Meta title missing
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I have been searching google and the forums to figure this out and so far have found nothing. My pages and posts seem to be missing title metadata.
First of all, when I start a new post or page, blocks hide what I assumed was the title. As seen in the image below:
And if I were to delete the “Fall 2023 Newsletter,” to, say, change it, I will be unable to add a new one.
Second of all, all my posts and pages seem to be missing title metadata. It has the author and date and category, but there is no title. I noticed this because I inserted a post carousel into the homepage and the posts and pages featured in the carousel lack titles.
You can see above how the featured page has the black bar at the bottom where it would usually display such things as the date, author, category, and title.
I have tried adding title blocks onto the posts and this does not solve the issue. The issue seems to be with the metadata. How do I fix this and why is it happening?
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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Hi there,
I can confirm that I see meta title info correctly displayed in the source code of your site. For example on our most recent post: https://staterepmoeller.com/2023/09/19/fall-2023-newsletter/
I am able to see the code here:
Additionally, the title meta info is what powers the page title that shows up in browser tabs. If this info was not present the tabs would have no text:
And if I were to delete the “Fall 2023 Newsletter,” to, say, change it, I will be unable to add a new one.
Your title is hidden on blog posts (even though it is visible in the editor) but if you were to delete the title you have now and enter a new one instead, the title meta would also be updated in the source code. In this case it’s not typical to hide the title on the published page this way. Is this because your newsletter HTML already has a title and you are trying to avoid showing the same title twice on the published blog post?
You can see above how the featured page has the black bar at the bottom where it would usually display such things as the date, author, category, and title. […] The issue seems to be with the metadata. How do I fix this and why is it happening?
After taking a closer look it appears there is an issue with your theme (Blank Canvas) where it does not appear to be sharing title info with the carousel block. In my tests, using a different theme is all it takes for the titles to show correctly.
I’ve reported this issue to our developers but I’m not sure on how long until it is addressed. We would need to update you. In the meantime you may wish to temporarily replace the Carousel block with our Blog Posts block instead. It is not dynamic like a carousel (which helps with your page loading score) and will display your blog posts in a grid or list view, depending on the preferences you choose:
Use the Blog Post block to insert a list or grid of up to 100 blog posts (or pages, testimonials, or projects) on any page. You can show content based on category, author, or tag, display featured images or excerpts, change the text color, and more. Add the Blog Posts Block To add a Blog Posts block, click the + Block Inserter and search for “blog posts”. Click to add the block to the pageThanks for your patience!
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Thank you for your response! On the “newsletters” page of the blog, I did move to the Blog Posts block for that reason, and will likely do the same for the “Home” page. I am glad to know that the issue is that our theme is not sharing title data with the block rather than an issue with the metadata.
I will work with a theme change. This may help me with some of the other small difficulties I’ve been experiencing with fonts and line spacing and the likes. It may also solve the issue of not being able to click the “Add Title” spot to add a title after I delete an existing title.
Additionally, no, I am not trying to hide the titles on published pages, and have been baffled by why it is happening. While it has worked in my favor given my newsletter HTML already has a title, it is not intended. Might this also be a theme issue? How would I fix this?
Thank you,
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A quick follow-up:
Themes are responsible for certain features and functions on a site. I do not want to lose any content on this site, like headers and footers, font information, logos, and custom HTML. What might change with a new theme and how do I prevent loss of specific content?
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Hi again,
Additionally, no, I am not trying to hide the titles on published pages, and have been baffled by why it is happening. While it has worked in my favor given my newsletter HTML already has a title, it is not intended. Might this also be a theme issue? How would I fix this?
It was a guess on my part. It’s worth noting that the Blank Canvas theme is truly intended to be a “blank canvas” for an experienced developer to use as a starting point for creating a custom site. But it is missing some styling that is more commonly found on other themes.
So it is likely that the original template for blog posts (which are pretty minimal with this theme) did not display the title by default. This may also explain some other issues you mention having had with this theme, which seem to also relate to missing details.
Themes are responsible for certain features and functions on a site. I do not want to lose any content on this site, like headers and footers, font information, logos, and custom HTML. What might change with a new theme and how do I prevent loss of specific content?
