WordPress 4.0 and Updating Without Surprises

An update notice on the dashboard

Anyone who logs in to a WordPress site today finds a message across the top of the dashboard: a new version is available, and a button offers to update now.

WordPress 4.0 came out yesterday. It brings a grid view for the media library, previews of embedded videos and tweets inside the editor, and an editing area that grows as you write.

The button makes it look like a one-click job, and on many sites it is. On a site with a dozen plugins and an old theme, one click can start a long afternoon.

Why this one waits for you

Since version 3.7 last October, WordPress has installed minor updates by itself. A security release such as 3.9.2 in August reached most sites without anyone pressing a button.

Major versions are different. Moving from 3.9 to 4.0 waits for someone to start it, unless the site or the host has been set to do it automatically.

That is deliberate. Minor releases fix things without changing how the site works, while a major release changes code that themes and plugins rely on.

The number itself means little. WordPress simply counts on from 3.9, and 4.0 deserves the same care as any major version.

What can go wrong in a major update

Most major updates pass without trouble. When one does not, the cause is usually one of a few things:

• An abandoned plugin that has not been updated in years and relies on something the new version changed.
• A theme with its own copies of features that WordPress now handles differently.
• Edits made directly to theme or plugin files, which updates overwrite.
• An update that stops partway through a timeout or a lost connection.
• A contact form that looks normal but no longer sends.

The last is the costliest, because nobody notices. The page looks fine, visitors press send, and the messages go nowhere until someone asks why nobody replied.

A backup you could restore

Before anything else, copy both the site's files and its database. Pages, posts and settings live in the database, and the files alone cannot bring them back.

Keep a copy somewhere other than the server, and know who would restore it and how. Until someone has restored a backup, nobody knows that it works.

Hosts often keep their own backups, sometimes only for a few days. Ask how long, and how a single site is restored, before relying on them.

Checking plugins and the theme

The directory listing for each free plugin shows the newest WordPress version its author has tested and when it was last updated. One untouched for two years deserves a closer look.

Plugins bought from their developers, rather than taken from the directory, need checking with the seller. So does a theme bought from a marketplace, which often has updates waiting that nobody installed.

Where a test copy of the site exists, try the update there first. It is the only way to find a conflict before visitors find it for you.

A quiet hour and someone on hand

Choose a time when few people use the site and the person who can fix it is available. A Friday afternoon like this one, with the developer away for the weekend, is the time to avoid.

Update the plugins and theme that have updates waiting, then WordPress itself, and stay with it until it finishes. An update interrupted halfway can leave a maintenance notice showing to every visitor.

Tell staff an update is planned, so anyone who sees something odd reports it instead of blaming their own computer.

A worked example

A sound design studio in a converted warehouse records and mixes audio for games, advertising and short films. Its site has portfolio pages with audio players, a showreel and a form for project enquiries.

In April the studio manager pressed the button for 3.9 on a busy afternoon. An old form add-on stopped sending, and nobody knew until a producer phoned about a quote.

For 4.0, the studio asked its developer to plan the update. The backup came first, then a check of every plugin, which showed that the audio player had not been updated in two years.

On a test copy, the update and the theme's waiting update went through cleanly, but the old player's playlists did not load. The developer replaced it with a maintained player on the test copy before touching the live site.

The live update is booked for Tuesday morning, with the developer watching. Afterwards the manager will send an enquiry from her phone and confirm it reaches the studio's inbox.

Each step in the routine catches a different failure: the backup covers the worst case, the test copy exposes conflicts, and the test enquiry finds the silent one.

After the update

Go through the site as a visitor would: the home page, each service page, and every page with a form, a booking tool or a shop. Check them on a phone too.

Then send a real enquiry through the contact form, as a customer would, and confirm it arrives in the inbox where enquiries are read. Seeing the thank-you message is not enough.

Keep an eye on enquiries for the next few days as well. A gap where messages normally arrive is often the first sign that something stopped.

The counter-case

A simple site with a maintained theme and two or three widely used plugins may take a major update in five minutes, with nothing to show for the caution.

Some hosting plans also manage WordPress updates and backups as part of the service, which takes much of this off the owner's desk.

The backup and the test enquiry still apply. They cost a few minutes, and they are the two steps that turn an unlucky update from a crisis into an inconvenience.

Taking 4.0 calmly

1. Back up the files and the database.
2. Check each plugin for recent updates and 4.0 notes.
3. Ask about the theme and any bought plugins.
4. Try the update on a test copy first.
5. Choose a quiet hour with someone on hand.
6. Update plugins and theme, then WordPress.
7. Send a real enquiry and confirm it arrives.

Step seven is the step people skip. A form can display its thank-you message and still fail to deliver, and only a message that reaches the inbox proves it works.

What to do when an update stops partway and leaves the maintenance notice up for every visitor, and why updates need someone watching, is laid out in a WordPress site stuck on the maintenance message.

Frequently asked questions

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.