web site shows "There was an error. Are you sure you have the right address?" on root site. https://publiclab.org

[kny5]

Page is not loading, properly inspection uncovers the following request and responses:

GET https://publiclab.org
ERROR 500 INTERNAL SERVER ERROR

GET | https://publiclab.org/assets/application.css
ERROR 304 NOT MODIFIED

GET | https://publiclab.org/assets/application.js
ERROR 304 NOT MODIFIED

Tracing causes:

NS_BINDING_ABORTED shows on Network debugging for root page.

Uncaught TypeError: can't access property "classList", e[0] is undefined. Shows as a error from application.js

Debugging Application.js shows no source map found on js debugging.

Note:

Please verify that the backend is operational and recompile assets. Also, wrap JS selectors in conditionals to prevent frontend crashes.

[rakshachouhan2003]

/assign

Does anyone know the responsible files seems like a quick fix.

The site https://publiclab.org/ is taking a lot of time to load - my system says 4.890 secs to be precise. I think there is a lot of unwanted slop going with it

[enterayush]

Hi, I’m a new contributor interested in frontend and accessibility work.
I’ve been exploring open issues in plots2 but wanted to ask if there’s any current task suitable for a first contribution.
Happy to help wherever needed. Thanks!

[bhargavi30-dsa]

Hi! I'm a new contributor eagerly seeking to solve fascinating issues like website loading error and page not found.
I have some experience on solving these kind of issues.
Could you please assign it to me! Thank you.

[ankitkr104]

Hi @kny5

Thanks for reporting this issue. I checked the root site and can confirm the problem.

From inspection, the root request
GET https://publiclab.org
is returning 500 Internal Server Error, which likely points to a backend or asset compilation issue.

On the frontend side, I noticed:

NS_BINDING_ABORTED in the Network tab for the root page

A JavaScript error:
Uncaught TypeError: can't access property "classList", e[0] is undefined
originating from application.js

No source map available for application.js, which makes debugging harder

CSS and JS assets return 304 Not Modified, suggesting cached assets but a failing initial render

This could mean:

The backend is failing before the page fully renders

Some DOM elements expected by application.js are not present due to the failed response

JavaScript selectors may not be guarded against missing elements

Possible next steps:

Verify that the backend is running correctly and check server logs for the 500 error

Recompile assets to ensure JS/CSS are in sync with the backend state

Add conditional checks around JS selectors (e.g., null/undefined guards) to prevent frontend crashes

Happy to help test or debug further if needed. Thanks for maintaining the project.

[faratabassum09-a11y]

Hi! I am Faraha, a Computer Science student interested in contributing
to Public Lab for GSoC 2027. I would love to work on this issue.
Can you please assign it to me? Thank you!