Advice Please: Did My Programmer Write Proper Code? How Do I Check?

Does the code work? If so, the programmer did their job and should be paid. There are, of course, best practices for how code should be laid out, but I've never met a programmer who follows all of them to the letter. That includes people who code for multi-million dollar organizations. Sure, another programmer might have problems working on your code, but that doesn't mean it wasn't "coded properly." Working with someone else's code is always harder than working with your own. You might want to ask whether he/she made changes to the WordPress core, OR the Optimize Press core. If they did, that could turn into a train wreck later.

As Jack has said if they did the job and it works then good. You need to do some testing on the site. A FB group or mail to previous clients might be a way to get "real" people testing it. With software in general until you put in some "real" users you don't find the issues.

I have been developing for 15 years and when I start to write the User Guide I find more bugs than when I test the work that was completed. Generally you need more than just one or two people testing.

Chris

As a hardcore coder myself I'd ask does it work? If so then you should pay him but before you do try and break it by doing things in the wrong order etc to find bugs. Also you could hire a trusted developer to review the code but be wary incase he just wants to tell you it's crap and sell you his skills as a replacement

That's exactly what would happen, isn't it?

Hopefully you hired a trusted programmer - and if the site works as you expect it to - pay the man. Good idea to keep the programmer on retainer for a couple months or at least available to fix any bugs that come up.

Hi flemingconsultants,

One of the most common problems I see with modified Wordpress themes, is that when a programmer alters the core theme files, without making a child theme. Or, even worse is that they modify the core WP files. This is a very poor practice, in my opinion, because as soon as you need to update the theme, or the core WP script your website will break. Also, adding plugins might conflict with custom coding that doesn't follow WP best practices.

I would at least ask for the programmer to guarantee the code is written to WP best practices for theme development, and they are willing to fix any issues that arise from updating core files for a period of time.

Also, while somewhat limited in the scope of testing this plugin will give you a general idea as to how closely your modified theme meets WP standards for theme development:

https://wordpress.org/plugins/theme-check/

A couple of tips for you is to insist that all modification are done within a child theme, and that modifications allow for standard plugins and core file updates. Otherwise your code maintenance cost could end up costing 10 times the initial cost to modify your theme.

HTH,

Don Burk