Help! Problem Is Definitely My Theme – What Now?

[Barry]

So you’ve run through our standard troubleshooting steps – deactivating other plugins, trying out a default theme – and you’ve discovered that whatever problem you are having with The Events Calendar (or sibling plugin) happens only when you are using your custom theme.

So what could be wrong?

There are lots of possibilities, but something I am seeing more often recently is an issue with jQuery. This is, of course, a popular Javascript library used by lots of themes, plugins and applications. It even ships with WordPress by default.

A problem can arise however when a theme (or even another plugin) decides to use a different version of jQuery and swaps out the standard copy for it’s preferred version. The Events Calendar, as a good citizen of the WordPress world, uses and to some extent relies on the fact that the loaded version of jQuery will be the same version that ships with WordPress. If it is not then we may see unpredictable behaviour.

So, if you have the technical know how this is something to look out for. If you don’t know how to check for this issue then consult with your theme author – ask them something like this:

Does your theme use the standard jQuery library that ships with WordPress or does it load its own copy/some other version from a Content Distribution Network?

If the answer is yes then you may need to work with the theme author to figure out if it can work nicely with the default copy of jQuery that ships with WordPress – if it cannot then, realistically, you have reached an impasse where you will need to pick one or the other.

Of course if the theme (or plugin) in question isn’t being a “good citizen” then it is worth considering that other plugins, perhaps not now but in the future, may similarly come against difficulties which you will also have to resolve.

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