Identify and fix a plugin conflict in WordPress

Not all the WordPress plugins and themes are well implemented following the WordPress guidelines, for that reason the conflicts between plugins are very frequent. Is enough with having a plugin not properly implemented to cause issues with many of other well implemented plugins.

The first step to deal with these issues is to identify the origin of the conflict. A way to do this is to deactivate the plugins one by one to check which one is causing the conflict. If all the plugins are deactivated and the problem persists then the problem may be in the theme, so temporary change the theme to confirm if the problem is there.

With the source of the problem identified the easiest solution is to disable the related plugin or to use a different theme but if this isn’t a solution then a more complex work have to be done to check exactly into the plugin or theme which piece of script or behavior is causing the problem.

If the problem is into the theme the most common problems is the wp_head() or wp_footer() calls missing from the theme. The plugins scripts are enqueued in the WordPress header and footer and for being able to do that the theme used in the website must follow the WordPress theme guidelines like including a call to the wp_head() function in the header of the theme and have wp_footer() just before the closing. If those calls aren’t there then add them to correct the problem.

If the problem is into a plugin a frequent problem is when the plugin uses an old jQuery version or when injects a previous JavaScript error into the page. Another problem may be related to the use of cache plugins or CDNs over resources that shouldn’t be cached. The solutions for these issues are to disable the script or behaviour causing the problem.

If a more complex work is required and you are using one of our WordPress plugins then you can contact our support service and we will happy to assist you.