Tutorials – WordPress Plugin Selling Company | Envato Elite Author https://www.wpwebelite.com Wed, 27 Dec 2023 10:41:24 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.2 https://d2rzgim0tts5wa.cloudfront.net/uploads/2023/02/favicon.ico Tutorials – WordPress Plugin Selling Company | Envato Elite Author https://www.wpwebelite.com 32 32 How Much Does It Cost To Develop A WordPress Plugin From Scratch? https://www.wpwebelite.com/blog/cost-to-develop-a-wordpress-plugin-from-scratch/ Wed, 20 Dec 2023 12:41:26 +0000 https://www.wpwebelite.com/?p=2163

Table of Contents

  1. Market Research
  2. The BRD of the WordPress Plugin in consideration of the base plugin
  3. The Billing Rate of Your Developer or Agency
  4. Maintenance of WordPress Plugin after launch
  5. Conclusion

While trying to build a WordPress plugin and finding the true estimate of the WordPress plugin development, you need to know three things:

  1. What is your budget for developing the best WordPress plugin?
  2. How would you diversify and utilize your budget?
  3. What is the purpose of developing the plugin? (self-use or resale)

4 Factors Affect Custom WordPress Plugin Development Cost!

Let’s understand the factors in detail that affect the true cost of WordPress plugin development.

1. Market Research

Market Research


Before you start building a custom WordPress plugin from scratch, you must conduct market research; it is highly essential. You must know if any existing plugin is available in the market that may fulfill your requirement in full or part. You may then be able to use it as a base plugin. The base plugin makes your custom WordPress plugin development cost-effective and time-saving.

Let’s understand this concept with an example… Consider developing a coupon website; you may then consider “WooCommerce PDF vouchers” as the best WordPress plugin as a base plugin.

It may not include certain features such as in-built multi-vendor with commission calculations and frontend voucher builder, pay the price that customer enters, and more, that you may require; but yes, you can customize this plugin in various ways as it’s super flexible to customize. This will help you in reducing your WordPress plugin development cost. This plugin includes the features below, which you may require:

  1. Create & Customize PDF Vouchers for in-person/online redemption
  2. Easy Drag & Drop Builder
  3. Coupon Codes
  4. Quick Scan Codes
  5. Custom Gift Vouchers
  6. Option For Partial Redemption & Unlimited Redemptions
  7. Export Reports
  8. Check Voucher Validity
  9. Gift Recipient Notification
  10. Voucher Redemption Notification

Suppose you have a unique BRD (Business Requirement Document), and there is no plugin available in the market that covers any of the features of your said plugin. In that case, you can always focus on preparing strong BRD and hiring WordPress plugin developers. Once you get the final plugin, you will be able to sell it on various marketplaces such as the Envato market as you are developing a unique idea that does not exist. You will have a chance to earn the money that you have invested during the WordPress plugin development.

2. The BRD of the WordPress Plugin in consideration of the base plugin

The BRD of the WordPress Plugin in consideration of the base plugin

The BRD will have a list of the features that your WordPress plugin will require. Based on those points, you will evaluate the hours of each feature that your plugin requires. You can mention in the BRD that the base plugin already has many features, and the custom feature required is xx, and will take xx hours to develop the plugin.

Based on that, you will be able to evaluate the hours with your budget, and you will be able to know that you need to hire WordPress experts with a specific hourly rate. If it goes out of your budget, you can certainly remove a few features that are not requiring much in the first phase. My thoughts are that if you have a base plugin, you will always get a lesser evaluation than your budget.

You may hire a WordPress plugin developer who provides freelance development services or works in a WordPress plugin development company. Once you have chosen your developer, especially if you’ve hired a developer from a company like us, then you can always get in touch with us with various types of questions such as requesting an estimate of budget, timeline, milestones, and more.

We understand that your prerequisites may change during the project’s progression, but that’s fine with us. We always aim at achieving your development goals and delivering the best results.

3. The Billing Rate of Your Developer or Agency

The Billing Rate of Your Developer or Agency

A standard format of the estimation of hours and costs you can expect from the developer like below:

Hours Estimation

Hourly rate

Total cost

XX hours

YY USD/hour

YY USD

Hours Estimation

XX hours

Hourly rate

YY USD/hour

Total cost

YY USD

Now you have a total WordPress plugin development cost. The normal billing rates in a market range from 15 USD to 100 USD per hour in a market based on the complexity of the plugin features.

Freelancers may charge 15 USD to 50 USD per hour, but you cannot rely upon their work unless they are highly experienced. Suppose you are on a project with a strict deadline to meet. In that case, you should choose an agency specializing in WordPress plugin development services that include well-known plugin authors for any marketplace. We’re suggesting you go with these types of agencies because you will get high-quality work; they follow the best WordPress coding standards, which will offer you an end output plugin that will not cause any issue with any other plugin or theme.

We have witnessed cases where people hire freelancers without checking his/her expertise and experience and getting the final plugin. After ending the contract with the freelancer, they install the plugin on production and get so many conflicts with other plugins and themes.

You can find and hire freelance plugin developers on Upwork, CodeableFiverr, or Freelancer. On the other hand, agency billing rates range from 30 USD per hour up to 275 USD per hour! Before hiring anyone, please ensure that they are having previous proven experience in WordPress plugin development. Before we move on, we’d like to leave you with some suggestions that’ll help you make the most of your investment.

