1. Outdated plugins: Many WordPress site owners forget to update their plugins regularly or are unaware that these are some of the main entry points for hackers.

2. Weak user credentials: Poorly managed user credentials, including weak passwords, can make a WordPress site susceptible to security breaches.

3. Poorly coded themes: Themes that are not optimally coded can leave the system open to attacks. Using custom themes from unverified developers can worsen this issue.

4. Infrequent updates: Keeping WordPress outdated can directly weaken security. Updates typically contain patches for known vulnerabilities.

5. No firewall protection: A firewall aids in the prevention of unauthorized access and improves security. Not having one leaves a site vulnerable.

6. Lack of reliable security plugins: WordPress security plugins offer ample security features to keep a website safe. Without these protective plugins, the site becomes an easy target.

7. Using admin as a username: Using “admin” as a username is a common security mistake. Hackers can easily guess such a common username, making the site vulnerable to brute force attacks.

8. Insecure hosting platform: Choosing a cheap, nondescript hosting provider can also threaten security. They often lack necessary precautions and security protocol updates.

9. Files and data permissions: Incorrect setting of file and data permissions can open a door for hackers. WordPress recommends certain permission settings, but these may be overlooked by site owners.

10. Ineffective backup strategy: Backups play a cardinal role in managing security crises, such as malicious attacks or unexpected downtimes. If backups are not maintained properly, recovering after a security breach becomes much more difficult and time-consuming.

Looking for an alternative to a Wordpress website?  Click here to contact us.

What is a progressive web app, or PWA, is a type of web application that is designed to offer a mobile app-like user experience on any device, without the need to download or install anything. PWAs are built using modern web technologies and are fast, responsive, and secure. They can be accessed through a web browser and can be added to the user's home screen, just like a native app.

PWAs have several features that make them stand apart from traditional web apps. They have offline functionality, which means that they can work even without an internet connection. They also have the ability to send push notifications, allowing users to be alerted of new content or updates.

PWAs are easy to update, as they don't require users to download and install updates manually. They also load quickly, as they are designed to be lightweight and optimized for performance.

Overall, progressive web apps offer a more seamless and engaging user experience than traditional web apps, and they are becoming more popular as more companies and developers recognize the benefits of this approach.

We create not only Native Mobile APPs but each of our websites can be made a PWA.
When a user visits your site, a message asks to allow push messages and to save Icon on their device. 
From the website maintenance dashboard, PUSH messages can be sent to all who have allowed push  messages.

Need to modernize or require a new website?  Click here to contact us.

Why is Website page load speed important?

Website page load speed is an essential part of user experience as well as website optimization. With an increasing number of people accessing the internet on their smartphones, webpage load speed has become more important than ever before. According to Google’s data, if a website takes more than 3 seconds to load, 40% of users will leave the page without even exploring it. Hence, it is essential to optimize your website for faster load time.

There are many factors that can affect website page load speed. These include the size of the page, the number of images, videos, and other multimedia elements, server response time, and coding. Here are some practical tips to ensure that your website pages load faster:

1. Optimize images and videos:

Images and videos are primary culprits for slow page load speeds. Using high-resolution images and videos may look great, but it significantly increases page load time. To reduce the page load time, make sure to optimize the images and minimize their file size without compromising on the quality. You can use compression tools that compress the images without compromising their quality.

2. Minimize HTTP Requests:

Each file included in a webpage’s design requires an HTTP request. This includes CSS files, JavaScript files, and images. When the webpage loads, a separate HTTP request is sent for each file, which increases page load time. Reducing the number of files and making them smaller also minimizes the number of HTTP requests and reduces the page load time.

3. Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN):

A content delivery network (CDN) is a geographically distributed network of servers that work together to provide fast content delivery. A CDN stores a copy of your website on multiple servers located all around the world. When a user accesses your site, the server nearest to them will provide the content, which makes the page load faster.

4. Leverage Browser Caching:

Browser caching enables web browsers to cache frequently used files such as images, documents, JavaScript and CSS files, which helps in reducing page load time in subsequent visits. You can configure your server to send cache-specific headers with each file, telling the browser how long it can keep the file in its cache.

5. Use GZIP Compression:

Gzip is a file compression format that compresses files to reduce their size without sacrificing any of their quality. It improves page load speed by reducing the size of the files transferred between the web server and the client's browser.

To sum it up, a website that loads fast is essential for improving user experience and optimizing your website for search engine ranking. By implementing these practical tips, you can significantly reduce your website’s page load time and provide your visitors with an effortless browsing experience.

