How to Easily Fix the updated WordPress 5.5 jQuery Problem
How to Fix the WordPress 5.5 jQuery Problem
WordPress 5.5 is largely a success. But, there have been various clashes from themes and plugins that caused sites to break. Arguably the greatest issue originates from WordPress’ decision to expel the obsolete jQuery Migrate.
The initial step of the process of modernizing WordPress was removing the jQuery Migrate 1.x in WordPress 5.5. Also, that is what is causing some sites to break.
Some WordPress themes and plugins are using older jQuery scripts, which is causing a range of issues.
According to WordPress page for the jQuery Migrate Helper:
“With the update to WordPress 5.5, a migration tool known as jquery-migrate will no longer be enabled by default.
This may lead to unexpected behaviors in some themes or plugins who run older code.”
More than 2,000 Plugins with jQuery Conflicts
As indicated by a post on WordPress, a search of the plugins directory that was conducted two weeks ago found more than 2,000 plugins that had clashes.
As indicated by a WordPress Core Committer who did the research:
“For themes these changes to the search bring the results from ~2600 themes to ~250 themes, with only 5 having more than 10k active installs.”
That list was created two weeks ago. The amount of plugins that have issues should by now be smaller.
More than 200 Themes with Conflicts
The list also discovered over 200 themes that broke.
“For themes these changes to the search bring the results from ~2600 themes to ~250 themes, with only 5 having more than 10k active installs.”
A few people might be encountering issues with their themes because of obsolete code. But some of those issues issues are because of plugins that are packaged with those themes. For instance, premium page builder plugins and slider plugins are routinely packaged with certain themes. But because they’re premium, they won’t really get updated to the most recent version, depending on your software license.
If upgrading to the latest version of a theme doesn’t solve your problem, you can install the WordPress Enable jQuery Migrate Helper in order to restore functionality.
But be warned that this is only a temporary solution. It might be useful to troubleshoot your site to distinguish what functionality is causing the issue. Once the function is identified, you might have the option to download a up to date plugin to deal with that broken function.
Continue reading to know more about troubleshooting.
How to Troubleshoot WordPress 5.5 Update
One of the approaches to troubleshoot an issue is to use the Chrome Dev Console. Accessing the console is as easy as clicking the F12 button on Windows.
The alternate way is to tap the vertical three dots menu at the upper right hand corner and picking More Tools then Developer Tools.
Here’s a screen capture of what an error would resemble:
When you click on the file you’ll get another screen that has the error. You can then be able to tap the red X symbol and a pop up will show what the error is.
Common Issues After Upgrading to WordPress 5.5
Some of the issues are terrible that some of the publishers can’t log back in.
Many of the issues some publishers are encountering after updating to WordPress 5.5 are identified with losing site functionality.
WordPress 5.5 Update Problems
- Classic Editor doesn’t work
- “Add Media” and “Set featured image” buttons don’t work
- Text view is not working in 5.5
- Block Editor showing blank
- Missing database update
- Image Slider doesn’t work
- Mobile Menu disappears
- Search bar stops working
These are only a portion of the issues users are encountering
The Most effective method to Fix WordPress 5.5 jQuery Problem
WordPress has released a plugin that restores the jQuery Migrate library. Installing this plugin will cause your site to work again. But…
The plugin does not actually fix what is wrong with your site.
What the plugin does is makes your site work again. But it does not fix what is wrong with the site.
What is wrong with the site is an outdated plugin or theme. If your image slider isn’t working, then the problem is probably image slider plugin. Updating that plugin is a solution.
But if there is no update for the plugin that needs to be updated, then you’re probably using an abandoned plugin. An abandoned plugin is generally one that hasn’t been updated in a long time.
What constitutes a “long time” is not clear cut because some plugins don’t need to be updated that often.
Most plugin designers are improving their product. So, in general, if a plugin hasn’t been updated in a year or more, it’s likely to somewhat abandoned.
It’s ideal to quit using that plugin. Abandoned plugins can become security issues.
In the case of an abandoned plugin, it’s a smart thought to find a more actively maintained plugin that does the same thing.
The plugin that you have to restore functionality to your WordPress site is called, Enable jQuery Migrate Helper. You can download it here.
Enable jQuery Migrate Helper plugin isn’t fix for what broke during the WordPress 5.5 update. It’s only an approach to restore functionality.
It’s essential to take the next step of diagnosing what is broken and fixing the real issue.
Once the plugin or theme is fixed, you will be in a superior spot regarding security and user experience for your site visitors.
We at CodeLedge, offer Sweden’s best WordPress Development services. If you are having any trouble with your new WordPress 5.5 update, feel free to contact us at hi@codeledge.net or get a quote from here.
