BillHely
Forum Replies Created
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No offence intended Matt, but you seem to be troubleshooting by shotgun rather than sniper rifle. Random suggestions to enable this/disable that may or may not hit the target. OK, admittedly the people asking for assistance with this problem aren’t giving you the information you need, so I’ll attempt to do that.
I have a site with exactly the same problem: Shadowbox loads on some pages (well, only one actually) but not others, where it previously ran on all pages just fine. The problem started after a WordPress upgrade.
The logical approach is to compare a working page with one that no longer works, so here’s the result of doing just that…
*** WORKING PAGE ***
Apart from the rel=”Shadowbox” tag in each image reference, the working page contains the following references to the term “shadowbox”
<head> <link rel='stylesheet' id='shadowbox-css-css' href='http://domainname.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/shadowbox-js/src/shadowbox.css?ver=3.0.3' type='text/css' media='screen' /> <link rel='stylesheet' id='shadowbox-extras-css' href='http://domainname.com/blog/wp-content/plugins/shadowbox-js/css/extras.css?ver=3.0.3.10' type='text/css' media='screen' /> </head> <body> <!-- The following appears towards, but not at, the bottom of the body section --> <script type='text/javascript' src='http://domainname.com /blog/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=shadowboxjs&cache=487b3d6f31bf87438edf438705c40481&ver=3.0.3'></script> <!-- Begin Shadowbox JS v3.0.3.10 --> <!-- Selected Players: html, iframe, img, qt, swf, wmp --> <script type="text/javascript"> /* <![CDATA[ */ var shadowbox_conf = { animate: true, animateFade: true, animSequence: "sync", modal: false, showOverlay: true, overlayColor: "#000", overlayOpacity: "0.8", flashBgColor: "#000000", autoplayMovies: true, showMovieControls: true, slideshowDelay: 0, resizeDuration: "0.35", fadeDuration: "0.35", displayNav: true, continuous: false, displayCounter: true, counterType: "default", counterLimit: "10", viewportPadding: "20", handleOversize: "resize", handleUnsupported: "link", autoDimensions: false, initialHeight: "160", initialWidth: "320", enableKeys: true, skipSetup: false, useSizzle: false, flashParams: {bgcolor:"#000000", allowFullScreen:true}, flashVars: {}, flashVersion: "9.0.0" }; Shadowbox.init(shadowbox_conf); /* ]]> */ </script> <!-- End Shadowbox JS --> </body>And Shadowbox on that page works fine, but now let’s look at a…
*** NONWORKING PAGE ***
<link rel='stylesheet' id='shadowbox-css-css' href='http://domainname.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/shadowbox-js/src/shadowbox.css?ver=3.0.3' type='text/css' media='screen' /> <link rel='stylesheet' id='shadowbox-extras-css' href='http://domainname.com/blog/wp-content/plugins/shadowbox-js/css/extras.css?ver=3.0.3.10' type='text/css' media='screen' />That’s It! Seems like there’s a whole block of JavaScript missing.
So if that is indeed the problem, the question becomes “What to do about it?”
Since each WordPress page (as displayed in a browser) is assembled on demand from various components such as database objects, config files, and so on, no completed page resides on the server. So it’s not a matter of just going to each nonworking page and inserting the missing code block towards the end of the body section.
But unfortunately that’s the limit of my knowledge as to how WordPress works. I have no idea how to get the missing code into the final output of the appropriate pages. I would have thought that a reinstallation of Shadowbox would do the trick, but it didn’t. Perhaps Rosie’s question about a way to totally eliminate all traces of Shadowbox before trying a reinstallation might be pertinent.
So there’s the problem Matt. How do we fix it? Over to you.
Thanks, I disabled all the plugins and then it worked. So I enabled them all one by one to see what was causing it but it seems like there was nothing conflicting it. At least it works now.
I’ve encountered this sort of thing in many different scenarios. There’s a problem that may be related to plug-in conflict, so you disable all plug-ins and then re-enable them all again one-by-one. Then with all plug-ins re-enabled again, the problem disappears.
It’s worth remembering this possible solution in case of future problems.
And obviously it’s also an incentive not to have a lot of plug-ins installed that aren’t actually necessary.
Forum: Fixing WordPress
In reply to: "Add Media" pop up window is blankRosie and carsaig, what browser are you each using?
I had a similar experience and nothing I tried would remedy it.
But what I eventually discovered was that although this problem existed in both Firefox 10 and Internet Explorer 8, everything works fine in Google Chrome 17.
Although I use Firefox more than anything else, and hardly ever use Internet Explorer, I have all three browsers installed all the time for tracking down browser-related problems.
My suspicion is that the problem is related to the Internet Explorer Rendering Engine.
Because some version of Internet Explorer is found on all Windows PCs, many application’s developers use the IE Rendering Engine in their own programs, to save having to code their own rendering routines.
Now whether Firefox uses the IE rendering engine extensively, or whether the association is introduced by a Firefox plug-in, I don’t know. This is just an “educated” suspicion on my part, but I’d like to see the WordPress and Firefox developers take a look at the problem from this angle.
I now do all my WordPress development in Chrome, and as a result I find myself using Chrome more often for other things that I would otherwise have used Firefox for. So, WARNING MOZILLA: either fix this problem or explain where the real fault lies, or risk losing users to Google Chrome.
Please respond here if using Chrome solves this problem for you.
