WordPress maintenance is usually simple, to the point where some may dismiss it as routine. This does not, however, imply that you should treat it as a non-issue. The following recommendations from Toptal WordPress Developer Hassan Jamal can help you save time and maintain your websites up-to-date with minimal effort.
As a WordPress developer who has worked on a variety of projects, I'd want to talk about some of the challenges I've encountered while making modifications or bug fixes to an existing WordPress site.. This article's advice and ideas are aimed towards easing your discomfort to the point where it goes away completely.
The Importance of WordPress Maintenance for Site
There are times when setting up a website is more complicated than merely plugging it in and leaving it alone. You'll have to deal with revisions, updates, and bug patches from time to time, but your preferred go-to developer will handle them all. It's possible, though, that you'll have to work with several different developers during the course of your website's existence.
The latter scenario frequently results in difficulties for the new developer, especially if previous developers did not follow best practices when doing maintenance work.. to best practices.
The following things should be taken into account while performing future maintenance on WordPress projects so that your next developer's life is made easier and they like working on your site. Making your developer's work easier can save you money and time in the long run, which is always a plus when trying to attract new customers.
1. Give It Some Maintenance Support of WP Site!
First things first, even if it seems apparent. You must routinely and correctly back up your WordPress website.
Even if you aren't making any modifications to your website right now, this is an essential step to do. A WordPress backup plugin will simplify the process for you. Alternatively, you can do a manual backup by collecting all files and the database dump and saving them in a safe location. Plugins for WordPress may be found at the plugin repository, which includes both free and commercial options. As long as your hosting company offers backups, you should take use of them. To be sure, verify with your hosting provider.
Read Also: Best WordPress Consultant at a Fair Price
With frequent backups, you can rest easy knowing that if anything goes wrong with your site, it will be back up and running quickly. In addition, if you're trying to solve a defect that arose when performing maintenance in the past, it may assist your new developer fix it quickly and painlessly. By performing regular backups, you'll provide your new developers the tools they need to find and fix problems that may have existed for months or even years before they took over.
Install WordPress on a Local Machine
In my early days, I made the same error, and since then, I've seen a lot of devs making updates on the distant server directly. Unless you're worried about your developer having access to important data and all of your site's files, you should avoid making this blunder. Going back and forth between a developer's local workstation and the server after every modification is extremely wasteful..
No matter how minute the modification, the developer must access the appropriate file/folder in the FTP client (if you are uploading files through FTP), wait for the data to upload, and cross their fingers that there will be no connection problems. We must not overlook the fact that certain WordPress sites have an excessive amount of data to transport without wasting too much time and bandwidth. They must then proceed to the browser and refresh the page when everything has been successfully uploaded, which is dependent on the network/server speed and condition at that moment.. We're talking about seconds and minutes at a time, but over the life of your project, these seconds and minutes may add up to hours of wasted time. If you think about it.
Your developers will be able to make modifications much faster if the site is already installed on their local PC. No matter how remote their location, they can continue work and post their modifications later on even if they're not connected to the internet.
What if you're worried about sharing sensitive data with developers, or if you're prohibited from doing so legally? Alternatively, you may create some fictitious data just for this reason. This data can also be saved for future use in case something goes wrong.
Go through the Git process.
Software developers may now use online version control, a great advancement. There are still many sites using the old cPanel/FTP approach of processing files, which is why I bring it up now. People either don't understand how useful version control is, or they do understand it, but are reluctant to put it into practice due to the initial setup time. However, it's not complicated or time consuming in the least.
With version control, you can monitor changes made by different authors, quickly undo adjustments, and have distinct branches for each independent activity to ensure that changes from one task don't conflict with those from the other.
To use Git, you'll need a pre-installed version of the software on your hosting server. Initiating the repository and setting up the process may necessitate help from someone with server knowledge, but I won't get into that in this post.
Not to add, if you don't utilize branches, you aren't really "git'ing." To ensure that nothing goes wrong on the live site, create two development and production branches so that developers may complete their work on the development branch, test the site, and then push their changes to the production branch.
Removing Plugins and Code That Aren't Necessary
Many people abandon files and plugins that are no longer needed. This becomes a hassle as your website's lifespan progresses and more files are added. If your developer failed to remove files that were added over time, it will be difficult to determine where they originated from and whether or not they are still being utilized by the site. This adds another layer of complexity since the site must be thoroughly checked to ensure that nothing has been broken once the questionable elements have been removed.
This may be remedied by the developer responsible for the project by deleting any associated files as soon as they are created. All of your developers should be reminded of this best practice.
