{"id":7225,"date":"2016-09-05T16:16:37","date_gmt":"2016-09-05T15:16:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.verveuk.eu\/?post_type=post&p=7225"},"modified":"2022-09-26T17:10:02","modified_gmt":"2022-09-26T16:10:02","slug":"keeping-wordpress-website-date","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/verve-design.co.uk\/keeping-wordpress-website-date\/","title":{"rendered":"Keeping Your WordPress Website Up To Date"},"content":{"rendered":"

Keeping Your WordPress Website Up To Date<\/h1>\n

There is no doubt that WordPress is one of the most commonly used Content Management Systems on the planet. Statistics, from trusted sources such as BuiltWith<\/a>, claim that WordPress is the most commonly used CMS platform, with 51% of all content management system websites on the internet using a WordPress CMS. From the top 10,000 websites using a CMS, 38% use the much favoured platform, still a considerable majority. Statistics fluctuate between Internet Research companies, but one common denominator is shared by most and that is that WordPress comes out on top when analysing the most commonly used CMS brands.<\/p>\n

But what has this got to do with updating your version of WordPress or website security? All websites need to be kept up to date and secure, regardless of the technologies used to build them, but the more common a platform becomes the more emphasis should be placed on ensuring its vulnerabilities are kept to a minimum. The more popular it is, the more exposure it tends to receive.<\/p>\n

WordPress is the chosen CMS of the majorities for good reason. It\u2019s community of open source developers is vast and updates for the platform are both regular and are commonly focused around security and user experience.<\/p>\n

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Why You Must Keep Your WordPress Site Up To Date<\/h2>\n

There are a number of reasons that explain the importance behind updating your WordPress website, but for easy digestion we will summerise into 5 key points.<\/p>\n

Security<\/h3>\n

The dominance of WordPress makes it a coveted target for hacking attempts, however with great size comes great responsibility and the huge WordPress community of developers take this very seriously. The WordPress community is also one of, if not the, largest single community of supporting developers. There are core developers supporting updates to the core platform of WordPress ,Plugin & Widget developers who support the additional add ons we \u2018plugin\u2019 to WordPress and Theme Developers who support the creation of WordPress themes.<\/p>\n

WordPress itself is updated on a regular basis, some updates are small and happen more regularly than others, however there has been, and always will be, major updates that attempt to reduce the risks of uninvited infiltration (hacking).<\/p>\n

WordPress Facts: Did you know that every major WordPress update is named after a Jazz Musician? The most recent update, 4.6, being named after Jazz Musician Pepper Adams! (See the full list of Jazzers and Release Dates<\/a>)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Once a WordPress update \u00a0has been released, all previous versions are considered unsecure. However, there is no need to panic if your WordPress website is not the latest version, \u00a0although it would certainly be worth planning a regular visit to your website admin area to check your version against the most recent version. Check how many updates there have been since your version release and see what major features have been added. At the very least following any major release it is recommended you update. You can check whether there is a new update available in the WordPress Release Archive<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Support<\/h3>\n

Following a \u2018major\u2019 WordPress update, previous versions of the platform are no longer considered \u2018supported\u2019 by the community. Historically major updates to WordPress happen every 4 months or so (on average) and it is the major updates that are named in honour of famous Jazz Musicians.<\/p>\n

Every version of WordPress, alongside a handy changelog to show what new features have been implemented, are stored online in the WordPress Versions<\/a> section of the WordPress Official Website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a lot of cases, website development agencies and the WordPress community alike, will still support you with issues raised regarding your site. However, the longer you leave it to update your WordPress version, the higher the risk that support will not be available for you when you need it most.<\/p>\n

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Removing Bugs<\/h3>\n

Bugs are a term used by website developers to describe an issue effecting website functionality (or styling) usually caused by a fault in the associated code or a conflicting piece of code (usually within plugin or a script). Because WordPress is an open source software, developers who learn about how WordPress structures and sorts its code, files and database can work on any WordPress website. The word \u2018community\u2019 in the world of WordPress could not be more accurate. WordPress developers across the world regularly report any bugs they find in WordPress to the core development team, as well as reporting bug finds in plugins and themes to their accredited authors.<\/p>\n

New WordPress updates will often include bug fixes that have been commonly reported by the community.<\/p>\n

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Browser Compatibility<\/h3>\n

All websites, regardless of their CMS platform brand or origins, are at the mercy of the website browser. A website browser, such as Google Chrome, Firefox or Internet Explorer, is a software application that reads, interprets and displays information in a URL. Each browser renders the information slightly differently, which is why a website sometimes looks different when compared across different browsers. Cross browser compatibility is something considered more in the design stage of a website build, but it is browser version that is often a factor for updates with new WordPress releases. What information can be displayed, how it can be displayed, what advantages or restrictions are there with the current browser version, are all items considered with new WordPress updates to ensure WordPress is as compatible as possible with all common browsers and taking advantages of any new features the browser incorporates.<\/p>\n

WordPress Facts: Some of the largest brands and companies in the world trust WordPress such as The New Yorker<\/a>, BBC America<\/a>, Sony Music<\/a>, Ford Motor Company<\/a> as well as Facebook<\/a> (used for their Newsroom).<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Bonus Features<\/h3>\n

Improvements within the User Experience (UX) and User Interface (UI) are two improvement areas often focused on by the core development team<\/a> over at WordPress HQ (WordPress Corporate Office Headquarters Automattic, Inc. 60 29th Street #343, San Francisco, California 94110-4929 USA – Ed: We really do our research at Verve!).<\/p>\n

Back in 2003 the very first WordPress UI was released, but there was no dashboard and very limited features. Fast forward to 2008 and the UI was feature rich with one click updates for plugins, auto install features and sticky posts amongst an array of others introduced across the year. Now in 2016 we find ourselves at the pinnacle of WordPress UI and UX with enhanced media management, improved editing functionality and many responsive features now set as standard.<\/p>\n

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What You Must Update<\/h2>\n

Before you update anything in your WordPress website, it is strongly recommended seek the professional advice of a WordPress Developer. There are 3 areas of your WordPress website that you can potentially update.<\/p>\n

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  • WordPress Platform<\/li>\n
  • WordPress Plugins & Widgets<\/li>\n
  • WordPress Theme<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    What you must consider prior to any update are the effects that your update can have on the other areas. An update to the WordPress platform version may affect an installed plugin if the plugin in question is not compatible with the latest WordPress version. This is the reason why it is important to not update your WordPress website yourself unless you are experienced and competent WordPress developer. At the time of writing the latest version of WordPress is 4.6 or Pepper to the WordPress community after jazz baritone saxophonist Park Frederick \u201cPepper\u201d Adams III and includes features such as Streamlined Updates, Native Fonts and Content Recovery – a handy feature that saves your content to your web browser allowing you to recover lost content in an instant!<\/p>\n

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