Divide your project into segments:

If you have hired a WordPress plugin developer for the first time, you should divide your complete project into smaller phases; believe us, it’s a great idea. In this way, you’ll be able to manage each phase easily, hold your budget properly, and take reports of the progress adequately.

Keep away from fixed-cost projects:

Fixed-cost projects are a good idea only if you require adding a patch to your existing plugin. If you are looking for a full-fledged 70+ hours custom WordPress plugin development deal, then a “Fixed-cost project” is not something you should be looking for.

Save money with an experienced team:

Budget is an essential factor that can affect the progress of your project; thereby, look for a team with experience and expertise. It will keep you away from unforeseen glitches, inaccurate estimates, and missing deadlines. It will also help you to avoid infinite loopholes, which keep you going back and forth. All these issues can cost you a fortune. An agency providing experienced and expert WordPress plugin development services may offer your premium-budget services, but in the end, it will be all worth your money.

PS: At WPWeb, we have an experienced team who will provide you with custom WordPress plugin development services within your set deadline and budget.

4. Maintenance of WordPress Plugin after launch

Maintenance of WordPress Plugin after launch

Maintenance is something that everyone overlooks when they plan to develop a plugin; however, do not forget, it is an imperative stage to look forward to. The maintenance process has variant scenarios. Let’s have a look at them in detail.

Scenario 1:  You developed the plugin for your business only

You need to check your plugin’s compatibility with the current WordPress version, with the theme, and with other plugins installed on your website. You will not know if WordPress or any plugins will come up with any major updates; therefore, your plugin will lose compatibility with other plugins or WordPress.

In such cases, you will require help from your webmaster or your original plugin developer. Keeping in touch with freelance developers can be challenging, especially if you have already paid them in full. The best way out here is to hire a WordPress plugin developer from an agency like us to develop your required plugin. Agencies offer codes with comments, making the coding simple, and easy to understand, and anyone can fix the glitch with minimal effort and time.

Scenario 2:  You developed the plugin for selling purposes only

As an author of the plugin, it’s your responsibility to keep your plugin compatible; thereby, you must frequently check your plugin’s compatibility with WordPress and its well-known themes. You should also make sure that your plugin is compatible with other available platforms in the market.

These days, you can hire a dedicated developer from an agency, which offers maintenance services and can dedicatedly help you with improvements and fixes. With such a WordPress plugin development company, you can utilize their developers in improving your plugin, fixing issues, managing launches, and gaining technical support at all times.

Are you still not satisfied with the information that we have provided you? No problem!

We will provide you with the contact details required to end your search for the best WordPress plugin for your business. Contact us now.

Please note: The quotations listed below are purely based on previous experience, subject to change. The information given below offers you a general idea and must be confirmed with the company you hire. Moreover, the costs listed below do not include maintenance charges.

Low Range: 2,000 USD – 5,000 USD

Low-range costs are valid for small-size plugins, which are good for adding only a few features to your website. This is the least you should be expecting when you want a small plugin development.

Medium Range: 5,000 USD – 20,000 USD

If you are looking for a plugin with an evolved, complex version, this is the budget you should be planning for; however, you will get an exact idea only when you request a formal quotation from a WordPress plugin development company.

Average Range: 20,000 USD – 45,000 USD

If you have a comprehensive plugin requirement, your idea will likely fall under this average budget. The low and medium range of development shall only serve your purpose at the beginner’s level.

High Range: 45,000 USD and Above

You will fall into this budget if you have a plugin requirement that requires a unique concept, detailed research, and in-depth requirement analysis. Your plugin here shall be feature-rich and shall involve comprehensive coding and complex development. This is where you will get custom WordPress plugin development services.

Frequently Asked Questions

What factors influence cost for custom WordPress plugin development?

Plugin complexity, features, security needs, design, integrations, custom admin interfaces, and ongoing support/updates impact costs. Budget more for enterprise-grade plugins.

How can I estimate costs for a custom WordPress plugin build?

Get quotes from several developers outlining project scope, rates, time/talent needs. Small plugins may range $3K-$5K+. Enterprise plugins $15K+. Provide detailed requirements.

What monthly costs are typical for maintaining a custom WordPress plugin long-term?

Plan for $1K-$3K+ monthly for plugin maintenance like fixes, feature additions, WordPress version testing, security hardening, performance monitoring, user support.

Conclusion!

Developing a custom WordPress plugin is a significant investment, but the long-term benefits for your business can make it well worth the initial costs. Through upfront market research, creating a detailed requirements document, understanding developer rates, and budgeting for ongoing maintenance, you can determine if building a new plugin is the strategic choice for your needs and budget.

By following a structured development process, clearly documenting requirements, allowing adequate time for iteration and testing, partnering with an experienced WordPress developer can deliver immense value through customization. While building a plugin from scratch requires serious capital investment on Day 1, choosing the right strategic features aligned to your business goals can pay dividends for years through increased efficiency, revenue, and competitive advantage.

