Have you ever said: “Why does my website sometimes work…and then suddenly not!”
You are baffled. There is no other word for it. Yesterday your website was just fine…and now, the contact form is not sending you notifications or there is a picture missing from the homepage. Geez! Honestly, what really could have happened overnight?
Well, honestly back, a lot could have.
Being a mom of littles, we have toys and gear all over the place. Which means I subscribe, friend and follow a lot of the products I buy for our family and kiddos. And every once in a while I’ll get an email or come across a post that says in big letters “RECALL”. That can mean many things. Sometimes it’s a faulty product from the get go and other times the world has progressed and it just couldn’t keep up.
At The Creative Place, we choose to use a CMS platform called WordPress. WordPress uses themes and plugins to make a site come alive. If your website is a WordPress site, here are some of the reasons that your site could suddenly have a “hick-up” overnight:
> WordPress comes out with new platform updates ever so often. If your site is set up with automatic updates, this could cause some issues because…
> Your theme may not be compatible with recent updates. Your theme is what makes your website look the way it does. When WordPress sends out an update, the developer of the theme may or may not have kept up with the update alerts and not have applied needed theme changes to concur (or play nice) with WordPress updates.
> Same is true with plugins. Updates can often interfere with a plugin you (or your developer) has installed on your site. Or a plugin itself hasn’t been updated in fooorrrrrreevvverrr, therefore itcan’t keep up with the WordPress updates causing elements on your site to be missing or not working correctly.
> Lack of maintenance. We’re a little passionate about this subject. Just read about it here.
So, needless to say, things happen. Do I like it when I have to take the time to bring my car in for recall replacements, when I did just buy it thinking everything was a-ok, no I don’t, but I do understand. Things change. The web world is ALWAYS changing. Be mindful of it. If you don’t know how to fix themes, plugins, and platforms, find someone to help or hire us!
