Alright, got it figured out.

For the first part, the database was storing old options from the last theme I used that also used VC. I wiped those out to remove any mentions of the old theme and inserted the values from my dev site. That wiped my theme settings out so I imported those again (thankfully I had them saved), and then I went to VC settings and selected all shortcodes for administrator and saved. Viola! I have all the Newspaper blocks available in VC now.

But for the second part, I’m still getting the screwed up styles in the page builder. It’s because I still have VC v.4.3.5 installed and not the latest version.

I’m hesitant to install the latest version just because of recent conversations on here regarding NewsMag (which I also have) and the Shim plugin because of how new versions of VC are slowing sites down to a crawl since NewsMag v1.7.

So, if I upgrade VC to v4.5.3 as distributed with Newspaper v6.1, will the site run slower than it does with VC v.4.3.5 as distributed with Newspaper v4.6.1?

Whatever option is faster is what I’ll stick with. Would really like to hear @NeoTrope weigh in on this as well.

Best way I know is to create a page on a full width site (no background image or color set in theme settings, not boxed layout) and create the grid in a page in it’s own full width row, then use the design tab in the options for the row to select the color you want as the background.

Great! Glad to help.

Go to: newspaper/includes/modules/td-module-single.php

Delete ONLY the highlighted portion of text shown inside of the green box, not all of the code in the green box:

Delete from the <a> to the </a> for the last two links to remove the two networks in question.

*** Note that my buttons show differently than the default buttons. I’ve already updated my buttons to remove Pinterest and include Reddit instead. In either case, the final two links in that block of code are the two you need to delete. Those last two in your code should be for Google Plus and then for Pinterest. My updated links are formated identical to the default links, hence showing you them instead of default code.

***** Also note that there are two parts of this and only one is shown. In that same file, this code is basically repeated. One for the top above the code shown in the screenshot, and one block for the bottom sharing buttons, as shown in the screenshot.

Good luck.

There is very specific instruction in the theme documentation available on this site for updating from an older version to v6/v6.1. It includes methods by which certain parts have to be removed and then new replacement installed. Be sure to follow those exactly. You cannot simply update the Visual Composer, for example, by uploading the new plugin over the old one. The old one has to be deactivated and fully deleted before uploading the new version in most cases.

There are multiple ways to do some of the steps listed in the upgrade documentation, so it’s tempting to use the method you know best that usually gets you the end result desired. Don’t give into familiarity. Follow the instructions precisely. They’re specific for good reason.

Hope this helps. Good Luck.

Well, you’re not “Fixing” anything, you’re customizing things.

Here’s what you can do. Mind you, these are only steps and locations; you need to know how to use CSS and HTML to actually perform the changes:

Adding WhatsApp & Removing Pinterest: The code for the default sharing blocks are in newspaper/includes/modules/td-module-single.php and there are two sections, one for above and one for below the post. They’re just links added to a variable so remove what you don’t need or change it as needed.

I wanted to add Reddit and remove Pinterest so I deleted the Pinterest blocks from both, created a td-social-reddit class for the background color, and changed the icon in the <i> element to td-icon-reddit and added the styles to the Custom CSS panel in the theme settings (to avoid overwriting on updates).

If the WhatsApp button uses a share URL and not a javascript function, it’s simple enough to copy the Google Plus button code in each location and adjust the URL in it and even add variables to it like I did with Reddit (See example on my site: Single post on my site showing the sharing buttons with Reddit and no Pinterest)

Please note that the default sharing buttons in that file all include some javascript inside of <script></script> tags within the chunk of code. This is primarily for handling the popup behavior of each link. Removing it or using your own JS without such a function will make clicking the share link open in the current full browser window, taking users away from your site.

Adding Pinterest to Images: There are several free and premium plugins that handle this. I suggest you implement one of them after removing the default Pinterest share button as described above.

These aren’t difficult changes to make, though. If you’re familiar with coding then it should be self-explanatory how to complete the steps above. Good luck!

@NeoTrope HAHAHA

I guess the post template Style #1 is out of the question, then.

It’s a constant evolution. I found the same thing as Chris regarding the Article Inline Ad, so I removed it and reads went back up. Took a few weeks to spot that trend. Some trends take longer than that to spot, usually for smaller distinctions.

