Hello, I am Etom, a web developer.

Today I will be sharing with you some common reasons why your website might be showing errors and what you can do to fix them as soon as possible. But first things first. What errors are we talking about?

The truth is, not all errors on a website have the same cause and so sometimes you'll need the services of an experienced web developer to trace and fix the issue. And it is usually best to get a developer who has knowledge of the technology stack your site was built on. Nevertheless, I'll try my best to outline some common errors and then explain them.

So, I'll be focusing more on website powered by PHP (no matter the framework you use) and also share my experience of how I trace and fix them. The reason for this post is help you get enough information that will help protect your website from attacks because most times these errors reveal sensitive information.

Let's start!

#1 Poorly written code
Yes, this is coming first because behind every website, there is some code and when this code is poorly written by the developer, there might be issues in the long run. For example, I've come across a few websites which the developers used very old tools and technologies to write the logic of the websites. This can cause errors especially if the tools used are third party tools or libraries which are no longer maintained. After some time, these libraries will start throwing up errors especially if the functions used in them are no longer supported by the core technology stack on which the site was built.

#Solution: Some of the errors are usually intuitive to an experienced developer. You'll need to trace the origin of the error and update any third party libraries or files that may be causing the error. If you lack that confidence, then I can be of assistance: +2349055589180.

#2 Getting a 500 Internal Error Page
This type of error is not usually specific about the main problem causing the error on the website. But it is usually an error buried in one or more lines of code and once error reporting is turned on, the cause of the error will usually display.

#Solution: The 500 internal server error is an error you can't easily predict and so you'll need to play around with things in order to trace and fix it. Most times, you'll need to turn on error reporting in order to permit the server to display the error so that it can then be fixed. If this sounds like something you cannot do by yourself, then I can be of assistance: +2349055589180

#3 Database related errors
The database is where your website data is stored and retrieved. Database errors are specifically for database powered websites such as forums, e-commerce websites, blogs, social media websites, etc. Once there is an error in a database connection, your website will not be able to store new data or retrieve existing ones. Any such attempts (to store or retrieve data) will spill out errors. The reasons for this error cannot be too clear, but the common reasons could be that the database no longer exists, the user that has access permission to the database has been deleted, a corrupt database, password or username mismatch, etc.

#Solution: You'll need to check the cPanel to be sure that the database exists, the assigned user has read and write permissions, and that there is no password and username mismatch, etc. Issues with database are sensitive and you'll need to be careful so as not to lose important data. If you lack the confidence to address your database related errors, then I can be of assistance: +2349055589180

#4 API Related Errors
Some websites consume one or more APIs to display data and once there is an issue with the API endpoint where a request is pointing to, an error could set in. It could be a change of the URL in the API endpoint or maybe a completely non-existent endpoint. This happens a lot especially when consuming third-party API endpoints.

#Solution: If you're consuming third-party APIs, you'll need to check out the documentation to know if there were recent changes or updates that may be causing the errors. On the other hand, if you hired someone to build your API backend, it's important to reach out to the developer. However, if all these suggestions sound too technical for you to handle, then I can be of assistance: +2349055589180

#5 Broken links or 404 errors
This is a very common issue if your website went through a very major update. Some links may end up breaking and no longer pointing to their actual resource. For example, your developers may decide to split the generic login link into two: one for users and one for admins. So let's say the generic login resource was website.com/login, since there was an update that led to something like website.com/admin/login and website.com/user/login, then the initial login resource may no longer be available. This will lead to 404 page when visited.

#Solution: This error seems simple to fix since all that is required is to change the link resources to the updated versions. However, it can be a bit tedious especially if it is a large website. But basically you'll need to trace all the broken links and then replace them with their correct links. In case you lack that confidence, then I can be of assistance: +2349055589180

#6 Issues with Language versions (not necessarily poorly written code)
Bugs that did not show up during the development stage of your website may suddenly show up when your project is finally pushed to production. This happens a lot and this is why new technologies such as Docker are now available to ensure consistency both during development and when the project is finally pushed to production. However, most websites are hosted on shared hosting plans and this errors may show up just suddenly. Sometimes the errors are some version-related.

So for example, during development, your developers may have used PHP 7.x to code the website from start to finish, but the version of PHP on the production server may be lower (say PHP 5.x). So basically, your developer pushed a higher version code to a lower version of the language where some features may not be available. This can result in code conflicts thereby resulting in errors.

#Solution: Simply upgrade your language version on your server. The language your website was written with might be PHP, Python, Ruby, Java, NodeJs Runtime, C#, Perl, etc. So you'll need to upgrade the specific language from your hosting cPanel. But then, just in case you lack that confidence, then I can be of assistance: +2349055589180

Feel free to contact me in case you're experiencing an error on your website which has not been mentioned here. I will help to trace and fix it so that your website can return back to normal.

Call or Whatsapp me : +2349055589180

#7 Website shows completely blank screen
Another common error in most websites (especially PHP-powered websites) is a blank screen showing when some or any webpage is visited. This can be frustrating because no text is shown or at least no error is shown to help identify where the error may be coming from. What is the most annoying part to some people is the fact that this same website was functioning very well previously but suddenly starts showing blank screen.

For PHP-powered websites, the cause of this blank screen is usually due to some bugs in the code. Sometimes because PHP error reporting is turned off when a website goes live, the errors don't display and instead a blank screen is shown as indication that something is wrong internally. For example, if a web page is visited and the page is expected to fetch data from the database, a blank screen may appear if an error is encountered in the process of fetching the data. Again this is mostly if error reporting in PHP is turned off. This is just one possible cause.

#Solution: If the website is powered by the PHP scripting language, the easiest solution begins with turning on error reporting so that the website is allowed to display errors on the frontend. To avoid accidentally displaying sensitive information from the error while trying to resolve it, you may want to change the URL of the specific web page to something else that only you know. For example, if the blank screen is showing at www.yoursite.com/sales, they you may want to change the URL to yoursite.com/saalees and also change the link to this page in the HTML so that only you now knows the correct route and link. Others will get a 404 page when they visit the same link.

Now after turning on error reporting, the specific page will show an error once you visit the link. Check the error and try to resolve the issue that is causing the blank screen. For WordPress powered websites (still PHP) sometimes it's an issue with plugin conflicts. You may want to do a trial and error by activating and deactivating plugins in turns until the error disappears. Then check the last plugin you deactivated for any bugs that may be causing the blank screen.

But just in case you lack that confidence to resolve the above issue independently, then I can be of assistance: +2349055589180

Which error are you experiencing? Is it Laravel, WordPress, or what exactly? Let's explore it and fix it affordably

Morning, OP
X keeps telling me to enter a valid URL when I type in my web address. What might be wrong? Thanks

Zico0:
Morning, OP
X keeps telling me to enter a valid URL when I type in my web address. What might be wrong? Thanks

Could you please explain better?
Do you mean the X native app or on your browser? Kindly explain better.

LaiveNg:

Could you please explain better?
Do you mean the X native app or on your browser? Kindly explain better.

I'm trying to add my website to my profile info on X, but X is not reading my url

Zico0:

I'm trying to add my website to my profile info on X, but X is not reading my url

Sorry about that... but that's a problem on the part of X and not anything related to what this thread discussed...