When I first started out in the world of WordPress I was hired by a digital marketing agency. Their team consisted of a handful of developers that focused on building websites. On my very first day I was introduced to Git and since then I haven’t looked back.
I must admit that at first Git sounded really complicated but as my new colleague pointed out, all I needed to get started were 3 commands: git add, git commit and git push. I hadn’t even used the command line before but here I was punching in commands like nobodies business.
You too can get started with just a handful of commands or you can use a GUI such as Sourcetree.
You may be wondering why is git so important for my WordPress site. Well, not only does it help you manage the code of your site, it also tracks changes and enables multiple developers to work on the same files at the same time and acts as an extra backup of your sites files in the process.
No more uploading entire files via FTP, potentially overwriting changes and making mistakes. Git only uploads the changes you made within each file. Git also records when files were changed, who made the changes and it gives you the ability to undo them.
You can sign up to a service that deploys changes seen in Git over SSH or FTP for you at the click of a button, which saves a lot of time having to connect, navigate to the right directory and upload each file, this also avoids costly mistakes such as uploading and overriding the wrong files.
Git means no more risky updates to your live site, you can work on a new feature or fixes separate to the master version and then merge it in when signed off. This helps protect your website from human error and many problems that can arise from editing your live site directly.
It doesn’t matter if you’re only creating a small site or if it’s just you working on it. By using Git you’ll save time and headaches, making you more efficient and less error prone in the process.
In the below infographic you’ll learn more about what git is and why you should use it. We’ll also talk about git workflows, tools and hosts.
The features and benefits of Git are vast, if you have anything to add or have any questions please join the conversation via the comments section. We look forward to discussing Git and WordPress with you.
