I get a "0" added at the start of each post

EDIT: Apparently it’s only visible when you have selected a specific blog post. Either click the headline, or go here: https://www.thetechronicle.com/?p=321

IE8 I do not see it.

Start by validating your HTML and fix those errors. The HTML is a horrorshow, sorry to be so blunt. Being as it is, the HTML may well be the source of your issue.

ALWAYS make sure your code validates, before getting confused over erronously rendered content.

I do not see it either. You may want to change your permalink settings so your posts don’t use the /?p=XXX urls.

Settings -> Permalinks

Thanatica: How do I validate? I’m not much of a programmer, I’m more interested in the content – it’s why I use WordPress, to avoid having to spend half my time fiddling with brackets and code. ??

Rachel: Thank you, I’ll look into it.

So you chose a broken theme for your website… Theme-builders will never learn, apparantly.

If you don’t want to fiddle with braces and brackets, then don’t. Let someone do it who knows his business. That’s what front-end developers are for ??

@lotusfitness

I can’t seem to duplicate it either. What browser are you seeing the issue in, and on what OS?

Or use another theme. Preferably one of the more recent ones from https://www.ads-software.com/extend/themes/ which will at least have been through a review process.

Thanatica: If anyone would be willing to help me out for free, I’d certainly appreciate it – but in the absense of that, I’ll have to opt for the availibility of free templates. As a poor student, I am hard-pressed to find the time and money for anything else. ??

Clayton: I still see it, but not through the link – I have to go to the blog, then click one of the headlines. I’m using Firefox, on Windows 7.

Esmi: This problem arose today, I’ve had no problems with the theme so far! That is what is perplexing to me, as I have not made any changes between the time of the desired look and this new undesired variety.

I finally duplicated it by collapsing the advert box that appears over the article on a single post page, then clicking on the title again. A “0” then appears directly above your first paragraph.

It appears inside the post content div:

<div id="greet_block" style="display: block;">0</div>

Try disabling the WP Greet Box WordPress Plugin and see if the symptom changes.

[edit] you might also take a peek in your footer.php when you get a chance. I have a feeling it’s all base64 encoded links.

That seems to have done the trick. Thank you, Clayton! Exactly the kind of help I was hoping for. ??

I have one more quick question, relating to what another person suggested about the permalinks. I tried changing it to a prettier version (with date and post title instead of default), and it asks me to “edit my .htaccess). I’m given nothing more than that – I do not know what htaccess is, where it is or what I am to do with it once I find it. Could you help me?

Here’s the speed-version of the explanation. ?? This applies – for the most part – to apache web servers, with mod_rewrite enabled in order to use pretty permalinks.

The .htaccess file (it’s actually an extension, but appears as a file) is located in the same folder your wordpress files are in. It is hidden by default, and you will have to check “show hidden files” in your file manager or ftp client to see it. If it exists, set permissions to 0666 in order to allow wordpress to automatically update your permalinks for you. If it doesn’t exist, you can create one yourself. After updating, make sure you set permissions back to 0644. Here is some good reading material with some other information that may be more helpful.

Settings Permalinks SubPanel

Using Permalinks

[edit] …almost forgot – That theme you are using may be just a tad on the questionable side when it comes to how some of the content is encoded in the theme files. I found it and downloaded it to take a look inside. My copy had external links to a banner and base64 in at least the footer. Yours probably does too. What esmi mentions about free themes that have gone through review is good advice; as well as what thanatica2 suggests for obtaining themes from reputable developers. Most of them are surprisingly inexpensive. Just food for thought.

Thank you, Clayton! I’ll look into it during breakfast tomorrow, and see if it’s something I’ll have the time to fiddle with. If it looks like it’ll be costly, timewise, the permalinks will have to remain as they are until I can look into it. I appreciate your help, and will change the status of this thread!

Good luck to you!