December 20th, 2019
PHP is one of the most widely used scripting languages on the web. "PHP is used by 78.9% of all the websites whose server-side programming language we know." - w3techs.com. So as a site designer, here are a few reasons why you should consider using the latest versions of PHP.
- Speed. The latest versions of PHP are always faster than their previous release
- Many popular CMS use PHP. Keeping it up to date aids in the defense against hacking.
- Security. The latest version of PHP work to fix vulnerabilities and flaws.
- Support. The latest version of PHP is always supported. Older versions become outdated with code that is either updated or replaced. Using older versions can end up causing issues. Moreover, newer CMS plugins or modules may not work with older versions of PHP.
- Keeping your PHP website code up to date with the latest versions will help you, in the long run, should you decide to upgrade to a newer version that has typically changed. Your hosting provider may update PHP, which can cause your site to go down. This can create overwhelming work that may need to be done (especially if your hosting server updates to a newer version of PHP where its previous version was ancient and barely supported) all at once to bring your website back up on the web again. A great example is the differences between PHP versions 5.2 and 7.4. There have been so many new features that the upgrade can take your site down.
- Your developer could charge you more because you refuse to update your website to the latest version. Developers have a lot of work to do maintaining your website code. If they have to go back to the older stuff regularly, they may charge you more.
- Some developers may no longer provide their services because your code is so outdated.
- Always check with your trusted hosting provider to ensure they support the latest version of PHP.
Conclusion
Just as Microsoft has an end of life date for older versions of Windows, PHP also has an end of life for supported versions. Don’t get caught with a huge development mess; should your site be using a version of PHP that is so old, you may have shell out more money for development costs and, most importantly, risk your website going down during the entire process, losing sales. As the saying goes, “do the needful,” - update your website to the latest version of PHP.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding this blog, feel free to contact us.