Error message when editing Wordpress Footer.php

Question

I am updating the footer.php within my website on Wordpress and all I am doing is updating the weblinks. However when I replace the link, and I press Update, this error message comes up;

Unable to communicate back with site to check for fatal errors, so the PHP change was reverted. You will need to upload your PHP file change by some other means, such as by using SFTP.

So I am unaware of the next steps, I see a red dot and when I hover over it, this appears;

\ufeff

Which to me means nothing, the following is the code I am editing. (I am editing the web links at the top within the "socialmedialinks" area, I have updated the facebook and that's all I have been able to do. The error appears just before the first .

  </div>

<div id="socialmedialinks">
<a href="http://www.facebook.com/WestWirralScouts/"><img src="<?php echo bloginfo('stylesheet_directory'); ?>/images/social-facebook-large.png" width="40px"></a> <a href="http://www.twitter.com/ukscouting/"><img src="<?php echo bloginfo('stylesheet_directory'); ?>/images/social-twitter-large.png" width="40px"></a> <a href="http://www.instagram.com/scouts/"><img src="<?php echo bloginfo('stylesheet_directory'); ?>/images/social-instagram-large.png" width="40px"></a> <a href="#"><img src="<?php echo bloginfo('stylesheet_directory'); ?>/images/social-newsletter-large.png" width="40px"></a> <a href="mailto:info.centre@scouts.org.uk"><img src="<?php echo bloginfo('stylesheet_directory'); ?>/images/social-email-large.png" width="40px"></a>
</div>
<div id="footer"><?php wp_footer(); ?>

<div id="footerleft">
    <?php   /* Widgetized sidebar, if you have the plugin installed. */                     if ( !function_exists('dynamic_sidebar') || !dynamic_sidebar(9) ) : ?>
    <?php endif; ?>
    </div>

    <div id="footermiddle">
    <?php   /* Widgetized sidebar, if you have the plugin installed. */                     if ( !function_exists('dynamic_sidebar') || !dynamic_sidebar(10) ) : ?>
        <?php endif; ?>
    </div>

    <div id="footerright">
    <?php   /* Widgetized sidebar, if you have the plugin installed. */                     if ( !function_exists('dynamic_sidebar') || !dynamic_sidebar(11) ) : ?>
        <?php endif; ?>
    </div>

<div style="float:right">
<a href="http://www.ceop.gov.uk/"><img src="<?php bloginfo('template_directory'); ?>/images/CEOPReportBtn.gif"></a>
</div>

<div id="copyright"><p>© <?php bloginfo('name'); ?>, all rights reserved | Charity number: 520278<br />
    </p></div>
</div>

</body>
</html>

Many thanks for your help, Kieran

Answer 1

Perform the edit using FTP or the cloud-based File Manager provided by your host.

Either something you are editing is breaking the code, or Wordpress has suddenly lost its ability to perform loopback requests -- either way, Wordpress is not allowing you to make the change from its built-in editor, but you can force the changes by uploading the code via FTP.

Does Wordpress highlight syntax errors after you've made your changes? If so then post those errors into your SO question.

Try running Tools > Site Health from the admin console. Look for a critical error message that says that Wordpress was unable to perform a Loopback Request -- if you see this then there are other issues at play here that have disabled the built-in Wordpress editor.