WordPress, a free open source software package used for many types of online publications, was launched 15 years ago. Since then, it has steadily grown into the most popular content management system for building and running web sites. Now, the latest statistics show that WordPress is powering about one-third of all the web sites that are live on the internet.
W3Techs is a company that analyzes the tools and technologies deployed on the internet. One of the technologies they follow are content management systems. The company picks up 10 million most visited web sites as ranked by Alexa, extracts the technologies used on their pages, and creates statistics based on the information.
The W3Techs survey results for April 2019 were as follows. WordPress was used by 60.4% of web sites that were built on a content management system, and where the company could identify the technologies used. When all the web sites – with and without a content management system – are taken into account, it translates to 33.5% market share for WordPress.
WordPress 5 is quickly replacing old versions
Although big arguments and big feelings were all over the place before the launch of WordPress 5 at the end of 2018, it has rapidly replaced old versions of the software.
WordPress 5 was powering 45.1% of the sites, and version 4 51.9% of the sites.
If you are curious, and want to know which web sites you have visited are running on WordPress, read on.
Here is a simple way to find out if a web site is powered by WordPress
Usually, online publications don’t advertise which software package was used to build it, or which content management system it is running on. WordPress publications are the most hacked web sites on the internet, so no one wants to invite hackers to their pages (they have ways to find out, anyhow).
A simple blog may have a footer displaying Powered by WordPress because the person who set it up didn’t bother to modify the theme (the layout and design) of the pages, but usually you have to go a little deeper than that to identify the system.
When you are viewing a web page in your PC browser, right click the mouse and select View page source (or similar option) from the popup menu.
You will get a new page that is filled with program code, like HTML and Javascript. You don’t have to read the code, but search for some keywords.
PC browsers allow searching text in the displayed page when you tap Ctrl F on the keyboard. Enter wp-content in the search field.
If a few hits is discovered, it is highly likely that you are visiting a WordPress web site. Other text that identifies a WordPress site are wp-includes and /uploads/.
Some of the businesses, organisations and individuals who are developing the WordPress open source software have woken up to the responsibility they have over the strategic planning of the software and the decision-making process. They have established WordPress Governance Project to plan a transparent decision-making model for the large developer community.