editione1.0.0
Updated October 9, 2023We spoke about how your website is just made up of lines of code. The more lines of code you have, the more problems you could have. If the fence you are making is miles long, it carries more risk than the one that just goes around a small house. If you don’t have to have all that software installed and running on your website, then now is the time to do spring cleaning. This is similar to the advice we gave on removing old apps from your phone that you no longer use.
When you initially set up your website, turn off any features or default software that you don’t need. Your website builder might by default come with different features like mail or file transfer features. These are commonly misused features that can be turned off right from the word go. If you have outsourced setting up your website, contractors might have remote access services enabled so they can get things set up for you. When they are finished, have a close-out chat where you go over how to maintain the new website, while also closing up any access that they might have left behind.
During your monthly check for updates, if you notice that some plugins, apps, or software have not had an update available in a long time, it could be that they are no longer supported. This isn’t an emergency now, but with time that feature can fall apart and become unsafe, so you will need to set aside time to replace it with something that is supported.
It is common for people to build software, share it with others, then move on and give up on supporting it. It is similar to how you probably have a closet or bin somewhere with all the personal projects you have half started. Like building a fence, you don’t have to be an expert to make software and give or sell it to others. The plugin or app ecosystems online are full of hobbyist software developers. Most people are more interested in solving a problem and creating something than they are with maintaining and taking care of it for life.
It can be challenging to find replacements for unsupported plugins and apps. If you search in the plugin or app store for “shopping cart” functionality, you will probably have thousands of lines of results. Shopping for a plugin is kind of similar to shopping for anything online. You have to have some criteria to filter down to a smaller set of options that check your boxes. The boxes here determine whether a plugin or app is safe to use.
You can run through these questions when you are assessing a new plugin or app to use for your website:
When was it last updated? Acceptable answers are within the past four weeks. The further it gets away from this date, the more risky it is.