Pages not loading correctly

  • Unknown's avatar
    katielewisquilting · Member ·

    I’m setting up my new website (free not paid yet) and having trouble (that’s making me question if I should sign up for a paid plan).

    I created my home page earlier this week, tested it, and it was showing as my home page on my computer and my phone and my husband’s phone.

    The next day, I created a Book an Event page with a form. I set the URL, clicked Update, and clicked preview. Instead of showing the Book an event page, it shows my home page (the one I created). However, now when I go to my home page, it shows the template home page not the one I created.

    When I go to the editor and click on View pages, I can’t find the home page I created. ‘Home’ in the template and the new Book an Event page looks perfect in the editor (but every time I preview or copy and paste the URL, it doesn’t show the Event page but the created-by-me homepage). This represents hours of work and I’m afraid to lose that work.

    Any idea what I can do?

    katielewisquilting.wordpress.com
    katielewisquilting.wordpress.com/book-event

    WP.com: Yes
    Jetpack: No
    Correct account: Yes

    The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)

  • jmills39 · Staff ·

    Hello there,

    One issue with the homepage is that it is set to show the latest posts.

    To change which page is displayed as the homepage, you can access that from Settings > Reading:
    <a href=”https://wordpress.com/settings/reading/katielewisquilting.wordpress.com “>https://wordpress.com/settings/reading/katielewisquilting.wordpress.com

    And the reason the content for the home and event pages looks different when you view the live versions is that content was added to the page template instead of only to the pages themselves.

    Essentially, the content in the page template under Appearance > Editor > Templates > Page is overriding the pages themselves. The page template is meant to be like a framework, or a structure, versus putting all the content for a single page on it.

    I recommend removing extra content from the page template, aside from the logo, menu area, and footer. In its place, you can insert a Post Title and Post Content Block:
    https://wordpress.com/support/site-editing/theme-blocks/post-content-block/

    What that will do is pull in the page content from the template to any page that is being viewed. To ensure you don’t lose any content that you added to the template, I made a draft page here to preserve it for now:
    https://wordpress.com/page/katielewisquilting.wordpress.com/338

    You can also use this guide to move content out of the template:
    https://wordpress.com/support/site-editor/transfer-content-from-the-site-editor/

    Anything under Appearance > Editor is like the framework of a house, while the inside furnishings are the actual content you put in individual pages and posts.

    I know you were still deciding about getting a plan. If you would like to get quicker help to work through this issue or any help with other questions, you can get chat support on the Premium, Business, and Commerce Plans.
    https://wordpress.com/support/help-support-options/

    We can help you select a plan with some more information. Do you plan to have people book online? The process of how they book will help us highlight a suitable plan.

    The design is already looking great. Please let us know if you have any additional questions and have a nice day!

  • Unknown's avatar
    katielewisquilting · Member ·

    Thank you for your help! I was able to fix the first part very easily – thank you.

    The second part was a little harder to follow but I think I finally understand it. So basically, I edited the template instead of the homepage, is that right?

    I’ve reset the template, and think I understand what to do now. I really appreciate the help.

    In case feedback is helpful, here’s what was confusing to me as a relatively newer WordPress user: The first page I come to when I login is the Dashboard (My Home). The first item in the Quick Links is “Edit Site” which seems like exactly what I want to do when setting up my website. I now see that there’s a big difference between editing site and editing pages (it took me about 45 minutes of reading your post and all the related articles to grasp that). Can I suggest that the first Quick Link be Edit Pages instead? Would it make sense to reword Edit Site to Edit Template or Edit Site Template? All the icons on the left toolbar are overwhelming the first few times you log in, and when you’re just getting started, you just need to know where to input your content.

    I’m going to work on recreating my home page and hopefully get my other pages up and running today. Assuming all goes well, I do plan to add a paid plan and move or redirect to my domain.

    In terms of booking online — I use a request form and then follow up with the requester vs. having an actual scheduler/book online option where it appears that they’ve locked in those dates. I also don’t need a pay online option because in my industry payment is commonly done via mailed check. It’s actually the reason I’m moving to WordPress from Squarespace — I realized I don’t need e-commerce functionality because none of my clients actually use it ;)

    Thanks again!

  • The topic ‘Pages not loading correctly’ is closed to new replies.