learning to
Troubleshoot WordPress
by Carrie Dils
carriedils.com • @cdils
Fort Worth WordPress Meetup • 5/20/14
I'm gonna teach you to fish
what we'll talk about
Troubleshooting Basics
- where/how to start
- common problems
- editing your site files
Troubleshooting for developers
- syntax
- styles
- debugging
- speed & performance
Troubleshooting has been my greatest teacher as a developer.
Troubleshooting Basics
what do you do when something doesn't work?
Troubleshooting basics:
starting with the right steps
Does the problem still exist?
bonus tip for multi-user sites
Track and monitor every change on your WordPress site.
wp-stream.comstream plugin
Troubleshooting basics:
Fixing Common Problems
Who knows what's in your cache. Flush it.
Troubleshooting basics:
avoiding common pitfalls
Troubleshooting basics:
avoiding common pitfalls
- using the editor in the WP dashboard
- not having FTP client and login at the ready
- editing core WordPress files
- editing framework or parent theme files
troubleshooting for developers
time to bring out the big guns
be nice to yourself
troubleshooting for developers
debugging
// add this to wp-config.php
define( 'WP_DEBUG', true );
Use plugins like...
To help you...
- see what queries ran on a page
- which page template is used
- run php or sql against current query
- show all actions fired on a page
- break down HTTP requests (and show time)
query monitor
troubleshooting for developers
style
Use built-in browser tools like Firebug or Chrome Developer Tools.
photo credits
crying baby - http://www.morguefile.com/archive/display/776532
toilet - http://www.morguefile.com/archive/display/131456
big guns - http://i986.photobucket.com/albums/ae342/Nonsensitive/bigguns.jpg
validation - http://film-english.com
plug - http://www.morguefile.com/archive/display/906155