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Images & Videos Sometimes Don't Appear

Hi,
I use the base Divi theme with mostly WPMU plugins. The only exceptions are Akismet Anti-Spam, Site Kit by Google, Yoast SEO Premium, and a Diviplugins plugin called Divi Filtergrid. None of these non-WPMU plugins should directly affect images (which use the Divi image module) or videos (which use the Divi video module).

My problem is that images sometimes do not appear. Instead, I get a small image missing icon. In the case of videos, they space they should occupy retains its sizing but is entirely blank. Note, when I say sometimes, I mean that 19/20 times, everything is okay. Then suddenly it’s not okay. It’s almost as if, on occasion, a request is timing out.

Any ideas?

Thanks, Wayne

Fri, 10 Apr 2020 2:22:38
  • Nithin Ramdas
    • Support Wizard

    Hi Wayne Williams ,

    My problem is that images sometimes do not appear. Instead, I get a small image missing icon. In the case of videos, they space they should occupy retains its sizing but is entirely blank

    So when you notice the issue how does it get fixed? Just refresh the page again? or clear cache?

    It’s tough to say what might be causing the issue without seeing it live. Do you notice this in any specific page? or it occurs at random pages too?

    Maybe we could 1st check whether the default cache settings in Divi isn’t conflicting? Divi does have a setting regarding static file generation. Maybe you could keep the “Static CSS File Generation” option temporarily disabled and check whether you could replicate the issue again?

    You should find the option enabled under Divi > Theme Options > Builder > Advanced > Static CSS File Generation.

    Please do check whether that helps and if you happen to notice the issue again, please do get back in this ticket so that we could see the issue live and have a better idea regarding what might be causing it.

    Regards,
    Nithin

  • Wayne Williams
    • Site Builder, Child of Zeus

    Hi Nithin,

    It’s going to be extremely difficult to catch this issue on the fly. It happens randomly. Sometimes, a quick refresh will do the trick. At other times, I have to wait a while and then re-open the page. I have not been able to notice any pattern.

    You are accessing my site for my other ticket. Feel free to look for any conflicting Divi settings.

    Otherwise, I’ll check the setting you referenced as soon as you are out of the system.

    Wayne

  • Nithin Ramdas
    • Support Wizard

    Hi Wayne Williams ,

    Sounds like there isn’t any easy way to replicate this behaviour, nor I was able to notice anything specific during the time I was checking and browsing the pages.

    I could notice now the “Static CSS File Generation” is disabled, so maybe you could monitor the site and see whether the issue gets generated again or not.

    A screenshot or video would be helpful if you happen to replicate it again so that it would help us to have a better idea.

    Regards,
    Nithin

  • Wayne Williams
    • Site Builder, Child of Zeus

    Hi Nithin,

    Given that I just discovered that my Chrome browser was corrupt, what I’ll do is test this extensively (as in opening pages, say, 100 times). If nothing goes wrong, I’ll mark this as resolved and chalk it up to the browser issue.

    Wayne

  • Wayne Williams
    • Site Builder, Child of Zeus

    Hi Nithin,

    So, I did run into this fairly quickly in the test. The attached image isn’t very informative, but I did inspect the missing image icon and got the following exception:

    srcset: [Exception: TypeError: Illegal invocation at HTMLImageElement.invokeGetter (<anonymous>:1:142)]

    In this case, a simple refresh restored the image and the exception disappeared.

    Wayne

  • Wayne Williams
    • Site Builder, Child of Zeus

    Hi,

    Have another update on this ticket. I was having a problem with properly sized images. Sometimes, PageSpeed would complain, and sometimes it wouldn’t.

    Contacted live support, and the support agent quickly identified a srcset error. I told him about encountering a srcset error with the missing image issue, too. To make a long story short, he determined that there was some kind of conflict between the Divi Theme and Smush. He said he would confer with the wpmudev team and asked me to update this ticket to consolidate these issues.

    In the meantime, I mentioned to him that Divi had a setting to generate responsive images. We agreed that I would turn that off in case that was causing the conflict. But subsequent tests revealed that the same two issues persist, i.e. sometimes my images have errors, and sometimes PageSpeed complains about improper image sizes. At other times, everything works fine.

    I’ll now wait for the support agent to update this ticket.

    Wayne

  • Wayne Williams
    • Site Builder, Child of Zeus

    Hi again,

    Okay, ready to mark this issue as resolved, which I’ll do shortly.

    I’ve left Smush Pro installed on my staging site in case wpmudev wishes to explore this issue further.

    But on my production site, I removed the plugin and installed Imagify instead, which I had used previously on other sites.

    The difference has been dramatic. I’m now scoring consistently 93 to 97 on performance on both Hummingbird Pro and PageSpeed Insights. Also, all instances of missing images/videos have ceased.

    I’m not suggesting that Imagify is superior to Smush Pro. I’m all in on wpmudev’s model of superior hosting + professional plugins + great support. But in this case, with Divi, it seems that Imagify is the better choice.

    I’ll revisit Smush Pro from time-to-time on my staging site to monitor if this situation changes.

    Wayne