Professional WordPress

WordPress Maintenance

Keep your WordPress site steady during changes

Avoid introducing problems when running updates

Updating things in WordPress can seem trivial at first, all you have to do it click Update in the backend and it's all smooth sailing from there on, right?

This is unfortunately not always the case, things can and do go wrong when running updates. This is the main reason why extra precautions like Visual Regression testing and updating on staging version first need to be taken before and during updates.

How do you detect if something has changed on the site after updates?

This is a very difficult task if you don't have help by automated tests. You can theoretically check the site manually, but even on a small site it can be difficult to remember exactly how things looked and functioned before the update. On medium and large sized sites, it becomes more or less impossible, and very time-consuming, to keep track of changes manually.

We use Visual Regression Testing to check the front-end, and automated script tests to verify back-end functionality. Read more about these processes below.

Available updates in the WordPress dashboard. How to perform them and ensure nothing has changed after they are done?

How do we detect visual changes and bugs?

Visual Regression Testing

We use Visual Regression Testing to detect changes on the front end after an update. Visual Regression Testing is basicially comparing the before and after states with each other and pointing out the difference between the two.

In order to detect changes after updates, we need a baseline, which is the before state. We then need to compare the baseline to the new state. Doing this will detect any changes to the front end.

Before Visual Regression Testing before state
After Visual Regression Testing after state
Difference Visual Regression Testing difference between before and after
 

How we compare before and after states visually

More about Visual Regression Testing »

 

How do we ensure functionality before and after updates?

Automated functionality tests

We use Automated tests in a cloud based headless browser to automatically test website functionality before and after updates.

Tests can cover almost anything like logging into WordPress, creating a new post, or ordering a product from your online store.

 

How automated tests work - example logging into WordPress

 

Where do we perform the updates?

We always perform updates on a staging server of the site first.

STAGING SITE

If everything goes well on the staging site then we can move on to updating the production site.

PRODUCTION SITE

Conclusion: Our Professional WordPress updates process

 
Clone production site to a temporary location or use an exact copy on a staging site
Screenshot entire cloned site to be able to compare it to the after state
Run automated backend functionality tests to ensure everything is working before we begin updates
Update WordPress, themes and plugins on staging site
Screenshot entire site again and compare before and after states to detect any changes (Visual Regression Testing)
Run backend functionality tests again to ensure functionality after updates
If everything checks out on the staging site then the same process is applied on the production site
This method is by far the most safe and secure way to update your production WordPress site. It will detect any changes on the frontend, and backend problems will be discovered by a combination of automated and manual tests.
 

Our WordPress maintenance products

  • Standard WordPress Maintenance
  • $35/month or $350/year
  • Keep your site running smoothly without the extras
  • Daily backups
  • Uptime monitoring
  • Setup of staging site
  • Security plugin with firewall
  • Bi-weekly updates of WordPress/plugins/themes
  • Support via email, Slack, Hangouts or Facebook
  • Visual Regression testing to detect any front-end changes
  • Updates and checks on staging site prior to updating production site
  • Automated tests to check backend-end functionality (4 included)
  • Manual tests to check backend-end functionality (2 included)
  • 30 minutes of fixes or general development per month
  • ORDER NOW »
  • Professional WordPress Maintenance
  • $55/month or $550/year
  • Keep your site running smoothly without any headaches
  • Daily backups
  • Uptime monitoring
  • Setup of staging site
  • Security plugin with firewall
  • Bi-weekly updates of WordPress/plugins/themes
  • Support via email, Slack, Hangouts or Facebook
  • Visual Regression testing to detect any front-end changes
  • Updates and checks on staging site prior to updating production site
  • Automated tests to check backend-end functionality (4 included)
  • Manual tests to check backend-end functionality (2 included)
  • 30 minutes of fixes or general development per month
  • ORDER NOW »
 
  • WordPress Maintenance + Page Speed + Security package
  • $800
  • 1 year Maintenance plus everything included in the Page Speed and Security packages. Save 15%.
  • ORDER NOW »
 

Ask us a question or submit a support ticket

 

What do you need help with?

 
© 2022 steadywp.com
WordPress Maintenance Plans
WordPress Page Speed Optimisation Service