WordPress is Divided: This Is Why..

what is up party people and welcome back to the channel today we're going to be talking about some very intriguing topics that are floating around in the WordPress Community causing WordPress Division I think we can all feel it right I think everyone knows at this point WordPress has probably been more divided than ever and today we're going to be talking about some of those topics so in this video I'll be giving you guys my honest opinion on a lot of these topics you know no BS aside I'll be very upfront all right let's talk about them number one WordPress companies buying out other WordPress companies first up let's talk about the trend of Wordpress companies acquiring other companies well this might be a natural part of business growth it can also be a little problematic as larger companies absorb smaller ones the diversity in the ecosystem might suffer potentially leading to monopolies and a reduction in Innovation one of the main reasons why I don't like companies acquiring other products besides the Innovation part is the fact there's no checks and balances right what stopping companies like I don't want to name anyone individually because I do like all these companies that I work with but what's stopping one large entity you from acquiring all the plugins and then just tripling the price I mean we're going to be forced to pay that because now they own a large share in the WordPress ecosystem but let me know what you guys think do you guys think that this is problematic let me know number two page Builders trying to outdate other plugins and themes page Builders are not only getting in popularity but they're also trying to eliminate other plugins and themes by incorporating their features inside of their products first before I start this section I want to ask developers nicely guys please stop hitting on page Builders page Builders are the future I've seen a lot of resentment against page Builders and I think that's because it's coming from a developer perspective right if you work really hard developing and designing something and making a beautiful website and then you have just some random nobody coming in with the page builder that could make a really beautiful website in like five seconds I can understand there's resentment right but to me page Builders are the future right page Builders are just going to get better and better and better and there's going to be less I guess you can say less motivation to code websites from scratch because that's kind of a thing of the past in my opinion I think when Elementor released their theme Builder back in 2017 or 2018 that was like one of the biggest threats to Wordpress because that threatened wordpress's entire ecosystem of selling WordPress themes because now you had pageable that are saying no you no longer need a theme you can just use our theme Builder and you can make it however you want and I felt like that was like a slap to the face to Wordpress really and many companies followed you know Divi followed Beaver Builder followed they all created their own theme Builder essentially replacing themes and I think that's when sort of like the war kind of started because now there was a definite division between page Builders versus WordPress themes and also you've seen companies like Elementor as well create Mega menu Builders where you no longer need uh plugins to build Mega menus Brizzy as well you know Brizzy also has a mega menu Builder and I feel like every year they're going to keep outdating and replacing plugins like maybe maybe in a year from now you won't need a plug-in for cash you know in fact that does relate to one of our other points we'll talk about in just a bit but as page builders get better and better I feel like they're just going to replace more and more plugins but let me know what you guys think do you guys think page Builders are the future do you guys think they're completely dominating the market let me know number three hosting companies replacing caching plugins hosting companies are now replacing caching plugins with their own Solutions while this might streamline web design management for some users it can also create conflict and compatibility issues with some other plugins additionally users might lose the ability to choose the caching solutions that best fits their website needs now you guys have probably heard of the Cyclone Optimizer plugin this plugin is great you know it can do everything it can cache your website it can optimize your images it can pretty much do everything and I feel like hosting companies are now taking it amongst themselves so just say hey we're gonna you know give you guys the caching plug-in you don't need to purchase all those other add-ons also hostinger hostinger has a really cool plugin that uses like caching options and optimization techniques it's really cool and I feel like next year as hosting companies get better you're going to see companies like WP Rockets have nothing to do no more they're going to say well crap all these hosting companies offer their own caching Solutions you know why would they buy our product now and I think that in the future caching plugins might be obsolete because hosting companies are now providing the service for all their clients number four has WordPress become a platform just for Elementor some argue that WordPress has become a platform primarily for Elementor with many users choosing the page builder over traditional themes the shift in Focus could potentially harm the diversity and flexibility that WordPress has always been known for now call this a conspiracy theory but I do feel that WordPress is trying to take back their platform from Elementor Elementor has gotten so influential that they've pretty much sort of damaged the RICO system you know because now they're trying to replace WordPress themes they're trying to replace other various plugins and they're trying to have users depending on their page builder and I feel like WordPress recognizes this and that's why they basically retaliated and created Gutenberg and also these block based themes I feel like they're doing this because they Envision WordPress as a place where a user can install a theme and design their website and then use a builder to you know build out their page but since these page Builders have gotten so uh Innovative it's like there's no need for any of those no more so in my opinion that's where the division starts it is WordPress trying to take back their platform and introduce block based themes and trying to get users to use themes again versus page Builders who are trying to get more and more Innovative to not have a need to use those so I do feel like there is division there because now people are saying you don't need to use Elementor anymore but I mean