Back in 2010, I opened WordPress for the first time and built my first website.

But before that? I was a Dreamweaver person.

Dreamweaver was desktop software you installed on your computer, designed your pages in, and then uploaded file by file to a server via FTP. Every single change, no matter how small, meant opening the software, editing the file, saving it and uploading it again. If a client rang to say they wanted to change a word on their homepage, that was a “job”. The code Dreamweaver generated was a mess. Tables inside tables inside tables, inline styles everywhere, pages that looked fine in Internet Explorer and completely fell apart in anything else.

WordPress was a Revelation 16 years ago

There was no Gutenberg. No page builders. No drag and drop anything. You typed into a basic editor, crossed your fingers and hit publish. If you wanted something to look a particular way, you either found a theme that did it, hacked the CSS until it did or accepted that it wasn’t happening.

But the big difference, the thing that changed everything, was that clients could log in and update their own content. No FTP. No calling me to change a phone number. No waiting. That was revolutionary in 2010 and it is still the foundation of everything I build today.

Fast forward 16 years and WordPress now powers around 43% of the entire internet. And I have spent every one of those years building on it, learning from it, more than occasionally shouting at it, and ultimately loving it.

The Tools Change – The Principles Don’t

When I started building websites, the conversation was about whether a site worked in Internet Explorer. Now it’s about Core Web Vitals, AI readability, accessibility and whether your site loads in under two seconds on a 4G connection in a rural area.

The tools, the terminology and the technology have changed beyond recognition. But the fundamentals have not moved an inch – your website needs to be clear, fast, accessible and genuinely useful to the person reading it. That was true in 2010 and it is just as true today.

WordPress Has Earned Its Place

I have watched a lot of platforms come and go over the years. Some were exciting. Some were genuinely brilliant for a while. Some are still going and doing a great job for specific use cases.

But WordPress has kept evolving. The introduction of the block editor, the growth of the developer ecosystem, the sheer flexibility of what you can build, none of that happened by accident. It happened because WordPress has always been built by a community that genuinely cares about making the web better. I am so proud to build on it.

Clients Have Changed Too

In 2010, a lot of clients just wanted a website. Something that existed online and had their phone number on it.

Now my clients want websites that perform. That rank. That convert. That reflect their brand properly. That work beautifully on a phone. That are accessible to everyone. That are fast, secure and ready for whatever comes next, including AI.

The expectations are higher and that makes the work even more interesting.

The Learning Never Stops

If you had told me in 2010 that one day I would be adding llms.txt files to websites to help AI tools understand and recommend businesses, I would have had absolutely no idea what you were talking about.

That is the thing about this industry. It keeps moving. And if you love what you do, keeping up with it does not feel like a chore. It feels like the best part of the job.

Thank You

Sixteen years is a long time to do anything. And I could not have done it without every customer who trusted me with their business, every person who recommended me to someone else and everyone who has been part of the Bright Website Design journey along the way.

Here’s to the next chapter. I have a feeling it is going to be the most exciting one yet.

If you are thinking about a new website or want to talk about how we can make your existing site work harder for your business, I would love to hear from you. Drop me a message at bec@brightwebsitedesign.co.uk or visit brightwebsitedesign.co.uk/website-design-wilmslow-cheshire.