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18 Causes And Fixes To Save Your WordPress Website From Hacking https://www.wpwebelite.com/blog/causes-and-fixes-to-save-your-wordpress-website-from-hacking/ Fri, 28 May 2021 05:27:46 +0000 https://www.wpwebelite.com/?p=2528

Table of Contents

  1. Why Is Improving WordPress Website Security necessary?
  2. If your website is hacked, you might see the following changes in your site
  3. 18 Causes and Fixes behind your hacked WordPress Website
  4. Clean your Hacked Website
  5. Final Thoughts

Securing any website has become a task of daily routine. Nowadays, a website directory contains important data that needs a high level of security to be saved from the hands of malware attackers. This WordPress security guide will help you ensure safety of your website.

This blog will let you know the common causes behind your hacked website and provide some WordPress Security tips that will prevent your WordPress Website from hacking and eventually improve WordPress Website Performance.

Why is Improving WordPress Website Security necessary?

A website is home to many important data and content. We firmly suggest you to always follow WordPress Development Coding standards to secure your website as well as improvise its performance.

With the advancing technology, there comes a need for a WordPress Development Service Provider to cope up with the challenging world. This becomes difficult when a hacker tries to disturb your IT infrastructure while breaking security barriers.

Any website holds visitors’ personal information like IP address or Google account credentials. This raises a necessity to save them from being hacked and leaked publicly. Hacking directly affects WordPress website performance.

Changes you will see if your site is hacked

  1. Your files can auspiciously be submitted to PHP backdoors.
  2. You will get a warning from your web host stating that your website contains malware.
  3. You will get to see unknown pop-ups not created by your developers.
  4. Your live files can be changed or modified.
  5. Malware codes can be added to your coding database.
  6. Your website can lead to many other defective websites.
  7. Other restricted users can access your admin directory.
  8. Your website can become a box of spamming pictures or posts.
  9. Google may restrict your visitors from using your site with a warning of an unprotected website.

Securing your data is not a secondary task. Move on to the various causes and fix them before any threat to prevent your WordPress website from hacking.

18 Causes and Fixes behind your hacked WordPress Website

1. Unsecure Web Hosting

It highly matters on your web hosting. Hackers have an easy way to attack through your unsecured web hosting platforms. Sometimes, the hosting provider assigns a single host to multiple websites, which increases the risk of ransomware attacks. So, Considering right hosting for WordPress site can help you stay safe from malicious attacks.

A secured web hosting will provide security protection to make sure your website holds a protected content.

To secure your web hosting and increase your WordPress website performance, apply measures such as install firewall protection or use FTP to protect your server and handle any security breach.

unsecure web hosting

Your webhost can even provide you with the cloudflare CDN which is more recommended than the hosts who do not have CDN facilities. This can cause you a minimal charge in exchange for their services.

However, fact-check that the best hosting provider will always be a little costly. For us, WPEngine has been best hosting provider. The assumption that your site doesn’t need security as it is not fully developed or is for a small-scale business, you are significantly missing an important part. Thus, other than WPengine and WordPress VIP can act as your powerful web host.

2. Weak Password Strength

Passwords are the roots behind a great cause. Weak passwords work just as a simple task for a dedicated hacker. Any hacker can easily break passwords that are monotonous, using familiar characters, or are not case sensitive.

The example of common weak passwords can be WordPress, admin, house, etc. Your admin directory will need a password and a username. Every time you try to login into your directory, a ‘guessed login’ appears, using which a hacker can easily crack the code.

weak password strength

The most strong password contains 12 characters: a mixture of various letters, symbols, and special characters forming a non-dictionary word. For example, Weak passwords can be modified as W@rdpress123 or @dm!n2343 such that it contains capital fonts, numerical, and at least one special character.

In fact, passwords are also necessary to secure your emails, cPanel, FTP accounts, MYSQL accounts, and others connected to your admin dashboard to secure your WordPress website.

Check your password strength using various tools present online. You should have the practice of changing your admin password regularly at least every week.

3. Unsecured WP Directory

WordPress admin is the most vulnerable section. In a hacking attempt attacker generally try to access paths to the WP admin directory. If they succeed, they can modify your files or even add malicious code to your database.

If your admin dashboard has multiple users, you can assign a strong password and add a layer of authentication to access. This can also be done by applying end-to-end encryption.

unsecured wp directory

By adding two layers, you are enabling your backend user to pass through two steps:

  1. Adding username and password
  2. Adding passcode to verify the user

To enable two factor authentication, use Google Authenticator. Two factor authentication can help you prevent unauthorised access.

You can create a security layer with the help of .htaccess. Follow the steps for successful creation:

1. First create a .htpasswds file. You can do so easily by using the Htpasswd generator. Upload this file outside your /public_html/ directory. A good path would be: home/user/.htpasswds/public_html/wp-admin/passwd/

2. Then, create a .htaccess file and upload it in /wp-admin/ directory. Then add the following codes in there:

  1. AuthName “Admins Only”
  2. AuthUserFile /home/yourdirectory/.htpasswds/public_html/wp-admin/passwd
  3. AuthGroupFile /dev/null
  4. AuthType basic
  5. require user putyourusernamehere

You must update your username there. Also don’t forget to update the AuthUserFile location path.

