Installing WordPress itself usually goes smoothly. But still, it can happen than during the installation of WordPress itself, templates or plugins problems arise.
Fortunately, many of these problems are easily fixed. Here are the ten of the most common problems with WordPress.
- 404 This page does not exist: This message appears if the requested page does not exist. This could be because the page in question has been deleted, renamed or the url/web address has been typed incorrectly in the browser or the link from the referring website or page is wrong. In the case of deletion and renaming, it is always wise to create a 301 redirect. This prevents traffic from Google ending up on a non-existent page.
- 500 Internal Server Error: This problem is quite common and is usually caused by an incorrect .htaccess file or a problem with template, plugin or the WordPress installation itself. Fixing this can vary between re-uploading a correct .htaccess file and fixing the problem in the plugin, template or WordPress installation.
- Maintenance Mode gets stuck: With every update of WordPress, a .maintenance file is automatically created. Sometimes it is not automatically deleted, leaving the website stuck in maintenance mode. This can be easily remedied by deleting the .maintenance-file in the root directory of WordPress.
- Error creating database connection: This is usually caused by the wp-config.php. Download the file via ftp, check whether the correct details are filled in at username, password, database name and possibly database host. Problems with the database may indicate a hacked website.
- Plugin does not work properly: As mentioned; WordPress itself is a stable CMS-system. However, third-party plugins can throw a spanner in the works. Improperly written plugins can cause conflicts between plugins and other plugins or templates. Therefore, always choose plugins and templates from reliable and good sources. Never download a plugin or template from a vague website or other source. Code may have been added to it, for example, creating a backdoor to your installation after installation/uploading.
- Template not working properly: Same as above. Repairing templates or plugins yourself usually doesn't make sense because this will be overwritten when updated. Therefore, always contact the plugin builder or template builder in case of problems. Any changes will then be implemented with an update.
- White screen: This can be caused, among other things, by a failed automatic update of WordPress. This can usually be remedied by manually reinstalling the relevant WordPress version via ftp.
- Adjustments made cannot be seen: Usually, this is caused by browser cache. Clear your browser's cache and reload the custom page. Cache of a cache plugin can also be the reason. What can also be a cause is if you make a modification, save the modifications, view the website by pressing "view site" and then press the "previous screen" arrow instead of edit page. Pressing the previous screen arrow may return you to the page before the modification.
- PHP Fatal Error: To prevent excessive use of server capacity and security reasons, some limits such as "Maximum execution time" and "WordPress Memory Limit" are set by default. These can be increased and the problem will then usually be fixed.
- Messages from the contact form do not arrive: This is usually caused if the mail runs on a different server than your website. The hosting package usually assumes by default that your mail arrives on the same server.
These and many other problems with WordPress can be fixed by us. Fixing and preventing the above and other problems are covered by our standard management/hosting packages for WordPress.
Want to know what we can do for you or have any questions about the above? Then please contact us via info@milcraft.nl whether it contact form.
Before fixing a problem, ALWAYS make a backup of the html files and database.