If you’ve been making websites or providing content for websites for any length of time, then it’s more than likely that you’ve worked with WordPress.
WordPress is the most popular content management system used by a wide range of people, businesses, and organizations. Whether they’re looking to make an eCommerce site, redesign an old site or create a blog, WordPress is typically the go-to platform.
If you have limited technical knowledge of web creation, then WordPress is undoubted the most useful. As it allows you to build and maintain a website, with very little difficulty.
WordPress has a wide range of qualities that cannot be overstated, but it also has its list of downfalls.
If you currently run a website under the WordPress platform, or if you’re considering building a new website, using WordPress, then I recommend you continue reading for a list of the most annoying aspects of WordPress.
1. Constant Updates
Because of the forever growing security issues, WordPress is continually rolling out new updates. While these updates are essential, as they help to keep your site from malicious attacks, they also present their headaches.
This is because when updating your WordPress version, it can cause incompatibility issues with plugins. In more extreme cases, it can also create your theme to stop working.
This means there is a constant risk of your site breaking every time you update it. And because these updates come out so frequently, the possibility of a broken site should constantly be on your mind.
2. The White Screen of Death
It’s not uncommon for a webmaster to be working on their website, only for the screen to go blank, right after making a change, or installing a new plugin for it. In certain situations, rectifying the problem is as simple as undoing your last set of action(s).
However, in other cases, the white screen of death error prevents you from accessing the site. Your only option is to try and determine the cause, whether it’s the plugin or theme. However, to access these two areas of your site, you will need to use the FTP.
It’s always best to back things up first, but once you’ve done that, you’ll want to either rename or delete the appropriate plugin or theme. If you’ve got the right one, then the site should immediately start to work.
If the problem continues to persist, then you’ll be forced to delve a little deeper. There are additional techniques you can use to determine what exactly is causing the error. So I suggest you seek that information out from WordPress.
3. No Native Backup System
If you don’t already have your backup measures in place, then this can be one of the most annoying aspects of having a WordPress site. WordPress doesn’t come with its backup system.
Because there are so many things that you can do, which could adversely affect your site, potentially resulting in permanent loss of data, this increases the risk of using your site.
However, the good thing is that there are 100s of different backup plugins that you can use. All of which will work as a preventative measure against this possibility. The only downside to these backup plugins is that they require configuration and that they consume storage space, which may or may not be a problem, depending on your hosting account.
Additionally, unless the backup plugin you’ve adopted, backs things up automatically, you may also be forced to remember to do it manually. Just be sure to invest in a backup plugin that’s properly compatible with your version of WordPress.
4. Page Speed
One of the significant issues with WordPress sites has to be the amount of time it takes for pages to load.
There are several reasons why this may occur, such as, an excess number of plugins, remote code, which is adversely affecting site performance. The more plugins you add to your site, and the more customizations you make to your theme, the more time you can expect your website to take to load up.
At best, a site that takes a lot of time to load will cause the visitor to become frustrated. However, in worst case situations, it can cause a website to lose visitors, which in turn results in fewer leads for the site. In addition to that, all of the major search engines have now implemented page load time as a ranking algorithm, which means your website could be penalized if it takes too long to load.
The good news is that there are several things that you can do to make your website faster. Ironically, there are several plugins that you can install that are designed to do just that. Many websites will guide you through a list of plugins that you can and should install on your site, for enhanced site performance. Ultimately, slow site loading times can be a significant issue for a great many websites, and in turn, can take a considerable amount of time to rectify. So do put in the time to get it right.
Author Bio
Uchenna Ani-Okoye is a former IT Manager who now runs his computer support website https://www.compuchenna.co.uk.