3. This is also dependent on the server configuration like after adding this security if you are getting 404 too many redirects error, to fix this issue, open your main WordPress .htaccess file and add the following code there before the WordPress rules start.
ErrorDocument 401 default

4. If you have any feature on the frontend with Ajax load feature and it breaks after adding this security, Open the .htaccess file located in your /wp-admin/ folder (This is NOT the main .htaccess file that we edited above).
In the wp-admin .htaccess file, paste the following code:

  1. <Files admin-ajax.php>
  2. Order allow,deny
  3. Allow from all
  4. Satisfy any
  5. </Files>

4. Invalid File Permissions

There will be multiple files and folders seeking some set of file permissions. WordPress File permissions will let any user read, write or execute the file. Incorrect file permissions will lead to the loss or leakage of significant data.

invalid file permissions

There are specifically recommended file permissions to set up to secure your WordPress Website.

There’s a number for all possible levels of file permissions, as follows:

  1. 0 – No access at all
  2. 1 – Execute
  3. 2 – Write
  4. 3 – Write, and execute
  5. 4 – Read
  6. 5 – Read, and execute
  7. 6 – Read, and write
  8. 7 – Read, write and execute

The ideal value for your WordPress files should be 644, and for WordPress, folders should be 755. Check out this article to know more about changing file permissions.

files permissions-folder permissions

5. Un-Updated WordPress

un-updated wordpress

By not updating your WordPress website will invite many hackers as they can access your website’s bugs and flaws. Static WordPress files often lead to threats.

It may happen that due to un-updated features, your WordPress website performance lowers. Its functionality limits by syncing no new data on your site.

Anything in WordPress will function perfectly if you timely update your sites, files, and folders. By updating, the bugs will get fixed, and the site will tend to be more secure.

If you live in fear that you will eventually break your site performance by updating, you can back up your data and then move into updating.

Standard and easy solution is to prepare one staging environment of the production website that will be an exact clone of the production website. You will always have one chance to try the updates on staging first and if all working fine then update on the production server.

Update your site not once or twice instead keep checking on updates and Update WordPress regularly.

6. Inactive Plugins and Themes

Just one defective plugin or theme can make your entire site vulnerable. Plugins are extended features and are applied to your website externally to improve your website’s functionality. However, if any plugin fails to cooperate with the rest of the features of your WordPress website, you will eventually fall into compromising the website’s performance. Hence they are the most susceptible when it comes to WordPress Website Security.

When choosing plugins, it becomes vital to check if they are accurately updated and compatible with other features of WordPress and ensure it doesn’t create any path for hackers to enter.

Themes and plugins are generally easier to fix bugs. However, updating them regularly will null out many unwanted issues regarding plugins and themes.

Also you can use the staging website – clone of production website to presume the working of your website.

7. Plain FTP Protection

To upload files to your website, you will need an FTP client to transfer files. Using a plain FTP will allow unauthorized users to read and decode the information as the password is sent unencrypted.

It is advisable to use SFTP or SSH as your FTP client. While connecting, change your protocol to SFTP or SSH instead of plain FTP.

plain ftp protection

FileZilla is the most popular FTP client. You can change all these settings directly from the WordPress Admin panel.

public key authentication

8. Weak Default WP Username and Admin URL

Admin is the most common username for any WP administrator. If you are using your admin username with this name, it is highly recommended to change it immediately.

To prevent your WordPress Website from hacking through admin paths, change your admin username.

We believe our WP admin username can’t be changed. This is a myth around many WordPress admin users. You can go with simple tricky way to change admin user name like create new admin user and delete the older one.

Also hiding your crucial login URL is important. The first and major security is to change the WordPress admin login URL, because every user knows the default login URL to your dashboard. So with the WPS Hide Login you can easily change your WordPress login URL with a unique URL which you only know.

weak default wp username and admin url

The default admin URL generally ends as /wp-admin or /wp-login.php. It is advisable to change it and make your admin login URL customized.

Securing other default WordPress folders also becomes necessary, when fixing the overall WordPress website’s security. To change wp-content folder, follow the points below:

1. Open the “wp-config.php” file in the root folder. Add the below code snippet above the line
require_once (ABSPATH . 'wp-settings.php');

Don’t forget to replace “Folder_Name” /codewith the actual folder name.

  1. //Rename wp-content folder
  2. define (‘WP_CONTENT_FOLDERNAME’, ‘Folder_Name’);

2. After that we need to define the new directory path and URL. To do that, add the below code above the line
require_once (ABSPATH . 'wp-settings.php');

  1. //Define new directory path
  2. define (‘WP_CONTENT_DIR’, ABSPATH . WP_CONTENT_FOLDERNAME);
  3. //Define new directory URL
  4. define(‘WP_SITEURL’, ‘http://’ . $_SERVER[‘HTTP_HOST’] . ‘/’);
  5. define(‘WP_CONTENT_URL’, WP_SITEURL . WP_CONTENT_FOLDERNAME);

9. Nulled Themes and Plugins

WordPress directory contains more than 60000 plugins. Yet, many unlikely sources assure free customized plugins and themes for your websites. Beware of these nulled themes and plugins. Choose secured WordPress Plugin Development services providers who are trusted sellers on online platforms like CodeCanyon, Zapier, Celigo, etc.

