When you’re a non-technical owner managing your own WordPress website, you always want to make sure your site is in good running condition.
You’ve updated your WordPress version, made sure your plugins are currently maintained by the developer and up-to-date, and you’ve set up a security and backup system.
But what about the backend infrastructure that runs WordPress?
Is it current?
At one of our West Metro Detroit WordPress Meetup monthly events, I helped members get their sites updated with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) privacy information.
The European Union’s GDPR data and privacy policy went into effect in May 2018.
Many members didn’t know WordPress site owners have built-in tools to help them add privacy policies to their sites.
In addition, several GDPR and privacy policy plugins have been released that allow you to customize your privacy info.
However, when one meetup member tried to install a couple of the privacy plugins, they ran into a problem.
The plugins threw fatal errors on their website.
We confirmed their site was updated with the latest WordPress and plugin versions. What else could be causing the issues?
I asked the member what PHP version was on the site.
They didn’t know.
They’re not a developer.
And they didn’t have access to the web hosting account.
Wouldn’t it be helpful for non-technical website administrators to know technical details of the site setup?
Without having to know how to code?
Debug Info
One of the best ways for non-technical people to learn what software a self-hosted WordPress site is running is the Debug Info plugin, a free plugin available in the WordPress plugin directory.
Rather than logging into your web hosting account, wondering where to look for server technical information, the Debug Info plugin provides a detailed list of your WordPress operating environment.
How It Works
After installing and activating the plugin, a new Debug Info option is added to the administrator’s Tools menu.
Select the Debug Info option to view your site’s operating environment details.
The plugin provides details on:
- WordPress version of your site
- Current WordPress theme name, theme version, theme author, and theme URI
- List of active plugins
- PHP version
- MySQL version
- Apache version
- Full phpinfo() server environment information
Why I Like It
Why use Debug Info? If you’re a developer, you can use other methods to learn what PHP version in running on a server.
But if you’re non-technical, or want more information about a site’s infrastructure, Debug Info can quickly provide all that info to you.
Other reasons I like the plugin:
- It’s updated often by the developer
- Highly ranked by other WordPress users
- Saves time; it’s straightforward to use
What You Need to Know
Are there any other features to know about Debug Info?
It has Spanish and Serbian language versions.
While Debug Info provides details about your site setup, it doesn’t fix any issues you might have.
And I noticed on a GoDaddy shared hosting account that the Apache Version came up with “This information is not available.” I’ve let the developer know.
I wouldn’t recommend keeping Debug Info installed on your site. Only use it when you need to do troubleshooting or to get information for your developer or designer.
Once you’ve copied the info, deactivate and delete the plugin.
Summary
If you’re wondering what PHP version is running on your site, or want more technical details about your site, the Debug Info plugin makes it quick and easy to get that information.
Have you used Debug Info? Has it saved you time?
Originally published May 23, 2018
