If you have a website, it will likely be running WordPress. Behind this, PHP is a coding language used by WordPress and other applications used on the Web.
What does the upgrade mean to those of us who are not programmers? One of the biggest reasons to make the upgrade is that improves the speed for WordPress, making your website faster to load both for you and your website visitors. WordPress also points out that :This performance increase also means fewer servers are needed to host websites. Updating PHP isn’t just good for your site, it also means less energy is needed for the 1-in-3 sites that use WordPress, so it’s good for the planet.”
Around the time that WordPress 5.2 was introduced in April, WordPress they also announced that they would increase the minimum version of PHP required to PHP 5.6. Since this time, they have advised that the minimum required would increase to version 7+ by the end of the year for ongoing benefits. We would recommend that all WordPress websites are upgraded to the latest version of PHP 7.2 as soon as possible.
Upgrading PHP will require some testing as plugins and themes may require updating to remain compatible. However, given the upgrade will also assist in providing ongoing security and support we believe the upgrade is worthwhile.
CyberGuru will be upgrading all of our clients managed under a Website Maintenance Service as soon as practical automatically and other clients in consultation, however if your website requires an upgrade, or looking for a website hosting provider that can support version the upgrade, please contact us.