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Common Problems and Questions with Editing Pages

Using a new toolbar to create a webpage is a challenge, and none of the editing systems works perfectly all the time.  This text editor and toolbar has its quirks, but you can create a good-looking webpage using it.  (As proof, we created every informational page on www.worldfamilies.net using this same toolbar and text editor, and we think they look pretty good!  We don't read a word of code, so it had to be the text editor or nothing for us.  It took some trial and error, but we made it work, and so can you.)

Here are some of the issues we found in editing pages on this website, and some of the solutions:   

 I had custom text on my project pages on the old website.  Where did my text go? 
You can reset the pages so that your old customized text will appear.   In order to do this, just log in as admin, go to the page you want to reset, click on "Edit this page" near the top of the page.  When the edit page opens, you will see that you have 3 choices for each page. (You will see your old text when the editing page opens.) If you "un-check" the little square for default text, then scroll down and click Save and Publish, your old page will appear on the web page.  There are also editing tips below the editing box on each page and a complete guide to editing your web pages here:  http://www.worldfamilies.net/editprojectsite

I'm having trouble formatting the page (i.e.  getting the text to look the way I want, placing bullet points, getting the right spacing on the page).
The most common problem project administrators have with posting pedigrees is in getting the bullet points and spacing right.  Here are some ways to overcome these problems:

Formatting the page: 1.  Before you begin editing, click on the tool in the toolbar "Show Blocks"   Clicking on this will show you the formatting that is already in the text (often the material has formatting that was already in the text when it was pasted into the page, and this is what causes the problem.)  When you see that some of the text is in blocks, it will help you see where to paste the new material. 

  • The blocks are shown by a dotted line.  Formatting is easier if the text you are editing is all in one block.
  • If you want to include the new text in an existing block, paste the text at the end of the last line in the block, and hit "Shift-Enter" to move it down one line, keeping it in the block.
  • If you want to create a new block just below the existing block, put your cursor at the end of the last line in the block and hit "Enter".  This will create a new block below it, so you can paste the new material there. 

2.  To remove formatting from text on the page

  • Use the eraser tool "Remove Format" in the toolbar   Just highlight the text and click on the eraser.  This should remove the formatting (Warning:  it will remove all hyperlinks in the text.)...OR...If that doesn't work, try this:
  • Copy the text and paste it into a text editor such as "Wordpad" or "Notepad".  This will remove all formatting, including any spacing, bullet points and hyperlinks.  You can then paste material from the text editor back into the page you are editing on the website, and format it from the beginning.  

3.  Other tips that may help with formatting problems: 

  • If you are able to understand and write code, you can click on "Edit this page!", scroll down below the editing box, and click on "Switch to plain text editor" to see and change the code.
  • The "Undo" arrow is your best friend!  Use it whenever you have made a mistake, or the formatting seems to be getting crazy--just go back until you can start the edit over again.
  • Use "shift-enter" to move the text down one line when you are trying to create a block of text without adding a new bullet point. (Example:  Adding a space between two pedigrees)
  • When trying to remove extra space between lines on the page, try this trick:  left click on your mouse, starting at the end of the line above the extra space, and drag the curser down to the next line.  Doing this will make any extra blocks of formatting show as black blocks or lines.  You can then delete them to remove the space.  If the text below jumps up too far (for example, it appears on the last line of the text above) hit the Undo arrow, go back and try again.
  • If you can't find the symbol on the toolbar for SiteBuilder that you are looking for, hold your curser on each symbol and words will appear to tell you what that symbol represents. (For example, holding your curser on the symbol that shows lines with an arrow pointing right will show you the words “Increase Indent”—a tool you will use on the Patriarch page.)  Click here for an explanation of the tools and symbols on the toolbar. 

I made an edit and suddenly I lost the text and/or it was moved around where I didn't want it.

  • This editor is "jittery"--sometimes when you make an edit, hit enter, or move text, the curser will jump, and things get moved around.  You can usually tell when it does this, as the page seems to "jump" a little before you see the text again. 
  • If it does, look carefully at the text and see that everything is as it should be. 
  • If it is not, click on the "undo" arrow (arrow curving to left in top of toolbar).  This will take it back a step before you made the edit, and you can try it another way to see if it edits the way you want. 
  • If you get too focused on the line you are editing, you may not realize that other text has jumped or disappeared.
  • Sometimes a piece of text that seems to have disappeared has been moved to the very bottom of the page, so look there if you lose text.   Scroll way, way down to the very bottom.
  • If you realize the text is gone and you can't find it even by clicking the "undo", then hit the "Back" arrow on your browser before you click on Save and Edit, and you will be able to get the page back as it was before editing.  (But you'll lose any edits you made before the glitch.)
  • As a precaution, you may want to copy each page of your website when you get it just the way you want it, and save it as a document on your computer.  Then, if the worst happens and you lose the page when you are editing, you will have a copy of it to paste back into the editing box.  (or upload as an HTML File if it is the Patriarch Page).
  • Before you begin to edit, open two browsers (i.e. Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc) and open the website page in both of them.  You can diminish one and use the other to make your edits.  Then, if a mishap occurs and you lose the page as it was, you can copy and paste the page as it appears in the other browser.

I made all my edits on my large Patriarch Page, clicked Save and Publish, and the computer seems to stall a while, and then the page displayed isn't what I wanted.

  • The editor doesn't like to Save and Publish too much information.  It may freeze on you or leave out parts of the text--or refuse altogether to Save and Publish.
     
  • We suggest you always create the Patriarch page in an HTML file (click here to learn how)
  • We suggest that you always make your changes on the HTML page that you saved, then save it again, and upload the entire page again in the Upload HTML file tool.
  • If you want to make changes on the website editing page anyway, and you have a large amount of text on the page, edit a little bit, then Save and Publish, then edit a little more, then Save and Publish, until you make all the edits you want to make. 

I was editing in Internet Explorer and I got a warning:  "Stop running this script? A script on this page is causing Internet Explorer to run slowly.  If it continues to run, your computer may become unresponsive."  The best thing to do is to click "yes", then quickly scroll down to the "Save and Publish" button to make sure you have saved your edits before it shuts down.  Then you can scream at Microsoft as long as you like!

. When I upload my file, the Results Page comes up blank.

  • This is probably what happened:  When you saved the Excel Spreadsheet, you clicked on File, then Save as Webpage, which literally saves it as a web page, not a document. 
  • You need to re-save your table:  
    • Go to File
    • Click on Save As
    • Change the name of the file, to something like Barton Results Revised )as long as it's different from the other name)
    • In the "Save As File" box under the file name, select "Web page (*htm, *html)
      Be sure you have saved the file in the directory you want it in.
    • Now you should be able to upload it to the Results Page. 

   Here are some pages that will be helpful in learning to edit your project's website: