My Sitemap Has No Styling

The xsl file is having 403 Forbidden error.
https://www.nintendonews.com/wp-content/plugins/google-sitemap-generator/sitemap.xsl

Try copying that in root folder and see if you are able to access it. It could be due to some permission issues.

Hello, harmonyinfotech.

Thanks for your reply. I appreciate your suggestion, but that’s not one of the steps outlined in the plugin’s installation directions.

The sitemap generates correctly and is recognized by Google. So, I’m really not too sure what’s going on. All I know is that the XML formatting is non-existent. I’m not sure if this is fault of the W3 Total Cache plugin, or the Google Sitemap Generator plugin.

The sitemap styling will be applied when that file is properly readable. As the file isn’t readable currently (403 error), the styles aren’t getting applied to sitemap.xml because of which you aren’t able to see any styling. The suggestion to copy it to root folder and then load it at https://www.nintendonews.com/sitemap.xsl will clarify if there is problem with file permissions somewhere or server configuration.

I understand it isn’t part of installation directions and in normal situation there is no need to do it but since you are having problem, it is just a way to debug and find out what could be the underlying issue.

OK, I see.

I copied the xls file to the root of my blog and now I see this.

https://www.nintendonews.com/sitemap.xsl

Ok, the file is readable at root folder. Chances are the .htaccess must be blocking files in plugin folders (The rule could have been applied because of security plugin).

Hmm, so what would be your next recommendation?

In the sitemap settings, under Advanced options, disable “Use default” for “Include a XSLT stylesheet” and just keep sitemap.xsl there and save it. It will load the stylesheet from the root folder then.

OK, I unchecked the “Use default” option for the “Include a XSLT stylesheet”

Am I supposed to fill anything in for this?

“Full or relative URL to your .xsl file”

…it’s currently blank.

Yes, put sitemap.xsl there so that it will read it from the root folder which you copied earlier.

Whoa! Now THIS is what it’s supposed to look like, right?

https://www.nintendonews.com/sitemap.xml

Yes.

I’ve learned a lot from you today, harmonyinfotech. I appreciate your diligence and timely responses. I’m hoping someone else who has the same issue finds this topic so they too can resolve their issue. Thanks again!

You are welcome. Solving issues like this helps in improving my own skillsets.

One final question for you. While validating my sitemap, I receive this warning:

“Missing “charset” attribute for
“text/xml” document.”

Is that something I can disregard?