When we normally provide access into the WordPress back end, the permissions are set to “client“. Sometimes a client may ask for access into the admin level of WordPress. We will happily provide any details to do so, however there are a few pitfalls in directly using the admin user level to edit the website:
Installing Plugins: WordPress is incredibly well supported for a variety of plugins to be used for various functionality. We at Digital Developments, however, heavily customise the WordPress platform which in turn may result in incompatibility with some plugins, or said plugin may cause a bug to appear in conflict with one of our custom modules. We recommend not installing plugins unless sure of the result. Alternatively, we will gladly provide the service of applying a certain functionality at request.
Updating Existing Plugins: Because of WordPress’s well supported plugin base, oftentimes when WordPress itself updates, plugins will update accordingly to retain compatability. Much of the time, however, updating either WordPress or the plugins installed on one of our websites may conflict with our custom modules. As a result, we advise heavily to seek assistance with us or to purchase one of our maintenance plans that aim to keep WordPress updated and safe.
The WordPress Code Editor isn’t very versatile: If you are a budding web developer and have admin (but not cPanel or FTP) access into a website, the only way to edit the code of a website is through the WordPress editor. As it is an in browser editor, and doesn’t support things like dynamic saving and other things, undo and redo commands can’t be made when changes are made, and neither can code be previewed. It’s simply put, a non-ideal way of making changes to the website. If those changes are necessary to be made, we can easily do it, or alternatively provide cPanel access, which comes with its own set of tools.
It Voids Our Warranty: It’s not the nicest of situations, but we can’t be responsible for problems that arise once admin access has been granted to the client. As much as we like providing as much of a pain-free experience with one of our sites, admin access provides the ability to actually do damage to the way the website works (as it stands now, client permissions have no access to website imperative systems). As a result, what may have been covered under our warranty may not be afterwards.
There are many more reasons that WordPress Admin access has the potential to make unstable changes to the website, but the best advice is always to contact us if you are unsure about an action within the Admin.