Top 10 WordPress Pain Points, But It Still Rules the Market

WordPress 6.0 has been downloaded over 49 millions times (and the counter keeps increasing). This simply depicts the kind of popularity and craze WordPress has in the world of CMS. But, at the same time, we see fluctuations across the growth map of WordPress. Its market share has gone down by 0.4% since February 22 (and increased after that) and the global ranking of WordPress.com has also dwindled from 130 to 141 (source).

I decided to explore this volatility through some independent research, conversations with WordPress developers associated with my organization, and clients who have engaged with our WordPress development services. Here’s what I concluded from this exercise:

• One, WordPress has some very common and frequently-occurring issues that frustrate developers very often, delay delivery, and affect the quality of the final outcome.
• Two, there is no replacement as robust as WordPress, so this CMS maintains its throne.

Let’s discuss both in detail. I am going to highlight some common WordPress pain points along with valid reasons why this blogging platform has turned out to be the biggest player in the world of open-source CMS.

Top 10 WordPress Errors & Issues That Developers Face

WordPress has been around for nearly two decades. When using such an old and thriving CMS software, frequent errors can be a let down for developers. However, it is important to understand that it doesn’t generally throw error messages without any reason. Layer upon layers of functional additions have led to a point where developers are prone to miss many aspects, leading to very common errors and issues.

Here are some of its most common errors along with solutions that will help you to troubleshoot them and make your workflow hassle-free and swift.

1.)    No connection to database

“No Connection to the Database” is one of the most common WordPress errors. It can occur when adding a new post or blog to your website, especially when you have recently changed or modified database credentials like database host, username, or password. If the error occurs on both the front-end and back-end (WP-Admin), your database may require an update or repair.

2.)    Not receiving email issue

If you are receiving regular emails, this simply means WordPress can access your web server. On the contrary, the most common reason for not receiving emails is a misconfiguration in your plugins or because of incompatibility with your server. Sometimes, the tools used by email service providers fail to find out the source of the email and direct it to the Spam folder.

 3.)  Getting stuck in maintenance mode

“Briefly unavailable for scheduled maintenance.”

WordPress users often report that while making any changes to the website, they get stuck with this message. Due to pending updates, WordPress keeps your site locked down, and your visitors and you cannot access it. So, check whether you have left a pool of plugins and themes for an update if this error keeps coming again.

4.)    The great white screen of death

This is another one of the most frequently occurring WordPress error messages that can hinder a crucial development phase. What adds to the frustration is that you don’t even see an error message. You need to contact your hosting service provider to resolve this temporary but nerve-racking issue.

5.)    Connection Timed Out error

WordPress developers and users often doubt the internet speed for this error occurring on the screen. But usually, it simply means that you are trying to access a capacity that your website isn’t configured for. When using a shared hosting server, these errors become a common part of WordPress development. Deactivate your plugins one by one, and you will find the cause of the error in one of them.

6.)    Internal server error

This is one of the most common and confusing WordPress errors where your web server can hardly detect the source of error. To get rid of this, you need to check whether your .htaccess file is corrupted. Simply access your site by using FTP and rename the .htaccess file and then go to your WordPress dashboard, click on Settings-Permalinks, and click on the Save button without making any changes.

7.)    Image uploading issue

Most WordPress users face a lot of trouble while uploading any image or bulk of images to the media library of their site. This issue may arise due to incorrect file permissions. To resolve this, you need to access your site via FTP and go to the WP-content folder. To set file permissions, right-click the uploads folder and select File Permissions. Now, set permissions for the uploads directory and all other subdirectories.

8.)    Brute force attacks

This is a security-related issue that refers to the trial-and-error method where the attackers enter multiple usernames and password combinations until they find a perfect combination. Bots can also attack your WordPress login page; even if the brute force attack is unsuccessful, it puts extra pressure on your server and slows down your site.

9.)    Page loading issues

WordPress developers often use too many plugins to ensure a feature-rich website and enhance its performance. The nature of custom web development requires various modifications and plugins are an easier way to achieve that goal. However, in an attempt to keep their user base intact, most plugins keep on adding functionalities to their code, resulting in unnecessary weight and code complexity. That’s a major reason why plugin bloat is a common issue with WordPress developers worldwide.

