Reasons for Massive WordPress Notices and How to Distinguish ‘Ignore vs Fix’ [Beginner’s Guide]

When working with WordPress, you may encounter a display like this one day.

• Yellow or red text filling the screen
• "called incorrectly"
• "This notice was added in version XX"

This tends to happen especially when you start touching themes and plugins, or immediately after updating WordPress or PHP.

"Is the site broken?" "Is something terrible happening?"

You might think so, but in most cases, you can stay calm.

In this article, I will organize what WordPress Notices are, and which ones you can ignore and which ones you should fix, at a beginner level.

What is a Notice in the first place?

There are actually several types of error displays in WordPress.

Among them, Notice is the "lightest" category.

Simply put, it is a warning saying:

"It won't break right now, but the way it's written might not be good."

The program is running, and in many cases, it does not affect the site display or admin screen operations.

Why do Notices appear in large quantities?

The reason for a sudden increase in Notices is usually one of the following.

1. Updated WordPress or PHP

WordPress is becoming "stricter in checking" year by year. Even writing styles that were overlooked before are now being pointed out as "That's not correct."

2. Plugins or themes are old

Old code may not meet the standards of the new WordPress. As a result, Notices are displayed.

3. Debug display is ON

If WP_DEBUG is enabled, caution messages that would not normally appear on the screen are also displayed.

Examples of Common Notices

Beginners often encounter things like this.

• wp_register_style was called incorrectly
• wp_add_inline_style was called incorrectly
• _load_textdomain_just_in_time was called incorrectly

What is common to all of them is the point:

"The timing or location is slightly off."

It is not a fatal error.

Notices to Ignore / Notices to Fix

This is the most important point.

Basic Rule

• The site is displayed
• The admin screen is usable

If these two are met, many Notices do not require urgent action.

Cases to Ignore (OK for beginners)

• Notices derived from plugins
• Notices related to WordPress core specification changes
• Those that just say "called incorrectly"

Especially if the display is not broken on the production site, you can ignore them for now.

Cases to Fix

Consider responding in the following cases.

• Caused by a theme or functions.php you wrote yourself
• The same Notice is appearing repeatedly in large quantities
• Writing style that seems likely to break in future updates

Even in this case, you don't have to fix everything immediately. "Fix it when you have time" is enough.

Notice appearing != Failure

When a Notice appears, you might feel anxious, thinking "Is my writing style wrong?"

But actually,

• WordPress has become kinder
• It has started to teach more details than before

That's all it is.

Rather, the fact that a Notice appears is also proof that WordPress is working properly.

What should be done in the production environment?

While it is educational to see Notices during development, it is common not to display them on the production site.

define('WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false);
define('WP_DEBUG_LOG', true);

With this, you can keep it in a safe state:

• Do not display on the screen
• Leave it in the log

Summary

• Notice is a "caution", not an error
• If the site is working, most can be ignored
• What is really scary is Fatal error
• Don't panic, it's important to distinguish by type

WordPress error displays are not "scary things" but "things to learn how to read."

As you get used to Notices, the mechanism of WordPress will naturally become visible.