Today saw the release of WordPress version 4.5. It’s not a major release but does bring a few nice little enhancements. See the details here. Unfortunately, at the time of writing it also appears to be breaking quite a few websites. For some it’s the whole site that stops working, for others it’s just elements of functionality such as sliders, editing boxes, page builders, display boxes etc.
Should I upgrade to WordPress 4.5?
At Orange Pixel we believe that it’s always worth upgrading to the latest version of WordPress, it’s the only way to keep your site safe and secure however with this one we’d advise a little caution.
Firstly, before you push the button, make sure you have a good recent backup of your site – both files and database.
Next, if you are using a premium theme (or any theme that you haven’t created yourself), check with the theme creator and see if they have published an update to the theme for 4.5 compatibility. If so, great! Make sure you download and install it.
Then Go! After the upgrade is complete make sure to check the front end functionality/usability first. Make sure to include checking the way things line up, tabs are working, accordion boxes, flip boxes, contact forms etc.
Then check the back end. is your page builder still working? Can you still edit posts and pages?
If it’s all looking good then well done! The checks were still worth it!
If you have a problem then now’s the time to restore your backup so that your production site is working again.
Why the problems?
From what we’ve seen the powers that be at WordPress updated the jquery libraries included in the core. Themes and plugins that rely on older, now deprecated, code are suffering. This is all a bit of a shock to a lot of developers because the pre-release versions of 4.5 didn’t have these new jquery files.
Don’t know what to do next?
If you are having trouble with your website after upgrading to version 4.5 please do get in touch and we will work with you to find a solution and get you up and running as soon as possible.
We can do this as a one off fix or you can sign up to our fully inclusive website support service for peace of mind now and for the future.
