Question

I’m trying to learn how to build my own WordPress themes. I’ve been through a few tutorials but I’ve hit a snag. I can’t seem to figure out what I’m doing wrong. When I have my html for my footer in the same file as my “home.php” it works fine. When I try to separate it however and place the footer html in “footer.php” and use the “get_footer();” function, the footer does not appear at all, visibly or in the code… it’s not there. I am wondering if there is something else I have neglected to do to get the footer to work? If not then what could be causing the footer not to show up when I split up the code into different theme parts/files?

Here is the code for home.php:

    <?php
/*
  Template Name: Front Page
 */
?>

<?php get_header(); ?>

<?php get_template_part('nav'); ?>

<div id="content"><!-- Start Content -->

    <?php get_sidebar('left'); ?>

    <div id="middle-column" class="grid_8"><!-- Main Content Begins Here -->

        <?php if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?><!-- Start Loop -->
                <div class="post">
                    <h2 id="post-<?php the_ID(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></h2>
                    <div class="entrytext">
                        <?php the_content('<p class="serif">Read the rest of this page &raquo;</p>'); ?>
                    </div>
                </div>
                <?php
            endwhile;
        else:
            ?>
            <?php _e('This page does not appear to have been set up yet. Sorry, please try again later. Thanks!'); ?>
        <?php endif; ?>

        <!-- End Loop -->

    </div>

    <?php get_sidebar('right'); ?>
    <?php get_footer(); ?>

and here is the code for footer.php:

<div style="clear:both;"></div>
    <div id="push"></div>
</div><!-- End Content -->
</div><!-- End Container -->
</div><!-- End Wrapper -->


<div id="footer"><!-- Start Footer -->
    <div id="footWrap"><!-- Start #footWrap -->
        <p>&copy; Brent Blackwood</p>
    </div><!-- End #footWrap -->
</div><!-- End Footer -->

<div id="headerBand"></div><!-- Placed here for SEO purposes -->
<div id="navBand"></div><!-- Placed here for SEO purposes -->

</body>
</html>

Answer 1

I don’t see anything obviously wrong.

Do you have define('WP_DEBUG',true); in your wp-config.php? If not, add that and see if there are errors that might help.

Are you sure it fails at get_footer() and not before, with get_sidebar() for example?

Are your “Front Page” template file and footer.php in the same directory?

Do you have a public URL?