Enabling and displaying WordPress comments on a custom theme

Issue summary:
A client discovered that approved comments were not appearing on blog posts, even though the “Leave a comment” box displayed correctly. The Freshy development team determined that the site’s custom WordPress theme was missing the necessary template code to output existing comments. By adjusting the theme to include the proper WordPress comments_template() function and verifying comment settings, the issue was resolved and user comments now display correctly under posts.

Issue background

The client’s website, built on a custom WordPress theme, allowed users to submit comments through the “Leave a comment” form at the bottom of blog posts. However, while new comments could be submitted and approved in the WordPress dashboard, they did not appear on the frontend.

Approved comments were visible in the WordPress admin dashboard but not displayed on the public post pages.

Initial review confirmed that:

• Comments were enabled for posts in Settings → Discussion.
• Comments were being stored correctly in the WordPress database.
• Approved comments appeared in the WordPress admin dashboard.
• The front-end theme template, however, showed no visible comment thread under approved posts.

This indicated a template-level issue, not a configuration problem.

Diagnosis

The Freshy team inspected the custom theme files and quickly identified the cause:

• The post template file (single.php) lacked the core WordPress call to comments_template().
• Without this function, WordPress will not output any comment data or render the comment list.
• The theme appeared to be a rebuild of another design, and the comments section may have been unintentionally removed during that process.

Additionally, the CSS for comment styling was either minimal or commented out, which also contributed to visual inconsistency when testing temporary fixes.

Resolution steps

1. Cloned the live site to a staging environment
   Created a staging copy to safely test template adjustments.
2. Reviewed and modified the theme’s single post template
   Opened the single.php and content-single.php files within the theme. Verified that comments_template() was missing. Added the following code just below the post content section:

   <?php 
   if ( comments_open() || get_comments_number() ) {
       comments_template();
   }
   ?>

3. Enabled comments globally and on individual posts
   Confirmed that “Allow comments” was checked for all posts. Verified site-wide comment permissions under Settings → Discussion.
4. Tested and verified on staging
   Approved existing comments in the WordPress dashboard and reloaded the test post. The approved comments appeared correctly beneath the content, styled according to the theme defaults. Added sample test comments to confirm both new and existing submissions displayed correctly.
5. Deployed fix to production
   Copied updated theme files from staging to the live site. Re-verified that comments displayed correctly on multiple posts.

Final outcome

The client’s blog now correctly displays approved comments beneath posts. The “Leave a comment” box and the existing comment thread both function as intended, providing proper engagement for readers.

Key results:

• Approved comments are now visible on all posts.
• The fix was implemented safely through the staging site without downtime.
• The client confirmed successful display on all test posts.

Key takeaways

• Custom WordPress themes must include the comments_template() function for comments to appear.
• When rebuilding or modifying a theme, always verify that key WordPress template tags remain intact.
• Testing on a staging site ensures that theme updates do not disrupt the live environment.
• Simple missing template calls can prevent entire sections of WordPress functionality from displaying.

If your WordPress site has missing or malfunctioning comment sections, contact the Freshy team for expert theme diagnostics and WordPress customization support.