in my opinion you know let's just be honest guys no BSS aside like Elementary is way ahead of Gutenberg you know and uh yeah I mean that's my opinion on that but let me know what you guys think do you guys think that conspiracy is true you let me know number five The Divided direction of Wordpress as WordPress evolves we're seeing a division in the platform's direction while some users and developers embrace the Gutenberg block editor others remain loyal to the classic editor or other page Builders the division is causing confusion and making it difficult for the community to move forward with a unified vision I do feel like this is true I do feel like every update with WordPress there's people who probably don't even care about what they do no more and there's also people who are not sure if they should go with the new updates and use Gutenberg even in my comments of my videos you know many people are asking me should I use Gutenberg and in my opinion I don't like Gutenberg you know I feel like it's light years or Elementary light years ahead of Gutenberg but that's just my opinion but I feel like every update it just causes more division than it actually unifies people number six the dislike for new block widgets the introduction of the new block widgets in WordPress has met with mixed reactions some users find it clunky and hard to work with While others appreciate the added functionality this division further highlights the growing tensions within the WordPress community now I'll just be very honest with you guys I feel like the old widgets were way better than the new Gutenberg blocks as far as widgets go so before you would just take a widget drag and drop it onto your sidebar or whatever and that would just propagate and appear but today like they have this new block based widget system and I feel like it's way more clunkier and it's just it's really messy you know and I just I just don't like it you know but let me know what you guys think about it number seven different versions of Wordpress and reluctance to embrace Gutenberg many users have resisted the Gutenberg editor even creating Forks of Wordpress that don't include it with all these changes in division within the WordPress ecosystem developers are finding it increasingly difficult to determine the best course of action the uncertainty around gutenberg's future and the impact of page Builders and the direction of the platform as a whole is making it challenging for developers to plan and build their business I do agree with this I do feel like every version of Wordpress they introduce they're making it Tighter and Tighter and Tighter and I feel like they're really trying to push users to use the block editor and the block themes but in my opinion I just don't see users adopting it you know we have seen some users adopt it but I think it's a small fraction of the community versus people that are using page Builders because they're just so much better I mean they're so much more Innovative drag and drop really simple to use you guys are probably seeing Elementor in the new flex box their new AI introduction like there's so much fee features these page Builders are introducing versus like Gutenberg where it's like way way behind and I just I just don't see it yet and I have seen developers are just kind of like uh what do I what do I develop what do I make and I can totally agree with that position so here's the thing I think that these page Builders are going to grow at a higher rate in momentum than these block based themes for example in one year from now Elementary has like a huge road map of just things they're going to introduce I don't think these block based themes have that kind of road map you know I don't think that they're gonna sit there and introduce all these features and compete with these page Builders but I do feel like WordPress is really trying to force users to use these block based themes and I feel like that could be a cause for concern because WordPress might retaliate and take out hybrid themes I mean I don't know I don't think WordPress is going to go that far but I wouldn't leave it off the table you know I wouldn't say that's not an option but let me know what you guys think do you think that these page Builders are going to become more influential and completely out update the whole WordPress ecosystem or do you think that people are eventually going to use these block based themes and use Gutenberg let me know number eight five years of Gutenberg limited progress despite the development of Gutenberg it really hasn't delivered on a lot while some Majors might enjoy the editor many feel like it fall short in terms of flexibility and ease of use this I do agree with I feel like Gutenberg has fallen short with ease of use and flexibility now when you compare Gutenberg to other page Builders like Wix or Shopify or those default editors I feel like those page Builders are a lot more Innovative versus using Gutenberg in fact Gutenberg doesn't really have that drag and drop aspect as a page builder and I'm a little disappointed with that you know and companies like you know Astra they've actually created plugins to sort of try to fix Gutenberg into a page builder but I don't think that really should be the case I think it should be in the core of Gutenberg versus having developers try to fix Gutenberg to make it more of like a page builder number nine the lack of Wordpress regulation the lack of Regulation within the WordPress ecosystem is also a concern with no clear oversight or standards it's difficult to ensure a consistent user experience and maintain the platform's Integrity so I better be very careful here what I wish for I would not want WordPress to come in and just start regulating everything and be very strict but I would like them to enforce their own guidelines I'm sure you guys have used many plugins where you saw a lot of spammy notices affiliate links or it wanted you to go to all these other various websites and buy those products this is against the wordpress.org guidelines but I feel like WordPress just doesn't seem to care at this point you know I have used plugins that contain trialware many of them where you guys would use a plug-in and after you've sort of exhausted a certain period you can no longer use the plugin I do know a few off the top of my head but I'm not going to name them because I don't want to burn anybody in this video but I would like WordPress to start saying hey you can't do this or something like that just to make it more regulated but let me know what you guys think am I crazy I mean do you guys not install plugins with tons of spam in the back let me know number 10 the wordpress.com versus wordpress.org confusion the ongoing confusion between wordpress.com and wordpress.org remains an issue as