This client’s WordPress website broke – and he wasn’t even aware of it. Let me tell you the whole story…
First, just some quick context for those who do not know how WordPress works:
You have the core files, created and updated by the WordPress development team. Then you have the plugins and themes (templates), which are created by third party providers, many of them solopreneurs.
And all of this runs on a scripting language called PHP, which is updated from time to time to make things work better.
The combination of PHP, the free WordPress core software, and thousands upon thousands of free and paid plugins and themes means that WordPress is incredibly versatile. It also means that it is complex, and things can go wrong.
Case study: A broken WordPress website:
On 18 October 2024, I checked in on a long-standing client’s website. I was considering getting back into web design, and I wondered if I could use his website in my portfolio.
I need to see if it would be a good enough example of my abilities (I built it a few years ago).
Instead, what I saw was this:
Not only was the layout all messed up, but all of the content was invisible too. WordPress just displayed the “critical error” notification.
I notified the client, and got to work…
While the front end of the site was broken, the WordPress admin functions were working just fine.
At first I thought that it may have been caused by files being corrupted during the update. But after I restored the website from the existing backups, and ran the update again…
The result was the same.
Interestingly, when viewing the website as logged in admin, it was fine. But the moment I viewed it while being logged out…
Broken.
What did this mean?
Simple: Somewhere, somehow, there was a conflict between one of the plugins and the display/layout.
So, following the logical steps, I started disabling every plugin that I haven’t used – with out problems – on multiple other sites.
Nothing made any difference.
So eventually I disabled ALL plugins. While it messed up the appearance, the content was back. We were making some progress.
One by one, I enabled the plugins that used to be active…
Nothing happened.
Until, of course (thank you Murphy), I reactivated the LAST plugin.
It broke again.
The punchline?
It was the anti-spam plugin. Aside from being the last plugin on the (alphabetical) list, it was also the last plugin I expected to be responsible.
Fair enough, I am not a coder. I know a few bits and pieces of coding, but…
Let’s just say I am more of a mechanic than an engineer.
Once the plugin was replaced with a suitable alternative, this is what the site looked like:
Final comments:
1. Fortunately for the client, it’s not a busy website.
2. While – at the time – I recommended doing manual updates and backups from time to time, automatic WordPress updates were enabled. Clearly, they are not as reliable as we would like them to be.
3. There are literally thousands of WordPress plugins you can use. As such, it is impossible to test every single plugin against every other plugin to predict conflicts before updates.
Also, plugin updates are also not published along with WordPress core updates – they are made available as soon afterwards as the plugin developers become aware of problems, and fix them.
And let’s not even get into the dangers of having outdated plugins on your WordPress website – that’s a conversation for another day.
The bottom line:
Automatic updates can work – if you have a website that gets little traffic, and you have someone available who can fix it immediately if something goes wrong.
But if your website gets enough traffic to send you some leads, or if your developer or designer is not available 24/7…
Where does it leave YOU if something goes wrong?
Keep in mind that, if your website is down for long enough, Google drops you from its search results – and you have to work your way back up the ranks after it is fixed.
What happens if your customers see your website is down?
They start talking. On Facebook.
So you have to ask yourself this:
How much is the total cost – reputational and lost revenue – of having a hacked or broken website?
Then consider this:
What if your website could be back up/fixed in an hour or less, for free?
What would that be worth to you?
Lastly…
Is your WordPress website at risk? Let me help. Click Here for more info.