Generally speaking, changing your theme is a lot like changing the clothing on a mannequin. Your content (pages, blog posts, uploaded media) don’t go anywhere or change that much… they just assume the style of the new theme
However, this does usually mean that some details that were theme-specific (such as header/footer appearance, fonts, page template customizations) will not come along for the ride. Usually these are things that the new theme has already.
Out of curiosity, are there any themes you are interested in here? https://wordpress.com/themes/
We’re happy to take a closer look and see how it will affect your content. Thanks for the additional info!
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Yes you would definitely be able to switch to that theme, and there would be a few details to take care of, but otherwise I don’t see any big issues. If I can ask though, what is drawing you to Barnsbury? It sounds like you wanted (in your previous reply) to switch themes without a lot of changes, but this actually seems like a change you are welcoming? You are considering a mild redesign with this move?
The reason I ask is because Barnsbury is different enough (visually speaking) that there would be a little setup work involved once the switch is made. What I usually recommend you set the site to “coming soon” mode. This will allow you to work in private, so you can take some time to edit the demo homepage to add your text and images (within that existing layout it provides) and set up your header and menu.
Then as soon as it’s looking how you like, you can re-launch the site by taking it out of coming soon mode. More info about setting your site to Coming Soon mode here: https://wordpress.com/support/privacy-settings/#coming-soon
Also if you really want to make this move painless and work directly with a team of designers and WordPress experts, I’d be a fool not to mention that our Built By WordPress.com Express program could totally help with this move.
Let us build your custom 5-page website in 4 business days by answering a few questions and submitting your content. What is Built By WordPress.com Express? Our website-building service is for anyone who wants a polished website fast: small businesses, personal websites, bloggers, clubs or organizations, and more. Answer a few questions, submit your content, and we’ll handle the restTypically the team helps with new sites, but a site like this that is already on WordPress.com and has a lot of great existing content to work with. It would really allow them to focus on helping with the theme update and working with you to create an awesome design you are proud to show off.
Hope that helps. Please let us know if you have any more questions.
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We are open to a theme change for the simple reason that it will likely solve the issues we’re having with data sharing with blocks, hidden titles, deleted titles, etc. I just want to make sure we do not lose much content in the change.
A coworker used the Barnsbury theme for the homepage. That is why the layout looks very similar to the Barnsbury theme’s homepage. It seems that theme may have been cleared or deleted at some point during development.
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Thanks for clarifying!
A coworker used the Barnsbury theme for the homepage. That is why the layout looks very similar to the Barnsbury theme’s homepage.
I can confirm that about 5 months ago this site appears to have used Barnsbury but was switched to Blank Canvas around that time. Given that you sound happy with your current site though, and may not be looking to change it too much (from it’s current color scheme, white background, etc.) I might suggest a different theme instead. One that is more like your current theme and has a similar look, but not as stripped down as the Blank Canvas theme.
This is one that I had in mind: https://wordpress.com/theme/twentytwentythree
The homepage of the demo for this theme is different, but the header is similar, the colors and fonts are similar, so it helps to imagine what your current homepage design would look like within that.
I just want to make sure we do not lose much content in the change.
One thing you could consider if you would like the opportunity to play around with this kind of theme switch in private is to create a staging site. This is an new option under your Business plan that will allow you to make an exact copy of your current site. The staging site is private and on a temporary URL, so you can change themes and “see what happens” to your heart’s content. If you get too far off the path you can delete the staging site and start over with a new one.
Use a staging site to clone your entire WordPress.com site for testing purposes. This guide will show you how to create a staging website on WordPress.com. This feature is available on sites with the WordPress.com Business or Commerce plan. 📌 This is a beta feature. If you find that something does not work as expected or you would like to share ideas on how to improve this featThis is a new feature and technically in “beta” but it won’t affect your current site at all, so totally safe to try. It’s not possible to push changes from the staging site to the live site, so you can think of it more as a sandbox for now. A safe place to experiment with changes and make a plan for the steps you need to take on the live site.
Also that limitation should change soon, the ability to push changes from staging to production is currently being worked on.
Hope that helps. Please let us know if you have any more questions.
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