The Common Mistakes Of WordPress Web Development That Need To Be Avoided

Making mistakes is a general tendency of human beings. Accordingly, developers are also likely to commit different types of mistakes in their career span. But, where many people keep on repeating their mistakes, the more intelligent people learn from them and the even smarter are those who learn from the mistakes committed by others. 

WordPress is one of the most popular and frequently used content management systems available at the present date that can make website development a pleasure. Building a website in WordPress may seem simple however it can turn the development task into a nightmare if the developers make certain common mistakes. Hence, organizations often look to hire experienced WordPress developers to create their subsequent website as more will be the experience of the developer, less will be the possibilities of committing errors. 

This article is aimed at presenting the most common mistakes that need to be avoided during WordPress development. Avoiding these mistakes will eventually aid you to save a lot of your time, cost, and developing your business more efficiently.

1. Keeping the debugging off

Debugging is a feature offered by WordPress that shows all the PHP errors, warnings, and notices associated with the code. When you keep the debugging turn-off, you may miss viewing a number of important warnings and notices generated by WordPress. However, dealing with some of such issues can really important in order to prevent the difficulties they can cause in the future. Hence, in order to make our code play nicely with all the other elements of the site, make sure you keep your debugging turned on every time you add a new custom code to the site. 

To turn on this feature, you are required to modify the wp-config.php file present in the root directory of your WordPress install. 

2. Selecting the incorrect platform

Whenever people choose to start with WordPress, one of the biggest mistakes they commit is choosing the wrong platform. There are two options available to start with WordPress, WordPress.com and WordPress.org. WordPress.com is a blog hosting service and WordPress.org is a popular self-hosted WordPress platform loved by everyone. WordPress.org provides you access to almost all the features required to develop an efficient WordPress site. Hence, it is always recommended to initiate with WordPress.org instead of WordPress.com.

3. Avoiding WordPress updates

Many WordPress users do not give preference to installing updates on their WordPress sites as they believe that installing updates might incorporate errors and can even destroy the site. However, their belief is not true. You can install updates to your WordPress site smoothly and harmlessly without smashing your site. Not installing adequate updates to a WordPress website may put the website at dangerous security risks. Hence, in order to keep security as well as other risks at rest, you are required to introduce updates to your WordPress, themes as well as plugins on a consistent basis. 

4. Utilizing hacked version of WordPress core

The CMS solution is exposed to defects that can initiate a number of hacking attempts. Hence, in order to prevent critical bugs that can point to attacks, you are required to make sure that you are working on the most advanced version of WordPress installation. 

5. Eliminating all front-end content

It takes some time for developers to get used to with WordPress. As many developers utilize filters on WordPress installations very frequently, they are likely to change the true values to false accidentally. Consequently, they lose their whole front-end content. Hence, it is mandatory for the beginner level developers to be very cautious while performing certain operations.

6. Selection of incorrect WordPress theme

Selecting the appropriate design for a WordPress website is vital to generate a flawless website. As a huge number of WordPress themes are available at the present date, selecting the correct one from them can be a big challenge for WordPress developers. Beginner level developers generally try with multiple themes before making a correct choice that ends up in recreating the website many times. This results in a lot of time waste for the developers. Hence, choosing a suitable theme from the beginning while developing a website is crucial.

7. Choosing inappropriate URL structure (permalinks)

Modifying the URL structure in the later stages is not an easy chore and it may also influence your website traffic significantly. Hence, choosing the correct URL settings (permalinks) is very crucial for your website. Developers often tend to make mistakes in choosing the appropriate URL structures for their website.

8. Selection of wrong plugins

Plugins are one of the most important pillars of any WordPress website. Over 50,000 WordPress plugins are available at the present date and the numbers are still rising due to the consistent development of new plugins. However, all the plugins are not reliable and good to use. Some of them may badly impact the performance and safety of your website. Hence, developers are required to be very cautious while installing plugins to their websites. There are a few things that should always be kept in mind while making the selection of plugins.

1. Always install the plugin from a good reputation company.
2. Always check the user reviews before installing a plugin as it helps in checking the quality of the plugin.
3. Always check the plugin suggestions on trustworthy WordPress resources like WPBeginner.

CONCLUSION

It is very common for WordPress developers to make mistakes while developing a website. However, most developers consider mistakes as learning opportunities that aid them to enhance their skills. 

Bad programming practices may help developers to save a significant amount of time for time being but later on, they may emerge as massive blunders. Hence, developers are required not to go with shortcuts and follow a proper programming practice in order to prevent future hazards.

If you are looking to hire WordPress developer to develop your website and want to keep your website away from the most common mistakes mentioned above, you can get in touch with us immediately to enjoy the best services!