Front page set to single album/full width slider not autoplaying
Hi again,
I've got the site set up with Front Page set to show a single album - Full Width Slider. The album is set to autoplay.
The first page to load is the english version www.alistairjamesbell.com/wp but this does not autoplay. If I change language to Italian or French the it autoplays correctly. Switching back to English does not start it.
I have switched AJAX off now to try and make the front end faster and disabled music as I will not be using it just yet. AJAX switched on did not affect the result.
Having tried it in Safari, Google Chrome and Firefox, it seems it tries to start autoplaying but then stops.
Let me know if I can provide any more information.
Thanks,
Alistair
I've got the site set up with Front Page set to show a single album - Full Width Slider. The album is set to autoplay.
The first page to load is the english version www.alistairjamesbell.com/wp but this does not autoplay. If I change language to Italian or French the it autoplays correctly. Switching back to English does not start it.
I have switched AJAX off now to try and make the front end faster and disabled music as I will not be using it just yet. AJAX switched on did not affect the result.
Having tried it in Safari, Google Chrome and Firefox, it seems it tries to start autoplaying but then stops.
Let me know if I can provide any more information.
Thanks,
Alistair
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The buttons on the bottom right hand side of the page don't appear to be working either in the English page on the Mac (image below). If I click on the down arrow to hide the bottom bar of the screen it doesn't work.
Is it possible to see link to your site with issue?
With kind regards.
With kind regards.
What seems strange is I have set the same parameters on my page as they are on the Photon demo site which I have access to.
I could provide you with admin access to my site temporarily if it could help.
Cheers,
Alistair
With kind regards.
I don't know where to set the first image in the translated version as WPML (allegedly) doesn't duplicate the media from an album to its translation.
Good idea would be also to try to create new album, and then trying to translate it, as imported demo data sometimes get corrupted in strange ways, and very strange issues appear:-) Anyway give it a try. It sounds like but personally I don't believe in such things with modern browsers. It is usually case of being loged as admin on one device and on other not logged, or often just not refreshed cache.
So on which machine you are logged in as admin?
Soon I am off for this week. So if I miss u, then we will continue on Monday.
With kind regards.
food for thought on Monday as I was out Friday night.
To add some complexity, I've tested it on my iPhone 4S and everything is working exactly as it should be... Using safari. Everything loads, runs and switches languages correctly. Even changing languages several times. The logic of the videos appearing first in Italian and French seems not to affect the autoplay on the phone... There does seem to be a screen difference as the yellow " i " button in the top left hand of the screen is not there.
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I perhaps better summarise as the thread is possibly starting to get confusing:
iMac - Test Set 1:-
Main Admin machine.
I'm using Wordpress and the theme installed on a hosted GoDaddy server which I connect to via browser connection.
First step:
logged out of all admin accounts (Wordpress, GoDaddy) then cleared down cache, cookies and local storage for all installed browsers (Safari, Firefox and Google Chrome) for www.alistairjamesbell.com/wp.
Second step - Safari results:
a1) first page (English) is not loading correctly. Autoplay does not work. The < play > down arrow functions (see image above) do not work to hide the picture bar as expected. Forward and back buttons work, play does not. Down arrow 'bounces' the images across the bottom bar only.
b1) Switching language - first time page is loaded (ignoring issues on step a1) switching language from English (EN) -> French (FR) -> Italian (IT) autoplay for both IT and FR work correctly (even with the videos as first image). If I swap languages again autoplay stops working.
c1) Quit and open Safari again. Autoplay does not work.
Third step - Firefox results:
a2) first page consistent behaviour with Second step a1) above.
b2) Switching language consistently autoplays FR and IT no matter how many times I switch between languages. EN remains consistently non-functional.
Fourth step - Google Chrome results:
a3) first page consistent with Second step a1 and a2.
b3) Switching language consistently autoplays after the first time the page is loaded in this browser. After that, sometimes it autoplays, sometimes it does not.
c3) Quit and open Google Chrome again. Autoplay works in the same manner as b3).
Note: the " i " button at top of page flashes on and off with no particular pattern. Sometimes it stays on if I click on it. Other times it continues to flash.
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Macbook - Test Set 2:-
First step - Safari Tests:
same as Test Set 1.