Used media files can accumulate in your wp-content folder along with PHP files and plugins, which might cause issues for your developers when dealing with media-related features. There are a number of plugins available that make this process a lot easier. Media Cleaner is a good illustration of this.
The plugin has a built-in trash can where files may be temporarily stored while you check to see if they're truly being used. Once you've verified this, you can permanently delete the files from there. Before you clear out any of your data, be sure to follow tip number 1 in this post (i.e. make a backup).
Composing a Remark
As a programmer, you've undoubtedly heard of the following meme: God, the author, and coworkers all understood the code when it was first written. In time, only the author and God understood what it did, and in the absence of author-added remarks, only God knows what it does now.
When it comes to commenting, some developers are apprehensive or even lazy, yet it's an essential habit in any productive working environment. New developers, or even the same developer, no longer have to spend time trying to figure out what a specific code block performs throughout changes and problem fixes.
When a function, class, or code block isn't immediately clear, it should have comments. Consider the following function:
As you can see, the name of the function is self-explanatory, and the user doesn't even have to enter the function to understand how it works. It just has one thing to do: remove white spaces. Commentary may not be required in this instance.
There are certain functions that are not as clear as the previous one, such as one that receives several arguments and then produces a filtered list of posts. Each parameter type should be described in comments. This function's code blocks may also need to be described.
Take a look at how the WordPress experts have remarked on a file in the core of WordPress for a fast check. You may also go to the official WordPress guide for additional in-depth information.
When it comes to 6. Linting
With Linting, we can make sure that our code follows a set of standards and even self-corrects when we make a mistake in our formatting. You may further improve or personalize most popular integrated development environments (IDEs) by adding different linting setups.
Visual Studio Code, for example, employs the official PHP linter (php -l) for PHP language diagnostics while using VS Code as your IDE. Rules and limitations can be set up individually for each language (i.e. PHP, JavaScript, CSS etc.). More information about WordPress coding standards may be found there.
You must enforce your linting settings once you've created it. All of your developers, present and future, must use this linting settings in their IDEs in order for their code to follow the same guidelines. If you don't, a lot of your hard work will go to waste.
naming variables and files
Identify a standard for naming things. Names of functions and classes as well as variable and file names are all included since knowing what each one is for will make it easier to utilize the template.
The following are some critical considerations:
1. Do not use names that are too clear.
Try to keep it as succinct as possible.
3. Adding "type" to the file name can be quite beneficial. An icon may be named BlackArrowIcon.png, but a large backdrop picture might be named FrontYellowBG.jpg, for example. When working with numerous files open in the IDE in different tabs, it's easy to figure out what a code file's name means. For example, naming a class containing helper functions HelperClass.php rather than Helper.php will be beneficial.
Check out the WordPress best practices guide's section on Naming Conventions for additional details.
WordPress Bugs and Fixes
It's very uncommon for debugging to consume a substantial portion of development time, especially during changes or problem fixes. This implies that you should keep an eye out to see if your programmers are working as efficiently as feasible. The most common way for developers to achieve this is by manually calling var dump on the variables on the page, which is inefficient. There will be a snag for new developers who join the project later on if the debugging code is not properly cleaned away when it is finished.
maintenance plugin
This debugging effort can be aided by a number of plugins. The plugins listed below are some of the most popular ones for WordPress debugging.
Debugger for the Kint programming language
Troubleshooting Toolbar
Analyzer for Query
Better CSS is a must-have.
Styling with CSS is one of the most fundamental tasks in web development. Unfortunately, this implies that it is usually neglected and given less attention than other technologies like JS, PHP, and so on. However, unless your site is basic and small, CSS might cause significant problems if it is not correctly architectured when you attempt to add or change something in the future.
More information on why CSS is so troublesome may be found by Googling "why CSS is annoying" or by reading "the 5 Most Annoying Things with CSS.".
The following are some brief and to-the-point suggestions from my end:
Require employees to use proper naming practices. Consider the BEM approach while naming your project (Block Element Modifier)
• Do not use inline style in your HTML. Instead, make use of third-party stylesheets.
When feasible, come up with reusable patterns rather than merely bulking up designs.
• Separate styles according to the website's functions or sections and save them in separate files. A decent caching plugin will combine many style files into a single one if you're worried that having more style files may slow down your site's loading time.
Use a CSS preprocessor like SASS, LESS, or another one.
Ask Current Developers for Their Opinions
Finally, and to round off the list, you may ask your developers for comments on any problems they encountered while working on your site. They are the ones that have really worked on your site, so they may have some useful suggestions to provide. Previous developers may have left behind errors or filthy code, which they may be able to point out.
