I am using WordPress User Manager for a professional association's website that displays user profiles in a public directory. The site runs in english and french using WPML to do the translation. The site is built with the KadenceWP theme. I have designed the user profile page and it displays as expected in english. But when I switch to french, the layout breaks.
I can edit the page settings for the french profile page in Kadence to make them match what the english settings are, but it doesn't seem to matter. I can make the default settings align with the english profile page settings but the french profile still has its header image and its main content area rendering below the header, making the logo and top nav invisible. (See hidden link vs hidden link)
Can you offer any suggestions as to where to start looking for the problem? Kadence support doesn't think it's their problem. They think it's either WPML or WPUM. WPUM doesn't think it's their problem.
This is what the Kadence people say:
Please keep me in the loop with your WPML/WPUM conversations. If it turns out that the issue originates from our side, it will be a top priority for our developers to address. That said, since this involves both WPML and WPUM, and given that WPML is functioning correctly on other post types, it seems likely that this is a rare edge case that could be caused by either plugin.
The User Profile page is not a custom post type; it's a normal page that WPUM dynamically uses to display profiles. That's why the Customizer under Post/Pages Layout -> Custom Post Types doesn't show options for "User Profile." It should rely on the default Page Settings. (Post/Pages Layout -> Page Layout settings)
The problem appears to be how the dynamic profile page generation interprets Kadence Page Settings. For the English version, it applies the defaults correctly, but for the French URL (/fr/profil ), something seems to override or ignore those defaults.
This is what the WPUM people say:
You’re right that the WPUM User Profile page is technically a regular WordPress page that WPUM dynamically uses to render profile content, which means it should inherit the theme’s default Page Layout settings. The fact that this works correctly in English but not on the French version strongly suggests an interaction issue between WPML’s translated page handling and how the profile template is being rendered.
A few good places to start checking:
WPML page translation mode
Make sure the French profile page is a proper WPML translation of the English profile page (not a duplicate or independently created page). In WPML > Pages, confirm they are correctly linked as translations.
Kadence page meta settings
Kadence stores layout settings as post meta. Sometimes WPML does not automatically copy all custom meta fields unless configured. In WPML > Settings > Custom Fields Translation, check whether Kadence-related meta fields are set to Copy or Copy once. If they are set to Don’t translate, the French page may be missing critical layout data.
WPML “Use WPML’s Translation Editor”
If the profile page is translated using the WPML Advanced Translation Editor, try switching it to Translate independently and re-save the French page. This can force WPML to correctly apply page-level settings.
Theme overrides via language URL
Since the issue only appears on /fr/profil, it’s worth checking if Kadence has any conditional logic (filters or hooks) that behave differently based on language or URL. This is rare, but WPML’s language switch can expose it.
From the WPUM side, we don’t apply any language-specific layout overrides for profile pages, we rely entirely on the active theme and the page settings provided by WordPress. That said, this does look like a valid edge case where WPUM + WPML + Kadence intersect.
Furthermore, if you wish to customize the profile page, you can customize the template via custom code. We have a helpful article here: hidden link
A last note from me:
Actually, /profile and /fr/profil work as expected. The page displays the profile of the currently logged in user with the correct page settings. The problem occurs when you view another user’s profile and their userid is added to the URL, eg: hidden link vs hidden link
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