👋 Hello! I work mainly on the make/test team where our current focus is Gutenberg. I’ve spotted a common issue that’s tricky to troubleshoot and wanted to reach out to see what you think!
The problem is that sometimes a blank screen or a white screen appears when trying to create a new post or page. I wanted to note a few example reports here for reference and as a starting point for working out how best to troubleshoot these types of issues.
Recent blank screen reports
- 9990 – blank pages after updating to 3.8.0
- 9845 – one user is on WP.com, another reports clearing browser cache fixed the problem
- 9834 – editor is blank for all posts/pages, existing and new
- 9591 – user reports the problem only happens for child pages
- 9295 – likely a Cloudflare conflict
- 9222 – likely a plugin or theme conflict
- 9221 – user reported back that it started working but didn’t say why
- 8891 – possible Safari extension conflict
Older blank screen issues with resolutions
- 9926 – solved after making an unrelated change to php config
- 9585 – solved by preventing plugin admin notices from displaying on the edit page and post listings page
- 9101 – solved by disabling the “Disable REST API” setting in the WP Cerber Security plugin
- 9095 – solved by clearing browser cache
- 8960 – solved by flushing rewrite rules
- 8534 – solved by updating file permissions and restarting the server
- 8455 – solved by fixing a race condition in
wp.domReady - 7461 – solved by avoiding conflicts when a plugin resets the $post variable (plugin conflicts noted: Strong Testimonials, Webcraftic Clearfy, Table of Contents Plus)
There are a number of possible causes for a blank screen problem. In my experience so far, the most-likely culprits are: plugin or theme conflicts, strict security rules which block the API, and/or some other server configuration problem. When I see the problem reported, I typically start by asking for browser console errors to be documented and if that is already done I ask for a list of plugins in order to try to spot one to ask them try disabling as a test. Recently, a few users reported that clearing browser cache solved the problem for them (which I find baffling 😆). Perhaps I should always note clearing browser cache as a first troubleshooting step? I noticed that a pinned support topic for Gutenberg mentions the Health Check & Troubleshooting plugin. Should I be recommending that more often, at the beginning of interactions even?
How would you typically approach troubleshooting issues like these?