Pomnex Update Check

FAQ

Does it send my data anywhere?

No. The only requests it makes go to your own site, to load your own pages. There is no account, no external service, no tracking and no calls to pomnex.com. Results are stored in your site’s database and emailed with your site’s own mail setup.

Why does it say « Could not check »?

To check a page, the plugin asks your site to load its own page (a loopback request). Some hosts and security plugins block these requests. When that happens the result is « Could not check », never « Pass ». Go to Tools → Site Health, which runs its own loopback test, to see whether that is the cause. Your host can usually allow loopback requests.

Does it catch visual changes?

No. It reads the HTML your server sends and does not take screenshots or run a browser, so it won’t notice a button that changed colour or a layout that shifted a few pixels. It does notice when a marker disappears, a stylesheet or script fails to load or vanishes, a shortcode stops rendering, a PHP error shows up, or a page shrinks a lot. Content that JavaScript adds after the page loads is not visible to it either, so choose a marker that appears in the page source.

Does it work with caching plugins?

Yes. Each request adds a random query argument and sends no-cache headers, so page caches serve a fresh page. The request is made without cookies, so it sees what a logged-out visitor sees.

What if WP-Cron is disabled?

The check after an update runs through WP-Cron, about a minute after the update. If WP-Cron is disabled or slow and a check is more than 10 minutes late, administrators see a notice on the Dashboard, Plugins and Updates screens with a « Run check now » button. You can also run a check at any time from Tools → Update Check. If you run WP-Cron from a real server cron job, everything works as normal.

Does it work on Multisite?

Multisite is not specially supported in this version. On a multisite network it works per site: each site has its own pages, baselines, log and emails, with no network-wide settings.

What do Pass, Warning, Fail and Could not check mean?

• Fail: something is clearly broken: an error status, the WordPress critical-error page, a visible PHP fatal error, a missing marker, an unrendered shortcode, or a stylesheet or script that fails to load.
• Warning: something changed that may be harmless: a visible PHP warning or notice, a stylesheet or script that is no longer on the page, a much slower response, or a page that shrank by more than half.
• Could not check: the pages could not be loaded at all.
• Pass: nothing wrong found.

Can I check pages that need a login, like My Account?

The check sees pages as a logged-out visitor. For a login-protected page, it checks the page a visitor sees, such as the login form. Pick a marker that appears there.

I changed a page on purpose and now get a warning. What do I do?

On the Status tab, click « Save current state as baseline ». Baselines also refresh by themselves after every check a page passes, and once a day.