My site looks broken

Don't panic: a "broken" look is usually a display problem, not data loss. Your content is almost certainly still there. This guide helps you figure out what happened and what to do next.

Troubleshooter

What kind of broken is it?

Is the whole site down, or showing a blank white page or a critical error?

Step 1: Hard refresh your browser

Before anything else, clear what your browser has stored and reload the page fresh.

Press Ctrl+Shift+R (Windows / Linux) or Cmd+Shift+R (Mac). Chrome lists this as "reload the current page, ignoring cached content", so the browser fetches the page again instead of reusing what it stored.

Try a different browser. Open Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge (whichever one you don't normally use) and load your site there.

Try on your phone. A phone on mobile data rules out any network or computer-specific issue.

If it looks fine in another browser, the issue is your browser's cache. Follow that guide to fully clear it.

Step 2: Describe exactly what looks wrong

Before you contact us, write down what you see. This saves back-and-forth.

Which page(s) are affected? Just one, or the whole site?
What looks wrong? (Missing images, jumbled text, buttons out of place, no styling at all, content overlapping)
Is it wrong on mobile, desktop, or both?
When did it start?

Take a screenshot now

A screenshot captures the exact problem and is the fastest way to show us what you're seeing. See how to take a screenshot.

Step 3: Think about recent changes

Most broken layouts happen right after a change. Ask yourself:

Did an update run recently? (On WordPress: a plugin or theme update.)
Did you (or a team member) edit anything in the site editor or page builder, including site-wide styles?
Did you change any CSS (stylesheet) or add custom code?
Did you add or change an app, an embed or another third-party integration?
On WordPress: did your host recently migrate the server or push an update?
On a custom-coded site: did your developer deploy a change?

Whether a change can be undone depends on your platform:

Platform	Common causes	Can it be undone?
WordPress	A plugin or theme update, an editor change, custom code, a change by your host	If a plugin or theme update is the likely cause, contact us. We can roll back the change.
Squarespace	A saved Site Styles change, custom CSS or Code Injection, another contributor's edit	Not from a history. Saved style changes can't be undone, and Squarespace has no page history to roll back to. They have to be changed back by hand: contact us and we'll help put it right.
Shopify	An error in a theme file, an app or its app embed, a section hidden by accident	Partly. If you have a backup or duplicate theme, you can preview it and publish it if it works. The code editor's Timeline can restore individual files. Shopify has no version history for a whole theme.
Webflow	A recent publish, a third-party integration that changed, a Webflow outage	A recent publish: usually. Webflow saves backups automatically, and a site manager can restore an earlier one (on the free Starter plan, only one of the two most recent, unless the site's Workspace has a paid plan). A changed integration or a Webflow outage can't be undone by restoring. Contact us.
Wix	A collaborator saving over your changes, custom code	Usually. Wix's Site History can restore a saved or published version. Restoring erases later changes to your pages and design. It doesn't change your CMS collections or content in some Wix apps such as Stores and Blog.
Custom-coded	A recent deploy	Usually. Hosts such as Vercel let your developer roll back to an earlier deployment. Ask your developer.

Step 4: Check for a caching problem

Caching (the speed layer that keeps ready-made copies of your pages) sometimes serves an old, broken copy. What you can clear depends on your platform.

On WordPress, the cache usually comes from a plugin or your host.

Log in to your WordPress dashboard (or your site's admin panel).

Find the caching plugin or setting. Common caching plugins include WP Rocket, W3 Total Cache, and LiteSpeed Cache. Your host may also have a built-in cache option in its dashboard.

Clear / purge the cache. Look for a "Clear cache" or "Purge all" button. Click it, then reload your site.

Did clearing the cache fix it?

If yes, great. It was a stale cached file. Let us know: we may need to adjust your cache settings to prevent a recurrence.

Step 5: Check if a plugin, app or custom code is the cause

Add-ons and custom code can strip out styling or collapse a layout. What to check depends on your platform.

A broken plugin can strip out all styling or collapse the layout.

Add a query string the cache hasn't seen to the end of your URL (e.g., https://www.yoursite.com/?v=1234), changing the number each time you try. Many caches treat an unfamiliar query string as a separate page, so you get a fresh copy rather than a stored one.

Do not deactivate plugins yourself unless you are comfortable with WordPress. Deactivating the wrong plugin can make things worse. Contact us and we'll diagnose safely.

What to send us

Your site URL
Screenshots of the broken pages
Which browser and device you're using
When it started
Any recent changes you're aware of

If the whole site is down or shows a blank white page

See My website is down. That's a different problem from a broken layout, and the usual cause depends on your platform:

WordPress: a blank white page, or the message "There has been a critical error on this website", usually means a PHP or database error stopped WordPress from running.
Shopify: a blank page usually means an error in your theme code or a conflict with an app script. Your Shopify admin should still work.
Squarespace, Webflow and Wix: check the platform's status page (status.squarespace.com, status.webflow.com, status.wix.com) and that your plan is paid up. An expired Squarespace site shows a "Website Expired" message.
Custom-coded: contact your developer.

Common questions

The styling has completely disappeared: no colors, no fonts, just plain text.

This usually means the CSS stylesheet (the file that controls how the site looks) failed to load. It could be a caching issue or, on WordPress, a plugin conflict or a file permission error. On Shopify, an unstyled store usually means a theme file has an error or a recent change broke something. Clear the cache your setup has first (Step 4), then contact us if the issue persists.

Everything looks fine on my computer but wrong on my phone.

This is a responsive design issue: the site may be showing correctly on large screens but not adapting properly to small ones. Take a screenshot on your phone and send it to us.

One section of one page looks wrong, but everything else is fine.

This is usually an element (a block, widget, or section) that lost its settings. On Shopify, also check whether the section was hidden by accident: look for the hide button next to its name in the theme editor sidebar. Log in and check if that section has any obvious error messages. Contact us with a screenshot and we'll fix it.