I have the latest version of WordPress (5.2.2) and just installed the Vantage theme. However, the Appearance -> Customize page seems to be broken. I have tried disabling all the plugins, and the problem still exists. When I change the theme back to one of the defaults, the problem is fixed. I tried reinstalling WordPress to no avail.
When I go to Customize, I see the left hand menu section, however only the top ‘You are customizing’ part is shown and the rest below it is blank, and the main page area is blank also. When I load Firefox developer tools, I see the following error in the console:
‘TypeError: n.previewer is undefined’
This error is being thrown from the ‘/wp-content/themes/vantage/inc/settings/js/page-settings-admin.min.js’ file in the following function:
!function(e) {
var n = wp.customize, i = !1, t = !1;
n.bind(“pane-contents-reflowed”, function() {
i && i.hide(), t && t.show()
}), e(function() {
n.previewer.bind(“page-settings”, function(n) {
var o = e(“#accordion-section-page_settings_” + n[0] + “_” + n[1]),
c = e(‘[id^=”accordion-section-page_settings_”]’).not(‘[id$=”template_404″], [id$=”template_search”]’);
e(‘[id^=”accordion-section-page_settings_”].open’);
i = c.not(o).hide(), t = o.show(), i.filter(“.open”).length && i.filter(“.open”).find(“.customize-section-back”).click()
})
})
}(jQuery);
So what is happening is the previewer variable in wp.customize is not defined. That is as far as I can take it unfortunately. It seems clear this is an issue with the theme, so is someone from SiteOrigin able to solve this one please?
Cheers,
Carl
Hi Carl
Thanks for posting.
Sorry to hear about the issue, it isn’t one we’ve encountered before. At the moment, I’m unable to replicate on our local or online test sites.
I’ll touch base with the team and see if they have any insight into what the problem might be. In the mean-time, if possible, please could you:
* Take a screenshot of the console error, upload to imgur.com and send a link.
* Let us know how much PHP memory you have available and which version of PHP version is in use. You can use https://wordpress.org/plugins/server-ip-memory-usage/.
* Let us know which version of Vantage is in use.
If you have the time and energy to assist with the above, it’ll help us in our attempts to recreate the issue locally.
Thanks again.
Hi again, at the moment, all we can tell is that the error is referencing a standard API that, as far as we’re aware of, should always be available when using the Customizer.
In addition to the above three points, is there any caching on your site that can be disabled? Perhaps at a plugin level or outside caching like CloudFlare?
Thanks
Thank you for the responses. I am running WordPress v5.2.2 and the theme is Vantage v1.12. I have disabled all plugs apart from the SiteOrigin ones, however I have tried disabling those also but it did not fix the issue.
The memory details and PHP version are:
Memory: 32 of 256 MB (13%) | WP LIMIT: 40 MB | PHP 7.1.14 @64BitOS
Here is a screen shot showing the customise page and the error I get: http://prntscr.com/oqsndg
I have no caching plugin installed and I see the issue on two different computers so I do not think it is a caching issue.
Let me know if you require anything further.
Thanks for all the details.
At some point, you might consider raising the WP memory limit to more than 40mb using the steps outlined here: https://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/fix-wordpress-memory-exhausted-error-increase-php-memory/.
Does the Customizer issue persist if you change to another browser?
Andrew,
I have increased the memory limit to 256 and verified it worked in Site Health, however it has not resolved the issue. It also occurs in Internet Explorer 11 as well as Firefox 68 (the latest).
Thanks for the update and steps taken so far.
When you have a moment, please, try temporarily switching themes, deleting Vantage and reinstalling Vantage. I don’t think that’ll make a difference but it’s a really quick step to take and will ensure the theme folder is fully intact.
Finally, you could go to Dashboard > Updates and click the Reinstall WordPress button. That’s the same as updating WordPress and will ensure that most of the core WordPress files are intact.
Those are the last of the low hanging fruit sort of ideas I can think of at the moment.
Andrew,
I had reinstalled WordPress via the Admin before, but I have just done the following:
1. Changed the theme to the default Twenty Nineteen.
2. Confirmed that the Customise section works correctly.
3. Uninstalled the Vantage theme.
4. Reinstalled WordPress again.
5. Reinstalled the Vantage theme.
6. Activated the Vantage theme.
7. The Customise does not work… The same error as above. :(
Just another note on this issue. When I first installed the Vantage theme I clicked on the Customise button from the themes list and it worked. I made a few changes to how it looks, the fonts, colors, banner etc. Then I navigated away and when I went back and the Customise was not working, and has not worked since.