Do not download the free plugins and themes from an unknown source. Always hop onto the official website of WordPress to install your plugins.

While downloading from a malicious server, you may invite many hackers to create fuzz in your website, steal your personal information, and misuse it.

If you do not find it right to go for paid sources, then you can certainly shift to it’s free versions available in WordPress. This might not be as powerful as a paid one, but will manage to make your WordPress website secure.

10. Unsecured WordPress Configuration File

unsecured wordpress configuration file

Your website’s login identities are stored in WordPress configuration files wp-config.php. If this file is not maintained correctly, you may involve a significant threat to your website.

Protect your configuration file while adding a layer of protection through .htaccess. Just add codes to your directory.
This will allow limited access to your wp_files and thus will prevent its access to the intended hackers.

  1. <files wp-config.php>
  2. Order allow,deny
  3. deny from all
  4. </files>

11. Unchanged WordPress Table Prefix

When installing WordPress, you get your WordPress table prefix as wp_ by default. As this common prefix is easy to hack, this needs to be changed. You have an option to change the prefix and make it more unique.

WordPress table prefix can be done at the time of installation only. Read for this tutorial to change the prefix.

In total, there are 11 default WordPress table prefixes. You need to change all of them in order to lower the chance of WordPress websites from hacking.

12. Too Many Inactive Users

too many inactive users

During operating the back-end, there are several users for the website. If they actively use the admin panel, it does not create any issue. But if the admin is full of inactive users, they should immediately be removed, to prevent a chance for any hacker to enter through it.

Inactive user’s passwords may be weak enough as they will not be updated frequently. Hence this becomes vulnerable.

You can change your inactive users and assign them the role as a ‘Subscriber.’ These inactive users even can load up your site and poor your website’s performance. Hence removing will not only remove threat, but will also clear the paths to increase your website functioning.

13. Enabled File Editing

There are multiple users involved while developing a website. All the users must not be granted permission for every file editing unless needed. If any hacker manages to enter the admin directory through them, this will create a problem.

Disable file editing from the admin panel. If you allow file editing, you are welcoming the malware attackers to change your codes or details. Manually restricting permission may be troublesome. Disabling file editing can be done through writing a code:

  1. define(‘DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT’, true);

14. Losing Un-backed Up Data

losing un-backed up data

If you do not create a regular backup for your website, you might end up losing a panel of essential data.

If the hacker changes any information from your content and is not ready with your original piece of data, you may fall into severe threats.

Backing up data will not save us from hacking, but a backed-up site will help us recover from the damage.

Keep your site and data up-to-date for which backup your sites regularly. This will help to restore your data after the attack. Your hosting provider offers the service of website backup.

Besides, there are multiple plugins available that will backup and restore your data. You can even backup the data of your site directly from WordPress.

Besides, check with your WordPress host, they have the extended service to provide automatic back-ups for your WordPress website.

15. Unsecured Website URL

unsecured website url

Unsecured websites are a large source of malware resources. Hackers are prone to hit your site if you don’t have an HTTPS URL.

In fact, searching numerous unprotected sites can lead to malware viruses entering into your device and attacking your data.

Any website you see has HTTPS in their URLs, which means their site is secured, and all the information between the website and its user is secured with the layer of encryption.

You can easily convert your website to HTTPS or download an SSL certificate that secures all the levels of information.

By SSL certificate, you secure everything of your user browser to a safe level. Hackers are less likely to break the encrypted security layer.

You can get your free SSL certificate for your WordPress Website from Letsencrypt.

16. No Security Plugin

Plugins are the prominent features to prevent your WordPress Website from hacking. If you do not run any plugin on your website, you may manually manage the performance of the website.

Though WordPress has its own security features, they are not enough to protect the entire site by every means. Plugins play a part here. They are customizable and can save your targeted WordPress website.

There are numerous WordPress plugins available free on the WordPress directory. They can boost the productivity of your WordPress website. Among them, some of the best WordPress Security Plugins are listed below:

  1. Wordfence
  2. iThemes Security Pro
  3. Jetpack Security
  4. Sucuri
  5. WPScan

Security Plugins help your website to remain protected and secure from its confidential data. Sometimes repairing a hacked website can be more time and cost-consuming.

WordPress security plugins can detect any threat or notify for any update in advance, preventing your WordPress website from hacking.

We use WordFence as our WordPress security plugin. It feels useful as it works as an endpoint firewall server which provides a better prevention from malware attacks.

17. Unsecured Debug Logs

unsecured debug logs

When any plugin or theme is downloaded, a debug log is created in the PHP file to analyze any error in the files. This is represented by a debug constant.

These log files are kept enabled during the live site to log errors. However, this can sometimes disclose the information to the hackers through which they get a chance to edit and enter malware functionalities.

A debug log contains error information and database operations. Hence it is trivial to secure your website debug log. It is advisable to secure your debug files by withdrawing the constant or setting it to false by default.

  1. define( ‘WP_DEBUG’, false );

I strongly recommend to do not enable debug logs on production server and keep enabled for staging server only.

18. Unsecure Server

Public servers are always an eye for intended hackers. Never login to any file using any public server. This can be a trap, and hackers can steal a piece of information.

