PHP 5.6 and 7.0 have reached their end of life (EOL) dates in February 2019. This means we have to perform a compulsory upgrade to our server infrastructure so it remains up to date and secure.
How this affects your website
85% of the websites we have built will be upgraded without issue. This is especially true if you’ve had the yearly WordPress maintenance updates completed (you can view the last email about this here).
In some instances out of date plugins or WordPress CMS, versions will be affected and will need to be upgraded. In this case, we will notify the clients affected. Depending on the amount of work required some charges may apply.
We will advise of any costs before proceeding in all cases.
PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor (or simply PHP) is a server-side scripting language designed for web development.
What is PHP?
PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor (or simply PHP) is a server-side scripting language designed for web development.
What are the main benefits of this update?
1. Support for PHP 7.0 and below officially ends 28 March 2019
Like any other software, as newer versions are released, support for the older versions gets dropped as more and more people upgrade.
2. Better Website Speeds
PHP 7.0 removed many outdated functions that were dragging down older versions, making it more efficient than ever before, and 7.2 takes it even further. This new, leaner version of PHP allows your site to load and respond much faster than previous versions.
3. Better Website Security
PHP 5.x had hundreds of security issues that got patched up over time. If your site is running an earlier version of PHP, some of these vulnerabilities might still be present.
4. Improved Processing of Website Data
WordPress core, theme, and plugin files all require varying amounts of memory to run; the more complex the task, the more memory is required. And when they hit that limit of memory they crash. In short, upgrading to PHP 7.2 means much less memory is required, allowing more cool stuff to happen on your site and fewer crashes.
