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Troubleshooting Rife Free Theme Slider and Image Display Issues

32 threads Sep 9, 2025 Theme → Rife free

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Users of the Rife Free theme often encounter issues where sliders do not display correctly or images appear broken, cropped, or fail to load. Based on community support threads, these problems frequently stem from a few common causes. This guide outlines the most prevalent issues and their solutions to help you get your site looking its best.

Common Slider and Image Problems

  • Last image in a slider album not showing.
  • Slider images appearing with white space on the side or misaligned.
  • Title bar background images not updating on the live site.
  • Featured images or thumbnails not generating or appearing cropped.
  • 404 errors for theme JavaScript files (e.g., flickity.pkgd.min.js).
  • Images not displaying on mobile devices.

Why These Issues Happen

The root causes are often related to conflicts with other plugins, incorrect theme settings, browser caching, or problems with image HTML code. The Rife Free theme relies on specific scripts and proper image formatting to function correctly.

Most Common Solutions

1. Check for Broken HTML in Image Descriptions

A recurring solution mentioned by the 'Rife Free' support team is to check for malformed HTML in the captions or descriptions of your images. A single unclosed tag can break the entire slider's rendering. Carefully review the text associated with all images in your album or slider.

2. Clear Your Cache

If a title bar image looks correct in the preview but not on the live site, the issue is often browser or server caching. Clear your browser's cache and any caching mechanisms on your WordPress site (e.g., a caching plugin or host-level cache).

3. Verify Plugin Conflicts

Page builders like Elementor can sometimes conflict with the theme's layout. If your slider is misaligned or has white space, try setting the page layout to "Full width" in the Page Options meta box. Disable other plugins temporarily to see if one is causing a conflict, particularly those that modify images or scripts.

4. Ensure Required Plugins Are Active

Some features, like the title bar image slider, require the Featured Galleries plugin to be installed and activated. For the main homepage slider shortcode [a13fe-slider] to work, the Apollo13 Framework Extensions plugin must be active. Deactivating or missing this plugin will cause sliders to not render.

5. Check Image Settings and Proportions

If your featured images are cropped, navigate to Appearance → Customize → Works Settings → Works list. Ensure the option for "Choose the proportions of the bricks" is set to "Original size" if you do not want images to be cropped.

6. Investigate 404 Errors

A 404 error for a file like flickity.pkgd.min.js indicates the theme's assets are not loading. This can be caused by incorrect file permissions on the server or a corrupted theme installation. Try re-uploading a fresh copy of the Rife Free theme files.

7. Test on Mobile

If images are hidden on mobile, first check that all "hide on mobile" settings in the theme and page builder are disabled. Then, test using a real mobile device, as browser resizing tools can sometimes give false results.

Conclusion

Most slider and image display issues in the Rife Free theme can be resolved by methodically checking for HTML errors, caching, plugin conflicts, and correct theme settings. If problems persist after trying these steps, consider seeking help from the wider WordPress community forums for further diagnosis.

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