Public servers are always an open-source network. If you try to login to your site using any open networks, you are eventually registering your IP address and other credentials into it. This leaked info is much easier for technocrats to use illegally.

You can use VPN ( Virtual Private Network). This server can be called as a DNS proxy server which adds a request to public DNS and sets up a network.

Any secured WordPress directories or admin sections must be logged in through trusted networks. Your WordPress host sometimes uses a shared network for your site which creates an issue.

Trusted VPN do not tunnel into cryptographic channels instead they use a private network to scroll into details.

Clean your Hacked Website

After taking care of so many things, still, your website gets attacked, don’t panic and follow the steps to recover from the damage:

1. Identify Hack

The first and foremost step is to identify the hack. For this, you will need to check few things to know the actual damage to the website:

  1. Check the login access to your admin panel
  2. Check the redirecting sites which direct from your website
  3. Check any malware links on the website
  4. Check Google status of security

It is advisable to change your password before and after the recovery.

2. Check With Your Hosting Company

Host providers can help you in this situation. Share your problem with the company, and they may analyze the problem thoroughly.

Many times, there may be a possibility that the damage has spread beyond the site because of the shared network. In that case, the host can help you solve the problem as they have a team of experts to solve this daily.

3. Restore From Backup

Regularly backing up your site is not enough. If you need to prevent hacking, restore your data regularly besides backup. This will lower the after-effect of hacking.

This proves to be a golden opportunity to beat the hacker. Hence it is an excellent practice to backup your site and restore it to a safer place timely.

4. Malware Scan and Removal

Most of the hackers upload their malware codes in the backdoor. Hence even after malware removal, these files remain hidden in the backdoor.

WordPress Security plugins scan the site thoroughly and detect the location of the harm. This way, it will clean your area thoroughly.

There are few things that you can do: Installing the plugins like WordFence or there are few commands that you can run on your server.

How to scan for malware with ClamAV on Server

1. The first step is to install and get the latest signature updates. To do this on various linux distributions, you can open a terminal and insert below command based on Operating System and press enter:

  1. a. Debian / Ubuntu
  2. apt-get update
  3. apt-get install clamav
  1. b. RHEL/CentOS
  2. yum install -y epel-release
  3. yum install -y clamav
  4. yum install -y clamd
  1. c. Fedora
  2. yum install -y clamav clamav-update
  1. d. macOS
  2. brew install clamav

2. You may also build ClamAV from sources for better scanning performance. To update the signatures, you type “sudo freshclam” on a terminal session and press enter:

  1. sudo freshclam

3. Now we are ready to scan our system. To do this, you can use the “clamscan” command. This is a rich command that can work with many different parameters so you’d better insert “clamscan –-help” on the terminal first and see the various things that what you can do with it:

  1. clamscan –-help

4. Scan Files for Viruses with ClamAV
The general usage of clamscan is:

  1. clamscan [options] [file/directory/-]

5. To scan the “Downloads” folder located under the home directory, and choose to output only infected files and ring a bell when (and if) they are found. This translates to the following command on the terminal:

  1. clamscan -r –bell -i /home/username/Downloads

6. To scan the whole system (it may take a while) and remove all infected files in the process, you can use the command in the following form:

  1. clamscan -r –remove /

Note: Sometimes, simply removing infected files can cause even more problems or breakages. I suggest that you should always check the output first and then take manual action. Alternatively, you may also use the “move” command integrated as a parameter in the form of “–move=/home/bill/my_virus_collection” (example directory).”

5. Check User Permission

Assign your admin permission to trusted users only. Delete any inactive users that may be a source for any hacker.

Disable or restrict permission to your file directory. This can be done in the settings panel of your admin dashboard.

6. Change Passwords

Change every password and make it a unique one. Weak passwords are a welcoming point for hackers.

Check your password strength before confirming your password.

7. Strengthening Of WordPress Website

Besides maintaining the above 18 remedies, strengthen your website well ahead. For that, keep in mind the following things:

  1. Install firewall protection
  2. Install a security plugin
  3. Disable plugin and themes editing
  4. Restrict admin permissions
  5. Limit your login attempts

Final Thoughts

Running a business online is itself a complex procedure involving a massive amount of resources. Keeping them safe becomes essential not to let your data leak into malicious hands. You can improve your WordPress website performance with this list of 18 fixes and prevent it from hacking.

If you’re not that confident with the technicalities of it all or lack the time, hiring a good agency for WordPress maintenance or to remove malware from the website is the good option. Regular website maintenance and updates are the most effective way to keep your website running smoothly and free from security threats. Let us know other security hacks besides mentioned in this blog in the comment section. I hope, by reading the above WordPress Security Tips, you will have more security of your WordPress Website.

Also, keep in touch with us to avail WordPress security benefits and guidance from our WordPress experts.

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WordPress Development Coding Standards: A Detailed Manual to Contribute to WordPress https://www.wpwebelite.com/blog/wordpress-development-coding-standards-guide/ Tue, 20 Apr 2021 12:17:57 +0000 https://www.wpwebelite.com/?p=2218

Table of Contents

  1. Why do WordPress Developers need Coding Standards?
  2. HTML Coding Standards
  3. CSS Coding Standards
  4. JavaScript Coding Standards
  5. PHP Coding Standards
  6. Your Valuable Contribution
  7. How WPWeb Contributed?

