{"id":37161,"date":"2020-09-29T07:39:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-29T12:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/?post_type=resource&p=37161"},"modified":"2024-01-09T11:22:36","modified_gmt":"2024-01-09T17:22:36","slug":"developer-best-practices","status":"publish","type":"resource","link":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/case-studies\/resources\/developer-best-practices\/","title":{"rendered":"WordPress Best Practices for Developers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This article explains the importance of following WordPress Best Practices as a developer. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn how to write and structure your code properly, test it against WordPress Core standards, and best practices for site creation and management in our developer starter guide. Most importantly, gain tangible insights for how to implement these strategies and practices on your own websites. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Best WordPress Practices for Beginning Developers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you are new to the WordPress world as a developer, there are some best practices that will make your life easier. Below we cover some of the \u201cneed to know\u201d practices as you embark on this new journey. Adhering to these best practices will help you later down the line as you build upon your WordPress development skills. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Use WordPress Site\/Home URLs<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In WordPress, you must configure which domain should be used by your website using a site_url()<\/a> and home_url()<\/a>. While WordPress has a <\/span>wp-config.php<\/span><\/i> file where you can hardcode your website\u2019s URL, it is way easier to use the native way. In your WordPress Admin Dashboard (\/wp-admin\/) you can navigate to <\/span>Settings > General<\/span><\/i> and edit your WordPress Address (URL) and Site Address (URL) fields. These fields should match, and should begin with <\/span>http:\/\/<\/span><\/i> or <\/span>https:\/\/<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"WordPress<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Adhere to WordPress Coding Standards<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The WordPress community is a rich community of developers who have worked tirelessly to make it the success it is today. These developers have learned through their own trial and error, and have put together coding standards to ensure the best success and security. If you are creating a plugin or theme via PHP, check out the PHP Coding Standards for WordPress<\/a> to get started. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if you plan on developing with JavaScript, you can look to the JavaScript Coding Standards<\/a> for WordPress. Doing so will set you up for success later on, as you hone your WordPress skills further.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Choose Plugin and Theme Developers Who Care<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When setting up your site, you will undoubtedly need to choose which 3rd party plugins and theme to use. It is best to choose a plugin or theme that is updated frequently and has high satisfaction ratings. Frequent updates mean the developer is interested in keeping their work compatible with the latest versions of WordPress. It also means they are more likely to help if you encounter conflicts with their code!<\/span> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Use WP Engine\u2019s Smart Plugin Manager<\/a> to keep your environments secure and automatically updated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Jetpack<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Looking at the user base is a good indicator for success as well. If there are thousands of active installations of the plugin or theme, it\u2019s more likely that people have also used it successfully. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Always Be Updating<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

WordPress typically releases updates many times per year. Oftentimes, between major updates there will be maintenance\/security updates as well. Not to mention, good plugin and theme developers will also release improvements and maintenance\/security updates often. These updates are important to the integrity of your site! Be sure to login at least once per month to check for any available updates and run them. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you want to play it safe, it\u2019s best to create a development or staging instance for testing first. Then you can run the updates in this testing environment first, to ensure there are no issues.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"WordPress<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Stay Secure<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s best practice to take some preventative security measures on your website(s) as well. There are many users, bots, and services on the internet that might attempt to access your site in a way you don\u2019t want. Unwanted access could mean spam login attempts, spam comments, or even malicious bots that generate tons of traffic in an attempt to take your website down. There are a few simple ways to prevent security issues:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n