Cloud Flare SSL breaks WordPress & Joomla and how to fix it

Cloudflare is fantastic free + premium CDN service which provides SSL in the free plan at no cost.

I was testing their SSL with WordPress & Joomla, and both were broken which upset me for a minute. However, I found the easy solution and thought to share with you.

In this article, you will learn: –

• How to ensure SSL is activated in Cloud Flare
• How to fix broken WordPress due to Cloud Flare SSL
• How to fix broken Joomla due to Cloud Flare SSL
• How to ensure HTTP is getting redirected in https

So first thing first – let’s ensure you have SSL activated in Cloud Flare

• Log in to Cloud Flare
• Select the website from a list
• Click on Crypto

• Ensure you can see “ACTIVE CERTIFICATE,” and SSL level is enabled like Flexible, Full or Strict based on what you need. If you don’t want to spend money on having a cert on your web server, you can leave default value, which is Flexible.

This ensures Cloud Flare SSL is activated on your website.

Fix CloudFlare SSL issue in WordPress

As you can see in below screenshot, my WordPress site layout got broken. This usually happens when all content is not getting loaded through https which results in broken site. There are two ways to fix this –

First – ensure your all contents are getting loaded from https URL. However, if you were using third-party theme then mostly you would prefer the second solution, which is easy.

Second – Install CloudFlare Flexible SSL WordPress Plugin

• Login to WordPress admin
• Go to Plugins >> Add New
• Search for “CloudFlare Flexible SSL”
• Install and activate it

That’s all – this plugin takes care of everything. As you can below, it loads correctly.

Fix CloudFlare SSL issue in Joomla

I activated Cloud Flare SSL on my website which is on Joomla and got the layout broken.

To fix this – install “CloudFlare For Joomla” plugin

• Download CloudFlare For Joomla plugin. You need to register for a free account first.
• Login into Joomla Admin
• Go to Extensions >> Extension Manager
• Click on Choose File and select the downloaded plugin and click on Upload & Install
• By default, Joomla will not enable this plugin, so you got to do this manually. To enable:-
• Go to Extensions >> Plugin Manager
• Search for Cloud Flare and enable

Now you can see it’s getting loaded correctly.

Once you activate, you must ensure HTTP is getting redirected to https to avoid duplication in a search engine.

HTTP to https redirection using Cloud Flare Page Rules

• Log in to Cloud Flare
• Select the website from the list
• Click on Page Rules
• Enter HTTP URL in URL pattern
• Turn ON “Always use https” as shown below

That’s all – you are all set to use free SSL-powered by Cloud Flare. Don’t forget to test your SSL for any vulnerabilities.