TL;DR: Your very ancient theme (BeTheme 4.3, released 6 years) was not coded for the modern PHP version 7+ provided by your hosting, causing the site to break. You’ll need to upgrade your theme (latest version 22.0.2.1 just a week ago), WordPress itself, and all plugins. Downgrading your PHP version to 5.x, if you have the option at all, might resolve the problem. But note that you’ll merely be postponing the inevitable… as, sooner or later, your host might remove this very old version of PHP entirely, and you’ll be back to where you are now.
Read below for more ramblings to understand what’s really going on, but you don’t have to 😀
Kindly note that I am the new developer at Uomo Boss, a highly reputable company based in Dubai. I am currently in charge of maintaining the website “awadapartners.com”
As the previous developer has told me, no updates should be done to keep the website running. However, the website is currently down, where no features are valid to be clicked
If you’re now the new developer in charge of maintaining a website, you should probably learn what are generally considered to be “best practices” and make your own decisions, rather than blindly following the advice of someone who is no longer involved with the site, and who wouldn’t bear any blame should something go wrong.
The advice given by the previous developer would be excellent… if…
- You had your own server, and never ever changed any software on the server, AND
- You were 100% sure your installed version of WordPress, your active theme, and every plugin you have installed were all bullet-proof and could never be hacked.
But you’re on a shared hosting server not controlled by you, and your host may update some software on the server, which could cause your site to break unless you also upgrade. And security vulnerabilities are being discovered in WordPress, themes, and plugins all the time — necessitating continuous upgrades if you want to stay safe and secure.
These realities make me quite uneasy about the “advice” given to you that “no updates should be done to keep the website running.”
Now, coming to the problem you have on your site now…
If you scroll to the bottom of the screen, you’ll find the following error message:
Fatal error: Uncaught Error: [] operator not supported for strings in /home/awadapartners15/public_html/wp-content/themes/betheme/functions/meta-functions.php:4801 Stack trace: #0 /home/awadapartners15/public_html/wp-content/themes/betheme/page.php(24): mfn_builder_print(2287) #1 /home/awadapartners15/public_html/wp-includes/template-loader.php(74): include('/home/awadapart...') #2 /home/awadapartners15/public_html/wp-blog-header.php(16): require_once('/home/awadapart...') #3 /home/awadapartners15/public_html/index.php(17): require('/home/awadapart...') #4 {main} thrown in /home/awadapartners15/public_html/wp-content/themes/betheme/functions/meta-functions.php on line 4801
From the above, it should be obvious that the problem is coming from the theme that is active on your website, BeTheme.
First, understand that BeTheme is a commercial, aka PAID, theme. If you’re using a commercial theme, you’ll need to go to the theme’s author or the marketplace where you purchased the theme from for help.
That’s because we don’t have access to any commercial themes and plugins here at WordPress.org, making it impossible for us to install the theme. And if we can’t install the theme and test things out, it may be impossible for us to help you at all.
You can find support information about your BeTheme theme here: https://themeforest.net/item/betheme-responsive-multipurpose-wordpress-theme/7758048/support
But just so you know…
You’re currently running version 8.4 of BeTheme, released way back in 2015. The latest version is version 22.0.2.1, released on April 14, 2021. I have no doubt that your theme’s author is going to ask you to upgrade before they’ll provide any support.
Meanwhile, the version of WordPress you’re running is several generations behind, version 4.1.32. Chances are, the latest version of your theme will not work with this old version of WordPress you’re running, and you’ll have to upgrade that as well.
You’re probably running ancient versions of some plugins, and you’re likely to face problems there too, unless you upgrade these as well.
So it seems the previous developer’s strategy to maintain a stable website was to never upgrade anything. That strategy never works in the long run, as nothing in this world can be stagnant forever: sooner or later, you’ll be forced to upgrade, either by hackers or by your host.
Your site has accumulated so much “technical debt” over the many years that nothing was updated, and now is the time to pay those debts.
Good luck!
