What is the heck is FTP?

FTP stands for file transfer protocol, and it is the way we designers load your customized files to your server, and is an “account” if you will, where all of your website information is held. You will need to download an FTP program, but it is easy to do, and can be free! I love FileZilla. It’s free!

How do I access my FTP site?

When you signed up for your hosting account, you should have received an email with information on how to access your site via FTP. This should include a host name, which is generally some variation on your URL, or domain name, or your server IP address. You should have also been given a user name and a password. To open your website in the FileZilla FTP program, click “file” and then “site manager” on the top left of the screen. Add your login information and viola! Here are all the files on your website.

How do I fix a White Screen of Death?

In order to fix a white screen of death, you will need to disable all of your plugins. But first, you have to find your way to the plugins folder!

When you first log into your FTP site, you will see a bunch of files and folders. What you are looking for is a folder named “wp-content.” Depending on your host and how your WordPress site was created, you may not see this folder here, but you will see a folder named “public_html,” and you should click that. Now for another caveat. If you have more than one WordPress installation on your main hosting account, you will need to navigate to the appropriate site folder and double click there to find the “wp-content” folder. We call all of these folders and clicks a path. Here are some examples of your potential paths. Think of each slash as a click.

/wp-content/

/public_html/wp-content/

/public_html/your_site_name/wp-content/

(before each of these potential paths would be http://www.your_main_hosting_domaine_name.com.)

Now that you have found the wp-content folder, double click it to open, and you will see some more folders, one of them being the plugin folder.

Double click on that and you will see all of your plugins. You can disable them by right clicking on the name and re-naming it. You want to name it something like, plugin-name-old. If you go view your site, you SHOULD see your site there, although there may be some widgets or other bells and whistles missing because they were related to the plugins.

Now, go back to your plugins folder in your FTP site, and one-by-one rename them back to the original plugin name, by removing “old” from the title. Each time you rename a plugin, go back to your site and refresh your screen. Do this until you get the white screen again. Once you get the white screen, then you have your culprit. Put the “old” back in the title of that plugin. Keep in mind, though, that you may have more than one upset plugin, so you want to continue the one-by-one process until they have all been checked.

The next step is to do some research. Sometimes plugins don’t play well with each other, so go ahead and Google your plugin name and “conflicts with other plugins” or something along those lines. It is also helpful to visit the WordPress Forums to see if there is anything helpful there.

If you feel like you need to just get rid of the plugin, go to your dashboard, deactivate the plugin and delete it so you don’t put yourself at any kind of security risk. Now you know how to fix the white screen of death!

Have you ever had a white screen of death, if so, what did you do?

Thanks for installing the Bottom of every post plugin by Corey Salzano. Contact me if you need custom WordPress plugins or website design.

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Thanks for installing the Bottom of every post plugin by Corey Salzano. Contact me if you need custom WordPress plugins or website design.