flexbox only creates vertical containers

[Tandoor]

a. I add a new page.
b. I click the + sign
c.It asks me if I want a flexbox or a grid.
d. I choose the flexbox that is divided into 2 rows with 3 columns each
e. It creates a flexbox with 6 vertical columns.
In fact, whatever layout I choose it will only create vertical containers. I cannot choose side-by-side columns.
f. This is happening on www northwestjewishartists org
g. I check the direction of all the containers. It doesn't make any difference what direction they have. They wil only create vertical containers.

g. I also have a test site on my laptop
h THis works perfectly on my laptop test website.

So, what got messed up that I'm only able to select vertical containers?

I'd greatly appreciate any help with this.

Polina

 

[AI Helper]

Why Flexbox is stacking vertically on that site

This usually happens when some CSS on the live site is overriding Elementor’s container styles and forcing every flex container to behave like a column (or forcing children to be 100% width). Since it works on your laptop test site, the difference is almost always: theme CSS, a “custom CSS” snippet, an optimisation/minify plugin, or a plugin adding global layout rules.

Quick checks (safe + fast)

• Make a full backup (files + DB) before changing anything.
• Temporarily disable caching/minify (Autoptimize, WP Rocket, LiteSpeed Cache, etc.),then hard refresh (Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+R).
• Elementor → Tools → Regenerate CSS & Data.
• Elementor → Settings → Experiments: make sure “Flexbox Container” is enabled and consistent with your test site.

Find the exact CSS override
Open the broken page on the live site → right click → Inspect → select the parent container. In the “Styles” panel look for rules affecting:

• flex-direction

• flex-wrap

• display

• width: 100%

  on container children

Common culprits are theme rules like:

.elementor-container, .elementor-row, .elementor-column { width:100% !important; }
.elementor * { flex-direction: column !important; }

Where to look for the bad rule

• Appearance → Customize → Additional CSS
• Elementor → Site Settings → Custom CSS (if you have Pro)
• Any “Custom CSS/JS” plugin
• Theme stylesheet (style.css) or a child theme

If you paste the CSS you see in DevTools that’s overriding the container (or tell us your theme + active optimisation plugins),I can point to the exact line and the cleanest fix.

 

[Tandoor]

Thank you so much for your help. I've never used inspect before so I'll watch some youtube videos.

The active plugins on the website are
classic editor
elementor (free)
file manager advanced
jetpack
premium addons for elementor
ultimate addons for elementor
virtue/ascent/pinnace toolkit
wp bulk delete
wp-optimize
wps hide login

We also have envator elements which I deactivated recently. COuld that cause this?

The elementor settings are different on my test site.
Real site: Stable features are all set to Active expect optimize markup which is default.
test site: stable features are all set to default

We're using the Ascend theme.

Another wierd thing just started happening today: WHen I right click on a widget "delete" is no longer an option. In order to delete a widget I need to hit fn backspace. I'm using a Mac Tahoe.

My test wordpress website on my laptop has different settings.

Thank you for any additional pointers. I'm at my wits end.

Polina

 

[Tandoor]

Can you suggest anyplace to "rent an expert.?" I'm at my wits end. Polina

 

[Community]

Can you suggest anyplace to "rent an expert.?" I'm at my wits end. Polina

We have a fixed price Elementor service here : https://www.rivmedia.co.uk/elementor-services/

By all means feel free to use the contact us form and we could give you a quote or walk through video, It's hard to see what the problem is by your description.

We help alot of customers with monthly help or one off fixes.