The WooCommerce updates dilemma concerns the extremely frequent releases from WooCommerce. This issue has most of us asking: “Are WC Vendors plugins compatible with the current version of WooCommerce, WordPress, or PHP?”
The short answer to this question is yes. As for the long answer, well I’ll get into that now.
Starting with WooCommerce 3.7, the WooCommerce development team decided to switch from a feature-based release cycle to a time-based one. This approach involves more frequent releases with smaller updates that contain fewer fixes and potential bugs.
Initially, the WooCommerce team adopted a two-month release cycle, with major updates occurring every two months. However, in July 2020, they announced a significant milestone in their project life cycle and made the shift to monthly releases. The idea behind this shift is to introduce fewer features and reduce the likelihood of bugs. Sounds like a great idea, right? Unfortunately, the truth is a tad more complicated.
Today, we’ll talk about WooCommerce updates and why WC Vendors users have nothing to worry about. So let’s dive in!
WooCommerce Updates Are Important
Keeping your WordPress site, plugins, and themes up to date is crucial if you want your online marketplace to run like a well-oiled machine. This means having a good staging server and testing system in place. In addition, it involves checking on plugin updates regularly and having the time to stay on top of everything.
If you’re running a WooCommerce-powered site, you likely have at least five to ten other WooCommerce-compatible plugins installed.
WooCommerce provides a feature enabling third-party developers to specify the WooCommerce version their plugin works with. In the past, when WooCommerce updates were released at regular intervals, it was relatively easy to determine whether a plugin, including ours, had been tested with the latest WooCommerce version.
However, after a couple of years of this system, users have grown extremely cautious about updating their websites until all their third-party plugins have been tested with the newest versions. Most website owners have experienced a situation where a plugin update caused issues on their site. Consequently, they tend to avoid making updates when they see notices indicating that compatibility testing hasn’t been conducted.
Keep in mind that such notices for WooCommerce updates only pertain to compatibility testing with that particular WooCommerce version. In other words, they don’t imply that the third-party plugin won’t function correctly.
So What’s The Problem?
Theoretically, having more frequent releases is a great idea. But what happens when millions of websites and businesses rely on your product, and the releases come so frequently that keeping up with them becomes impossible? As 3rd party WooCommerce developers, the burden is now on us to release a new version of all our products every single time that WooCommerce sends out a release.
Essentially, we’re compelled to issue unnecessary updates solely to refresh the “tested to” information. This way, we can reassure our customers that our products won’t disrupt their websites during WooCommerce updates.
When your customers encounter a red notice on their update screen, it can discourage them from updating your plugin or WooCommerce. Consequently, third-party developers are forced to release updates merely to indicate compatibility. This leads to an influx of update notifications on users’ sites to guarantee that our products maintain their integrity.
This also puts a huge burden on our users. After all, not all of you are tech-savvy or able to keep up with every update or test every single thing. Not all of you have staging sites, which could potentially lead to the loss of revenue because of inadequate testing. This testing deficiency is not limited to your end but has also become evident on the part of the WooCommerce team in recent times.
Releasing updates more frequently with fewer features might seem like it would make testing easier. Unfortunately, that’s not necessarily the case. When updates are being pushed out nearly every week, it doesn’t allow sufficient time for third-party developers or users to notice, test, and report any issues. For example, the release of WooCommerce 4.5 displayed the consequences of opting for a time-based schedule over giving users the necessary time to thoroughly evaluate the changes.
How The WC Vendors Team Works
We are a small yet dedicated team at WC Vendors. Our utmost priority is our users and ensuring their success. This commitment entails delivering a stable, efficient, and user-friendly system for you to utilize.
Our development process uses the latest software versions across the board. We consistently work with the most current iterations of WooCommerce and WordPress, often ahead of their official releases. In addition, we conduct testing and development on up-to-date PHP versions, alongside a selection of older ones. Furthermore, we thoroughly test and develop using the two most popular web server systems, Apache and NGINX.
This approach ensures that we are perpetually and actively developing the latest and most advanced versions of all the essential components required to run your marketplace business. This lets us proactively identify and address any potential issues that may arise from the frequent WooCommerce updates.
If we come across a critical issue that affects your business operations, we prioritize its resolution and expedite a release accordingly. And if a matter pertains to changes that don’t disrupt operations, it is seamlessly incorporated into our upcoming release.
Given our rigorous and dynamic development process, our focus is on delivering the best possible product to you, our valued users. Consequently, we do not rush to release updates solely to modify an update notice. Instead, we channel our efforts into ensuring the highest product quality.
Should we ever overlook an issue, we remain committed to addressing it promptly. We maintain open channels of communication through various support channels and wholeheartedly welcome your feedback at any time.
Conclusion
The WooCommerce updates dilemma highlights the challenges WooCommerce’s frequent releases pose and their impact on plugin compatibility. For many websites and businesses, WooCommerce’s shift to more frequent updates leads to many complexities. Thankfully, you can rest assured that WC Vendors compatibility never becomes a problem.
At WC Vendors, we dedicate ourselves to a user-centric approach. We prioritize your success and endeavor to deliver an efficient, stable, and easy-to-use system for your multi-vendor marketplace. Our dedication to using the latest software versions and rigorous testing guarantees that we proactively address compatibility issues resulting from WooCommerce updates.
Do you have any questions about WooCommerce updates? Let us know in the comments section!