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Why You Should Always Use the Latest Version of WordPress

Every time a new WordPress update comes out, we get several emails from users asking whether it’s safe to update their WordPress site. Are you wondering whether you should update your WordPress to the latest version? Want to know the pros and cons of updating WordPress? In this article, we will explain why it is crucial that you always use the latest version of WordPress as well as show you how to properly update WordPress.

WordPress is free, and it is developed by a community of developers. With each new release, they fix bugs, add new features, improve performance, and enhance existing features to stay up to date with new industry standards.

So in other words, when you do not update your WordPress site, you are risking your website security and missing out on new features / improvements.

Let’s take a look at pros and cons of updating WordPress.

1. Security

Security is arguably the most important reason why you should keep your WordPress website up to date.

WordPress currently powers 23% of all websites in the world. Due to it’s immense popularity, WordPress is a popular target for hackers, malicious code distributors, data thieves, and wanna be hackers.

Since WordPress is open source, anyone can study the source code to learn and improve it. However it also means that hackers can study it too and find ways to break into websites.

Now the good part is that not all hackers are bad. There are a lot more good hackers than bad ones which means that security experts around the world can study the code and properly report security bugs / fixes. Every time a security vulnerability is reported, the core WordPress team works diligently to release an update that fixes the issue.

This means that if you are not using the latest version of WordPress, then you are using software with known security vulnerabilities. Hackers can search for websites running the older version, and you may become a victim of a sophisticated attack.

Not just WordPress itself, plugins can also be exploited by hackers. You need to make sure that all your WordPress plugins, themes, and the core itself is always up to date.

2. Cool New Features

Each major WordPress release comes with new features and changes to the software. For example, WordPress 4.0 came with improved plugin install experience, 4.1 introduced inline image editing, and 4.2 came with faster plugin updates.

Now if you were using an older version of WordPress, then your WordPress experience would be a lot different than someone using the latest version.

You will have trouble finding WordPress help online because you are using an older version. Users on WordPress support forums will assume that you are using the latest version of WordPress.

3. Speed

WordPress developers are always trying to make things faster. Each new release comes with several performance improvements that makes WordPress run faster and more efficient.

For example, WordPress 4.2 improved JS performance for navigation menus, and WordPress 4.1 improved complex queries which helped with performance of sites using those queries.

Since speed is a huge factor in SEO, you should definitely keep your WordPress updated to ensure maximum performance benefits.

4. Bug Fixes

Despite the rigorous testing of major WordPress releases, sometimes bugs may slip through the cracks. That’s why there are timely minor WordPress releases (the ones with X.X.X) to account for that. For example, the most recent WordPress 4.2.3 update fixed 20 bugs from the 4.2 release.

Now if you go to WordPress support forums asking for help, the first advice you will get is to update WordPress because that may fix the issue. If you insist on not updating WordPress, then you will be unable to receive help.

5. Compatibility (or NOT)

Often plugin and theme developers coordinate their updates with major WordPress releases to ensure they’re taking advantage of newly available features and enhancements.

However in some cases, an update can break your existing WordPress plugins if they weren’t following the best practices and coding standards.

This is why it is crucial that you keep regular WordPress backups.

To sum this up, the only downside is that in some rare cases your site will break. However the upside is that you have:

• Improved WordPress security
• Cool new WordPress features
• Faster WordPress experience
• A bug free WordPress website
• Better compatibility

Now that you know why it’s important to keep your WordPress site updated, let’s take a look at how to update WordPress.

How to Keep Your WordPress Site Updated

Updating your WordPress core, plugins, and themes whenever there is a new update for them is fairly easy. WordPress comes with a built-in update notification system. It highlights the number of available updates when you log into your WordPress dashboard.

All you need to do is visit Dashboard » Updates page and install those updates. This is a one-click process.

However since many website owners do not login to their WordPress dashboard daily, they may not even know that there is an update available for days. Thankfully, you have a few options.

If you’re using WordPress 3.7 or above, then automatic updates are turned on for minor releases (which are reserved for security and bugfixes). You can turn on automatic updates for major releases, plugins as well as themes.

