Find Out What's Next for WordPress at State of the Word 2021

It’s time again for the annual State of the Word, the highly anticipated keynote address from WordPress co-founder, Matt Mullenweg, covering what’s new in WordPress and beyond.

Mark your calendar for the December 14th event at 5 PM EST.

Last year, the address went online for the first time due to COVID-19. This will be the second online State of the Word, streaming from New York City. As they say on their blog, an online address lets them “take as many folks as possible along for the ride!”

Matt is expected to discuss some lively topics, including:

The delay of WordPress 5.9
Openverse and Web 3.0
Innovations surrounding NFT auctions and blockchain technology

WordPress 5.9 Delayed Until January

The delay of releasing WordPress 5.9 until January caught some by surprise. But according to WPTavern, Gutenberg contributor Addison Stavlo said he thought there were some “large red flags.”

“We targeted 5.9 as the release for these items in core,” he said. “But too many things are just not ready, hence the rushing to change so many things at the last minute. Wouldn’t it be better to miss the expected target date than to rush potentially regrettable decisions and brand new flows into core WP at the last minute?”

Other developers agreed and the new proposed schedule (not yet officially confirmed) according to WPTavern looks like this:

Dec. 14 – Beta 3
Dec. 21 – Beta 4 (optional)
Jan. 4 – RC 1 (5 weeks from Beta)
Jan. 11 – RC2
Jan. 18 – RC 3
Jan. 25 – Release date

Openverse and Web 3.0

Matt Mullenweg is expected to discuss two technologies coming to age.

First is Openverse, which is a search engine for indexing media that’s openly licensed. The Openverse catalog will be searchable within WordPress, possibly a game-changer for sourcing site content efficiently.

At the same time, blockchain technology is rapidly evolving to create Web 3.0, or Web3. Blockchains are no longer reserved for just trading cryptocurrency. They now have the ability to enable decentralized applications that empower everything from financial systems, inventory management, and even games.

NFT Auctions

Another hot topic Matt is expected to touch on is NFTs, or nonfungible tokens. This technology can be used to authenticate items like works of art. These have been making headlines all year.

It all started when the artist, Beeple, sold his work, “Everydays: The First 5000 Days” through Christie’s Auction House for more than $69 million. It was the first purely digital artwork offered by a major auction house. It not only made Beeple among the top three most valuable living artists, it made NFTs a real thing.

Visa International recently bought their first NFT for $150,000. It’s just a pixelated Cryptopunk, but it’s the beginning of a new movement in art, powered by digital technology.

Ask Matt a Question

A Q&A session follows the address. You can email your question ahead of the event day to ask-matt@wordcamp.org. Or, on the day of the address, there will be a livestream chat on YouTube.

You can also check out previous State of the Words here:

As always, if you have any questions related to WordPress, feel free to contact the experts here at Hall.