Updated November 23, 2021
Reading Time: 2 minutesWordCamp San Francisco 2013 was two days chock full of all things WordPress. While originally directed at developers, these sponsored regional events are now worthy of the geek-free user (mostly). Yes, many of the sessions talk about plugins, themes and other cools things, but it’s also a way to for the WordPress community to come together. If you missed last week’s event, here are a 10 noteworthy musings and announcements:
- WordCamp San Francisco presenters aren’t necessarily polished but they definitely share from the heart. The material offered is usually spot-on, relevant, and forward-thinking. They are passionate, involved and very creative. This was my third WordCamp San Francisco, and I always take away something I can immediately use.
- There have been 314 WordCamps to date, 72 this year alone. 800 campers showed up in SF. The Mission Bay Conference Center was crammed with backpack-toting developers and users spanning at least 4 generations.
- 2013 represents a milestone anniversary (May 27), their 10th. The history of WP is in progress and you can check out the outline and first three three chapters on GitHub.
- Now 18.9% of the Web is running on WordPress, that’s 2+% more than last year.
- The Plugin Directory surpassed 26,000… so you can extend WP to do almost anything you can imagine.
- WP Development is comprised of volunteers; it is a community that labors on it out of love. You can feel it in the buzz of ideas being shared before, during and after each session.
- In his WordCamp San Francisco State of the Word address, Matt Mullenweg, WP co-founder, reiterated his mission of “democratizing the Web.” He remains committed to the General Pubic License model.
- The State of Word included a retrospective of past WordCamps and revealed 2 upcoming WP updates — 3.6 and 3.7. Both will be released before year end. Oscar (3.6) has improved collaboration (something I’m very eager to try out), better version control, and video/audio publishing included.
- Since last year, they have released a new free (mobile responsive theme) Twenty Twelve and hope to release Twenty Thirteen before year’s end.
- WordPress.tv has already posted three videos. Many of the speakers shared their presentations via SlideShare. In true WP fashion, this information is free and available to those thirsty to improve their websites.
WordPress is definitely a community. Many speakers urged people to get involved — volunteer in forums, documentation, testing, coding. To quote Matt “be the change that you want to see on the Web.”
So… how will you contribute?