4 tips for a safe wordpress and plugin updatethe ecosystem •wordpress –powering almost 30% of...
TRANSCRIPT
4 Tips for a Safe Update
Never have a broken WordPress site
for more than 10 minutes
by András Guseo
About me
• András
• Hungary Geneva
• Full-time father of 2 princesses
• Customer support @ Modern Tribe / The Events Calendar
• Designer / Developer
• www.divi-magazine.com
• Computer game addict
• @AndrasGuseo
The Ecosystem
• WordPress – powering almost 30% of the web
• Themes – 10.000+ themes on Envato market
• Plugins – ~52.000 in the .org repo
• Continuously developed / Frequently updated• New features
• Critical fixes
• Bugfixes and glitchfixes
I’m getting more?!? Give it to me NOW!
Updates don’t always work as we expect
• New bugs are introduced
• The new version is incompatible with the theme or another plugin
• Something goes wrong during update
So we might end up with …
Result?
The site doesn’t work!
• Losing visitors / customers
• Hurts reputation
• Losing Money!!!
Fixing is time & money
Be patient!
STOP! Wait a second! (Or a couple of days.)
• Critical vulnerabilities lower risk of breaking as it is focused on that critical vulnerability
• Major release definitely wait couple days
• Bugfix / Maintenance Release usually good to wait 1-2 days
Be patient!
Why is this good?
• Minimize the risk of breaking your site immediately
• If there’s a new bug, it might get fixed.
Be curious!
Look around!
• Check the changelog
• Check the .org support forums / plugin forums for new issues and if they have been fixed
Why is this good?
• Minimize the risk of breaking your site immediately
• It’s good to be curious, no? ;o)
Be prospective!
Use a staging / test / development site!
What is it?
• A copy of your website• Local install with XAMPP or MAMP
• Subdomain / subfolder (staging.domain.com, domain.com/staging)
• Separate domain (mytestingsite.com)
Why is this good?
• Test everything and anything without risking your live site.
Be prospective - case
• The case of the Traveler
XAMPP
• Local server on a pendrive
• No or minimal setup needed
• Fits in your pocket
• Works with any Windows PC anywhere
Be precautious!
Backup! Backup! Backup!!!
• The single one most valuable thing you can do to your website
Why is it good?
• Restore your website in minutes.
• UpdraftPlus (https://wordpress.org/plugins/updraftplus/)
• BackupBuddy (https://ithemes.com/purchase/backupbuddy/)
• VaultPress (https://vaultpress.com/)
What can you do? – Recap
1. STOP & Wait! – Be patient
2. Look around! – Be curious
3. Use a staging site! – Be prospective
4. Backup! Backup! Backup! – Be precautious
URLs
Backup plugins
• UpdraftPlus - https://wordpress.org/plugins/updraftplus/
• BackupBuddy - https://ithemes.com/purchase/backupbuddy/
• VaultPress - https://vaultpress.com/
• .org repo - https://wordpress.org/plugins/search/backup/
Server software
• XAMPP for Win - https://www.apachefriends.org/
• MAMP for Mac - https://www.mamp.info/en/