You add a block to a page and something stops it working. What diagnostics should you do before contacting the developer for support or posting for help on the forums?

The more relevant information you can provide, the more likely someone will be able to solve your problem quickly. The tips below are by no means complete. Almost every problem has its own unique foibles. So think of this as a framework within which you can get started.

Turn on concrete debug

Concrete CMS has an option to show errors directly on the page. Depending on your Concrete version, see Dashboard > System & Settings > Environment > Debug Settings or Dashboard > System & Settings > Environment > Error Handling.

Check the concrete log

Concrete CMS keeps an internal log that some errors are reported to. See Dashboard > Reports > Logs.

Clear the Concrete CMS cache

Dashboard > System & Settings > Optimization > Clear Cache. While you are there, maybe also turn the Concrete caches off (and make a mental note to turn them on again later!)

Clear your browser cache

Browsers keep local copies of many files and don’t always notice that the file your web site is serving has changed. So clear the browse cache to make sure you are seeing the latest. This varies between browsers. Hitting F5 or CTL+F5 a few times can do the trick, or you can open your browser developer console and set the checkbox in Network tab.

version from the dashboard. Go directly to the dashboard site map, locate the page, approve a previous version and delete the failing version. The direct URL will be something like http://www.yoursite.com/index.php/index.php/dashboard/sitemap/.

Contacting the developer
If you need further help, contact a developer. Details should be on the respective marketplace page. 

Try an incognito window

An incognito window for the same browser will have no history or cache for a page, so can be another way of eliminating any browser cache issues.

Try another browser

Sometimes problems are specific to a browser. Try a different browser and see if the issue is the same, different, or does not exists. That doesn't mean it is not a problem, but it is important information when trying to solve it.

Check for mismatched tags

If a page contains mismatched html tags, your browser will try and render the page by guessing where elements start or end. The broken HTML may work in some places and not work in other places. This could be in coded HTML, or HTML you have added in an HTML block, tracking codes or attributes.

An easy way to find mis-matched tags is to submit a page to the W3C validator. In amongst a lot of unrelated results, the W3C validator is very good at picking out mis-matched tags.

A limitation is the the W3C validator will only see the page as a guest would view it, so cannot see edit mode or logged in toolbars.

Turn off pretty URLs

Dashboard > System & Settings > SEO & Statistics > Pretty URLs. Sometimes pretty URLs need a bit more work that the default .htaccess settings to work cleanly.

Check the developer console

The browser developer console can be opened by right clicking on a page and selecting Inspect. This is usually the last item in the menu.

Use the Console tab of the developer console to see if there are any errors. Also look at the Network tab and reload the page. This will provide details of any resources that fail to load and may provide details of server errors for Document or XHR (ajax) loads.

Check the php error log

You will need access to your server host account cPanel or equivalent.

Php keeps a log of any script errors in a text file, usually called something like php-errors.log. Have a look and see if php has reported any errors. Where this is located depends on your server and host account.

Check the directory path

Block controllers must map exactly from the Camel Cased directory path. The directory the block is in must be all lower case with underscores. The block controller class name must be map to the camel cased variant of that as per Creating a New Block Type.

Try another page

Create a new page and add your problem block to the Main area of it. Do you still get the error? This eliminates any issues arising from page templates and interaction with other blocks on the page.

Try a default theme

On the problem page (or the new page above), change the theme to the default Atomik theme. Do you still get the error? This eliminates any issues arising from the theme.

Try a default template

Many blocks come with alternate templates. Is it an alternate template you are having problems with? What happens when you swap to the block's default template? This eliminates any issues arising from the block template.

Check the forums

Many issues have already been solved for others, so check back through the forums and see if your problem has already been addressed.

Check GitHub

Your problem may have already been mentioned on Concrete GitHub, so check back through the issues and see if your problem has already been addressed and resolved.

Take some screen shots

Screen shots will help eliminate misunderstandings on just what is going on by making it possible for others to see what you are seeing. Ideally, Take a shot of the block settings in the edit dialogue, take a shot of the page in edit mode to show the block in context, then take a shot of the published page.

Many screenshot utilities like Awesome Screenshot and my Snapshot addon allow you to quickly mark up a screenshot with arrows and text to add further explanation.

Revert the page version.

To get your page working again, even from really bad looking errors, you can usually revert the page version from the dashboard. Go directly to the dashboard site map, locate the page, approve a previous version and delete the failing version. The direct URL will be something like http://www.yoursite.com/index.php/index.php/dashboard/sitemap/.

Contacting the developer

If you need further help, contact a developer. Details should be on the respective marketplace page. Make sure that as well as a description of your problem you include relevant results from the above and your site environment. See Dashboard > System & Settings > Environment > Environment Information.

Many of my addons provide a button to Export Settings which you can use to provide your exact block settings when seeking assistance. See the Support tab of the block edit dialogue.