WordPress is one of the simplest content management systems you can use to set up and build a site. However, as with any other site, you may come across various kinds of issues at some point in time. Many existing WordPress sites are built on top of core features or built using existing plugins and themes, so web developers are not involved in building and maintaining the site. Therefore, resolving problems becomes a significant issue for administrators without the necessary technical knowledge. However, most issues are caused due to well-known reasons, so applying solutions to many of the problems doesn't require the assistance of a developer.

The main goal of this chapter is to identify common issues faced by administrators in WordPress sites and to try to get them resolved through basic fixes, before getting technical support. We will be achieving this goal by configuring the website to easily track errors, applying necessary modifications to prevent issues, and applying simple solutions to a common set of problems. In the process, we will be looking at issues caused by caching, plugins, themes, and databases, as well as conflicts with WordPress core issues. 

By the end of this chapter, the reader will be able to identify the reasons for many of the errors and will be able to quickly resolve them or take the necessary actions to get them resolved.

In this chapter, we will learn about the following topics:

• Configuring error logs and displaying errors
• Fixing the White Screen of Death (WSoD)
• Resolving conflicts in maintenance mode
• Manually resetting user passwords
• Fixing slow WordPress sites
• Fixing issues with cached content
• Resolving WordPress core database issues
• Resolving JavaScript errors
• Fixing issues caused by theme/plugin upgrades