Technical Support

As a new blog owner, it is tempting to turn on  every plugin that is available. However, that is NOT a good plan!!

Plugin authors do not always follow good programming rules and, while their plugin may work fine in some blogs, it may not in others. This is often the result of a CONFLICT with another plugin. The results can be as dramatic as a “FATAL ERROR!” which will shut down your site and require you to contact Tech Support to get it turned back on. Or, the plugin may refuse to load when you first activate it.

More often, a plugin conflict will just cause your site to DRAG and seem to never load.

Here are some helpful ideas on how to troubleshoot your slow-loading website. Work through the list until the site loads quickly again. (You will have to reload/refresh your browser each time.) When the site returns to normal load times (much faster), then assume that the last thing you changed was the problem.

Visit your site’s DASHBOARD and use the menu on the left side to:

1. Appearance / Widgets: Move all the widgets into the “Inactive Widgets” area (at the bottom of the page). This will temporarily disable them and still retain their settings for re-activation later.
2. Disable any cache plugin that you have installed. If the cache is misconfigured, it can easily slow the site – rather than speed it up.
3. Disable all plugins. In the dashboard, select Plugins / Installed and then click on the filter to view only the ACTIVE plugins. Click the box just below the “Bulk Actions” link and all active plugins will be selected. Click on the “Bulk Actions” link and select “Deactivate.”  All of the active plugins will be deactivated and placed in the “Recently Active” list. (If you must take a break from troubleshooting, you can filter to the Recently Active list, hit the box to select all and then “Bulk Action / Activate” to quickly return your site to the current state.)
4. If the site is fast again, then reactivate the plugins one-by-one (most important first) until you experience a slow down again. You can safely assume that the last thing you changed was the culprit.

If you discover a plugin that does not “play well” with the others, then please leave a comment for me. Report your findings here and/or in the forums so that others can benefit as well.

Ray

As a new blog owner, it is tempting to turn on  every plugin that is available. However, that is NOT a good plan!!

Plugin authors do not always follow good programming rules and, while their plugin may work fine in some blogs, it may not in others. This is often the result of a CONFLICT with another plugin. The results can be as dramatic as a “FATAL ERROR!” which will shut down your site and require you to contact Tech Support to get it turned back on. Or, the plugin may refuse to load when you first activate it.

More often, a plugin conflict will just cause your site to DRAG and seem to never load.

Here are some helpful ideas on how to troubleshoot your slow-loading website. Work through the list until the site loads quickly again. (You will have to reload/refresh your browser each time.) When the site returns to normal load times (much faster), then assume that the last thing you changed was the problem.

Visit your site’s DASHBOARD and use the menu on the left side to:

1. Appearance / Widgets: Move all the widgets into the “Inactive Widgets” area (at the bottom of the page). This will temporarily disable them and still retain their settings for re-activation later.
2. Disable any cache plugin that you have installed. If the cache is misconfigured, it can easily slow the site – rather than speed it up.
3. Disable all plugins. In the dashboard, select Plugins / Installed and then click on the filter to view only the ACTIVE plugins. Click the box just below the “Bulk Actions” link and all active plugins will be selected. Click on the “Bulk Actions” link and select “Deactivate.”  All of the active plugins will be deactivated and placed in the “Recently Active” list. (If you must take a break from troubleshooting, you can filter to the Recently Active list, hit the box to select all and then “Bulk Action / Activate” to quickly return your site to the current state.)
4. If the site is fast again, then reactivate the plugins one-by-one (most important first) until you experience a slow down again. You can safely assume that the last thing you changed was the culprit.

If you discover a plugin that does not “play well” with the others, then please leave a comment for me. Report your findings here and/or in the forums so that others can benefit as well.

Ray