ClassicPress Turns 3

It does’t seem like it, but ClassicPress is now three years old. Many open source projects don;t last very long, but this hard fork of WordPress 4.9 is still going with a new release in beta test at the moment and the version after in planning.

Viktor Nagornyy has written a blog post reviewing what has been accomplished over the last three years, covering topics like improved security and developer experience, removal of some bloat with plans to remove more, creation of an easy migration route for those moving from WordPress and more; all of which you can read about here.

ClassicPress is a volunteer effort which welcomes all the help people are able to provide. If you’re already using ClassicPress or looking to leave WordPress, there are a number of ways you can help out, even if youre not a developer:

• Make a donation to help pay infrastructure costs. They are tax-deductible in the US.
• If you’re a PHP programmer, please consider contributing to core development. The more core contributors working on the project, the faster it can reach the roadmap goals.
• If you have WordPress plugins, make them compatible with ClassicPress and mention ClassicPress in your readme.txt file. There are some popular plugins officially supporting ClassicPress, such as Beaver Builder and Shield Security. You should also submit your plugin to the Directory to reach ClassicPress users.
• If you can translate English text to your native language, help with translations.
• If you can write, you can help with blog posts for our ClassicPress blog and/or write documentation guides to help others learn ClassicPress.
• Help promote ClassicPress by writing a blog post on your own blog, or mentioning ClassicPress in your podcast or YouTube channel, or sharing a blog post from the ClassicPress blog to your social media channels.

If you’re unsure how you can help, join the forum or Slack channel. Share your skills and experience, and the community will be happy to help you find a place in the ClassicPress community.

I joined the ClassicPress community in November 2018 and migrated all of my sites to it in February 2019; I then subsequently forked all of my WordPress plugins for ClassicPress. I didn’t just fork them though, I improved the functionality and security of them all, making many improvements with advice and assistance from people in the community. As well as writing the ClassicPress plugins, I’ve also been involved in writing some documentation and guidelines for the ClassicPress Plugin Directory.

It’s the first large open source project with which I’ve been involved and I have found the community vey welcoming and friendly. As ClassicPress starts it’s fourth year, I’m looking forward to continuing as an active member of the community.

Victor’s blog post can be read here.