WordPress website needs refreshing to load..

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Hey, my website (www.fenbipresents.com) refuses to load first try. I just get a blank screen that doesn't timeout but it doesn't load anything either and it loads fine if I stop and refresh the page. I have updated everything that I can think of (Php, themes, plugins) and cleared the cache but it still happens in both Chrome and Firefox. The pages within the website seem a little slow to load as well.

I am a novice at website building.. Any ideas or suggestions?

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anonymous
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Quote from liam m.

Hey Alyssa, thanks for your reply. I'm a novice at this so how would I go about that and what would I need to look out for? Thanks again!

Hi, Liam! Working with WordPress's .htaccess file can end up getting complex depending on how you approach it, so I'll try to narrow it down to help you solve your issue as easily as possible. 

The .htaccess file is just a configuration file used by web-servers for things like redirects, file loading, etc. You can work with and edit it in cPanel's file manager, though you may first need to make hidden files visible

Both cPanel and WordPress itself will edit the .htaccess file. Lots of plugins, redirect commands, and the like will make various changes to it. To get your site working again, the easiest thing to do is to first copy the file (there is likely an .htaccess file in every folder, so make sure you are working with the one in your site directory) and rename it as something like may2020htaccess.bak so that you still have the data, but the file is inactive. Then, edit the active .htaccess file to use WordPress's default .htaccess file content

This should work, but certain plugins may not work correctly until you reactivate or reconfigure them. If doing so causes the problem you mentioned to start happening again, then you know that plugin is probably the one causing it in the first place and you'll need to troubleshoot it further. Hope that helps! 

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anonymous
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Quote from liam m.

Hey Alyssa, thanks for your reply. I'm a novice at this so how would I go about that and what would I need to look out for? Thanks again!

Hi, Liam! Working with WordPress's .htaccess file can end up getting complex depending on how you approach it, so I'll try to narrow it down to help you solve your issue as easily as possible. 

The .htaccess file is just a configuration file used by web-servers for things like redirects, file loading, etc. You can work with and edit it in cPanel's file manager, though you may first need to make hidden files visible

Both cPanel and WordPress itself will edit the .htaccess file. Lots of plugins, redirect commands, and the like will make various changes to it. To get your site working again, the easiest thing to do is to first copy the file (there is likely an .htaccess file in every folder, so make sure you are working with the one in your site directory) and rename it as something like may2020htaccess.bak so that you still have the data, but the file is inactive. Then, edit the active .htaccess file to use WordPress's default .htaccess file content

This should work, but certain plugins may not work correctly until you reactivate or reconfigure them. If doing so causes the problem you mentioned to start happening again, then you know that plugin is probably the one causing it in the first place and you'll need to troubleshoot it further. Hope that helps! 

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liam m.
Quote from anonymous

Hello Anonymous, 

Thank you for your question regarding your website. You may want to check the .htaccess file to ensure that there are no redirects or other lines of code interfering with how your site initially loads. 

Best Regards, 

Alyssa K. 

Hey Alyssa, thanks for your reply. I'm a novice at this so how would I go about that and what would I need to look out for? Thanks again!

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anonymous
  • Answered

Hello Anonymous, 

Thank you for your question regarding your website. You may want to check the .htaccess file to ensure that there are no redirects or other lines of code interfering with how your site initially loads. 

Best Regards, 

Alyssa K.