Why is this topic marked “Resolved” when there is no reply or solution evident???
Forum: Plugins
In reply to: [Contact Form 7] Contact Form 7 support not much helpRosie, to put your mind at ease I’m going to jump in here and say that your confusion and your criticisms are quite appropriate. The author’s explanations/excuses make no sense at all, and reflect very poorly on him as a service provider.
Here’s the situation; it’s a bit long-winded, but if you bear with me I’m sure we can solve your problem.
As you suggested, the problem is SMTP authentication. For anyone who may not be familiar with the term here is a brief if simplistic explanation:
We all know that spam is the scourge of e-mail users. One way that spammers spread their garbage is to route it through poorly configured computers that do not belong to them and to which they should not have access. Machines that have been taken over in this way are called ‘open relays’. Basically that means they are open to abuse because no authentication (username/password) is required to send e-mail through them.
For several years now there has been a global effort to eliminate open relays. One way to rectify the situation is to require valid authentication of anyone trying to send mail through the machine. That means configuring the computer to require a valid username and password.
While annoying to all of us, spam is a particular problem for operators of mail servers, not least because all of those millions of rubbish messages consume resources and anger customers. So, quite understandably, responsible Hosts have implemented SMTP authentication on their servers.
In other words, to send e-mail through their mail server you must have a valid account on it and know the username and password. The username and password must be sent with (or in association with) the e-mail message, or the mail server will not process it.
Now, while there are still plenty of mail servers that do not require SMTP authentication, their numbers are shrinking all the time. Day by day, more and more mailservers require SMTP authentication.
So what is the future of software that attempts to send e-mail but does not provide a means of sending SMTP authentication with a message? The obvious consequence is that more and more installations of such software will begin to fail.
What then is the consequence for site owners who use products like “Contact Form 7”?
Very often the contact form is the only means that a site visitor has to get a message to the site owner, so if the contact form suddenly stops sending messages (for the reasons outlined above) the site owner may never know about it. If it’s a business-related site such a failure could be critical and costly. Which obviously is just not good enough.
Unfortunately plug-in author Takayuki Miyoshi has done an abysmal job of explaining this and the solution.
Yes, there is a solution.
I don’t want to get into the intricacies of the code that drives e-mail sending from a web form, so I’ll just state the problem without further explanation. “Contact Form 7” appears to use PHP’s wp_mail() function which, as written, won’t provide the necessary SMTP authentication. The answer is to employ another plug-in that forces all e-mail to be sent by SMTP instead of the PHP mail() function. DISCLAIMER: I’m not a PHP programmer but I think that’s a fair assessment, while trying to keep things simple.
So if you want to use “Contact Form 7” and if your mail server requires SMTP authentication, then you need to install a plug-in such as “WP Mail SMTP”. All it does is provide a configuration page where you can insert your username/password and other relevant details. The one quirk with “WP Mail SMTP” is that it will appear in your WordPress Settings list as simply “Email”. Why these guys won’t use Settings names that we expect to see is beyond me. You searched for, downloaded and installed “WP Mail SMTP” so isn’t it reasonable that’s what you’ll be looking for in the Settings list? And it can be a long, unordered list if you have a lot of plug-ins installed.
BUT…
If you are not worn out by now, there is another question you might want to consider.
For full functionality “Contact Form 7” actually requires three separate and distinct plug-ins:
– The contact form itself (“Contact Form 7”)
– The CAPTCHA antispam feature (“Really Simple CAPTCHA”)
– SMTP authentication (“WP Mail SMTP”)
Search ww.wp.xz.cn with those exact names for full details of each.The CAPTCHA plug-in is by the same author as “Contact Form 7”, which you might consider a put-off given his poor support for CF7.
Now, while I admit that all three do work well together, the inevitable question is: “why use three plug-ins when one would do?”
My philosophy in regards to these things is that I strive not to use, recommend or promote even a good product that has poor support. To my mind poor or non-existent support indicates contempt and/or disregard for the customer/user. And there’s already too much of that on- and off-line.
I’d be very surprised if there isn’t a single contact form plug-in that combines all the necessary features into one reliable package. So as time permits over the next week or so I’ll be trying a few different contact form plug-ins to see if I can find one worthy of recommendation.
I hope this has been of assistance.
Forum: Installing WordPress
In reply to: Upgrading to WP 2.9 on a Windows ServerHi Doug.
That message is a very general error message that doesn’t provide any useful information at all. Sometimes it’s as much information as you want to give to your site visitors, but it’s not enough to be of use in tracking down a problem.
To get a proper and useful error report you need to ask your host to turn on detailed error reporting for your domain. It’s particularly important that you have detailed reporting during development, so you as the developer know what’s going on and specifically what needs attention.
I’m not at all familiar with GoDaddy’s setup. There may be a way in your Windows account control panel to enable detailed reporting, or you may be able to enable it yourself in some other way. With my host I can make an entry in the web.config file to enable and disable detailed reporting at will. If you can’t find a way to enable it yourself send a request to their Support people.
In my experience GoDaddy doesn’t have a great reputation for flexibility. If it ends up in the too-hard basket contact me through my website at Computer & Online Security and I’ll refer you to a very flexible Windows host.
Best regards,
– Bill Hely
– Bill Hely Consulting
– Brisbane, Australia
– Blog: http://ComputerAndOnlineSecurity.com
– Twitter: http://twitter.com/BillHely