In this article we discuss WordPress management and in the summary at the bottom of the page we look at why a ‘one size fits all’ approach doesn’t work. If you want to gain a better understanding of how often you should up date WordPress and your plugins, read the whole article for a complete picture of the issues facing WordPress development and how to approach your site requirements.
Built on PHP
Like many html and other content management systems WordPress is built on the php programming language. And like any programming language, things develop. New functions are added, security issues are fixed, incompatibility problems solved. With all this change comes an important issue of site management.
Plug It In – Expanding WordPress
WordPress is complimented by plugins which are sort of mini programs with a specific tasks. These are also built with PHP. One of the issues WordPress developers often face is an incompatibility between either the core WordPress engine and a plugin, or between two conflicting plugins. Problems can also arise when the version of php that the main site is running on is higher than one of the site plugins. At best this would mean the plugin stopped working, or the site could completely fail to load, but at worst it could leave the site vulnerable to hackers and malware.
WordPress Site Management
The developers of the WordPress system released no fewer than 18 updates to the core files in 2018. They would advise that you always update to the latest version immediately. But what is best practice, should you really update as soon as a new WordPress version is released. Well if you have a smart phone, such as the iPhone, you probably know that updating to the latest operating system as soon as Apple release it, tempting as it may be, is often a bad idea. This is because some bugs don’t become apparent during beta testing phase and it’s only when the update is pushed out the the public that some problems surface.
WordPress is no different. The latest version might have some great new bells and whistles but it might also be hiding some new bugs which have crept in and remain undetected, until they meet one of your plugins and there’s a big fall out.
Best Practice For WordPress Sites
When evaluating your WordPress management there are several factors which we consider:
- What type of business you’re running.
- How often you add content.
- Any special requirements.
- security measures.
- Ongoing maintenance requirements.
- Backup and redeployment strategy.