Website Troubleshooting Information

I've uploaded a change to the website, but the change isn't appearing. What is wrong?

When you view a webpage, many web browsers are configured to 'cache' a copy of the webpage. When you return to the webpage, instead of displaying what is actually on the website, you will be viewing a 'cached' copy of the page (that is, you'll see a copy of the page as it appeared the first time you visited the website). To get around this, you can force the browser to reload or refresh the page (in Internet Explorer, pressing F5 will force the browser to reload the page). You will probably have a button on your browser's toolbar that is labeled 'Reload' or 'Refresh'. If you reload the page, you will be able to see the changes made to the website.

When I click on a link, instead of a page appearing, I get a prompt to 'open' or 'save'. What is wrong?

The website can only display pages that are in 'HTML' format. Typically when this prompt appears, you have uploaded a Word document (or other word-processing format). If you upload a Word document (a file ending with a '.doc' extension), the website will not be able to display it. When this happens, you'll get a prompt asking you whether you want to open the document or save it to your local disk.

In order for the information to display on the website, you will need to convert the document to HTML. If you are using Microsoft Word, there is an option on the File menu labeleled 'Save as Web Page'. You can use this option to convert a Word document into the necessary HTML. When using this option, you'll want to select 'Web page, filtered' as the type when prompted.

What file formats are supported on the website?

The website can display HTML pages (files ending with '.htm' or '.html'), as well as most image formats (.jpg, .gif, etc.) You can also upload other file formats, such as PDF files ('.pdf'), Word documents ('.doc'), Excel spreadsheets ('.xls'), or virtually any other file format. Only files that are in web page format will display, but the others can be made available for download. If the user then has the appropriate software on their computer (Acrobat Reader, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, etc.), then they can open the file on their computer.

When I click on a link, I get a message stating no content has been provided for the page. What is wrong?

Here are several reasons this message may appear:

1. The file containing the content for the page has not been uploaded to the website. You must provide the content for each page of the website individually in a separate file. After you create the webpage, you need to upload the file to the website. Click on the 'administration' link and then select 'Upload Files' from the left-hand menu. Browse for the file containing the page's content and upload it to the website.
2. The website hasn't been told what file to display on the page. Click on the 'administration' link, and then select 'Page Details' from the left-hand menu. Beside each page name is a field labeled 'File name'. You must tell the website what filename to display for each page of the website. If the box to the right of the page name is blank, then you need to fill it in. At the bottom of the 'page details' page is a list of all of the files that have been uploaded to the website. The filename must match one of the files that have been uploaded and appear in the list at the bottom of the page.
3. The filename specified for the page is missing or invalid. Click on the 'administration' link, then select 'Page Details'. Verify that the correct filename is listed for the page you are trying to display. Spelling is very important - even the slightest misspelling or difference in punctuation can cause the website to not be able to display the page. At the bottom of the 'Page Details' page is a list of filenames that have been uploaded to the website. The 'file name' field must match one of the filenames listed at the bottom of the page, or you can upload a new file via the 'Upload Files' option.