How to Update Your PHP Version to Keep in Line with WordPress Recommendations

What is PHP? PHP is an open source, free-to-use programming language, and because it’s so accessible, it’s one of the most-used programming languages in web development (Facebook uses it, too). Here’s how the back-of-the-house impacts the front-of-the-house: PHP essentially takes information from your database, packages it as CSS and HTML, and then creates your gorgeous site for visitors to see. PHP exists on the server end of things. To compare, something like JavaScript is processed on the client-side of the website, in the browser when someone visits your site. If a website problem is due to a PHP issue, you have to be the one to fix it (or your host does, at least) – even a super fast computer can’t quickly process PHP from a slow server. The moral: PHP is pretty damn important, especially if you have a WordPress site – at least a WordPress site that you want to perform well.