WordPress Case Studies & Practical Application 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A WordPress site's contact form stops sending emails after moving to a new host. No plugins changed. What is the most common cause?
- The WordPress version needs updating
- The new host blocks outgoing SMTP on port 25 or has no sendmail configured (Correct answer)
- The contact form plugin cache needs clearing
- The site's SSL certificate expired
Correct answer: The new host blocks outgoing SMTP on port 25 or has no sendmail configured
Many hosts disable PHP's mail() function or block port 25; configuring an SMTP plugin with authenticated credentials resolves this.
Question 2: You inherit a WordPress site where the uploads folder is 40GB but Media Library shows only 2GB of files. What likely accounts for the discrepancy?
- WordPress stores thumbnails outside the uploads directory
- Orphaned image size files and backups of old themes are stored in the uploads folder (Correct answer)
- WordPress database stores binary blobs separately from the file system
- The CDN cached a previous version of the media library
Correct answer: Orphaned image size files and backups of old themes are stored in the uploads folder
WordPress generates multiple image sizes per upload, and old plugin backups or logs are often stored inside /wp-content/uploads/.
Question 3: A developer notices that a custom post type registered by a plugin does not appear in the WordPress REST API. What is the most likely fix?
- Enable pretty permalinks
- Set 'show_in_rest' => true in the register_post_type() arguments (Correct answer)
- Install the WP REST API plugin
- Add the post type to the wp-config.php whitelist
Correct answer: Set 'show_in_rest' => true in the register_post_type() arguments
The show_in_rest parameter must be explicitly set to true for a custom post type to be exposed via the REST API.
Question 4: A WordPress site with a large product catalog receives complaints that the search returns irrelevant results. The site uses the default WordPress search. What is the best long-term solution?
- Add more tags to every product
- Integrate a dedicated search solution such as ElasticSearch via SearchWP or Relevanssi (Correct answer)
- Increase the number of posts per page in Settings > Reading
- Disable all caching plugins
Correct answer: Integrate a dedicated search solution such as ElasticSearch via SearchWP or Relevanssi
Dedicated search plugins index content with relevance scoring and support custom fields, far outperforming WordPress's default LIKE-based SQL search.
Question 5: After enabling a security plugin's file integrity monitoring, hundreds of 'modified file' alerts appear immediately after a WordPress core auto-update. How should you respond?
- Roll back WordPress to the previous version
- Acknowledge the alerts as expected post-update changes and re-baseline the file hashes (Correct answer)
- Disable auto-updates permanently
- Restore from a backup taken before the update
Correct answer: Acknowledge the alerts as expected post-update changes and re-baseline the file hashes
Core auto-updates legitimately modify WordPress files; re-baselining after an update clears false positives from the integrity monitor.
Question 6: A WooCommerce store's cart abandonment rate spikes after adding a new upsell popup plugin. Analytics confirm the popup appears during checkout. What is the most direct fix?
- Remove all upsell offers from the store
- Configure the plugin to suppress popups on cart, checkout, and order confirmation pages (Correct answer)
- Switch to a different checkout plugin
- Increase the popup delay timer to 10 seconds
Correct answer: Configure the plugin to suppress popups on cart, checkout, and order confirmation pages
Displaying marketing interruptions during the checkout flow increases friction and abandonment; suppressing them on conversion pages is the standard fix.
Question 7: A WordPress multisite installation needs each sub-site to have a unique favicon. Where is the correct place to set this per sub-site?
- Edit the network's main theme header.php
- Go to each sub-site's Appearance > Customize > Site Identity (Correct answer)
- Upload a single favicon to the network admin and map it per sub-site
- Add a site_icon filter in the network's functions.php
Correct answer: Go to each sub-site's Appearance > Customize > Site Identity
WordPress stores the site icon (favicon) as a per-site option, configurable through each sub-site's Customizer under Site Identity.
WordPress Case Studies & Practical Application 3
A WordPress site's contact form stops sending emails after moving to a new host.
No plugins changed.
What is the most common cause?