Formatting issues and return to main page inappropriately

Hi MJTDI3,

Yes, that’s a lot of questions. I have a few myself, let’s start with those so I understand what is happening here.

– What version of BD are you running?
– Is this a new install or an upgrade from 3.x?
– What version of WP?
– Have you tried a conflict test to see if these issues are theme-related or BD-related? Here is an article about how to test for theme and plugin conflicts with Business Directory, which may help pinpoint the issue: https://businessdirectoryplugin.com/support-forum/faq/how-to-check-for-plugin-and-theme-conflicts-with-bd/

Report back and we’ll go from there.

Hi BDP –

This is a totally fresh install of everything; it’s all been done in the past week. I am on WordPress 3.9.1. I’m on v.3.4 of BD, again a fresh install.

I’ve not yet done a conflict check, as the process terrifies me. What risk is there to losing content, customization, and settings? When you say “disable” a plug-in, is that the same as “deactivating” a plug-in?

Thank you.
MJ

Hi MJTDI3,

The risk is very, very low. Plugins retain their settings when deactivated–they store that info in the database. You can even delete and reinstall a plugin and the settings will remain (Pro Tip: this is how WordPress upgrades your plugins anyhow!)

We run these tests all the time. You’ll be able to reactivate everything when you’re done and things won’t vanish.

Still working on this. Have another challenge that has taken precedence. Will open a new ticket on that one. Thanks for your continuing assistance.

Hi BDP –
This does not appear to be a plug-in conflict. (Of note, when I deactivated my event manager, then reactivated it, the widget in the sidebar disappeared, so I had to re-add it. However, that’s the only one that gave me an issue in the process.)

I have just updated my theme to the most current version. I have changes in Functions.php and index-one.php that I have re-made. (I tried to figure out the child theme thing and could not, so I documented the six lines or so that need changing, and just re-did them after the update.) If I switch my theme to something else, then switch back, what are the potential risks? I’ve spent a ton of time getting this set up correctly. (I know, I’m a worrier.)

My theme is AccessPress Lite. This is the only plugin that is having an issue with formatting, and this is only happening on pages where I have instructed it to display only a single category. I am using this shortcode on the page: [businessdirectory-listings category=2]

I have also tried removing the text above the shortcode, in case there was a stray HTML code, and that had no effect.

Is there maybe something else I can add to the shortcode or to the page HTML to make this display correctly? It really looks terrible now.

Thank you so much.
MJ

Hi MJ,

Switching themes generally does not lose any settings, but this is dependent on how your theme is implemented. I exclusively recommend professional themes as the free ones are worth every cent you didn’t pay for them. ?? Too many people have reported issues with them, better to have a supported product that you can contact someone when it goes wrong. So, is it safe? Yes, most of the time. But I can’t guarantee it, honestly. The worst that will happen is that you’ll lose your theme settings, but 99% of the time, this does NOT happen. It just works.

As for the look, if you switch themes to a default and it looks bad, then we can look into it more deeply. If it looks fine, then this is a theme-specific issue and you can address it via custom CSS. Here is an article about how to use custom CSS with Business Directory in a way that doesn’t get overwritten on upgrade of BD: https://businessdirectoryplugin.com/support-forum/faq/how-to-use-custom-styles-with-bd-2-1/

Hi BDP;

I took a deep breath and switched my theme to Twenty Twelve. It still looks bad.

It looks exactly the same as it does on my current theme, with the exact same formatting issues as I stated in the original post above.

The good news (for me!) is that when I switched back, it all looks fine. Whew.

I had a thought that it might be browser-related, so I tried it in both IE and Chrome. I normally use Chrome. Looks the same in both.

What’s next?

Thanks so much,
MJ

I should clarify my above note. When I switched to Twenty Twelve, the same problem existed. When I switched back, the same problem persisted. I was, however, excited that everything else looked just the way I left it. Hope that didn’t cause any confusion.

This thread is marked “resolved” but it is not.

Thanks!
MJ

Hi MJ,

Don’t worry about the “Resolved” mark–that’s just something I do because most folks don’t mark their own threads and it keeps the board clean. I always check for new posts on the site, so I will answer any questions.

Why don’t you contact me and we’ll take a look at it directly. We have a patch version that adds some minor layout fixes, sounds like that may apply here if it’s still showing weird in TwentyTwelve. https://businessdirectoryplugin.com/contact/

I’ve sent the contact form through with my phone number and email address. Thank you.

That resolved it! Thank you!

Glad that worked!