Blank text on first load of my site

[[chrisB]]

This is a cross post, so I apologise in advance. My support topic on SMF is most likely going to continue to be berried with new support [which is understandable but I really want to get to the bottom of this issue.] https://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?msg=4144077

[quoute]Please don't load it just yet:[/quote]
My Site: https://poetryartonline.com/forum/

On the very first visit nothing but text shows [clearing the site cookie from the browser triggers it again].


I have tested 2 other environments, uninstalled the mods I have etc - I have only suspicions as to what is going off, but really I have no clue.

[Bigguy]

Are you minimizing the css in the admin panel. Are you using caching at all.   Has this been answered on SM's.

[[chrisB]]

I have the cache set to level 1 and Caching Accelerator SMF file based.

[shawnb61]

The vast majority of the time, this is caused by urls/folders being out of sync.

Triple check all folders & urls in repair_settings.php.

Things must be exact - look carefully at http vs https, & also things like whether "www" is specified.

[[chrisB]]

All the settings are correct when viewing in the repair-settings.php

[Skhilled]

I agree with @shawnb61 and also in my experiences this is also cause be theme issues. I'd try to install a couple of themes and see if they have any problems before installing any mods. Also, make sure that all themes you have installed are working and install the themes before you install the mods.

[shawnb61]

At first glance this appears to be an apache configuration problem. 

I would talk with the host.  PHP provides a default cookie & session via URL (PHPSESSID) if you don't otherwise have a cookie & session, e.g., your first time in. 

It appears this is interfering with your site's ability to interpret .css.  As soon as the PHPSESSID is gone, i.e., as soon as you have a "real" cookie & session, it works. 

It's also possible a funky redirect is causing this???  Not sure, haven't seen this before.

You cannot view this attachment.

[Skhilled]

Looks like there are all TP css errors...

[shawnb61]

Partial list.  Many other non-tp ones.  Just follow the link above & open the console.

[Skhilled]

Ah OK.

Still looks like theme issues. Personally, I'd suggest starting over and making sure you remove all themes and mods and all of their code BEFORE converting the forum.

Trust me, I've played around with converting a lot of them. If you don't you'll always have problems. And then install themes first, then your mods.

If you need help let me know. It's been awhile since I've done it but I remember most of the steps to do it correctly. We'll make a test site and try it there first.

[Oldiesmann]

What's happening here is a ? is getting thrown into the URLs after the domain when you visit the site for the first time. That gets interpreted as "poetryartonline.com/?..." so you get the main page of the site and everything else (the /Themes/...) gets treated as part of the query string. That's why the PHPSESSID is being thrown in there where it doesn't belong. Looking at your list of mods in your post on simplemachines.org I'm thinking it's related to Pretty URLs SEO Pro as that's the only thing that would cause the URLs to be rewritten in a funky way like that. Might want to talk to vbgamer and see if he can assist you further.

[[chrisB]]

I'll PM VBgamer45, although I am now wondering if it is my fault for originally editing the "QueryString.php" to remove the /index.php part.

I wonder if that change is playing up with the Pretty URL Pro mod.

Thank you everyone for your helpful words. If this isn't the case - I will try other steps mentioned.

[Dave]

Your portal page works fine

Code Select Expand

https://poetryartonline.com/ When I first arrived the forum page loaded as per your image, but then I went from the portal page to the forum page using the menu and the forum page now loads fine, and since then I have used your link again and it now loads fine

Have you fixed it?

[Skhilled]

Everything seems to work for me too. And a very nice looking site!

[Bigguy]

it is a nice lookin site but did not load for me the first time I went.