I found that mobile users especially hate the square skyscraper ads in the content or above it. Use the leaderboard and make it responsive so it fits the screen instead. That helps.

Additional attempts to resolve the issue:

1. Noticed the dev site was running php 5.3.29 stable while the main site was running php 5.5.21, so I switched the main site down to 5.3.29, but no change.

2. I upped the max input vars and memory limits to minimums specified by the system status tab of the theme. No changes detected.

3. I disabled all non-theme plugins and that didn’t make a difference.

Thank you, Marius. I’m very pleased with how it came out. Even more so because the theme is faster than ever. You guys did a great job with the v6 update. Bravo.

But I haven’t fixed it, just found a temporary fix that doesn’t seem as obviously broken while we work on it. Here are the problems:

1. Categories Filter
Category filtering in blocks on the home page I’ve built is set as default, to show all categories, but it’s only showing the first category, alphabetically, from the site (Cowboys Blog). I’ve tried updating it several times and checking the other categories but no luck. All categories work fine when I select them individually, but not when selecting “All Categories” from the filter. This occurs with and without unique articles enabled, and after all caches have been cleared. ** This was my bad. Didn’t correct the offset properly for the block after the ad while building the page.

2. Newspaper Block Shortcodes in VC
Visual Composer is really not reading the themes blocks. See the screenshot for what I see:

That has remained constant on InsideTheStar.com (Main Site) while it was not a problem on Dev.InsideTheStar.com (Development Site, also live). It remains constant whether I use v6.1 parent or child theme, and whether I use VC v4.3.5 or v.4.5.3. I’ve checked upload type (binary vs. ascii) and uploaded fresh copies from the theme directory of the whole theme multiple times. I’ve also removed VC via both methods and reinstalled but no fix, yet.

I was able to create the homepage I’m using now by taking the page on my dev site, reverting to the classic editor so it would show me the VC shortcodes, and copied those shortcodes into the classic editor on the homepage for the main site. I couldn’t use the blocks any other way. With VC v.4.5.3 (as distributed with Newspaper v6.1) I couldn’t even edit those blocks at all on the main site, just move them around (couldn’t edit, duplicate, or delete them from the VC editor).

3. VC Editor Styles
I’m also seeing this issue while using Newspaper v6.1 with VC v4.3.5 (the only version I can access this following screen from):

I can still use the box with that broken style for the tabs up top, but it hints at the main problem, I’d think.

I would have liked to get it figured out already, but all I was able to do was get the site limping well enough that most visitors won’t notice (it’s a production site).

Any ideas? The only thing worth noting from the system info tab of the theme is that I’m running at 40mb instead of 64mb. It’s not the problem, though. Both the main site and dev site are running on the same host with the same setups, and the dev site is not experiencing any troubles with VC v.4.3.5.

• This reply was modified 11 years by Bryson T. Reason: Removed item 1 from the list, as it was user error

Correction: I was able to copy the shortcodes for my homepage from the dev site to the main site, but I still cannot get VC 4.3.5 or 4.5.3 to recognize the Newspaper block shortcodes.

Found it.

Forgot that my dev site had an old version of VC on it from last tests with Newspaper v.4.6.1 and I left that running. So while the flawless dev site was running VC 4.3.5, the main site was running the version that came with v6, VC 4.5.3 and nothing worked.

Very odd. BTW – I ran the script from the v6 welcome page to update the database, just in case, and it says no Newspaper v4 tables found and aborts. Like I said fresh install.

What am I missing by running VC 4.3.5 instead of the latest version?

Also noticing that the Teaser meta box on the post editor isn’t showing up.

It’s very odd. It’s like I don’t have VC installed because it’s not really recognizing that Newspaper is installed and working like it should.

Hosting is fully compatible and I checked all active plugins on my dev site today before making the switch – no issues whatsoever. The dev site was running the same theme before I installed Newspaper 6 that the main site was, so I don’t think my last post was right; that the other theme also using VC is messing it up somehow, because it didn’t have any issues on the dev site. The dev site is running everything identical to the main site, only much more cluttered as it’s been used for quite some time to prepare themes for the live site and do some custom work.

