WordPress site not working: blank or unstyled

The WordPress dashboard often runs different code from the public pages. A plugin that only runs on the front of the site can fail for every visitor while the admin area still opens, so you log in, see your posts and assume everything is fine. Visitors hit the failure at once, and the screen they get may be white with no message, because the error is written to a server log that you probably never open. The gap between what you see signed in and what a stranger sees is the whole problem.

• Open the home page in a private window, signed out. Is the content there?
• Open one post and the contact page, not only the home page. Does either fail?
• Open the browser console. Does a style or script file fail to load?
• Check whether the site redirects to another address that redirects back.
• Write down the last plugin or theme update made before the problem began.

When you are signed in, WordPress gives you the admin toolbar, the editor and often a fresh version of each page. A signed-out visitor gets the public version, which may load a different set of plugins and styles. A break in one plugin's public code can leave the public site blank while the dashboard works. An update that was harmless in the admin, such as a new version of a slider or a block library, can fail on the first public page a visitor requests.

A blank page usually means the code that builds the public page stopped partway, so nothing is shown because the page never finished. An unstyled page means the page built, but its stylesheet or a script did not load from the address it asked for, so the words appear with no layout. A loop means the site sends the visitor to another address that sends them back, which happens when the address in the settings disagrees with the address in use.

Tell them apart in the console and the network list. A blank page often shows a server error on the page request itself. An unstyled page shows failed requests for style or script files. A loop shows the same redirect again and again before the browser gives up. Note which one you see, because each one is fixed in a different place.

A dashboard check tells you the admin area works, not that a stranger can read a post. Opening the public page while you are logged in can also hide the break, since your session may skip a cached copy that a visitor gets. The check that finds the break is a signed-out visit to a real post and the contact page. A simulated visitor makes that visit, records the status of the page and any failed file, and shows the step where it stopped.

Every update can change what a visitor's page needs, and the dashboard can keep working while the public site does not. After each update, run the same signed-out visitors through the home page, one post and the contact page, then compare where each one stopped. Keep the list the same, so a difference points at the update.