WordPress

WordPress is free software for building and editing a website in your browser. It is written in PHP, so it builds each page when someone visits. People choose it because you can edit pages, posts and media in a browser without writing code. The price is that the site is a running application, not a folder of files, and it needs ongoing care.

What is WordPress?

WordPress is an open-source content management system written in PHP, which means every page view runs PHP code and database queries on the server.

WordPress is a CMSA content management system (CMS) is software that lets you edit the pages, texts and images of your website by logging in, without writing any code. that stores your content in a database and assembles it into web pages when a visitor asks for them. The core software handles users, posts, pages and media. Almost everything else comes from add-ons: a WordPress themeA WordPress theme is a ready-made package that decides how your WordPress site looks and how its pages are laid out. Change the theme and the design changes. controls the look, and a WordPress pluginA WordPress plugin is an add-on you install in WordPress to give your site extra features, such as contact forms, SEO tools or a webshop. adds features such as forms, SEO tools or a webshop.

Because the pieces come from different authors, a typical WordPress site is a combination of the core, one theme and several plugins, each with its own update schedule. That combination is what you maintain, not just WordPress itself.

What WordPress means for your PHP site

WordPress needs a PHPPHP is a programming language that builds your web pages on the computer that hosts your site, just before they reach the visitor. WordPress runs on it. runtime and a database on the server. The PHP versionA PHP version is a numbered edition of PHP, like 8.3. Each edition is looked after for a limited time, then gets security fixes only, then nothing. your hostingWeb hosting is the service that keeps your website's files on a computer that is always online, so visitors can open your site at any time. uses decides which WordPress releases, plugins and themes can run. When that version reaches the end of its security supportSecurity support is a phase in which a PHP version only gets fixes for security problems. Ordinary bugs are no longer repaired., it stops getting official fixes, and the site can be exposed to newly discovered vulnerabilities. You can read the exact support dates on php.net.

This is also where WordPress sites tend to break. A plugin that was written years ago may use PHP features that were removed, and after a PHP upgrade the site shows a fatal error or a blank screen. Planning the upgrade with a test copy first avoids that. If the site is already down, we can fix your WordPress website, which is the quickest route back.

How to check what your WordPress site runs

Log in to the WordPress admin and open the Site Health screen under Tools. It lists your PHP version, your WordPress version, and whether plugins or themes are out of date. Your hosting panel shows the same PHP version, and often lets you switch it.

Then look at the plugin list with one question in mind: which of these do I actually use? Every plugin you remove is code that no longer needs patching. For a view from the outside, you can check your PHP version with the free tool to see which PHP version your site announces to visitors.

WordPress or a static site

Many business sites do not need a live application. A brochure site with a few dozen pages that change a few times a year works fine as a static websiteA static website is made of ready-made page files that the server hands over as they are, with no PHP code or database working behind the scenes.. The pages are built once, uploaded as plain files and served as they are. With no PHP and no database on the server during a page view, the attack surfaceThe attack surface is the total of all places where an attacker could try to get in, such as logins, forms, plugins and the code on your server. is smaller, though no site is ever unhackable.

The question to ask is how much of your site is truly dynamic. If you run a shop with accounts and stock, WordPress with WooCommerceWooCommerce is a free add-on for WordPress that turns your website into a webshop, with products, a shopping cart and a checkout. still makes sense. If you mostly publish pages, a static site generatorA static site generator, such as Astro or Hugo, is a tool that builds all the pages of a website in advance, so visitors get ready-made files. can produce the same design as files. We do that conversion with our WordPress to static site service.

When to act

Act when your PHP version is close to its end of support, when plugins you rely on are no longer updated, or when the site has already thrown fatal errors after an update. In the first case, we update PHP in WordPress and move the site to a supported version with a test and a way back. In the other cases, decide whether the site still needs to be a live application at all.