A website from Apps Developer Dot Ca uses the adaptive progressive web app technology.
Pages load very fast.

Interested in more info? Click here!

A progressive web app (PWA) is a type of web application that can be accessed through a web browser, but also has the capabilities of a native mobile app, such as offline functionality and push notifications. A WordPress website is a content management system (CMS) that allows users to easily create and manage a website using pre-designed templates and a variety of plugins.

A customer may choose to use a PWA over a WordPress website if they want to provide a more seamless and app-like experience for their users on mobile devices. PWAs can also be more reliable and faster than traditional web pages, as they can be cached and work offline.

Additionally, PWAs can be added to the home screen of a user's device, making them easily accessible like a native app. However, building a PWA can require more development resources than a WordPress website.

WordPress is a great choice for those who needs to have a very simple website to manage their business, blog or portfolio. It's easy to use, with a wide range of templates and plugins that allow you to customize your website. It's often used for content-based websites, such as blogs and news sites, where the primary focus is on publishing and managing content.

So it depends on the requirement of the customer, whether they want a more app-like experience for their mobile users or just a simple website to manage their business, blog or portfolio.

Check out the many PWA websites created for clients (please allow push messages / save icon to device): Click HERE.

MAINTENANCE DISADVANTAGES OF A  WP Website

1. Security: WordPress is a popular CMS, which also makes it a common target for hackers. Regular updates and security measures are necessary to keep the website secure.

Security is one of the main maintenance disadvantages of a website built with WordPress. As WordPress is a widely used CMS, it is also a common target for hackers. They can exploit vulnerabilities in the core software, themes, and plugins to gain access to the website's data or to use the website for malicious purposes.

To ensure the security of a WordPress website, it's important to keep the core software, themes, and plugins up-to-date. This will help to patch any known vulnerabilities. Additionally, it's important to use strong passwords and to limit the number of users who have access to the website's admin area.

Another way to improve security is to use security plugins which can help to block malicious traffic, hide login pages, and scan for malware. They can also monitor the website for changes and alert you if anything suspicious occurs.

However, even with these measures in place, a website can still be hacked. That's why it's important to have regular backups of the website's data, so that it can be restored in the event of a security incident.

In summary, maintaining the security of a WordPress website requires regular attention and updates to ensure that all vulnerabilities are patched, and that the website is protected from malicious traffic and hacking attempts.

2. Updates: WordPress updates its core software and plugins regularly, which can cause compatibility issues with older versions. This means that the website may require regular updates in order to function properly.

Updates are another maintenance disadvantage of a website built with WordPress. The core software, themes, and plugins are updated regularly to fix bugs, add new features, and patch security vulnerabilities. These updates can cause compatibility issues with older versions of the software, themes, and plugins, which can lead to website errors or even break the website altogether.

It is important to keep the WordPress core software, themes, and plugins up-to-date to ensure the website is stable, secure and all the features are working properly. However, it's also important to test updates before applying them to the live website, to ensure that they don't cause any issues. This can be time-consuming and requires technical knowledge.

Additionally, if a website has custom code, it may need to be updated as well after each update of the core software, themes, and plugins, to ensure compatibility. This can be a costly and time-consuming process.

In summary, regular updates are necessary to keep a WordPress website stable and secure, but they can also cause compatibility issues that need to be addressed. This requires regular attention and technical know-how to ensure the website remains functional after each update.

3. Backups: Regular backups are necessary to ensure that website data is not lost in case of an issue.

Backups are an important aspect of maintaining a website built with WordPress. Backups are essentially a copy of all the website's data, including the database, files, and settings. This data can be used to restore the website in case of an issue, such as a hack or a server failure.

Creating regular backups is important for any website, but it's especially important for a website built with WordPress. The CMS is known to have security vulnerabilities, and backups provide a way to restore the website in case of a security incident.

There are several ways to create backups of a WordPress website, including using plugins, manual backups, and third-party services. It's important to regularly schedule backups and store them in a secure location, such as an off-site server or cloud storage.

It's also important to test the backups to ensure they can be used to restore the website in case of an issue. This is important to ensure that the website can be restored to its previous state in case of any issues.

In summary, regular backups are an important aspect of maintaining a website built with WordPress. They provide a way to restore the website in case of an issue and should be created and stored in a secure location. It's also important to test the backups to ensure they can be used to restore the website.

4. Performance: A poorly optimized WordPress website can have slow loading times and poor performance. This can be caused by large numbers of plugins, unoptimized images, and other factors.

