Bootstrap 5.3.3 Dropdown Not Working on 1 Specific Page

General
1

I’ve been developing a flask application and have come across a very strange problem. My Bootstrap JS script is apparently not working on one specific pages where the footer block isn’t included. I’ve looked around and tried many things and the only thing that makes it work is if I include the footer on that specific page. Keep in mind the footer does not have any scripts at all in it.

My base.html:

`<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <meta charset="utf-8" />
    <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge" />
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" />
    <title>{% block title %}{% endblock %}</title>
    {% block styles %}
    <link href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/bootstrap@5.3.3/dist/css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/bootstrap-icons@1.13.1/font/bootstrap-icons.min.css">
    <link
      href="{{ url_for('static', filename='css/styles.css')}}"
      rel="stylesheet"
    />
    <link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Raleway&display=swap" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Inter:ital,opsz,wght@0,14..32,100..900;1,14..32,100..900&family=Libre+Baskerville&family=Raleway:ital,wght@0,100..900;1,100..900&display=swap" rel="stylesheet">
    {{ bootstrap.load_css() }}
    {% endblock %}
  </head>
  <body>
    {% block header %} {% endblock %}
    {% block content %} {% endblock %}
    {% block footer %} {% endblock %}

    {% block scripts %}
    <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/bootstrap@5.3.3/dist/js/bootstrap.bundle.min.js?v=5.3.3"></script>
    <!-- Custom JS -->
    <script src="{{ url_for('static', filename='js/custom_javascript.js') }}"></script>
    {% endblock %}
  </body>
</html>`

Footer:

{% extends "base.html" %}
{% block footer %}
<footer class="py-3 my-4 container footer-container">
  <div class="row row-cols-1 row-cols-sm-3 align-items-center text-center text-sm-start">

    <div class="col mb-3 mb-sm-0 d-flex justify-content-center justify-content-sm-start">
      <p class="mb-0 text-body-secondary" style="color: #E8E8E8 !important;">© 2025 Stefan Krsmanović</p>
    </div>

    <div class="col mb-3 mb-sm-0 d-flex justify-content-center">
      <img src="{{ url_for('static', filename='assets/img/rep_talk_logo.png') }}"
           alt="Logo" width="32" height="32"
           class="d-inline-block align-text-top">
    </div>

    <div class="col d-flex justify-content-center justify-content-sm-end">
      <ul class="nav flex-column flex-sm-row align-items-center">
        <li class="nav-item">
          <a href="{{ url_for('home') }}" class="nav-link px-2 text-body-secondary custom-link">Home</a>
        </li>
        <li class="nav-item">
          <a href="{{ url_for('website_features') }}" class="nav-link px-2 text-body-secondary custom-link">Website Features</a>
        </li>
        <li class="nav-item">
          <a href="{{ url_for('home') }}" class="nav-link px-2 text-body-secondary custom-link">About Me</a>
        </li>
      </ul>
    </div>

  </div>
</footer>
{% endblock %}

Page where this isn’t working:

{% extends "base.html" %}
{% block title %}Profile{% endblock %}
{% block header %} {% include "header.html" %} {% endblock %}
{% block content %}
<div class="container mt-4" style="max-width: 720px;">
  /* Page Content Here */
</div>
{% endblock %}

I tried this in the console on the problematic page:

new bootstrap.Alert(document.createElement(‘div’))

And it gives me no error, also no other errors in the console. Does anyone have any idea what this can be?

I tried including different bootstrap links, checking the console, including scripts in the problematic file itself. If I included scripts in the header file then it would work, but would cause it to not work on other pages for some reason.

2

You’re running into a weird issue that’s probably related to how Jinja blocks work and how the script loading is being affected by your template structure.

Here’s the straight explanation:

Your base.html has a {% block footer %} before the {% block scripts %}. This means if you don’t override the footer block in a child template (like your profile page), then the scripts block gets included before the footer block is rendered.

Now, when you include the footer (even though it doesn’t contain any <script> tags), you’re actually triggering the rendering of the footer block. This causes the {% block scripts %} to be rendered after it — as intended.

But when you don’t include the footer block (like in your profile page), that part of the template is left empty, and somehow that changes the timing or order of how the DOM is laid out or how the scripts load/run. Bootstrap might depend on a certain DOM structure being fully ready or certain components being present.

The Fix:

Move your {% block scripts %} to be just before the closing </body> tag, but outside of the footer block entirely. Like this:

<body>
  {% block header %} {% endblock %}
  {% block content %} {% endblock %}
  {% block footer %} {% endblock %}

  <!-- Always render scripts no matter what -->
  {% block scripts %}
  <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/bootstrap@5.3.3/dist/js/bootstrap.bundle.min.js?v=5.3.3"></script>
  <script src="{{ url_for('static', filename='js/custom_javascript.js') }}"></script>
  {% endblock %}
</body>

That way, scripts are always included no matter what blocks were overridden above them.

TL;DR:

Your scripts are inside a block that only renders after the footer block. If that block isn’t overridden, the script block ends up in the wrong place or not rendered at all. Move your script block outside the footer logic, and you’ll be fine.