After a long and arduous development cycle, WordPress 5.0 is here – however given the large sweeping changes this release brings to the table, there are some steps you must take before hitting “update”. This post details what you need to do to ensure your site suffers as few issues as possible when taking the plunge.
Create a Full Backup
This may not be news to some, but within the advent of WordPress 5.0 this step is more crucial than it ever has been as should you run into something which brings your site to its knees, having a safety net to fall back on will save you hours of debugging and headaches so is well worth the time to set up.
Creating a full site backup can be done in many ways, and your hosts may offer a simple 1-click solution (you should contact them for details or to check this) however you will so find a huge volume of excellent tutorials which take you step-by-step through the process such as this one from wpbeginner as well as our own tutorial.
Update all Themes & Plugins
Once you have a backup of your site in place, the next step is to try and ensure your themes and plugins have the best chance of being compatible with the 5.0 update by ensuring all your themes and plugins are up to date. For many themes and plugins you can do this via the “Updates” link in your WordPress dashboard, however if your using one of our themes you can check out this handy guide to get your self up to date.
Using Visual Composer/WPBakery Page Builder?
Then you will 100% need to update otherwise you will not be able to build pages with the plugin. If your one of our theme users, to update, simply head to Plugins and disable then delete your currently installed version, then head to Appearance > Install Plugins to have the theme grab the latest version (5.6.0) which re-enabled the “WPBakery Page Builder” button so you can continue to enjoy your awesome plugin.
Do You Really Need to Update Right Now?
This part may come as a shock, but before delving face-first into the WordPress 5.0 swamp, ask yourself if you really need to update right this second?
The WordPress 5.0 update does not include any security fixes etc, so its in no way essential and given the issues this update can potentially introduce at this point, you may be better waiting.
With previous updates, this would not be an issue, however as the 5.0 update contains a large number of well-documented bugs and issue’s – we would strongly suggest to exercise some restraint and hold back from updating until these bugs are fixes in the 5.0.1/5.0.2 release. In some cases, you may not have a choice, but if your in a position where you do – its worth considering holding off updating, at least in the short-term.
Install the Classic Editor Plugin
Once you have all the above done, if you update and experience any issues with Gutenberg, we suggest you install the wonderful Classic Editor plugin – please note this is required if your using any of the following themes from our Portfolio
- Stack Theme + Variant Page Builder
- My Folio
- Marble
- Tides
- Greenwhich Village
- Loom
- Kubb
- Frost
- Flair
- Reflex
- Camera
- Finch
- Expose
The Classic Editor will restore WordPress to its tried and tested state, and give you the fully operational experience you have enjoyed for years, so its well worth running the Classic Editor no matter what theme your using.
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