WordPress Case Studies & Practical Application 3

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?

Accepted Answer

The new host blocks outgoing SMTP on port 25 or has no sendmail configured

Answer

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?

Accepted Answer

Orphaned image size files and backups of old themes are stored in the uploads folder

Answer

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?

Accepted Answer

Set 'show_in_rest' => true in the register_post_type() arguments

Answer

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?

Accepted Answer

Integrate a dedicated search solution such as ElasticSearch via SearchWP or Relevanssi

Answer

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?

Accepted Answer

Acknowledge the alerts as expected post-update changes and re-baseline the file hashes

Answer

Core auto-updates legitimately modify WordPress files; re-baselining after an update clears false positives from the integrity monitor.

WordPress Practice Test

WordPress Practice Test

WordPress Case Studies & Practical Application 3