So, be careful while installing plugins on your WordPress site. Only add what you need and ponder various options before settling on a plugin to ensure that you get an optimal solution. Also, implement less number of plugins when using a shared web hosting service as it leads to slow page load time.

10. Hyperlinks leading to a dead end

Sometimes, you click on a hyperlink on your WordPress website, and it directs you to a page that throws a “404 Error”.  In this case, you need to access your WordPress admin and select the permalinks menu item. Check the validity of the URL of the page to which the link refers, update it, and finally, save the changes.

Then, why is WordPress so popular?

WordPress is still the first option for anyone looking forward to launching a website. There are almost 835 million websites in the world that are powered by WordPress, among which 14.7% are known to be the world’s top websites.

WordPress has a long history of helping businesses achieve their targets and enhance their operations through various interactive features & functionalities on a website.  Considering its worldwide popularity, the CMS giant has been translated into 160 languages to make its usage much simpler and straightforward for diverse audience segments.

Let’s have a look at some other reasons why WordPress remains a priority for any website development project.

❖   Suitable for a diverse range of projects

The best part of using WordPress as a CMS is that you can use it for a wide range of website projects. It started as a blogging platform but has now enhanced its scope and currently caters to a wide range of website development requirements. WordPress offers seamless opportunities to create highly interactive and feature-packed websites, whether it’s a business website, virtual classroom, forum, social media platform, eCommerce, or any other kind of website.

❖   Huge WordPress community for instant support

WordCamp is a conference that is devoted to worldwide WordPress users and aims to bring WordPress users together to discuss, learn, and collaborate on any WordPress development issue. You can easily sign-up for various informative events, connect with WordPress enthusiasts, and get experts’ views on any WordPress-related topic or query. This huge community support allows you to keep your WordPress development agile and build a highly sophisticated website packed with features relevant to your unique business requirements.

❖   Develop highly scalable websites

Scalability becomes a crucial aspect for any business when it starts getting huge traffic on its website. Your business website must be capable of adapting to these emerging changes and allowing smooth functionalities without fail, regardless of the number of users. Here, the kind of web hosting service you have opted for also plays a crucial role in scaling up your business website. WordPress allows easy maintenance and scaling components so that you can enhance your website’s performance without affecting its quality.

❖   Themes & plugins: Get complete control of your website

This is another major benefit of using WordPress as a CMS. You can add ample WordPress themes and plugins to append desired features and functionalities to your website. Themes are used for designing and layout purposes, whereas plugins allow you to insert different features in a file. There are thousands of themes and plugins; some are premium (payable) while others are free-to-use. With this, you can offer a website that perfectly caters to all possible expectations your target audience has regarding your website.

❖   Highly secure websites

Amidst the amplifying frequency of cyber threats, data security & privacy remains critical for browsers and businesses alike. WordPress takes security on a serious note and offers various new updates and security patches at regular intervals. The only thing is that you need to keep your website updated accordingly to ensure intact security. WordPress is backed by a world-class security team who keeps working on possible vulnerabilities and delivers regular security updates that you can follow. However, considering a reputed and trusted web hosting service also plays a vital role in preventing security threats.

Endnote

Without any doubt, WordPress remains a dominant player in the CMS world, allowing ample components to develop a robust & feature-packed website for any business. It has potential, and it has issues. The only thing a developer or enterprise needs to understand to make the most of WordPress is this- create a balance, be ready to find workarounds, and keep your website growing.

The author carries 8+ years of experience in web & mobile app development and uses that to keep his readers aware of latest WordPress web development technologies and their optimum utilization to meet growing business requirements.

About The Author

Nathan Smith is a senior full stack developer at TechnoScore. He has an affinity for the latest technologies and actively seeks to implement them for fun and capability testing. He takes a holistic approach towards understanding the mechanisms underlying blockchain technology, looking to make out-of-the-box connections with other concepts and technologies for a full-circle development for various application implementations.