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Troubleshooting Common Twenty Sixteen Theme Comment Issues

18 threads Sep 16, 2025 Theme → Twenty sixteen

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Comments are a vital part of many WordPress sites, but getting them to work correctly in the Twenty Sixteen theme can sometimes be tricky. Based on common community support threads, here is a guide to diagnosing and fixing the most frequent comment-related problems.

1. Comments Not Appearing on Posts or Pages

This is one of the most common issues. The comment form or existing comments may not be visible on your posts or pages.

Why This Happens:

  • Comments are disabled at the global, post-type, or individual post/page level in WordPress settings.
  • A conflict exists with a plugin or a child theme.

How to Fix It:

  1. Check Global Settings: Navigate to Settings > Discussion in your WordPress dashboard. Ensure that the option "Allow people to submit comments on new posts" is checked. Remember, this setting only affects new posts published after the change.
  2. Check Individual Post/Page Settings: For existing posts and pages, you must enable comments individually. Edit the post or page and look for the "Discussion" meta box. If you don't see it, click on the "Screen Options" tab in the top right corner and ensure "Discussion" is checked. In the "Discussion" box, make sure "Allow comments" is selected.
  3. Quick Edit: You can also enable comments for multiple items at once from the Posts or Pages list by using the Quick Edit feature.

2. Fatal Error: Call to undefined function the_comments_navigation()

This error appears on the screen, often breaking the entire comments section.

Why This Happens:

  • Your WordPress version is outdated. The the_comments_navigation() function was introduced in WordPress 4.4. The Twenty Sixteen theme requires at least WordPress 4.4 to function properly.
  • An incomplete or incorrectly built child theme may be missing crucial code.

How to Fix It:

  1. Update WordPress: The primary solution is to update your WordPress installation to the latest version. This will provide the necessary function for the theme to use.
  2. Verify Child Theme Integrity: If you are using a child theme, ensure it was created correctly and that its functions.php file properly enqueues the parent theme's stylesheet.

3. Comments Only Appear After Clicking (Homepage)

By design, the Twenty Sixteen theme does not display the full comment form on archive pages like the homepage. Users must click on the post title or the "Leave a Comment" link to go to the single post page, where the form is located.

Why This Happens:

  • This is the default, intended behavior of the theme to keep archive pages clean and loading quickly.

How to Fix It (Advanced):

Displaying comments and the comment form on the homepage requires significant modification of theme template files. You would need to copy the index.php, single.php, and comments.php files to your child theme and use functions like comments_template() to pull the comments onto the homepage. This is an advanced development task that is not recommended for beginners, as it can affect site performance.

4. Comments Not Working in Safari Browser

The comment form may load in some browsers (like Chrome) but not in others (like Safari).

Why This Happens:

  • This is often caused by overly aggressive browser caching or a specific plugin conflict that manifests differently across browsers.

How to Fix It:

  1. Clear Cache: Clear your browser's cache and cookies for the site and test again.
  2. Disable Plugins: Temporarily disable all plugins to see if the issue is resolved. If it is, re-enable them one by one to identify the culprit.

General Best Practices

  • Use a Child Theme: Always use a child theme for any customizations. This prevents your changes from being overwritten when the Twenty Sixteen theme is updated.
  • Plugin Conflicts: Comments are a common area for plugin conflicts. Security, caching, and anti-spam plugins can sometimes interfere. Methodical testing is key to finding the issue.
  • Keep Everything Updated: Ensure your WordPress core, theme, and all plugins are updated to their latest versions to ensure compatibility and security.

If you continue to experience issues after trying these steps, providing specific details about your WordPress version, active plugins, and any custom code in a support forum can help others assist you further.

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