - before that, they had only been in contact by email
• WordPress automatically corrects its name in posts - a function has been added that converts the letters "w" and "p" to uppercase every time you type the phrase "wordpress"

WordPress has gained its popularity probably due to one of its unique features - open source code. In addition, the system offers a rich library of plugins and themes, allowing you to customise your website.

WordPress has undergone many changes and updates over the 20 years, but the developers' aim has always been to provide a simple and convenient tool for managing website content, and they have certainly succeeded.