Your website runs on a web server that allows your customers to see your website on the internet. Your web server has some software on it that makes it work and one of those is something called PHP.
Just like your phone and computer, your web server requires updates that must be installed to help protect it from cyber attack and to offer new features and improvements that use modern technology.
What is PHP?
PHP is no longer the initials for anything but its full name is PHP:Hypertext Preprocessor
Without going full computer geek on you, PHP is one of the most popular programming languages for building websites. Wordpress websites like yours are built using PHP. Think of it this way: When you open a book you see words. If there were no words, you would see blank pages and your book would be worthless.
PHP to your website is the equivalent to words in a book. Take them away and you don't have anything.
Why Does it Need Updated?
All software needs updates. Your phone, your tablet, your TV, your refrigerator, your car and most everything electronic these days. Your website also needs updates.
How Does Updating Help My Site?
PHP updates aren't like updating your phone or computer where you get a shiny new interface and new features. This update is an "under the hood" update so don't expect to see anything different on your website.
PHP8 was built to be fast so you may notice a bit of a speed increase but the new features gained are for programmers.
There are also some important security upgrades.
How Does Updating Work?
The newest version, PHP8, is a major update. It's the largest update in many years. Because of that, many sites report errors after the update. That's why this is not as easy as clicking a button and telling it to update. The steps look like this:
1.) Make a copy of the website and place it on another server. We call it a "dev" or development server. We do this so we can "try out" the upgrade in a safe place. If the site breaks, your actual site that customers see won't be affected.
2.) We apply the php update
3.) We talk to you about any errors we see and how long it will take to fix those errors.
4.) We get your approval on the cost
5.) We fix the errors
6.) We copy the new, updated site to your "live" server. Customers start interacting with the new, updated site.
Do You Expect a Lot of Errors When We Upgrade?
The best way to do this is to apply the update on the dev server and see what happens. The biggest factor is the age of your site. If we did a major redesign for you recently, it probably won't be affected at all. If it's been a long time, we will likely have errors to fix.
The quick answer is--we won't know until we do it.
What if There Are a Lot of Errors and I Don't Want to Pay to Fix Them?
Remember that your "live" website is not affected so you would just pay for the time to move the site to the dev server and apply the update there. So 30-45 minutes of time.
What if I Don't Upgrade?
If you don't upgrade, your site will eventually stop working. If your site is running PHP 7.4, one major version back from the newest version, you have some time before you don't have choice. If you aren't on 7.4, you need to upgrade right away. We're already seeing sites going offline because of outdated versions of PHP.
Don't want until the site breaks or it could be offline for a while.
Can We Do Other Updates at This Time?
Yes, this is the PERFECT time to do other updates to the site. Site redesigns, new pictures, new pages...now is the time.
Kind of like when you take your car to the mechanic, you will get a better price if everything is done at the same time versus one by one over time.
I'm on a Maintenance Agreement. Why isn't This Covered?
Your maintenance agreement covers upkeep of your current website. It does not cover upgrades and major updates. If this were a one-click update that took us a few minutes, we would likely do it for you free of charge although it's an uncovered item.
This is a sizable job.
How Much Will This Cost?
If you promise not to use this as an official quote, we'll tell you what we normally see:
The initial work of setting up the development server and moving the site will cost about $100.
There are usually a few small errors to fix but most sites do not have major issues.
By the time we're done, it usually comes out to about $250.
We will give you exact pricing once we see how many errors, if any, have to be fixed.