Why do WordPress Developers need Coding Standards?

There may be a scenario where an excellent WordPress Development Company needs hundreds of hands to make it flawless in technical terms- bug-free.

There are even specific times that a WordPress developer might have to leave amidst the making of the codes.

Or, WordPress developers may have specific skills within the particular sector. All these possibilities lead to the framing of coding standards. To crack the flow of work, developers often adapt to this method. Anyone can easily pick it up from the leftover. This helps in comprehending a touchstone for a cumulative review of the work of WordPress developers.

WordPress coding standards are not just the memorized syntaxes that you follow. They are the practices that are being followed to avoid complexities and increase the readability of the code.

Codes should be written to redirect the same thought as carved in mind. Also, readability should be given prime importance. It should be neatly woven into the thread that could make an entire heavy functional coding program appear simple.

“It is not the language that makes programs appear simple. It is the programmer that makes the language appear simple!” ― Robert C. Martin

Let’s dive into the ocean of information. WordPress CMS Development Company uses coding practices in almost four programming languages HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP.

HTML Coding Standards

HTML Coding Standards

Wrong codes are not a problem; they can be cleaned out. But the cleaning can cost heavily and takes time. Thus HTML code should be verified at the W3C validator to flush out the problems tested in automation.

Indentation

This is used to show the start of a paragraph or block. In WordPress, Indentation can be done through ‘tabs’ or ‘two spaces.’ On an excellent code, using tabs proves beneficial.

This can also help when combining the flag of PHP and HTML. Tabs can shoot up the readability of the code very high.

This practice always lands a WordPress Developer in a logical structure. One thing to keep in mind while matching PHP and HTML is that closing PHP blocks should reach the level of indentation of that of opening blocks.

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Quotes

Any attribute must be mandatorily quoted, at least for XHTML.

Quotes are chained into single and double quotes considering string and non string values.

A single quote can be used for a non-string value, whereas a double quote for the string value.

Quoting can diminish security vulnerabilities.

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Self-closing Element

All the tags must be closed efficiently. If forgotten, may fail to work the code. Do not always rely on self-closing tags; the forward slash should be exactly before one space.

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Attributes and Tags

All the attributes and tags must be written in a minor case. Using the upper case at preferred locations will increase readability for humans. In contrast, the machine will cipher the tags in lowercase.

For Human:

For Machine:

Best Practices

CSS Coding Standards

CSS Coding Standards

CSS coding is all about readability, meaningful codes, and a consistent and beautiful framework. The program should appear as a single entity besides being coded by multiple users. Sometimes there seem inconsistencies in the stylesheet made by the frontend developer.

Structure

There are numerous ways to structure the stylesheet. However, inconsistencies may be present in the core WordPress CSS codes. This must be eliminated, and proper CSS coding standards may be followed. A clear understanding of the flow is the main idea behind all these standards.

Use tabs and not spaces to indent.

Two blank lines must be inserted in one section, and one blank line must be used between blocks.

The selector must be in its line ending in a comma or an open curly bracket.

Property value pair must be in its line with one tab indentation and ending in a hyphen.

The closing bracket must be pushed to the left with the same indentation as an open selector.

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Selector

Efficiency will rise while using a broad selector. Though good codes, if not tested, will create issues.

The location-specific stylesheet will save time but will lead to cluttered stylesheets. Selectors should be such that it contributes to the Document Object Model’s overall style and development (DOM).
Some of the practices are:

Like PHP coding, the lowercase should be used separately by a hyphen.

Avoid camelcase and underscore.

Use a human-readable selector that best describes the element style. Use a double-quoted attribute selector around values.

div. The container can be easily explained as .container and thus neglect over qualified selector.

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Properties

Selecting and managing appropriate properties will bring down the size of codes. Too much styling will also create issues in the flexibility of the program.

The codes should be in fluidity and not into a fixed dimension. The following are the best practices a WordPress developer may follow:

  1. Followed by colon and space
  2. Font name and vendor-specific properties should be represented in the uppercase
  3. Hex Code should be used for colors, and if necessary, rgba() can be used for opacity
  4. Avoid RGB format and upper case.
  5. Shorten the value, like #FFFFFF becomes #fff
  6. Use shorthand for non-overriding styles like margin, padding values, font, size, etc.
  7. When the repo is expansive, every bit and byte counts

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Properties Ordering

Properties can be grouped by ordering into meaningful groups. It can be grouped so that transitions can be created between sections like the background before color.

Creating a baseline such as; Display, Positioning, Box model, Color, Typography, Other.

Sometimes, some properties may not be in the core. But it can be placed in any of the categories listed above. E.g., CSS3 animation.

Margin can be placed and ordered as (TRBL) top, right, bottom, left. Corner specifiers should be TL, TR, BR, and BL.

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Vendor Prefix

Autoprefixer manages browser prefixes making the section doubtful. Without Grunt, the longest (-WebKit-) can become the shortest (unprefixed).

Code:

Commenting

Commenting is a good practice often accepted by coders.

This will help for a clear and faster understanding of the complex codes by other coders. Commenting should be liberal.

