Pro 5.0.8 with Smart Slider and Yoast

[simeoned]

After the update from 4.3.3 to 5.0.8, there is a problem with the display of a smart slider that was previously working. It is implemented on the site with a shortcode inside of a text element (raw content would work too) but the slider has disappeared after the update.

Suspecting the problem may be plugin related, I deactivated everything but the smart slider itself. This made the the slider return so I turned things back on one by one until I found the conflict. It only happens when Yoast 17.0 is activated.

Now, I know you don’t support 3rd party plugins per se but, this is not purely a plugin conflict. This is due to the latest version of your software (Pro 5.0.8 - can confirm this was also present in 5.0.6, I saw it the other day as well) in conjunction with Yoast and Smart Slider Pro 3. As I say, everything was previously working fine and the update to 5.0.8 is all that has changed.

I have a staging site setup for this I wall provide credentials in a secure note below. Please have a look and let me know your thoughts.

Thanks

[tristup]

Hi Dan,

If you are trying to point out the section marked in the given screenshot, it is showing properly even if the Yoast plugin is activated.
I would suggest you check once by clearing all types of cache and in the incognito/private mode of the browser.

Thanks

[simeoned]

@tristup, I am not getting those results. I suspect you are looking inside the builder instead of doing what I asked which is to look on the front end. The builder loads the slider correctly for some reason. But it does not display correctly in the front end. And btw, of course I cleared the cache and loaded in an incognito session, that is troubleshooting step #1.

Please look again after reviewing the original message I posted here. Thank you.

[tristup]

Hi Dan,

I have checked it through the Frontend and it was showing correctly even if the Yoast plugin is activated. I have checked it again and found it is not working anymore and worked once the plugin is deactivated.

As this is a 3rd Party plugin issue, I would suggest you contact the Plugin Author on this and let us know the feedback from them.

Thanks

[simeoned]

@tristup,

As I have already stated, this is not simply a third party plugin issue but rather a direct result of updating your software:

Now, I know you don’t support 3rd party plugins per se but, this is not purely a plugin conflict. This is due to the latest version of your software (Pro 5.0.8 - can confirm this was also present in 5.0.6, I saw it the other day as well) in conjunction with Yoast and Smart Slider Pro 3. As I say, everything was previously working fine and the update to 5.0.8 is all that has changed.

The fact that turning Yoast off fixes the issue does not indicate that there is something wrong with Yoast or with Smart Slider. The exact configuration that is there now was working prior to the update from 4.3.3 to 5.0.8. This indicates a problem with your software not any third party. This is a standard implementation of both of those plugins – nothing fancy. And, again, it was working fine before the update.

Please address the issue.

[simeoned]

I reached out to Nextend support (the dev team for Smart Slider 3), described the issue, and asked them to look at the parsed HTML and error console. This is their reply when they did:

What I see on your website is, that our code starts, so this appears in the html code:
[HTML Comment] n2css [/HTML Comment]

to take up the place, where we want to insert our CSS codes and files, but then our code never finishes. This kind of issue happens, when there is an ouput buffering problem, that your theme’s code probably uses ob_flush:
https://www.php.net/manual/en/function.ob-flush.php
to stop all codes and just output the html result of the website, before our code could have finish.

Our senior developer is on vacation this week, but if you send us an installer for your theme, he will take a look at its code, to see what he finds. Until then, if you would tell this information to the developers of the theme, they are probably aware of what changed within their ouput buffering and they might be able to figure out the issue themselves.

Please advise.

[ruenel]

Hello @simeoned,

After we have investigated the issue, we cannot replicate the issue from our end. The Smart Slider shortcode works smoothly and as expected using the text element or the raw content element.

We used Pro theme 5.0.8 version in our test:

The Smart Slider shortcode inserted in a text element:

The Smart Slider shortcode inserted in a raw content element:

This is the live preview of the slider on the frontend:

The issue could be caused by a plugin conflict, amongst other things. Please check out this troubleshooting article here and follow the instructions for the following sections (where appropriate):

Testing for Plugin Conflict
Child Theme
Switch to Parent Theme
CSS/JS Customization
Disabling Cache
Disabling CDN

Kindly let us know how it goes.

[simeoned]

I gave them an unlicensed copy of 5.0.8 and explained what my experience was just as I did here. They were able to replicate the issue exactly as I described it. They then sent me a revised version of the plugin to circumvent the problem and promised to include the new code in a future point release. So, for now, the problem is solved due to their speedy reaction to this bug report.

I still think an output buffering investigation is worth pursuing on your end, however. They were able to address the immediate issue I was having but this could come up again and should be investigated as thoroughly as possible by your dev team.

Thanks for your help

[tristup]

Hi Dan,

That is great that the problem is solved by the Plugin Author. Still, I will check and will report to our development if anything found.

Thanks