In reply to Tyler.

Don’t forget, a lot of end-users customize their themes; expecting a person who has limited coding skills to handle a JS theme? I think not.

On the contrary, no one expects a person with limited coding skills to handle a JavaScript theme. Look, any development that makes it harder for end users to customise (read: mess around with stuff they have zero knowledge of) their sites is very much welcome! A large part of WordPress' woes comes from catering to end users who have no business "designing" or customising themes. Starting, running and maintaining a website requires time, dedication and a certain level of skill that the vast majority of WP users outright lack.

WP's legacy code and its insistence on backward compatibility stems from having to support users who do not or cannot update their sites nor administer their server infrastructure.

I completely agree that JavaScript frameworks are hype. With that being said, I look forward to WP embracing these (relatively) new technologies. That means the reigns will be handed back to folks who actually know what they are doing! Folks who do this for a living. Folks who have spent a considerable amount of time learning about web tech. How anyone with a basic understanding of HTML and CSS thinks they can successfully start and run, say an ecommerce site (I'm looking at you WooCommerce), is beyond me.

This unfortunately is the narrative WP has mostly marketed to beginners; that anyone can start their own website with some help from the community through themes, plugins and the support forums. This is the furthest thing from the truth! Yes, using plugins and themes, coupled with Google and some elbow grease, one can learn and successfully run their own WP site. Although that may be the case, most users want convenience over spending time learning about WP. I will concede that WP is still hard for beginners to learn. Most users want to earn revenue from their site but aren't willing to cough up the upfront investment in time i.e. learning to code (see page builders and all-you-can-eat multi-purpose themes) and money i.e. purchasing sustainably priced theme and plugin licenses (see race to the bottom pricing).

If we're being honest, most users only need to publish and update their content. Buying a theme from ThemeForest does not a designer make.

Please, let's quit this empty rhetoric about the end user. Let's leave the work to skilled practitioners i.e. designers, developers and devops people!