Provider of Complete WordPress Maintenance Services
Choose from one of our inexpensive WordPress maintenance plans and relax knowing your website is protected. Data backups off-site, anti-spam measures, regular file updates, and more are all included. Immediately sign up for a low-cost maintenance program!
Is Your WordPress Website Needing Some TLC?
Do you find it difficult to dedicate time and energy to the upkeep of your website? If you're looking for a one-stop shop for WordPress maintenance, go no further than us. If you choose one of our WordPress maintenance plans, you can rest easy knowing your website is safe. Everything is taken care of by us.
What Exactly Is a WordPress Maintenance Company?
If you operate a WordPress website, you know how difficult it can be to keep it operating smoothly.
The facility needs a lot of work to ensure its safety. Additionally, you'll need to routinely back up your website and keep the WordPress CMS and plugins updated.
You also have to worry about security issues in addition to your site's frequent upgrades and adjustments. Over 30,000 websites are hacked every day, according to recent data. We'll assist keep your WordPress site safe from intruders with our WordPress support services.
Keeping your website in top shape means making sure the aforementioned responsibilities are completed. This, however, takes a considerable amount of time. Maintaining your WordPress website might be challenging if you're also juggling other commitments. So, WordPress support services come in handy.
Quality Upkeep for Your Wordpress Website Is Deserved
While certain maintenance services can be automated, it is critical to have a person on site who can manage the site manually. At inventive solutions, we offer reliable WordPress technical support to keep your site up and operating.
Do I Need This Service for Wordpress site?
If you developed your website using WordPress, our maintenance service is perfect for you. It doesn't matter if it's a small personal website or a huge organization website or an online retail business. We've got you covered when it comes to website upkeep. It's easy to choose a WordPress maintenance plan that fits your budget and meets your demands with a variety of options. Today is the perfect time to go over our options and pick one that's perfect for your requirements!
WordPress Website Maintenance Support Service for WooCommerce Stores
There is no need for WordPress website maintenance firms to demand exorbitant fees for maintaining woo commerce sites. It's a known truth that maintaining a woo commerce site requires almost as much effort as maintaining a standard website. As a result, all of our maintenance plans include free monthly WooCommerce maintenance.
With our higher-end packages, you have access to even more features.
It is important for internet visitors to know that they can trust your site with their personal information if you have an SSL Certificate. A free SSL certificate is included in all plans up to and including the Gold one.
A content delivery network (CDN) will speed up your website for free. Customers who purchase our platinum or platinum plus plans get a free CDN setup. Tags: pricing, regular maintenance, wordpress websites, business, account, monitoring wordpress website, hosting, hosting, links search, wordpress maintenance, maintenance, maintenance or wp maintenance,site, support, new content, security, websites, content, backups, updates, settings, plugin, wordpress site, hosting, wordpress maintenance support, wordpress maintenance and updates, wordpress maintenance plugin, wordpress maintenance and monitoring, wordpress maintenance account, business wordpress maintenance, maintenance mode, ordpress maintenance services, wordpress maintenance services, new content settings, regular maintenance service, account monitoring wordpress websites, new content updates, updates maintenance mode, links search, wordpress websites, service, content maintenance mode, new content wordpress maintenance, content backups, maintenance mode links search, wordpress websites regular maintenance,
Our higher-end options include more consulting time to accommodate any additional website demands you may have. During this period, you have the opportunity to request website expansions, revisions, or SEO assistance.
Platinum plus clients who have paid at least three months of the plan are eligible for free hack/malware eradication. If we find any malware, we'll take care of cleaning it up at no additional cost to you. Additional security is provided by the inclusion of a cutting-edge firewall in the package.
Just what is it about Innovative Solutions Group that you should consider?
We Know What We're Doing
You may rest easy knowing your website is in the hands of professionals once you leave it to us. Our team consists of web designers, graphic artists, and SEO experts with extensive expertise.
You may put your trust in us.
We realize that every customer is unique, which is why we provide a range of services that may be tailored to meet those needs. You may contact us by phone or email at any time, and you can be confident that you'll receive a response from someone who can help you resolve your issue.
Assured of Our Safety
As part of our maintenance service, we pay close attention to site security. If you have our platinum plus plan, we'll do a virus scan on your site and give a sophisticated firewall as an extra layer of protection.
We're a Budget-Friendly Company
Our maintenance services are reasonably priced, especially when you consider the quality of maintenance included in each plan. From $29.99 each month, we provide maintenance that includes the essentials required by any web site.
Take Good Care of Your WordPress site
You're experiencing issues with your header. Is there a third-party plugin giving you issues? Are you having problems with the responsiveness of your templates? Let's get this sorted out.
Details to Know Follow:
Additional Resources:
