Can updates to my site cause my website to break?

Overview

The likelihood of updates causing issues for your website is minimal, but precautions still need to be taken when making any change to the code. Issues can arise when working with a CMS (content management system) like WordPress and associated plugins.

Though unlikely, there is also a risk when the internet makes changes. The current programming standard, HTML5, has been in place since 2014. The transition from the previous standard, HTML 4.01 (established in 1999), had issues arising in the differences in language between versions. This is possible in the future as technology advances.

Content Management Systems

Using a system to manage content from an administrative perspective is a great way to increase productivity and streamline website management. These services often receive updates to become more user-friendly, but such updates have some risk of causing broken websites.

Plugins

Alongside a CMS, there are programs known as plugins. These will help add dynamic features without requiring them to be built from scratch. As the creator of the plugin adds new features or issue fixes, updates will be available. These updates have a chance of causing breaks during major updates or fixing issues such as “patch” updates.

Precautions

After seeing where issues from updates arise, you may wonder how to mitigate this risk. The simplest answer is backups of your site’s data. Creating a copy of the site data before updating means you can essentially undo the updates should it cause catastrophic issues.


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