Alternatively, you can get email notifications when there is a new update for your WordPress site.

Get Email Notifications for Updates in WordPress

When you’re busy running your business, logging into your site to check for updates is usually the last thing on your mind. Wouldn’t it be easier if you could get an email notification whenever there is an update on your WordPress sites?

Well that’s possible.

First thing you need to do is install and activate the WP Updates Notifier plugin. Upon activation, visit Settings » Updates Notifier to configure the plugin settings.

This plugin uses WordPress cron to check your site for updates every hour. You can change that to once or twice daily. When there is a new update available, this plugin will send you an email notification.

By default it checks for WordPress core update, plugin updates, and theme updates. All you need to do is click on save settings with test email button.

If you do not recieve the test email from the plugin, then check out our guide on how to fix WordPress not sending email issue.

Auto Install WordPress Updates

You can automate the process even further. WordPress allows you to enable automatic updates for major releases, plugins, and themes.

This option is risky if you’re not using managed WordPress hosting. Managed WordPress hosting companies automatically update your site to major WordPress versions and keep an eye out if something breaks.

If you turn on automatic updates, then there is a slight risk that your site may break and you won’t be online to fix it right away. Having that said, if you like to enable automatic updates, then there are two ways to do it (plugin method and code method).

Let’s take a look at the plugin method first.

First you need to install and activate the Easy Updates Manager plugin. Upon activation, you need to visit Dashboard » Update Options page to configure the plugin.

Now you need to scroll down to automatic updates section where you can enable automatic updates for core, plugins, themes, and translation files. Once you are done, simply save your settings.

Enable Auto Updates Using wp-config File

You can enable automatic updates for WordPress core by simply adding this line to your wp-config.php file.

define('WP_AUTO_UPDATE_CORE', true);

If you also want to automatically update your themes and plugins, then you would need to add this to your theme’s functions.php file or a site specific plugin.

add_filter( 'auto_update_plugin', '__return_true' );
add_filter( 'auto_update_theme', '__return_true' );

We hope this article helped you learn why you should always use the latest version of WordPress. You may also want to check out our expert pick of 20 must have WordPress plugins for 2015.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

To leave a comment please visit Why You Should Always Use the Latest Version of WordPress on WPBeginner.

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16 Best Plugins to Improve WordPress Comments

Comments are an integral part of many WordPress blogs as an effective way to engage users and build community. The default WordPress commenting system is good but it is quite plain and basic. However, you can extend the this basic commenting system into a powerful user engagement platform for your website. In this article, we will show the best plugins to improve WordPress comments and take them to the next level.

1. De:comments

De:comments is an all in one plugin to totally transform your WordPress commenting system. It allows users to vote and downvote comments, share invidiual comments, login with existing social accounts, embed images, Gifs, videos, tweets, and more. Take a look at our detailed guide on how to improve WordPress comments with De:comments.

2. Yoast Comment Hacks

Yoast Comment Hacks is a suite of tools that helps make comment management easier. It allows you to email comment authors from WordPress, email all users who commented on a specific post, provide cleaner comment notification email, redirect first time commenter to a thank you page, assign comments to a specific thread, and more. Take a look at our guide on how to install and setup Yoast Comment Hacks for WordPress.

3. Basic Comment Quicktags

This plugin simply adds quicktag buttons in WordPress comment form’s textarea. This allows users to quickly add links, make text bold or emphasized, and add blockquotes by pressing the buttons. See out tutorial on how to add quicktags in WordPress comment form.

4. Subscribe to Comments Reloaded

Comments are a powerful way to build communities. But how would people know if there is a new comment after they read your post? Subscribe to Comments Reloaded allows users to subscribe to comments and receive instant email notifications whenever there is a new comment on the article. Users can unsubscribe at any time and manage their own subscriptions on your site. We have detailed tutorial on how to allow users to subscribe to comments in WordPress with more details.

