My wordpress blog hates calendars.
November 2, 2011 4:29 PM Subscribe
Having a strange problem with my Wordpress blog and calendar plugins... any calendar plugin, actually.
So, I am building a private Wordpress group blog. I would like to put up a calendar in one of the static "pages" so that members can add events and everyone can see them.
I've tried using several different plugins for this. AJAX Event Calendar, Eventify, DH Events Calendar, and a few more I can't recall. All produce exactly the same issue: they make the entire site incredibly slow to load when active. It will take 20-25 seconds before anything appears. This behavior exists across browsers. I've tried disabling all the other plugins I run to see if there's a conflict, but that has no effect. FWIW, embedding a Google Calendar (not as a plugin) works fine, but I really would like something where the users can press a button right on the site to add events.
This blog is hosted on an external web server, not Wordpress.com.
I'm thinking perhaps there is something shared between these plugins that is causing the site to crawl, but I'm not really sure where to begin. Any tips?
So, I am building a private Wordpress group blog. I would like to put up a calendar in one of the static "pages" so that members can add events and everyone can see them.
I've tried using several different plugins for this. AJAX Event Calendar, Eventify, DH Events Calendar, and a few more I can't recall. All produce exactly the same issue: they make the entire site incredibly slow to load when active. It will take 20-25 seconds before anything appears. This behavior exists across browsers. I've tried disabling all the other plugins I run to see if there's a conflict, but that has no effect. FWIW, embedding a Google Calendar (not as a plugin) works fine, but I really would like something where the users can press a button right on the site to add events.
This blog is hosted on an external web server, not Wordpress.com.
I'm thinking perhaps there is something shared between these plugins that is causing the site to crawl, but I'm not really sure where to begin. Any tips?
Have you tried the "reboot" method of switching to the default theme and then back to yours? Sometimes that fixes weird issues. I had a calendar plugin break my site until I did this refresh.
posted by steinsaltz at 5:19 PM on November 2, 2011
posted by steinsaltz at 5:19 PM on November 2, 2011
Response by poster: Sorry, I can't share the URL as it's private and there's already private information up there.
I just tried the reboot method and unfortunately that didn't work. Thanks for the idea, though!
posted by selfnoise at 7:13 PM on November 2, 2011
I just tried the reboot method and unfortunately that didn't work. Thanks for the idea, though!
posted by selfnoise at 7:13 PM on November 2, 2011
This probably isn't it, but do you happen to be running on a service that might lack good PHP support, like Network Solutions, which crawls under Wordpress?
posted by steinsaltz at 8:16 PM on November 2, 2011
posted by steinsaltz at 8:16 PM on November 2, 2011
Response by poster: I use Verve Hosting, who I've had for years. Not sure how their PHP support is but I've never had any issues.
posted by selfnoise at 3:41 AM on November 3, 2011
posted by selfnoise at 3:41 AM on November 3, 2011
Response by poster: Ok, I noticed something else that might be a clue. When I activate a calendar and then try to refresh the site in Firefox, the message at the bottom while it hangs is "Looking for jqyery.com". Once it moves on from that it's fine.
posted by selfnoise at 3:50 AM on November 3, 2011
posted by selfnoise at 3:50 AM on November 3, 2011
Possible culprit 1: the plugins may be loading the javascript in the head, which causes the browser to delay rendering the rest of the page until the script is loaded. Javascript should be loaded at the bottom of the page, after all of the content. In WP terms, it should be in the footer, not the head. If the plugin uses the enqueue script function, it needs a certain parameter set correctly in order for the script to be placed in the footer. If the plugin (improperly) uses the api's head action instead, the word "wp_head" in that function of the plugin needs to be replaced with "wp_footer."
Possible culprit 2: The plugins are doing everything right, but your theme doesn't have the right hooks. Go through the WP Theme Review to fix this problem.
Possible culprit 3: The bottom of the page really does say looking for "jqyery.com", in which case there is a typo; it's probably trying to pull jquery from jquery.com. Jqyery.com doesn't exist.
Possible culprit 4: Even if there is no typo, the plugin should be pulling from google, not jquery. Any modern browser will almost certainly have it cached already, and it should load near instantaneously.
Possible culprit 5: The javascript is processor intensive, and you are using an older computer or browser that is struggling to keep up. Or perhaps there is an oddity with your connection, and it is taking a long time to load jquery ui's resources. To test, try the site from a different computer at a different access point with the latest version of Firefox or Chrome and see what happens.
posted by jsturgill at 11:30 AM on November 3, 2011
Possible culprit 2: The plugins are doing everything right, but your theme doesn't have the right hooks. Go through the WP Theme Review to fix this problem.
Possible culprit 3: The bottom of the page really does say looking for "jqyery.com", in which case there is a typo; it's probably trying to pull jquery from jquery.com. Jqyery.com doesn't exist.
Possible culprit 4: Even if there is no typo, the plugin should be pulling from google, not jquery. Any modern browser will almost certainly have it cached already, and it should load near instantaneously.
Possible culprit 5: The javascript is processor intensive, and you are using an older computer or browser that is struggling to keep up. Or perhaps there is an oddity with your connection, and it is taking a long time to load jquery ui's resources. To test, try the site from a different computer at a different access point with the latest version of Firefox or Chrome and see what happens.
posted by jsturgill at 11:30 AM on November 3, 2011
Response by poster: I think the theme should be fine... It's the preinstalled 2010 theme.
Tried more and less powerful machines, didn't help.
It really did read jqyery.com, not sure what to make of that.
Another datapoint: when refreshing with the plugin activated in IE7 ( yeah I know work requirement), there's a little error at the end on the lower left status bar that reads "jQuery is undefined" at various lines.
posted by selfnoise at 12:33 PM on November 3, 2011
Tried more and less powerful machines, didn't help.
It really did read jqyery.com, not sure what to make of that.
Another datapoint: when refreshing with the plugin activated in IE7 ( yeah I know work requirement), there's a little error at the end on the lower left status bar that reads "jQuery is undefined" at various lines.
posted by selfnoise at 12:33 PM on November 3, 2011
Manually add jquery to the theme in the head section, before any other javascript, and see if that "jQuery is undefined" error goes away.
posted by jsturgill at 12:37 PM on November 3, 2011
posted by jsturgill at 12:37 PM on November 3, 2011
Response by poster: Interestingly, when I do that the site loads after a long delay even with the offending plugin disabled.
posted by selfnoise at 12:59 PM on November 3, 2011
posted by selfnoise at 12:59 PM on November 3, 2011
Look at the page source when the plugin is installed. Look at my list of possible cuprits and try to narrow things down. I don't think there is anything else to say.
The undefined error is most likely because something is calling on jquery before jquery is loaded; that's why putting jquery in at the very top, before anything else, should have made the error go away.
Because putting jquery in the head is causing the same behavior even when no plugins are enabled, it is likely that is one of the root causes. In other words, some combination of culprits 1, 2, and 4 is very likely to be in play.
posted by jsturgill at 2:15 PM on November 3, 2011
The undefined error is most likely because something is calling on jquery before jquery is loaded; that's why putting jquery in at the very top, before anything else, should have made the error go away.
Because putting jquery in the head is causing the same behavior even when no plugins are enabled, it is likely that is one of the root causes. In other words, some combination of culprits 1, 2, and 4 is very likely to be in play.
posted by jsturgill at 2:15 PM on November 3, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by bradly at 5:14 PM on November 2, 2011