WordPress and WP Plugin PHP Compatibility Issues in 2017

[_Richard 2,539]

Looks like there are going to be a couple of big issues to keep in mind when looking at using WordPress this year.

 

1. Going to be forcing people to move to secure connections to get "all" functions. (We really do not know what this means)

 

2. Looks like they may be requiring PHP 7. this year as well. This brings up a couple of problems. First off your hosting has to be PHP 7 ready and while most will be be it is something that needs to be checked. Also all your plugins and themes need to be ready. The "major" ones will probably be OK but if you are using a less used/active plugin that has not been updated in awhile you may have to deactivate it and replace it with something else.

 

 

 

 

Powering over 76 million websites and holding a 59% CMS market share, WordPress continues to dominate the web in 2017. However, with the new year comes new challenges. Since PHP 7 could be the minimum requirement for running self-hosted WordPress in 2017, updating your server’s version of PHP to PHP 7 could be a necessary step.
 
In this post, we’ll cover why you should upgrade to the latest version, how to upgrade your server to PHP 7, any new features, inconsistency fixes, its overall performance, any backwards incompatible changes, the compatibility checker, and a note on PHP 7 benchmarks.
 
Let’s get started!

 

 

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[Silver Fox 21]

I bet there are quite a few plugins and themes that are not going to be updated. Plugins are a problem but you can always find a replacement but themes are probably going to be more of a problem as most everyone with a site has adjusted them to look just like they want and starting over with a new theme is going to suck.

[SoRene 4]

Are all the hosting companies going to be ready with php 7.0? If not that will be a problem for a lot of people. 

[_Richard 2,539]

Are all the hosting companies going to be ready with php 7.0? If not that will be a problem for a lot of people. 

 

The newer versions of cpanel (58.+?) come with php 7.0 and allow php versions to be assigned per domain so a site not ready for php 7. can still use 5.4 or 5.6

 

Not every hosting company uses cpanel but most do and I am sure that the other options probably offer 7.0 as well. 

[DannielD 10]

I just moved a couple of wp sites to php 7 and have not seen any problems. All the plugins I have installed and the theme I am using have been updated in the last few months. 

[Olivia 88 1]

My wordpress site is hosted on php7 and I have not had any problems. I am have not installed very many plugins so that probably helps. Is there a way to tell ahead of time whether a plugin or theme will work with php7?

[Digital 101 1]

Has anyone had any problems moving to php 7? This has been coming for quite awhile and you would think that wordpress and the plugin creators would be ready for the change. 

[_Richard 2,539]

My wordpress site is hosted on php7 and I have not had any problems. I am have not installed very many plugins so that probably helps. Is there a way to tell ahead of time whether a plugin or theme will work with php7?

 

I have a seen a few mention it in the change notes but not all of them.  Basically the more recent the plugin has been updated the more likely it should work but really you are going to have to test them to make sure if they do not mention it. 

 

Has anyone had any problems moving to php 7? This has been coming for quite awhile and you would think that wordpress and the plugin creators would be ready for the change. 

 

There are quite a few plugins and themes that have for all intensive purposes been abandoned. There are a lot of them out there that have not been updated in a year or two or even longer. That is one thing I always look at before installing a plugin, not so much because of php 7 but for security reasons, if a plugin is not being updated it is going to be less secure.