It’s been said, “change is the only constant in life” and this certainly applies to life on the Internet. WordPress is a wonderful tool for managing your website, but like most things, it does need to be maintained.
Unfortunately updating can sometimes be a scary proposition and you might even be thinking, “my site is working just fine, why update?” I hear you! Well, here are several reasons why you need to update.
Bugs are Found
As a developer myself, we tend to create things to be used as we imagine. We test and tweak until we think our project is ready for use. Inevitably, someone attempts to use what we’ve created and, intentional or not, they break it. These “bugs” are often times simply actions the developer had not foreseen or thought of. So an update is required to prevent errors or any other unintended results.
Vulnerabilities are Discovered
Sometimes a vulnerability is discovered and needs to be patched. Similar to bugs, vulnerabilities are typically caused by a developer not anticipating certain actions or uses. But the big difference is that it creates a more urgent situation and leaving a vulnerable system un-patched can lead to loss of data or even hijacking of your site.
New or Updated Features
Web standards are ever evolving. We find new and better ways of doing things all the time. The same is true for WordPress. Core features are added (and sometimes removed). New or updated themes become available every day. Plugin authors are often flooded with feature requests…wouldn’t it be great if your plugin did this, or that? Sometimes you may not need these new features. Sometimes they can change your life for the better. Either way, it’s a good idea to keep up with the changes and at least be aware of new features and industry trends as they develop.
Compatibility Issues
As mentioned above, WordPress, themes, and plugins are constantly being updated. Most plugins and themes require a minimum version of WordPress or PHP (the programming language behind WordPress and many other websites). Keeping up with these dependencies is important as updating in one area may wind up breaking things in another.
When to Update
Letting your site fall behind will eventually cause issues. Unfortunately, sometimes the updates themselves can introduce new problems. At WPRx, we typically test updates before updating your live site. We evaluate each change and determine when it’s best to update your site. Is it a vulnerability issue? Then updating sooner is better. Sometimes we hold off on an updates like when a major new version comes along for example (i.e. version 1.x to 2.x). These major releases can sometimes introduce new bugs leading to the developer to publish a minor “point” release (i.e. version 2.0 to 2.1). The end goal is to keep your website running safely and smoothly.
Need Help?
Our WPRx Support Plan clients don’t have to worry about all of this because we take care of it for you! And if something goes wrong during an update, we’ll take care of that too. Having an expert in your corner can make a big difference for the long term health and operation of your website. Contact us today to get started!