Dec 15 2009
How To Fix Problems With WordPress Publish and Visibility Panel
Word Press Under The Hood
Although I am not programmer, I help a lot of people install and maintain their WordPress blogs and web sites. By and large, WordPress is troublefree – but eventually, no matter how good the software, something is bound to go wrong somewhere for someone.
This week, I ran across a puzzling WordPress 2.8x bug that I’d never seen before.
It seems to strike only under very particular conditions, so there isn’t much documentation about it. After much Googling, I found a tip from NellCooper on the WordPress support forums that helped.
Here’s the Problem:
If you use Firefox, when you click on any “Edit” link in the Publish panel of WordPress 2.8x – nothing happens. The slide open panel does not slide open.
These links will not work when clicked
So you can neither schedule a post for later publication nor password protect a post. Clicking on the link just jumps the cursor a few lines down the page.
Oddly, the links work fine in Internet Explorer 8. For some people, they also work in Chrome.
But whether you are using a Mac or a PC, the Edit links will not work with Firefox if - and this is a big if – you also cannot use WordPress’s built in Plugin and Theme upgrade option.
With most web hosts, when you click the “Add New” link for themes or plugins, the theme is downloaded and installed automatically. However, with some web hosts, you will have to either enter your FTP credentials before the plugin or theme can be accessed or you will have to manually download the item to your computer and then unzip it and then finally upload the plugin to your site as WordPress users did before WordPress 2.7.
If you find yourself in that boat and then find that your Publish panel links no longer work after an upgrade to WordPress 2.8x, try this:
- Update any out of date plugins
- Disable all plugins
- Close Firefox
- Reopen Firefox and try the Edit links (plugins are still all disabled)
If the links work, hooray!, you are half way home.
Now go back to your plugins and re-enable them one at a time. After each plug in is enabled, re-test your edit links.
If you find a plugin conflict, deactivate or delete the plugin.
The combination of Firefox, a plugin conflict, and a mis-configured web server may not be the only cause for this dilemma, but it is a common one and the easiest one to troubleshoot.
You may also find, if the plugins are not the problem, that your theme is causing the conflict. Sadly, that is harder to fix. You may have to choose between using the Edit links and keeping your theme. Or, perhaps, moving to a different web host.
WordPress logo by S. Diddy Released under Creative Commons license Wrench from Microsoft clip art. Composite image by Ghost Leg Media
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