My WordPress Site Is Displaying a Blank Page

Most avid WordPress users have experienced a blank page on their site, leaving them confused about the real issue. It could appear on your WordPress admin while everything else is running. In some cases, it may appear on specific pages with everything else working just fine.

Several things can cause the issue. It could be memory limit exhaustion, a dysfunctional plugin, a poorly coded theme, or an issue with the server.

It may require you to make changes to your site. Hence, the need for sufficient backup before fixing the issue.

There are a few possible solutions to fix this. Which you’ll learn in this guide. You may check for PHP errors, increase your memory limit, disable plugins, or change to the default theme.

How to Check for PHP Errors

Consider viewing the list of errors encountered by your site, this may help determine the cause of the issue. To locate and view the PHP error log, follow these steps.

1. Access your File Manager.
2. Scroll to public_html folder and locate the error_log file.
3. Right-click the file and select View. This will display a list of errors encountered by your website.
4. From here, you may now work on the error causing the problem.

How to Increase Memory Limit

This is the most common reason why a blank page appears. To fix an exhausted memory limit, please refer to How to increase PHP memory limit.

How to Disable Plugins

In case increasing the memory does not work, then you may need to start troubleshooting. The blank page may be caused by a specific plugin or a theme. Let us start with disabling all plugins by following the steps below.

1. Access your File Manager.
2. Scroll to your public_html folder and look for the wp-content folder. Then, double-click the folder.
3. Inside the wp-content folder, right-click on plugins folder, and choose Rename. Then, rename the plugins folder, as you desired. This will deactivate all of your plugins.
4. Check if the site works.
5. If the site works, change folder name to original name (plugins).
6. Open plugins folder by double-clicking it.
7. Under plugins folder, rename the files one by one, and check if the site is affected as you rename. This should determine which among the plugin is causing the error.
8. Change the file name to original name once again when a certain plugin is not causing the error.
9. When you found the plugin causing the issue, deactivate that plugin.

If the issue is caused by a plugin, then it should be fixed by now. If not, continue troubleshooting by changing to the default theme.

How to Change to Default Theme

Change your site to the default theme in case disabling your plugin does not fix the issue. Again, please make sure to create a backup.

1. Access your MySQL Database.
2. On the left corner, a list of the database will be displayed. Click the database you want to manage.
3. Under your database name, click the wp_options.
4. A list of options will display on the screen. You may display all lists by clicking Show All at the bottom of the page or display next lists by clicking [ > ] symbol.
5. Look for template, stylesheet, current theme under option_names column, and update these names by clicking Edit on its left side.
6. Change the option_value to twenty seventeen on the field provided. Click Go.
7. Check if the site works.

Other Solutions

If by chance, you have backend access, but the front-end is displaying a blank page, try emptying your cache. The issue may have happened due to a caching plugin.

Clearing cache is also advisable in case the blank page appears after a very long post. By now, your WordPress site should be working.

Congratulations! Your WordPress site is now running.

If none of the above solved the issue, you may contact us for further assistance. We’d love to help!