Every WordPress user will experience WordPress problems at some point, which can be scary or frustrating. Especially for laypeople, a solution to the WordPress problem is often a closed book. Here are a few tips and explanations.
WordPress is not called the most popular web software in the world for nothing. The open source system has developed successfully like no other system. Hundreds of thousands of developers worldwide are responsible for this. But as popular as WordPress is thanks to its easy handling, it also causes many problems. The very concept of working with a multi-layered plugin architecture inherently creates the potential for conflicts and disruptions. The fact that what feels like millions of developers develop plugins and themes inevitably leads to conflicts because there is no agreement between the developers. Below I describe some known problems and how best to deal with them.
1. It's better to be safe than sorry
Basically, you're doing yourself a big favor if you prepare yourself right from the start for problems that might unexpectedly arise one day.
Installation & maintenance by WordPress professional
Wer unnötigen Ärger vermeiden will, tut gut daran, sich seine WordPress-Website von einem WordPress-Profi installieren zu lassen, der auf Wunsch auch die Wartung der Website übernimmt. Häufig gehen Fehler auf eine mangelhafte Installation zurück, denn nicht jeder „gute Kamerad“ und nicht „jeder Experte aus dem Ausland“, der alles viel billiger macht, steht einem zur Seite, wenn es brennt, sondern macht allzu oft gravierende Fehler bei der Installation der Website, von Plugins und erst recht bei der Fehlerbehebung. Kunden, die eine Website von mir haben, haben in der Regel Ruhe und können sich auf Ihr Geschäft konzentrieren. Und ist das nicht das Geld am richtigen Ort gespart. Aus falschem Geiz die WordPress-Website selber zu installieren und zu betreuen oder dies Laien zu überlassen, auch wenn sie sich als Profis ausgeben, kostet einem am Ende viel mehr Geld.
Organize backup
If a website has a problem and no longer works properly, it's great if you know how to fix it and find the source of the error. But if you can't do that and still need a quick solution, the easiest thing to do is to create a backup. The web host can provide this backup. Some web hosts require you to ask support to do this, other web hosts provide this online as a do-it-yourself service. An almost outdated method is to create a backend yourself by downloading the database and data to the PC. But this is time-consuming and if you change the data frequently because you are constantly developing the website, it is only of limited use, otherwise you can download the data too often. There are also some plugins that you can use. In my opinion, the solution via the web server is the best, but requires experience in using the web server.
Install software/firewall
Nichts ist unnötiger, als Opfer eines Hackerangriffs zu werden. weltweit nehmen die Hackerangriffe zu. Davon sind insbesondere Unternehmen betroffen, die von den Hackern gerne erpresst werden. doch auch kleine Websites und Private sind betroffen. Es ist daher unbedingt wichtig, sich ein Plugin mit einer Firewall zu installieren, denn der Webhost schützt „lediglich“ seinen Server nicht aber die Websites der Kunden.
Clone website for repair/problem finding
Especially if you have a website that is visited by many customers and cannot maintain a large team of computer scientists in the background, you have to import a backup so that the customers don't notice anything and the cloned website, which had a problem Find and solve the problem. The web host usually offers help with this, but there are also plugins. However, for me personally it is easier to work with the web server. But that is purely a matter of taste.
2. Don't panic
It's completely human and understandable to be perplexed, shocked and panicked when the website suddenly has serious errors, disappears, a white screen appears or the layout is completely broken, but the panic is actually not necessary. Because the data is usually still there and has hardly changed except if your website has been hacked. The backup of your website is now the insurance that everything will soon be back to normal. The best thing to do is to keep calm and proceed systematically and try to solve the problem. If you can't do that, contact us and the problem will be solved immediately.
3. Problems
A. Broken/destroyed layout
Ich hoffe, das passiert Ihnen nie, doch sie haben gute Chancen, dass Ihnen genau das einmal mit ihrer Website passiert. Alles läuft super, die Website sieht auch super aus und plötzlich nach einer kleinen Veränderung, vielleicht nach einem Update, sieht die Website völlig verschoben oder zerrissen aus. Viele sprechen auch von einem „gebrochenen“ Layout. Das kann verschiedene Ursachen haben.
1. Cache-Plugin
A known culprit is the use of one or more cache plugins. Cache plugins are designed to ensure that your website's memory is up to date and always deliver the latest version of your website. In addition, they all offer compression of Html, CSS and Javascript files. However, this compression is not without its problems, as it can lead to the web browser no longer reading the website correctly. If part of the CSS that is responsible for the design of the website is missing, it can overwhelm some browsers. The installation, update or a conflict between two cache plugins can lead to this unpleasant effect. Then you do yourself a big favor by deactivating the plugin and opening a different browser when viewing the website and deleting the browser cache so that you don't view the old website with errors. If the problem then disappears, you know the culprit.
2. Check PHP version
In a recent case, I was astonished to discover that the PHP version used was so overwhelming for the installed theme that it destroyed the layout of the backend and frontend and made login massively difficult. The theme was currently not able to handle PHP 8.0 or higher and had massive problems. You can set the PHP version via the server. If you don't know anything about it, ask your web host.