Second step:
a4) first page (EN) loads correctly with all functions working as expected including the arrow functions which aren't in Test Set 1. Autoplay works as well.
b4) Switching language - first time page is loaded switching language from English (EN) -> French (FR) -> Italian (IT) autoplay for both IT and FR work correctly (even with the videos as first image). If I swap languages again autoplay stops working for IT and FR. For EN it works every time.
c4) Same behaviour as c1).
Third step - Firefox results:
a5) all pages work as expected even after switching language. every time language is changed and every time page is loaded.
b5) Quit and open Firefox again. Same result as a5) above.
Note: In Safari and Firefox the " i " button at top of page flashes on and off with no particular pattern. Sometimes it stays on if I click on it. Other times it continues to flash.
Fourth step - Google Chrome results:
a6) same result as a5).
b6) same result as a5)
Note: the " i " button is always set to yellow in Google Chrome.
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iPad 2 - Test Set 4:-
a7) Clear cache then open new Safari session. EN loads and autoplays correctly.
b7) Switch language EN->FR->IT. This time, FR autoplays correctly (even with video first). IT does not. Changing back to FR it does not autoplay 2nd time round. Going back to EN this autoplays every time. It seems that this works a bit like in test b3).
NOTE: The two iPad screen shots below show another bug. In the portrait picture, it is possible to see the + in the bottom left hand corner to show and hide the text in the red box. On the landscape version it is not visible so can't be used.
Quick test on an iPad Air and it does not work as expected - The results seem to be the same as the iMac.
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Dell - Test Set 3:-
Haven't yet had a chance to test this. Should be able to tomorrow morning.
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Apologies for all this information but I hope it helps with fixing the issues (hopefully the same and not me mixing several).
Alistair
You're probably thinking I'm a nuisance!
I've resolved the problem of the English not working on the iMac. :-) Seems like it is a plugin problem! I deactivated all the plugins and the English page worked. Activated them one by one leaving Jetpack (as this had multiple functions) to the end. The EN page worked until I activated it Jetpack. Turns out one of the Performance & Security elements caused the problem. Funnily enough it has the same name as your theme: Photon. Pure coincidence.
The Photon element of Jetpack serves to: "Give your site a boost by loading images in posts from the WordPress.com content delivery network. We cache your images and serve them from our super-fast network, reducing the burden on your Web host with the click of a button."
I've left this deactivated and the EN page now works on all machines every time.
This does leave the FR and IT pages with autoplay randomly working as per the tests above on Safari and Chrome. Consistently working on Firefox. Could this be the way Safari & Chrome handle local storage compared to Firefox?
It also leaves the flashing " i " issue on the (strangely not on Firefox on the iMac) and the " + " in the bottom left hand corner (should I open the " + " as a separate issue - responsive design - iPhone layout for this works ?).
Thanks for your patience and support.
Alistair
It would be great if we could only focus only on one case per topic, but this time I will replay to you other concerns in one topic.
Easiest first: "i" button flash when there in unread message hidden in footer. After it is clicked, site creates cookie so it won't blink for next 30 days or so. Small feature, don't bother with it. + shows only on certain resolutions when we designed it is not enough space for photo description. So there can be difference between horizontal and vertical iPad and other devices, as this is not device specific feature.
To main topic:
I would like to eliminate WPML form this as it adds lots of complication in debugging whole case.
As I said before I saw in past autoplay issue on some browsers and it only occurred when album was on frontpage. I tried lot of things but I couldn't replicate it on my installation.
What worries me most is not working album controls : < play >
It sound that there is either JS problem, or some plugin in browser, like adblock, is breaking them.
Unfortunately from Apple devices I have only access to iPad, but as I wrote all that code for album my self, I know there is no device specific code that could block Macs, so there have to be something else that breaks album.
OK what you should do now :
- Disable WPML
-Test page only with one language and tell me if controls work and if autoplay works and when it doesn't.
Then I will try to recreate issue and hunt it down.
Hope we can do it.
With kind regards.
It also can be plugin cache, or other suspicious actions from other plugins
Ooo I just checked your site and I see that there is now JS error on these languages and it blocks autoplay:
TypeError: this_img[0] is undefined.I wonder is it cause of some plugin or WPML coping problems.
Try deactivating plugins to see if it will fix it, and if not, I will debug it on your server.
With kind regards.
I will keep separate topics in mind for all future reference.
