How Often Should You Redesign Your Website?

Classic Editor or Block Editor (Gutenberg)

Sometimes Technology Decides When it’s Time to Redesign Your Website

When WordPress 5.0 was released in December 2018, it came with a new WordPress block editor; Gutenberg. To help millions of WordPress users make the transition from the “Classic” editor to the new Block editor, they had the option of installing the Classic Editor plugin.

WordPress support for the Classic Editor was slated to end on December 31, 2021, but has been extended until the end of this year. It’s not as if your Classic plugin is going to vanish and/or will no longer work. It’s that this plugin will no longer be supported. For optimal performance, along with security issues, it’s best practice to always use the latest versions of plugins, themes, and WordPress.

As of now, classic users have a one-year extension.

“After discussing this with Matt [Mullenweg], it’s clear that continuing to support the plugin through 2022 is the right call for the project as well as the community.”

(Source: WP Tavern)

If your website was built before 2018 and using the Classic Editor, instead of Block Editor (Gutenberg), for the sake of keeping your website functioning at its best, redesign your website and switch over to the Block Editor.

If you’ve been using the Classic editor for years, Gutenberg will be a learning curve. Be that as it may, Gutenberg is not going anywhere. Like all new technology, whatever you “used to do” to create pages and posts on your website is no longer what you “will be doing.”

One of the advantages of using the block editor is that it’s now a lot easier to add tables and columns to the page. You “used to” either need HTML code, or a plugin. Now you can easily add responsive column blocks and put whatever content you want inside those columns.

If your theme was built using the Classic version, you will reach a point when you will need to upgrade your theme to Gutenberg Blocks, or redesign your website and change themes to one that was built with Blocks in mind. I’m already running into a situation on a couple of sites where some newer plugins cannot be used in the Classic Editor. As a result, the website has some pages built in Classic and some in Blocks. Not an ideal situation.

Did an Upgrade Take Down Your Website?

Once in awhile, doing the required plugin upgrades can end up taking down your entire website. If, after you do a plugin upgrade, you’re now faced with the dreaded “white screen of death” and have been locked out of your site, don’t panic! There is an easy fix to that problem.

If, on the other hand, that fix doesn’t solve the blank screen problem and you have no off-line backup copies of your ENTIRE website (content, images, databases), you’re most likely going to need to redesign your website from the ground up. Don’t count on your web hosting company to restore your site for you. Some will, however, it’s not their job to keep copies of every website on all of their servers for purposes other than their own use.

Old-looking Websites That are Not “Vintage”

As a general guideline, if your website looks and functions the same as it did 2 (or more) years ago, then it’s time to redesign your website! Aside from having a more modern looking website, a redesign helps to keep your website up-to-date with both technology and search engine algorithms (see above regarding the Classic vs Block editors).

Your website can simply look antiquated. Outdated, poorly maintained websites can make a business look less credible. Research shows that a vast majority of consumers will judge a business’ credibility based on their website. An outdated website looks like you don’t care about your website or your business.

Another situation where you may need a new website is when the theme you’re using hasn’t been updated by the developer in years and is no longer compatible with the latest version of WordPress. Or a plugin that was working stops working following the plugin upgrade.

When You’re Not Ready to Completely Redesign Your Website

Even if your website was built less than 3 years ago, you should still be updating it with new content and images. Always strive to keep your website looking fresh and well maintained! I’ve seen too many websites hacked because the required upgrades were not being done.

If for no other reason, update your website for security purposes. WordPress is constantly evolving with frequent updates to the core files, themes, and plugins. WordPress updates can be as minor as bug fixes, or as major as security patches.

What happens if you don’t keep up with the required updates? You run the risk of having an insecure site and/or one with features that no longer function.

If your site is in need of a revamp, now would be the time to redesign your website!