So it worked the very first time. Is it possible that even though I have uninstalled it and reinstalled it, there is information remaining in the database that is causing the problem? Just a thought.
Thanks for the effort. We don’t usually offer direct support within our free support scope but this problem is unique, not something we’ve dealt with before, please, see below. Thanks again.
Would it be possible for you to create a temporary admin account for us so we can log in and take a look? You can create the account with the following email address:
Private Snippet
Just navigate to UsersAdd New in your WordPress admin. Enter siteorigin for the username and Private Snippet for the email address. Make sure you’ve selected Administrator for the role and enabled the Send Password field so we receive the details.
Once we’re finished taking a look, you can delete this account. We’ll let you know when to do that.
This is a private message.
Ok no problem, all done.
This is a private message.
Thanks. We’ve located a PHP error. You can view a screenshot of the error here. This error is separate from the JS error we’ve been discussing. It hints to there being some sort of server-level challenge.
If please, could you enable
WP_DEBUGandWP_DEBUG_LOG. Once those are enabled, recreate the issue and then check the debug.log file found in the/wp-content/folder. The debug.log file will contain a specific error, the screenshot I linked to earlier just lets us know that there is an error present but not what it is. Here is a detailed tutorial on how to do all this: https://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-set-up-wordpress-error-logs-in-wp-config/. If you’ve never used FTP before, this is something your hosting company might be able to assist with.Once you have a detailed PHP error, you could then approach hosting support for help.
Andrew,
I enabled debug and only found an issue with the wp-config file itself, as the variable WP_AUTO_UPDATE_CORE was set to minor instead of ‘minor’ for some reason. That is strange because I did not modify it. Anyway, I fixed that and there are no errors appearing in the debug.log file now, yet the Customise issue still exists.
I saw the following error once, but it did not repeat: PHP Fatal error: Maximum execution time of 30 seconds exceeded in /home/knkwood/public_html/wp-content/themes/vantage/inc/customizer/google-fonts.php on line 4
Also, the screenshot you posted above of the source indicates that the page did not load at all, yet I have never experienced the error message ‘The site is experiencing technical difficulties…’. Are you not able to navigate to the Customise page and see what I am getting?
Thanks for hanging in there with us.
The screenshot was taken from the page source, the message is the same.
Do you perhaps want to try increasing max execution time to 60 seconds? Here is how: https://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-fix-fatal-error-maximum-execution-time-exceeded-in-wordpress/. You can also ask your hosts if they can assist.
I’ll come back to you a bit later with any other ideas the team might have.
Andrew, I have increased the max execution time from 30s to 60s in the php.ini file.
Thanks. The Customizer loads now….eventually.
If you’re feeling comfortable, perhaps download your wp-config.php file to your desktop, you’ll find it in your WordPress root folder. Just above
/* That's all, stop editing! Happy blogging. */, try insertingdefine( 'WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M' );I suggest this because your WP memory limit is still showing as
WP LIMIT: 40 MBGive the Customizer a try, it seems to eventually load for me now.
Yea it is loading now after a long delay.
I did change the memory limit in the php.ini file. I just added the define to the wp-config.php file, and now I get the error:
Notice: Constant WP_MEMORY_LIMIT already defined in /home/knkwood/public_html/wp-config.php on line 97
That is the line I just added.
I am on a shared hosting, so is it possible that the memory limit is being overridden?
Please, check the entire contents of the wp-config.php file. Is the constant not just added twice in that file?
Yes I have searched the entire file and it is definitely only at the end.
Thanks for checking. If you remove the constant from the wp-config file you’ll resolve the conflict. I’m not quite sure why the Customizer is so slow. Which hosting company are you using?
OK I have removed the constant from the wp-config file. The website is hosted with Hostgator. I have other websites hosted on the same plan, including another WordPress one. This issue is only with the Vantage theme.
I saw there is an update for the theme, so I updated it just now.
Interestingly, the php error that was occurring is not now so that is good. However it still takes a long time to load the customiser. I can continue to use it so I will evaluate the theme for now.
Thank you for your time in resolving this. Hopefully what ever is causing the customiser to be slow to load will not have any adverse effects on the website operation.
Thanks for the update.
I’m not sure at the moment what is causing the slow load time in the Customizer. I haven’t worked an issue quite like this one in the past.
Once your site is finished you could add Autoptimize plugin to help speed things up a little. You can also add a caching plugin on top of that. Just be sure your caching plugin and Autoptimize aren’t doing the same jobs, you need to spend a little time in the caching plugin settings to ensure that. For a caching plugin, you can try W3 Total Cache. Only add these at the end of site development and be sure to check all site functionality once done.