Deactivated all plugins again and completely cleared cache, history on Macbook to use that to test separate from iMac admin machine. Also logged out of Admin machine and cleared Cache, Cookies and Local History for Wordpress and alistairjamesbell.com.
Logged in again and activated Plugins in this order:
No plugins (only basic menu and English site available) - normal
1) Apollo 13 Photon Post Types (more advanced menu with Albums dropdown - only English site still) - normal
2) Envato Wordpress Toolkit (no change to website - English only) - normal
3) Contact Form 7 (nicer contact form on contact page - English only) - normal
4) WPML Multilingual CMS (language dropdown appears on upper menu - default English). Already at this stage switching language does not autoplay correctly.
I went back and deactivated 2) & 3) but the result is the same. At this point, I don't think the other plugins are affecting the issue so I've reactivated everything as before (excluding Jetpack Photon).
It would seem that WPML is having trouble as that is the only other plugin that was active.
Do you need me to provide you with admin access to the server?
Cheers,
Alistair
Send me temporary access to your WordPress so I could check there what is going on. Send it here on forum via private message(click on my nick, in top-right corner you will find option "Message"). In message please attach LINK to topic it applies to.
By sending access to WordPress I mean:
-create new ADMIN account with fake e-mail
-set some password to this account
-send me created login and password
With kind regards.
Thanks for all help.
With kind regards.
With kind regards.
That sounds excellent. Look forward to updating to the next release and continuing... Hope my testing was/is helpful.
Alistair
Thank you so much. I've installed the new version of the theme and autoplay is working like a dream now in all 3 languages.
I've been thinking, could the order of images could be a WPML issue rather than your theme? If so, I can log a support call with them if you like?
Regarding the Jetpack Photon function, would you like me to raise a new and separate support call for this? I have left it inactive on my site as things stand.
Have a great rest of the week.
Alistair
With kind regards.
Re your first point everything is in good working order... All in the correct order. Mine was an afterthought before checking that element.
Regarding your second point (Jetpack). It still does not work. I really do not understand why as it only appears to happen on my iMac. I tested activating it on the Macbook and it worked OK there but still caused it to stop working on the iMac...
With kind regards.
I don't know if it helps but I see that it tries to start autoplay then stops a fraction of a second later.
I also thought it could be an addon issue so I made sure the Safari setup is identical on the Macbook and the iMac. Is it worth you knowing it is an iMac Retina?
Kind regards,
Alistair
With kind regards.
Yes, it's like switching a switch. ON = stop working. OFF = Working.
Would it help if we started a TeamViewer screen sharing session so you can see what happens from my screen directly?
If so, we could arrange it for some time convenient next week.
With kind regards.
Clicking on the down arrow, in fact, gives a similar result to the original problem where the images along the bottom of the screen "bounce". As if they were trying to follow the hide instruction but it is counteracted by a show instruction.
Is this "Photon" now activated on your site?
With kind regards.
It's set to inactive at the moment as it 'breaks' it. I can set to active if you like as it only affects me at present.
Let me know.
Alistair
With kind regards.
Kind regards,
BUT it seems that retina word is the key here:-) as I was able to recreate your issue on iPad retina! That are good news. Bad news are that this(iPad) is very hard to debug. BUT AGAIN chrome console have ability to somehow simulate retina screen, and there I was able to also recreate this issue.
Next I have found out that when there is retina script then this "photon module" runs this script http://www.alistairjamesbell.com/wp/wp-content/plugins/jetpack/modules/photon/photon.js?ver=20130122 where you can see there are lots of "retina" words:-)
This is exactly what messes our album, cause there are some actions changing markup.
Still I don't know if I can resolve this, and it may end in Photon being incompatible with Photon :-)
We will see.
Thanks for help!
With kind regards.
I will inspect some more.
With kind regards.
With kind regards.
I've replaced the existing file with this one and it works.
When the page loads it looks like the first image "blinks" (in all 3 browsers) but then each image thereafter transitions without any problems. This is consistent every time the page is opened or language is switched. Personally, I doubt "Joe Public" will notice it so I wouldn't consider it an issue.
Do I need to keep the files you sent me previously (this one and the earlier ones) or do you automatically include them in all future versions of the theme?
In the meantime, you've been really great. I wasn't expecting such quick, professional support from an online product so it's very reassuring considering this is a new product for me.
Kindest regards,
Alistair
With kind regards.