Can you replicate the problem using the default Twenty Thirteen theme with all plugins deactivated?
yes i did, i was able to create a gallery with a shortcode successfully with the twenty thirteen theme and no plugins activated. i was able to get back to my preferred theme with the gallery appearing properly too.
the culprit was a plugin called frontpage category filter. when this is active it messes with the gallery shortcode for some odd reason
thanks for the help
yes I’ve done those two things, had no luck. it appears to be a problem with the gallery shortcode itself