many users struggle to understand the differences between both platforms I get so many comments about wordpress.com versus wordpress.org and I really wish WordPress would just clean all this up I wish they would just get rid of those those watered down versions of Wordpress that they have on their websites if you guys go to wordpress.com and use their basic plans it's actually an entirely different platform than the wordpress.org platform that we all love and know they've created this this smaller version of Wordpress and it really misrepresents WordPress and many users they're just not familiar with it and they're saying hey how come my screen's not the same as yours Daryl and I have to explain to them saying guys this is a different version I don't know why they did this it's you know it's a disaster you know and I just wish WordPress would just get rid of those watered down versions and also get rid of all those upsells and you know all those like oh you can get email marketing for a dollar more just all these unnecessary upsells that just give the user a really unpleasant experience so yeah that's that number 11 a divided theme industry the theme industry is more divided than ever with developers Unsure how to proceed as page Builders like Elementor continue to gain popularity traditional theme developers are left wondering where they fit in and how to adapt to the evolving Market it's very funny I was making a video on the top 10 best WordPress themes and I was actually buying a bunch of different WordPress themes trying to find out which is like the best theme but as I use those themes I just noticed that you know they do all the things that Elementor does and the page builder pretty much does everything that these teams can do so the question remains why would I buy these themes and I think the reason why people buy these themes and let's just be honest here guys is because of the templates and I think that is the only Competitive Edge that these themes have over the page builder because these page Builders they don't have good templates like have you guys seen the designer Elementor like those templates are hideous you know they're they're really not good looking at all you know so I feel like today WordPress theme companies have just become more of a template Factory than just becoming a traditional WordPress theme that's supposed to offer specific features I get emails all the time from theme companies that want me to sponsor them but when I actually use their products and I test it out in the back of my head I'm just like you know guys there's nothing Innovative here because because the page builder can do all this you know in fact some themes actually put on their theme for us profile that they have a drag and drop Builder they have a theme Builder they have a shop Builder they have all these other various features but what they're not telling you is that that's all from Elementor you know so it's like they're just now listing features that the page builder offers and how you can use it with their theme like there's just a little there's a there's a little uh deception there I can tell and lastly the corporate takeover and democracy the current state of Wordpress is very similar to large corporations trying to take over a democracy as bigger players dominate the market and smaller companies struggle to compete the risk of a monopolistic environment increases this shift in power can negatively affect Innovation user choice and the overall health in the WordPress ecosystem so I know we already touched baseball this a little bit but I want to give you guys some key points that I'm going to mention here is as WordPress gets larger and larger like it does every year these companies are or corporations are also going to get larger and larger as well or they're going to acquire more themes and plugins and I feel like that could be very problematic for WordPress one of the main reasons why is because if these companies go around and acquire all these plugins and themes they're going to start dictating the price however if this price is too high then these users are going to leave WordPress and go to Wix or go to Shopify or go to big Commerce or go wherever and I feel like these corporations are almost a threat to Wordpress because then if these prices are too high then these corporations are sort of scaring wordpress's own users out of their own ecosystem which could be problematic now another thing that I think is an issue is I feel like WordPress is fighting a losing battle I feel like they're trying to really push this block based themes and they're trying to push Gutenberg but these page Builders man they're so much more Innovative and they're so far ahead I feel like they're fighting a losing battle here and if I were WordPress you know I wouldn't know what to do either because I'm like you know guys we're making all this Gutenberg stuff and themes and these page Builders are just you know they're crapping on us you know it's like where do we go from here and I think that's what WordPress is at right now that's why I'm kind of skeptical and concerned that they might phase out hybrid themes and force users to use the block editor which I really hope isn't the case and lastly is my question is yeah what is WordPress gonna do you know once these corporations get very large and once these page Builders become very Innovative and they push out just so many features that outdates half their ecosystem WordPress is going to be in a spot where they've let all these develop uppers in their ecosystem but now they've sort of destroyed it in a weird sense because now users are going to be reliant on those products instead of the products that they intended for WordPress users to use right but let me know what you guys think about all this uncertainty and Division in the WordPress Community now in my opinion guys WordPress is the best CMS hands down those other platforms like Shopify and wigs they don't even come close you know because WordPress has so much at your disposal it has tons of page Builders tons of themes tons of plugins one click button importers just super easy stuff like they have really changed the game and I think I mean I think next year WordPress is going to be like 50 of the internet and I can see why so in my opinion I do think WordPress is the future but the direction of that future that's a whole other story let me know in the comments below what you guys thought about this video my name is Daryl Wilson and I will see all of you party people in the next video guys take care

Channel: Darrel Wilson

Views: 14,012

Keywords: wordpress tutorial, wordpress tutorial for beginners, create a wordpress website, wordpress, darrel wilson

Id: _IG5PkZD9CU

Length: 17min 40sec (1060 seconds)

Published: Tue May 02 2023