Custom work I’ve done is only to styling and replacing the Pinterest share button with a reddit share button. I used the static sharing url for reddit so no extra JS is loading either. Again, all works fine and as expected on the dev site.

I’m out of ideas for what to check…

I also tried switching to Newspaper parent theme and I tried overwriting all theme files via ftp (originally installed the theme via the admin since it was the first version of any tagDiv theme in the database).

I also deleted VC via ftp and re-installed. Didn’t help.

Last theme I was using used VC, too, v4.4.4. I switched from that theme to Newspaper on this site. Could the problem be settings from that old theme left behind? If so, how do I identify the issue and resolve it?

Thanks.

Child them is in the Newspaper download folder. Look in the /Code directory for the child theme, read me, and api plugin.

Since they are actively working on it, and these sort of developments can suffer a couple of dozen different setbacks every single day that cost them anywhere from minutes to hours each, I wouldn’t count on anything yet.

They’ve been pretty consistent about a mid-June-ish timeline for a few weeks now, so I’m holding those horses another week or two so they can get it right.

Chris, sometimes I really want a Thumbs Up button on these posts… lol

@sandall Once the featured images are missing at the file level, the default image from the theme won’t work because the database still shows a featured is set, even though the file is missing.

I’ve been through something similar with imports and I was not able to find anything that could bulk modify the posts in question. You have to manually go through each post and unset the featured image. Another may be an SQL query to remove the featured image info from each post at the database level, but that’s advanced and needs to be undertaken by someone familiar with WordPress and MySQL.

Wish there was an easy fix for this. Good luck!

lol Tip jar. Funny.

But seriously, it helps. More than anything else, though, I think the things you take the time to put out there (see various sticky threads you authored in both NewsMag and Newspapers support forums) make so much of a difference because even great support doesn’t have time for everything. Kind of helps tagDiv work more on these new updates everyone is beyond ready for while you have taken care of plenty of support requests for them by passing on your own experience.

Much appreciated. And not often enough expressed.

Damn, meant to say, for those thinking this might be an issue with NewsMag or Newspaper, that the issues with Visual Composer being discussed in this thread are not unique to tagDiv themes. I’m also using A-Bomb by 007Theme, aka Ridwan Reedwan, which uses VC 4.4.4 and is very similar to NewsMag/Newspaper, and experiencing the same kind of load issues. Not as bad as NewsMag 1.7 was for me on the same site, but tagDiv integrates VC with a lot more features than the A-Bomb theme does, so it makes sense that it drains a bit more.

Hey @neotrope, I don’t see many people saying it here but you’re a badass, you know? Thanks for the continued help over the last year. You really provide context that would otherwise not exist.

I had to move on from NewsMag for my site shortly after what was thought then to be an issue 1.7 was discovered. And I’ve since realized that the limited width of NewsMag was a major problem for my content. But it looks like Newspaper will get the benefits of the hard work tagDiv and you are putting into this issue, so I’ll check out Newspaper v5 as soon as it’s out.

Just can’t beat the quality and stability of a tagDiv theme for a WordPress news/magazine site.

Anyway, thanks, Chris.

A big update would be 1.6 -> 2.0. Going to 1.7.1 is not a big update. Given all of the security issues of late with WordPress and its related components, I can’t see why a minor update would be avoided. 1.7.1 took care of a portion of the speed problems with 1.7, enough that I’ve switched to it after noticing those speed issues immediately after upgrading to 1.7.

Save the useless band-aide – upgrade to 1.7.1 and ease your concerns.

Good Luck.

@OnlineThemes Try it again and be sure to follow the instructions carefully. 1.7 is the latest version (and the version that introduced lazy loading) and it works perfect on 1.7. Tested & verified.

User error, conflicts caused by additional custom modifications, and other unrelated code/theme errors are the options for why this didn’t work.

Good luck.

Like I said, if you have to ask…

First, there are too many different caching plugins for me to start listing how each work, plus the ones I don’t know how to use. Second, caching is a plugin, not a core WP feature. I’d like to help but the question is entirely too vague.

If you have to ask then you probably aren’t using one.