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Troubleshooting Otter Blocks: When Blocks Show in Editor But Not on Live Site

30 threads Sep 7, 2025 Plugin → Otter blocks – gutenberg blocks, page builder for gutenberg editor & fse

Content

A common and frustrating issue reported by users of the Otter Blocks plugin is when content created with its blocks appears perfectly in the WordPress editor's preview but vanishes or fails to render correctly on the published, live page. This discrepancy between the editing and viewing experiences can be caused by several factors. This guide will walk you through the most common reasons and their solutions.

Why This Happens

The most likely culprits for this behavior are plugin conflicts, theme compatibility issues, or problems with how the block's dynamic CSS and JavaScript are loaded on the front end of your site. The editing environment (back end) often loads scripts differently than the public-facing site (front end), which can cause these inconsistencies.

Common Solutions

1. Perform a Conflict Test

This is the most critical first step. A conflict with another plugin or your theme is a frequent cause.

  • Deactivate Other Plugins: Temporarily deactivate all plugins except Otter Blocks. Check if the issue persists on your live site.
  • If Fixed: Reactivate your plugins one by one, checking the site after each activation, to identify the conflicting plugin.
  • Switch Themes: If deactivating plugins doesn't help, temporarily switch to a default WordPress theme like Twenty Twenty-Four. If the blocks appear, the issue is with your original theme.

2. Clear All Caches

Caching is designed to speed up your site, but it can sometimes serve outdated pages that don't include newly added dynamic content.

  • Clear your WordPress caching plugin's cache (if you use one).
  • Clear your browser cache and cookies.
  • Clear your server-level or CDN cache (contact your hosting provider for assistance with this).

3. Check for Optimized or Minified CSS/JS

As seen in one support thread, CSS from an optimizer plugin was causing unexpected styling issues. Performance optimization plugins that aggregate or minify CSS and JavaScript files can sometimes break the scripts required by page builders.

  • Temporarily disable any CSS/JS optimization features in your plugins (e.g., WP Rocket, Autoptimize).
  • Check if the blocks now appear. If they do, you will need to reconfigure your optimization settings, often by excluding certain Otter Blocks files from being processed.

4. Manually Enqueue Block Styles (Advanced)

In some unique cases, such as when programmatically loading post content onto a different page template, the block's styles may not load automatically. If you are comfortable with code, you can manually ensure the styles are loaded. Based on a solution provided in a support thread, you can use the following PHP code snippet:

use ThemeIsleGutenbergBlocksCSS as OtterBlockCSS;
// ...
$css = new OtterBlockCSSBlock_Frontend();
print $css->enqueue_styles([POST_ID_HERE], true);

Note: This is an advanced solution and should only be implemented if you are confident editing your theme's template files.

When to Seek Further Help

If you have tried all the steps above and the issue remains, the problem might be more specific. When seeking help from community forums, be prepared to provide:

  • The URL of the page with the issue.
  • Screenshots of both the editor view and the live view.
  • A list of your active plugins and your theme name.
  • Any browser console errors (learn how to check for JavaScript errors).

By systematically working through these potential causes, you can usually identify and resolve the issue preventing your Otter Blocks from displaying correctly on your live website.

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