How to Update Themes and Plugins in WordPress

What are Themes and Plugins?

Before i show you how to update themes and plugins you must know what a theme and plugin is. Below are short definitions you should be aware of.

Themes- A WordPress theme changes the design of your website, often including its layout. Changing your theme changes how your site looks on the front-end, i.e. what a visitor sees when they browse to your site on the web. 

Pugins- A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. 

Why do you update Themes and Plugins?

The developers of your themes and plugins will roll out updates frequently to keep their product compatible with WordPress and other plugins. Knowing how to update themes and plugins will prevent your website from crashing due to deprecation. Updating themes and plugins is crucial for site health and speed.

How to update Themes and Pugins

To update themes and plugins navigate to dashboard > updates. You will see a list of plugins or theme updates that have been rolled out. Once you have selected what you would like to update- you will click UPDATE PLUGINS

• 

Before you update

Updating your website is important. Before you update your website you need to take a backup as well. You can read my blog post about how to take a backup here. The health of your website is important and dependant on you backing up and updating your site. Don’t forget this crucial step before updating your website. You never know how an update may react with your site and you always want to be able to restore the previous site.