WordPress Text That You’re Typing Is Invisible?

Earlier today, I tried to write a new post but I couldn’t see the text that I was typing into the post box on the WordPress (WP) admin panel. I tried using HTML view, but the text was also invisible. However, when I highlighted the post box, I could see the text. I wasn’t sure what was causing it.

Example of invisible text in WordPress post box

Example of invisible text in WordPress post box

I did a search and found a thread on WordPress.org discussing the same issue. It sounded like the issue is caused by a WP plugin, but I wasn’t using the plugin that they mentioned in the thread.

Anyway, I thought I’d try to disable all my WP plugins to check if the issue will go away. If you want to disable all your plugins, just do the following:

  1. Go to the Plugins page.
  2. Click the All link under Manage Plugins.
  3. Select the check box before the Plugins heading.
  4. In the Bulk Actions drop-down menu, select Deactivate.
  5. Click Apply.

I did that and the problem indeed was resolved. The next step was to identify which specific plugin was causing it. This was a trial-and-error process — I had to enable the plugins one by one on one tab, and then check on another tab if the text in my WordPress draft post was still visible. Of course, I had to refresh the tab with the draft post every time I disable a plugin.

I’m using 16 WP plugins on Metahead.com. After disabling about half of them, my draft post became invisible. And that’s how I caught the culprit. I disabled the offending plugin, and my WordPress world returned to normal.

It appears that this issue could occur with a number of plugins. In the WordPress that I mentioned, the thread starter mentioned that it was the ‘Default Post Content’ plugin that was causing the issue. It was a different plugin in my case, so the only way to catch the plugin that is causing the issue is to perform the trial-and-error process I described above.

Did this post help you? If it did and you’re able to figure out which plugin caused the issue on your blog, please leave a message below with the name of the offending plugin to help other bloggers who are experiencing the same issue.

Easiest Way to Edit the Thesis Theme Footer

If you are using WordPress for your blog like the rest of the world (except for my grandmother who doesn’t blog), you  may have already heard of the Thesis theme. In my opinion, it’s one of the most customizable and flexible themes ever built. It includes a lot of design, search engine optimization, presentation, and content options for your blog, which is why I decided to purchase it. Yes, it’s a paid WordPress theme, so you will have to shell out some cash to take advantage of the power it can add to your WordPress blog. I will do another post on why I think it’s a killer theme, but for now, we’ll focus on one of the things that you’ll probably want to customize after you buy the theme.

NOTE: If you are not using Thesis on your blog but you’re curious, go check it out at DIY Themes.

I’ve started customizing my Thesis installation — to make it more different from the default theme that I got when I purchased the theme. One of the first things that I wanted to do was to change the footer to link to metahead.com, instead of to diythemes.com.

Here’s how I did it (and this is very possibly the simplest way to do it).

What You Will Need

How to Edit the Footer

  1. Using a text or HTML editor, open footer.php that is located in the \lib\html\ folder of the theme.
  2. Make sure you view the source code.
  3. Edit the following text: Get smart with the <a href="http://diythemes.com/thesis/">Thesis WordPress Theme</a> from DIYthemes. to change it to your own footer. I changed the footer for metahead.com to: Copyright &copy; 2010 Metahead.com <a href="http://www.metahead.com/">Make Money Online</a>.
    See the highlighted text in the screen shot at the end of the post.
  4. Save footer.php.
  5. Upload footer.php to your Web host.

You have completed editing the footer of the Thesis theme for WordPress. Now go visit your site and check your new footer!

How to edit the Thesis theme footer