White Screen Only For Site and Back End Admin

[Dylan]

Hi,

I have a frequent issue of my site going to white screen only, for the site and all pages and for the dashboard etc. The solution is to have Midnight reset the server and it fixes the problem. But I dont want my site going down at all, so they looked into it and have a solution. I just don’t understand the solution and need some guidance as to the subject and where to begin.

The Environment I am running.

URL: Truth11.com
Ghost version: is the latest, updated by Midnight server hosting. ( I dont have the version number as my site is currently in white screen mode and I cant get into the dashboard to check it)

• How was Ghost installed and configured?
  Ghost has been installed and configured by midnight server hosting.

• What Node version, database, OS & browser are you using?

Dont know what node version is, or which database, this may be info held by Midnight. My os is Mac 12.2.1 and safari version 15.3

• What errors or information do you see in the console?

This is the email Midnight sent to me, they have found the problem, I just dont understand how to fix it.

Hi Dylan,
I have heard back from our tech team.
It seems somewhere in your theme is an error that is probably causing the site to crash overtime.
The error is as follows:
“domain”:“https://www.truth11.com”,“code”:null,“name”:“BadRequestError”,“statusCode”:400,“level”:“normal”,“message”:“Error parsing filter”,“stack”:"Error: Query Error: unexpected character in filter at char 7
Please see this forum post for more information:
Getting "Error parsing filter" when filtering by multiple tags
If you can look into this and let us know.
Kind regards,
Midnight Support

I have gone to the forum link and I dont understand how to access this information or what to do at all. I need the first steps, what is the subject in general, what program do I use to fix it, how do I fix it.

This issue is a very big concern for me. My site is going down twice or more per day.

Thank you for any assistance or advice.

Dylan

[mjw]

The filter needs to use HTML encoding. For example, “:” encoded is %3A. You need to substitute characters, as shown in the example with encoded values.

See this guide and reference.
HTML URL Encoding Reference

[Dylan]

Hi,
Thank you for your response.
I have read the guide and reference you have sent. I am not sure where to apply this information. Where exactly do I substitute characters with encoded values, is it as I post the article, change the url in the ghost editor?, do I need to go back and fix old posts?. The guide you sent a link to discusses “JavaScript, PHP, and ASP there are functions that can be used to URL encode a string.” But where to do I access java script php and asp? I have access to the ghost platform only. Midnight is doing all the back end. It may seem a simple question but do it do this in the ghost platform dashboard. Do I need to get another program to access this. Can midnight give me access to this. I can figure it out with the information you have provided, but I cant figure out where to apply it.

Thank you for your patience. I am a journalist, not in computers, and am new to this subject.

I am using the character • in post titles but it gets converted out of the url.

Do I insert the javascript php asp functions in Code injection section in the ghost editor program.

As you can see, im not sure where this is done.

Thank you.

[mjw]

The changes need to be made in your theme.

[Dylan]

OK! Thank you! That is a start! I will go from there!.

[Dylan]

Hi,

No one can figure out where or how to make these changes. My site is down daily still. Would changing themes be an option to stop this?. Or can you help me make the necessary changes? This is hurting my site which is dedicated to bringing the truth to everyone, we are losing readers because the site is down so much. Can you please help fix this?

[jannis]

Since the error seems to be in your theme, yes – changing your theme can be an option.

Which theme are you using though? Something “out-of-the-box”, like an official theme or one you bought? If you have bought it, I would approach the theme developer with the error message.

If you have edited your theme yourself, the error is probably in the sections you have edited – based on the error message, somewhere where you filter with a {{#get ...}} helper.

[Dylan]

Hi Jannis,

Thank you for your response. My theme is Headline and the only additional code I have added is google statistics tracker. In the labs section. I cant get into the back end due to the white screen right now. I will check it when my site comes back online, still waiting for midnight to reset my servers. Thats how they fix it each time. I have to wait for them to reset.

I will look into [[#get•. }}. where do you edit the theme?

[Dylan]

I have removed the google tracker and add to any which is the only code I have added in the footer and header.

I will see if that makes any difference. If not I will change themes and report back if that fixes the issue. Thank you for your help!

[jannis]

The Google Analytics code shouldn’t have any impact on it, but given that you’re using the Headline theme, I have a suspicion what’s going on here.

Is it possible that you have added some custom sections in the theme settings, as described here:

About this theme

These would ultimately be used by the theme for a {{#get...}} filter (here are the technical details for it).

If you have these set up, make sure that a) the filters actually exist and b) they are separated by a simple comma and no other symbols (including any spaces).

[Dylan]

I have nothing in this area.

The site has gone down twice since removing the code I have changed. So you are right it was not the google tracking.

[jannis]

Alright, any chance that there is a space in any of these fields?

If not, I am out of ideas as well, sorry. You could try updating the theme to see if that helps.

Otherwise, try another theme. If the issue persists even with other themes, the Midnight support needs to dig a bit deeper, imo, given that you have no custom code in there yourself.

[mjw]

If you want to continue using the theme, you may want to request assistance in the Marketplace section.

However, if you’ve not customized the theme, make sure you’ve updated it to the latest version. Alternatively, try another theme, e.g., Source, for a few days to see if this helps. If you used code injection for GA, this won’t be affected.

To identify the offending code, you’ll need to search through the theme’s .hbs files for the relevant filter, which is why I think the marketplace may be the place to request assistance.

[Dylan]

amazing, thank you! I will do as you suggested. Thanks for the reply.

[Dylan]

Thank you so much! You solved the issue. This has been a major problem for a year. We looked at so many angles and your fix solved the problem.
In addition to the code removed as mentioned before, I simply updated the theme. for some reason they are both listed as the same build number, so I did not realize there was an update. After updating the theme some minor visual changes occurred and no more white screen issue. Thank you very much!, a simple fix for a big issue.