3. „Deprecated“ – veraltete Plugins und Themes
Dass veraltete Plugins oder Themes zu Fehlern führen, ist sicherlich nichts Neues, aber man darf diese nicht ausser Acht lassen. Es gibt immer wieder verständliche Gründe, dass User Plugins nicht updaten oder ein neues Update nicht kaufen möchten und das alte weiternutzen. Aber man muss an die Gefahr denken, wenn man sich in einer Situation befindet, in der das Layout der Website gebrochen ist. Das einfachste für geübte User und Profis ist es, den Debug-Modus in der Konfigurationsdaten (wp config) zu aktivieren. Dann sollten sich sehr schnell Fehlerzeilen im Frontend zeigen. Wenn diese mit dem Begriff „deprecated“ = „veraltet“ versehen sind, dann weisen sie auch auf das Plugin oder Template hin, das gemeint ist. Dann kann das Update oder eine Neuinstallation helfen, das Problem aus der Welt zu schaffen.
B. White Screen / White Screen
I've never experienced it myself, but it's one of the common problems with WordPress. Website owners may find that their website is suddenly no longer visible and has literally disappeared. All that's left is a white screen.
1. Plugin/Theme conflict
Häufig genug geht dieses Problem zurück auf einen Konflikt zwischen Plugins oder Templates. Solange das Backend funktioniert, kann man ein Plugin nach dem anderen deaktivieren, um „den Schuldigen“ ausfindig zu machen. Selbiges gilt für Templates. Sollte das Backend nicht mehr funktionieren, kann man über den Webserver auf die Daten zugreifen und im Ordner WP Content die Plugins eins um andere umbenennen. Das führt dazu, dass die Plugins deaktiviert werden und ihre Wirkung verschwindet. Falls man das Richtige deaktiviert hat, löst sich der weisse Bildschirm wieder in Rauch auf. Die Thematik „Website klonen“ und „Backup einspielen“, haben wir im ersten Punkt behandelt und gehört natürlich auch hierher.
2. WP Storage
Es kann aber auch sein, dass dem System zu wenig Speicherplatz zugewiesen wurde. Eine WordPress-Website benötigt genügend Speicher, will man nicht Gefahr laufen, dass sie zusammenbricht. Sollte ein zu geringer Website-Speicher eingestellt sein, kann sich diese Überlastung durch unendliches Laden der Seite oder durch einen „White Screen“ bemerkbar machen.
Um dieses Problem zu lösen, schaut man auf dem Webserver nach, wie viel Speicherplatz vorhanden ist und wie viel Arbeitsspeicher zugewiesen wird. Zudem sollte man in der Konfigurationsdatei „wp-config“ die Speichergrösse definieren und zwar mit folgendem Befehl:
define( ‚WP_MEMORY_LIMIT‘, ‚256M‘ );
You can adjust the size of the storage individually, depending on how large the website's storage space is. Instead of 256 megabytes you can also use 512, 1024 or 2048 MB.
C. Critical error on your website
This WordPress tool is relatively new and was developed by WordPress to quickly warn even inexperienced users and help them find a solution quickly. The information often points to the source of the error. Personally, when such an error occurs, I have never had any problems quickly identifying the error and solving the problem quickly.
Here you can often stay calm because the website is still running, but somewhere an unpleasant problem has crept in, which in many cases resolves itself.
1. Solution steps
As with other problems, the following common steps can be used in addition or as alternatives:
- Backup einspielen
- Clone website, work on clone
- Activate default theme, deactivate current theme
- Deactivate plugins and activate them one at a time
- Use WP Debug mode, analyze error characters
- Increase WP memory
- Check PHP version, check hosting settings
- Run a malware scan
- Clearing the Cache
D. Login no longer works
One of the scariest things is when you try to log into the backend of the WordPress site as usual, but the login doesn't work. All you get is an error message that the login doesn't work. At a moment like this you no longer understand the world. Why doesn't something that worked well for so long no longer work and what can you do?
1. Deactivation of security plugins with access restrictions
Believe it or not, various security plugins offer to move the wp-admin login to another location on the website. If you then have a problem with the plugin, you will no longer be able to access the backend. In this case, you have to log in to the web server and deactivate the plugin by renaming it, which will remove the lock.
2. Set new password in the server
If there is no other way, you have to log in to the web server. There you can edit the database via phpMyAdmin. You look for the user files in the database (e.g. wp-user). All users of the website are listed here. If you click on the desired user, you can also enter a new password there. You can set a password of your choice, WordPress then encrypts it itself. After you have reset the password, you can log in with the new password. Depending on the web server, you may have to wait up to 15 minutes until the web server has accepted this change.
E. Restore hacked WordPress site
Since I wrote a large article about it years ago, I will not cover this topic in detail here. It is also a fact that the security of WordPress websites is very high today, unlike 10 years ago. Over the years, WordPress has eliminated its vulnerabilities and various security and firewall plugins are now at an absolute professional level.
Wenn es dennoch interessiert, wie man sich dagegen schützen kann bzw. wie man so eine Homepage wiederherstellen kann, sei auf den Artikel „The rescue of a hacked WordPress website“ verwiesen.
Troubleshooting: Matter for the experienced WordPress expert
There are many more problems that could be written about and I may do so elsewhere, but that will be the end of this article. Many customers don't feel like having problems and are really overwhelmed when it comes to solving problems. After all, this is a matter for an experienced WordPress expert. A run-of-the-mill computer scientist is also in the wrong place here if he doesn't have specific knowledge of WordPress. If you don't know or can't find anyone who can or wants to help you with your WordPress, then contact Webklar Webdesign. We will solve your problem quickly and easily and ensure that you have peace of mind from further problems in the future.
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