What updates are included in my hosting?

Recently Artful have made changes to our processes to ensure your websites are kept up to date and secure. We endeavour to maintain the security of your site by updating all integral CMS (Joomla/Wordpress etc) core extensions at no extra charge to you, as part of your hosting agreement.  Core extensions are those that we have used on your site, usually for backup and security functionality, that are created and maintained by trusted third party developers.

These content management systems/themes/plugins/components include;

• Joomla or Wordpress version updates - the content management system (CMS) or framework that your website runs on.
• Akeeba Backup - runs scheduled backups of your site.  We love a backup system!
• Admin Tools - Provides security on your site
• JCE Editor - Provides you with a wysiwyg (MS Word) style editor so you don’t need to learn html!

Non standard themes/plugins/components also need updating from time to time. These components are usually specific to your site providing site specific functionality.  Updating these are also imperative to ensure that your site remains up to date, secure and responsive across all platforms, such as desktop, tablets, mobiles and and a variety of web browsers.  With outdated themes/ plugins/components you may be at risk of creating vulnerabilities within your site.

Unfortunately these non-standard extensions are often created by unfamiliar developers whose code may or may not be current which can have the potential to cause site conflicts upon each upgrade.  Any conflict requires additional time from us to troubleshoot and then repair.  Unfortunately we are not in a position to provide these updates at no charge, hence the update consent emails you may have been receiving already.

Our process to keep everything up to date is that we will send you an email to seek your consent to complete these updates for you.

Most upgrades will usually take no more than 1 hour to complete. Often far less and as is the Artful way, you will only ever be charged for the actual amount of time taken to complete.

In the event of any major issues arising from these upgrades that may warrant more than 1 hour to fix, we would then seek further permission to continue.

Every few years there may be a major CMS version update.  Usually offering the latest advances in website technology.  This is a great time to review your website, to see how you can directly benefit from any new functionality the new version offers.  Also giving you the opportunity to review whether your content is still relevant? Do your pictures need updating? Could it do with an overall freshening up?  Does it reflect the marketing strategy/vision of your business?

We will advise you of any major version updates letting you know what new features are available and would be delighted to work with you to make sure your website is the best that it can be.

Give us a call if you have any questions regarding the above.