8 Deadly Mistakes a Pro WordPress Developer Should Avoid! By James Tredwell on February 22, 2020 Mistakes are a sign that you are advancing and learning and what’s even experience if you haven’t made any mistakes along the way? The same rule applies to the web developers if you are a beginner reading this then it’s a smart move and if you are an advanced developer then chances are you might have made at least one of the listed below. Website design is a challenging task and once you learn to do it you can breakthrough as a web developer and either work as a freelancer or join any web design agency. However, before doing that make sure you learn to meet the requirements that might come your way and one of the best ways to do it is practising making mistakes and learning. As they say, if you make a mistake it’s natural but if you don’t learn anything from the mistake then it’s a mistake in itself. Here are a few of the most common WordPress mistakes that web developers make. 1. Confusing the WordPress platforms: WordPress caters to the need of various users ranging from bloggers to businesses from beginners to experts and therefore, has two different platforms for each of these users. One of the mistakes which various developers especially those who are starting new fail to realize the difference between the two platforms. For experts and professionals like those in a web development company WordPress has WordPress.org, this one is a self-hosted platform charging a premium with various features to build a personal domain based website. On the other hand, there’s WordPress.com that is designed for beginners it’s a free platform letting the beginners get a hang of on how, to begin with, the websites. 2. Having one file for all JavaScript Codes: If you hate websites that take hours, okay, minutes to load then you must not do this mistake with yours. There are many web developer who does the grave mistake of saving all their javascript file in one folder and the size keep on increasing. This act makes your page to heavy to load, hence, it is advised to sort these codes out and make their related and appropriate folders. Secondly, the management of these codes become a tedious task in itself. Even if you queue them up and do a little update of any one of the codes it can mess up the whole sorting that you did. 3. Using common names for functions and classes: WordPress has tons of plugins and each plugin has its unique name but at times these names become common and you might end up naming functions and classes a similar name. This can create quite a lot of trouble and confusion between codes and functions. This is why many developers around various best web development agencies tend to use the PHP model for naming this resolves confusion and moreover, increases the recalling of codes. 4. Wasting too much money on hosting: How many times did you give up on the idea of a website just because the web development company asked you to pay half of your net worth? You need to identify the features that are absolutely necessary for your websites, research, learn and pay for what’s necessary. Moreover, with the plugins, website themes and a bit of tutorial you can even begin with a basic website yourself that will help you save some major chunk of money. Hence, wasting too much money on hosting isn’t a wise option what’s wise is to get the best results in fewer investments. 5. Not applying the right PHP codings: PHP coding is like the CCTV camera for your website it can save you from all those trying to break in or if it is not a good one then it can ruin your entire website. WordPress initially is very basic however, there are codes that can strengthen the security of your website and can prevent any potential “burglar” or hacker from breaking in. Further, make sure that you are not “admin” change the username because that’s one name that’s easy to hack. 6. Failing to use WordPress to its true potential: One thing very important about WordPress is it regularly updates itself and you can take benefit from the feature that WordPress provides. Instead of filling up your themes and plugins with additional files and weights lookout for similar options in the core themes and plugins. This will help you in creating an effective and efficient website. Moreover, by keeping up with the updates you will make your website secure and up to the requirement of the users. 7. Ignoring backups Another mistake that commonly various WordPress website developers make is ignoring constant backups. Where many hosting companies or web design agencies will charge you for constant back up and work you can also learn to use these backup plugins already available on WordPress. This is very important to consider as it helps you from maintaining and saving your data and keeps your content from losing. And it also provides the necessary security to the website as well. 8. Ignoring the terms and conditions: If you are someone who has always ignored terms and conditions and went ahead accepting them without even reading them now isn’t the time. As in this case you can’t simply ignore the terms and conditions implied by WordPress especially if you are using wordpress.org. WordPress will send you websites and notification telling about the updates and requirements that you need to fulfill for your website. Failure in complying with the requirements can throw your hard work into drains. Conclusion: Mistakes are one thing that only helps you learn and no matter what the level of your expertise is it’s always better to work harder and learn. Similarly, when it comes to WordPress website development there are some mistakes that everyone makes but for advance level developers this can be a shock to their careers. Hence, the list above is the compilation of all those mistakes that can ruin the hard work behind your website.