WordPress 5 has arrived, and with it, Gutenberg has been introduced. There are a number of great additions that come with the update. However, there have also been reports of the update causing trouble with existing websites.
We’ve recently experienced the risks associated with upgrading WordPress ourselves when one of our clients upgraded their website from WordPress 4 to WordPress 5 as a security measure. The update responded well with most of the plugins used. However, there were a number of issues with the Page Builder which broke the website. Our team was successfully able to revert the website to the latest WordPress 4 update, which had all the security updates of WordPress 5 without the plugin compatibility issues.
If you are considering updating your website to Gutenberg, there are a number of things you need to know:
- Back up everything! This is essential in case the update causes anything on your current site to break.
- Update your PHP version and any plugins you are using. This will reduce the possibility of anything breaking when you upgrade to Gutenberg.
- Use a test server to upgrade a copy of your website to Gutenberg first. This will allow you to check for any potential issues and fix them without your live site being affected.
- Be prepared for your website to break temporarily after upgrading. Although Gutenberg offers a lot of new functionality, your current plugins may not function properly without being updated. Most issues will likely only require a quick fix. The test server is crucial to ironing out these issues without affecting your live site.
- The new editor looks different, very different. Gutenberg has dramatically changed the way WordPress sites are edited. If you do not like the new editor, the Classic Editor is available to use with Gutenberg.
If you are concerned that updating to Gutenberg will break your site, here at Milestone-Belanova we have an experienced team who are happy to help! Contact us today for a quote on upgrading your WordPress website to Gutenberg.