Coding has got me down, so I’m chronicling what has happened and the journey to hopefully a happy ending
Why is it always easier to write before you actually pick up the pen or open the laptop? Maybe it’s just me but when I finally start to settle down to write the words get lost in a haze of Dyspraxic fog.
This wasn’t the way I wanted to start my first post here on Medium in just under a year. But… I am Dyspraxic and I am going through a little bit of a dark period. I’m a coder who is neurodiverse. It is one of those times where nothing seems to be working for me. The doubts about my ability are kicking in. Even as I write this, thoughts about whether this blog is worth writing are flowing through my brain. But writing is kind of like my therapy for when the world seems tough.
So… what is the cause of my latest period of prolonged self doubt?
WordPress.
Here’s the problem.
Over the last several weeks I’ve been working on a project with WordPress for a client. They asked me to create a website for them to allow users to enquire about the rental of their motorhomes. The static version of the site is up and running. But they want a more customised solution that I could only possibly provide via WordPress.
But I’ve been stalled via an annoying and persistent problem and I believe it is the bane of anyone who has spent a long period of time trying to develop in WordPress and to all who encounter it.
The White Screen of Death (WSOD)
I’ve only ever had a brief relationship with WSOD. I’ve encountered it most often when I’m migrating a WordPress database from one location (localhost) to a web server.
And whenever I do I simply go into the permalinks section the Admin area and make sure the “post name” format is selected. Once done, all the menu links of the WordPress theme start to work as if there was never a problem.
No more blasted WSOD.
The WSOD occurs when there’s a problem with a poorly written plugin, poorly developed theme development code or some sort of server misconfiguration. Or I’m led to believe. No doubt there’s truth to those words.
But it feels like every thing that can be done by the gremlins in the WordPress code to stop me from progressing has been done.
Summarising the issue
The problem is so simple and yet so difficult to get around. The WSOD occurs whenever I try to click on a link that is *not* the home page. I’ve gotten as far as writing the functions needed to set up menus at 2 locations in my theme. It started a couple of days ago when I added numerous plugins all at once to start developing on my local server.
I had assumed I’d added a broken plugin and my pages woild come back as soon as I’d deactivated the right plugin. But the pages did not come back.
Every time I’d tried and failed a troubleshooting tactic, I could feel my heart sink further and further. A real web developer would know how to fix this problem and where to look. And once they know, could interpret the error logs to isolate the problem and fix it.
As of now, the pages have not come back.
What happens now?
If this wasn’t critical client work I wouldn’t be so affected by this. Luckily I have an understanding client and there are things we are doing behind the scenes in the interim.
But I don’t like the way it is making me feel. Not just for the delay in producing what I agreed for my client but for me personally as well.
I could just give up and that would take the problem away in the short term but that would be the easy way out and wouldn’t do any good in the long term. But I will keep going because I still have a job to do, no matter how bad a time it’s been.
I’m going to keep plugging away. The next step is to put a more static solution online to keep the project going while I try to fix the problem. It feels like I still have a lot of hurdles to overcome but I’ll get it done, one step at a time. Maybe you’ll also be along for the ride too? :)