Performance is another maintenance disadvantage of a website built with WordPress. A poorly optimized WordPress website can have slow loading times and poor performance, which can negatively impact user experience and search engine rankings.

There are several factors that can contribute to poor performance on a WordPress website, including:

Large numbers of plugins: Each plugin added to a website can slow down the website's loading times. It's important to limit the number of plugins and to keep them up-to-date.

Unoptimized images: Large, unoptimized images can slow down the website's loading times. It's important to optimize images before uploading them to the website.

Unoptimized code: Poorly written code can slow down the website's loading times. It's important to ensure that all code is optimized for performance.

High traffic: A website that receives a high amount of traffic can slow down, it's important to have a good hosting plan and consider caching and Content Delivery Network (CDN) to handle high traffic.

To optimize the performance of a WordPress website, it's important to regularly review and optimize the website's code, images, and plugins. Additionally, using caching and a Content Delivery Network (CDN) can help to speed up the website's loading times.

In summary, poor performance can be a major maintenance disadvantage of a website built with WordPress. It's important to regularly review and optimize the website's code, images, and plugins and also consider caching and CDN to improve the website's loading times and overall performance.

5. Customization: Customizing a WordPress website can be challenging for users who don't have experience with web development.

Customization is another maintenance disadvantage of a website built with WordPress. While WordPress is known for its ease of use and customizability, customizing a website can be challenging for users who don't have experience with web development.

Customizing a WordPress website typically requires knowledge of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, as well as experience with the WordPress platform. This can be a challenge for users who are not familiar with web development and may require the help of a professional developer.

Customizing a website can also involve editing code, which can be risky if not done correctly. An incorrect edit to the code can break the website or cause it to function improperly.

Additionally, if a website has custom code, it may need to be updated as well after each update of the core software, themes, and plugins, to ensure compatibility. This can be a costly and time-consuming process.

In summary, while WordPress is easy to use and customize, customizing a website can be challenging for users who don't have experience with web development. It's important to have a plan and budget for customizing a website and to consider the risks and costs involved.

6. Spam and Comment Moderation: If a website has a lot of comments or user-generated content, it can require a lot of time to moderate and manage.

Scalability is another maintenance disadvantage of a website built with WordPress. As a website's traffic and functionality grows, it can become increasingly difficult to manage and scale the website to meet the growing demands.

WordPress is a great platform for small to medium-sized websites, but it can struggle to handle large amounts of traffic and complex functionality. The more plugins and custom code a website has, the more difficult it can be to scale the website.

Scaling a WordPress website can be a challenging and time-consuming process that requires technical knowledge. It can involve optimizing the website's code and database, upgrading the hosting plan, and implementing caching and Content Delivery Network (CDN) to handle high traffic.

In summary, scalability can be a maintenance disadvantage of a website built with WordPress. As a website's traffic and functionality grows, it can become increasingly difficult to manage and scale the website to meet the growing demands. It can be challenging and time-consuming process that requires technical knowledge.

7. Technical Issues: Even if website is optimized and up-to-date, you may still encounter technical issues that require the help of a developer.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is another maintenance disadvantage of a website built with WordPress. While WordPress is generally considered to be SEO-friendly, it can still be challenging to optimize a website for search engines, especially if the website has a lot of pages and content.

To optimize a WordPress website for search engines, it's important to have a well-structured website with clean and organized code. Additionally, you should use keywords in the content and meta tags, and create a sitemap and robot.txt files to help search engines navigate and index the website.

Another important aspect of SEO is to ensure that the website is mobile-friendly and fast-loading. Search engines are increasingly prioritizing mobile-friendly and fast-loading websites in their search results.

It's also important to have a plan for link building, which can help to increase the website's visibility in search results. However, link building can be a time-consuming and challenging process that requires technical knowledge.

In summary, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can be a maintenance disadvantage of a website built with WordPress. Even though WordPress is generally considered to be SEO-friendly, it can still be challenging to optimize a website for search engines, especially if the website has a lot of pages and content. It's important to have a well-structured website, use keywords, and plan for link building and mobile-friendly, fast-loading website to improve SEO.

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Overall, while WordPress is easy to use and customize, maintaining a website built with WordPress requires regular attention and technical know-how. It is important to have a plan and budget for regular maintenance and updates to ensure that the website remains secure, fast, and functional.

Check out the many PWA websites created for clients (please allow push messages / save icon to device): Click HERE.