Turn on Error Reporting in WordPress (advanced)

Sometimes when you are working with a website things go bad.  It might be that nothing happens when it is supposed to, or it might be as bad as a blank screen when you are expecting to see content.  This could happen when you install a new plugin, when you install a new theme, or if you put some kind of code in your website (especially if you have php enabled on posts). One way to debug problems is to enable php error reporting.  A lot of times web hosts have php error reporting enabled but scaled back to only report failures, but sometimes it is disabled completely.  There are a handful of ways to enable php reporting, some easier than others.

  1. Use a plugin: The first option is to use a plugin to capture the errors. The plugin Error Reporting claims to be able to enable and capture php errors.  I haven’t tried it but it is the simplest to install and test so it might be worth a shot.
  2. Edit wp-config.php: You can turn on php error reporting by editing the php pages to show errors.  The WordPress codex talks about enabling php error reporting here.
  3. Change php.ini: The last and final option is to enable php error reporting by editing the php.ini file.  This will be different on every host so search their knowledgebase for how tos or contact support.

If you still can’t figure it out and you need some additional help, this is a more complex issue that I won’t be able to answer through a few short emails, but I am available if you need help.


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