Commenting is allowed up to 80 characters in length as this will help in maintaining file size. Make Use of minified files and script_DEBUG constant.

Provide a table of content for longer stylesheets, especially highly sectioned. Use index numbers (1.0, 1.1, 1.2, etc) to search and jump locations.

As such, as possible, use the format as PHPDoc. Section and subsection should have a new line before and after.

Don’t leave newlines empty between the inline comments.

Value

There are multiple ways to input values for your properties.

  1. Use space before the value
  2. Ending in a semicolon
  3. Using double quotes
  4. 0 values should not have units.

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Best Practices

JavaScript Coding Standards

JavaScript Coding Standards

Code Refactoring

Older .js files satisfy the coding standards. “Whitespace-only” patches are not acceptable now

Spacing is indeed a good practice. It improves the readability of codes. Indentation should be used with tabs. No whitespaces must be allowed.

Blocks will reside on multiple lines using braces. Having trailing whitespaces at the end is considered as an error in .jsHint

For short objects and arrays, they could be delivered as a single line, while represented as per object per line, if they are too long.

A good spacing example may be:

Indentation and Line Break

As discussed above, this will increase the readability of the code. In Fact, for any closure, use a tab for indentation.

Blocks and Brackets

If, else, for, while, try must use braces and could be represented in multiple lines.

The opening brace should be in the same line as the condition or loop, while the closing bracket should be in the consecutive line.

Multiline Statement

If the block is too long, a line break should occur after an operator.

The break should be applied such that it retains logical meaning.

If too long, each operand of the logical operator in a boolean must appear in its line.

Chained Method Calls

If the code is too long, there should be one call per line following the first call in a separate line.

If the tactic changes context, an extra indentation is required.

Declaring variables

For code ES2015, const or let ought to be employed in place of var. If a value is assigned, allow should be used or constable if the value is not reassigned.

If a function does not start with var, it can lead to the outer scope. Assignments in var should be listed in individual lines.

Global

Earlier, there was heavy use of globals, since now javascript is used within plugins, WordPress has lowered the Use of globals.

All the documented globals should be on top.

Valid after password strength suggests that global is being outlined. If you omit true, this can convert it into read-only.

Common Libraries

Backbone, jQuery, Underscore, and global WordPress are registered in the root, .jshintrc file.

Backbone and underscore are readily available.

jQuery ought to be accessed through $ bypassing the jQuery object in an associate degree unknown function.

Add to or modify file should safely access to global for overwriting on antecedently set.

Iteration

While using the ‘for’ loop, store the loops’ maximum value as a variable instead of re-computing the maximum every time.

Best Practices

PHP Coding Standards

PHP Coding Standards

Formatting SQL Statement

Functions that update the database should expect their parameters to lack SQL slash escaping by using $wpdb—-prepare()

String placeholders use %s

%d is used for integer placeholders.

Naming Conventions

Only lower case must be used. Classname should be capitalized along with Acronym separated by an underscore.

Constant should be represented as upper case and underscore for space. Files have to be named descriptively and separated by hyphens for space.

Files containing template tags must include -a template appended to the end of the name so that they are apparent.

Clever Code

Besides creating clever code, it should be highly readable. Unless necessary, the loose comparison mustn’t be used as their behavior may be dishonest.

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Assignments might not be placed in conditional.

It’s okay to own multiple empty cases that fall flat on a typical block in switch statements.

If a case contains a block, then it falls through the following partnership.

No Shorthand PHP Tags

Always use full PHP tags

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Remove Trailing Spaces

If you’re employing a tag, check that you’re removing the whitespaces at the tip.

Trailing edge whitespaces prevails at the tip of every line of code. Removing it’ll improve secret writing observation.

Multiline Functional Calls

Multifunction must be in a new line every time. Single or inline comments can take their own line.

Interpolation

Dynamic hooks are bestly named using interpolation instead of concatenation. Variables used in hook tags should be written in curly brackets with the outer tag name between double quotes.

Yoda Conditions

Put all the variables on the right side and rest everything on the left side. If there are no variables, the order will not be crucial. Yoda conditions for =, <,>,<=, >= are all difficult to read and so they are avoided.

Best Practices

Your Valuable Contributions!

Every WordPress developer is unique in their code. This uniqueness should be accessible to every other coder in order to have inputs of their own creativity.

A successful WordPress CMS Development company needs plenty of WordPress developers to extract each piece of information and build a powerful WordPress website. If you wish to create, we definitely want you!

WordPress is open-source. You can contribute to it freely and immediately.

You can make WordPress at make.wordpress.org all free and be a contributor at WordPress official.

There are many wordcamps organized around the world, where the contributor gets an open platform to share their views.

The prettiest WordPress code Award is offered to the best codes and you can definitely be the one.

Code is not a program, it’s poetry. Try your hand and be a WordPress Coder.

How WPWeb contribute?

We are the leading WordPress Development Company. While WordPress offers the most flexible way to build a website, we follow the maximum coding standards.

Our WordPress developers have varied sets of unique codes. This has helped many beginning developers to improve or design their codes. If you wish to create, We are with you! For any guidance from our expert, contact us.

Felt informative? You can read some of our other blogs on the Cost to develop a WordPress Plugin too.

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