5. Simple Comment Editing

Sometimes when a user submits a comment, they immediately realize they have made a spelling mistake or some other error. Simple Comment Editing provides a users a flexible time during which they can edit their own comments on your site. For more details, take a look at our tutorial on how to allow users to edit comments in WordPress.

6. No Page Comment

By default, WordPress would show a comment box on your pages and even media attachments. You can edit a page and turn off comments. But if you have many pages, then it becomes a chore. No Page Comment plugin allows you to easily switch off comments for your pages and media attachments in WordPress. For more instructions, check out our tutorial on how to turn off or disable comments in WordPress pages.

7. oEmbed in Comments

WordPress allows you to easily embed videos, tweets, and much more by simply pasting the URL in the post editor. However, if a user posted a YouTube video URL, Flickr photo, or a tweet URL in the comments it would appear just as text. oEmbed in Comments plugin enabled the oEmbed functionality for WordPress comments as well. This allows your users to easily embed videos, gifs, photos, tweets, status updates, from a large variety of oEmbed supported providers. Take a look at our guide on how to add videos and more in WordPress comments with oEmbed.

8. Moderator Role

Comment moderation can become very time consuming for large and busy websites. Moderator Role plugin allows you to assign the moderator role to your community members, staff or loyal users. This will give them access to comment moderation area in WordPress and they will be able to approve comments on your site. Take a look at our guide on how to allow blog users to moderate comments in WordPress for more details.

9. Tako Movable Comments

Sometimes you may want to create a new version of an older post on your site. While you can easily copy paste content from old post to new, there is no easier way to move the comments. Tako Movable comments allows you to move comments from one post to another. See our tutorial on how to move comments between WordPress posts for more detailed instructions.

10. Comments Since Last Visit

This plugin is available from GitHub see our guide on how to install WordPress plugins from GitHub. Comments Since Last Visit simply adds a class to the new comments since a users last visit to the post. It sets a cookie when the user visits a post for the first time. On next visits it compares the dates and adds the CSS class to new comments. See our step by step tutorial on how to highlight new comments for returning visitors in WordPress.

11. Featured Comments

Not all comments on your website are equal. Some comments add value to the discussion and some derail the conversation. Featured Comments allow you to feature high quality comments and bury irrelevant comments. See our tutorial on how to feature/bury comments in WordPress for more details.

12. Comment Approved

Comment moderation is the most reliable way to deal with comment spam. However, when a user leaves comment, they don’t get notified when their comment is published. Comment Approved plugin sends email notification when you approve a new comment. We have more detailed instructions in our guide how to notify users when their comments is approved in WordPress.

13. DX Unanswered Comments

Comments are good for user engagement but you need to communicate with users by answering their comments. Unanswered Comments plugin allows you to easily filter unanswered comments. You can sort comments and then reply to all comments. See our article how to filter unanswered comments in WordPress for more details.

14. WordPress Comments Fields

By default, the comment area shows 4 fields (name, email, website address, and message). Comment Form Custom Fields allows you to add more fields to your WordPress comment form. The plugin will display the data submitted through custom fields as comment meta. See our step by step tutorial on how to add custom fields to comments form in WordPress.

15. Send email only on Reply to My Comment

This plugin allows users to subscribe to comments and receive notifications when someone replies to their comments. This is helpful for users who just want to receive notifications for just their own comments. See this tutorial on how to notify users only on replies to their WordPress comments.

16. Control Comment Length

By default WordPress comments have no limit. Users can leave very small comments which make no sense at all, or spammers can leave very long comments. Recently, it was discovered that some hackers tried to hide their malicious code in extremely lengthy comments which executed when the comments were viewed on the admin screen. Control Comment Length allows you to set minimum and maxium character limits for comments in WordPress. See our tutorial on how to limit comment length in WordPress for more details.

We hope this article helped you find the best plugins to improve WordPress comments. You may also want to take a look at our guide on 12 vital tips and tools to combat comment spam in WordPress.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

To leave a comment please visit 16 Best Plugins to Improve WordPress Comments on WPBeginner.

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