Web Development Blog & WordPress

Every now and again, Olaf invites me to write a post about something we had been discussing via email or chat. I can generally hold my own when it comes to web programming but Olaf’s knowledge far exceeds mine and I freely admit that I don’t always understand what he is trying to teach me. After my blog had been hacked, he strongly suggested that I switch to WordPress. I looked it over and now use it for all of my larger article-based websites.

According to Wikipedia, WordPress is used by over 14.7% of the “top 1 million” websites listed on Alexa and as of August 2011, 22% of all new websites are running on WordPress. It is currently the most popular CMS in use on the Internet. 411,722 bloggers use WordPress.com as their host and even The New York Times and Yahoo! use the WordPress software to manage their sites. The software has been downloaded hundreds of millions of times.

Why am I blabbering on about how great WordPress is when anyone reading Web Development Blog most likely already knows the power of WordPress? I’m telling you how many millions use WordPress because it makes what has happened all the more exciting.

When WPMU DEV speaks, much of the WordPress community listens. They are the same people who operate the second largest WordPress host (Edublogs.org), are the number one source for WordPress, WPMU and BuddyPress news, run the WordPress plugin marketplace WP Plugins and have provided the WordPress community with numerous plugins, themes and support.

Last week, they published The WPMU 100 – The Top WordPress Related Blogs On The Internet. Using some sort of algorithm using publicly available data that they are maintaining a Google-like security lockdown on, they came up with this inaugural list of top WordPress related blogs.

Imagine my excitement when I scrolled through the list and found a site owned by my favorite person from The Netherlands! Among sites that host hundreds of thousands of WordPress sites, manage huge WordPress installations for Fortune 500 companies, have developed plugins that are used on thousands and thousands of WordPress sites, and huge sites like Tech Crunch and Smashing Magazine is Web Development Blog.

Had they asked me, I would have of course placed him in the top ten or even the first position. Well, maybe number 2 since WordPress.org News is number one. But, Web Development Blog not only made the list but landed at a more than respectable 50th place. Yes, that’s right folks, this wonderful blog of Olaf’s was ranked the 50th Top Related WordPress Related Blog on the Internet.

When you also consider how many of the blogs showcased have a team of writers and contributors generating posts, it is even more amazing that Olaf placed so high. Sure, he’s had me make a few posts but it’s not the same as some of these larger players with hundreds of guest posts and a stable of full-time writers. This blog is not part of Olaf’s “day job” and he often is up into the wee hours of the night working on this site and his other Internet “hobbies”.

I would also argue that since so many of the other sites listed rely upon aggregate articles that showcase new WordPress plugin releases, post general WordPress news and offer very few true tutorials that Web Development Blog should have been placed even higher in the rankings.

But, as I told Olaf, 50th Best on the entire web is pretty darn cool. Think about it. According to one of the most influential players in the WordPress community, only 49 other blogs are considered, by some automated but undisclosed algorithm, to surpass what Olaf has built here. I am so excited for him.

Please join me in thanking him for giving so much back to the WordPress community through Web Development Blog and in congratulating him for receiving the recognition he so richly deserves.

Published in: WordPress Development