FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
t4 upgrade September 2009: new features
General
- What is the web address for t4 access?
- How do I preview my web site on the t4 staging server?
- How can I publish content immediately?
- How do I add meta tags to my web page?
- How do I publish information that cannot be viewed off-campus to a Staff audience?
Content/section related
- When I hover over an image I don't see a descriptive (or ALT) text caption in the web browser window?
- How do I align an image?
- Nothing happens when I use the mouse to right click on an image and select 'show media attributes'?
- My section does not display in the navigation?
- What is the maximum number of words I can use in a single Content Item?
- Can I use an image as a link to another web page?
- How do I use anchors within t4?
- How do I approve content?
- How do I change the display order of my t4 sections/navigation?
- How do I get table borders?
- Why does my table have a large space above it?
- How do I permanently remove 'inactive' or 'deleted' sections or content items?
- How do I roll back to an earlier version of a Content Item?
- How do I mirror content in two different sections within my own website?
- Can I change templates?
Text formatting
Media library
- How do I upload files to the media library?
- What dimensions should the image files that I upload to the media library files be?
- What size should the files that I upload to the media library files be?
- How do I resize images before uploading to the media library?
- An image I uploaded to the media library doesn't show in a browser?
- How do I move documents and images to another folder (category) within the media library?
- How do I delete an item from the media library?
- How do I edit an item in the media library?
- How do I add a button link?
- How do I add a 'Physical Access' button link?
Browser related
Search for names of content items and sections
Content deletion warning
Following the September 2009 t4 upgrade, when you delete content you may see a warning message. A window similar to the one pictured below will appear if anyone using t4 has linked to your content. You may decide at this point to cancel the deletion or continue as intended.
How do I preview my web site on the t4 staging server?
Your web site may be viewed from any campus machine on the server t4staging.gla.ac.uk. For example, the Student Network web site may be tested at t4staging.gla.ac.uk/services/studentnetwork and the Department of Music at t4staging.gla.ac.uk/departments/music.
The staging server will only show content that has been approved (and sections that contain approved content). Approved content is copied to the staging server at a quarter past the hour, every hour.
How can I publish content immediately?
Content that has been approved enters into the t4 publishing cycle and is published to the live web server at 1am each morning. In exceptional circumstances, it is possible for the web team to publish content immediately. Please fill in a t4 support form to arrange this.How do I add meta tags to my web page?
Meta Tags may improve your ranking in some search engines (although not Google). You may input DESCRIPTION and KEYWORDS meta tags to t4 Sections (but not into Content Items).
- Select Content > Site Structure
- Hover over the arrow associated with the Section and select 'Modify'
- Click on the text 'Add Meta Tag'.
- A new pop-up window should appear. Select 'description'.
- A new box named 'description' should appear in your 'MODIFY SECTION..." window. Enter a single sentence that describes the nature of your section into this box. Many search engines return this text as part of their search results page.
There is a very limited value in using keywords as they are not used by many search engines (including Google). The best way to improve your Google ranking is to create an interesting web site, use t4 and make use of headings.
- Click on the text 'Add Meta Tag'.
- A new pop-up window should appear. Select 'keywords'.
- A new box named 'keywords' should appear in your 'MODIFY SECTION..." window. Enter a series of words (seperated by a comma) that matches what you think a potential visitor to your web site may type into a search engine.
See Search Engine Watch for more details on keywords and description meta data.
The <TITLE> of your page is drawn from the names of your Sections.
How do I publish information that cannot be viewed off-campus to a Staff audience?
Create a section named 'Information for staff' and inform the web team (who will arrange access restrictions) as follows:
- Select Content > Site Structure.
- Hover over the arrow associated with your top-level section (usually the name of your department/unit or 'home' section) and select ADD.
- Enter Information for Staff in the box called 'Name' and select ADD.
- Please complete the t4 support form and the web team will arrange for access restrictions to be applied.
Important: Access to your 'Information for staff' section will be limited to campus. This means that students and guest visitors also have the potential to view this content when published.
When I hover over an image I don't see a descriptive (or ALT) text caption in the web browser window?
This is most likely because the image does not have an associated description. To add a description Select Tools > Media Library and find the image within your media library. Hover over the preview or name of this image and right click with your mouse. This will open the the screen named 'General Media Information'. Complete the box named 'Description' as described above in the FAQ: How do I upload files to the media library?How do I align an image?
Within the page editor (modify mode)
- right click on the image
- select 'show media attributes' from the popup window (see below if you don't see a popup window)
- in the box named class, enter the text 'right' (leave the rest blank)
- select update
Nothing happens when I use the mouse to right click on an image and select 'show media attributes'?
Most likely, you have popup windows blocked and are using the
Firefox web browser. For t4 to function properly you must allow popups
to display in the web browser as follows:
- Open Firefox
- Select Tools > Options from the top menu bar
- Select the Content tab
- Next to the option named 'Block Popup Windows' (which is probably ticked) select the 'Allowed Sites' button
- In the 'Address of Website' box, enter rockall.cent.gla.ac.uk and click 'Allow'
- Select Close
- Select Ok
Browser Helper Object (BHO) toolbars in Internet Explorer may also block popups (like Google toolbar). Methods for allowing popups when using these toolbars will vary from above and may involve disabling the popup blocker altogether when working with t4.
My section does not display in the navigation?
Sections will not show in navigation until some content exists within that section OR you have checked the box named 'Do not show in navigation'.Can I use an image as a link to another web page?
Yes, this works in the same way as a regular text link.How do I use anchors within t4?
Anchors allow you to link to a specific part of a page.
- Position your cursor at the point you wish to link to.
- Select 'manage anchors' in the t4 editor. A pop-up window should appear.
- Type a name for your anchor then click the tick icon to save. Now close the pop-up window.
- Highlight the text you wish to link from.
- Select 'manage anchors' again. This time select your anchor from the 'link to' drop down box.
- Close the pop-up window. Your anchor is complete.
How do I approve content?
- Select Content > Approve
- Tick the box next to the piece(s) of content that you want to approve
- Select the button named Approve
How do I change the display order of my t4 sections/navigation?
- Select Content > Site Structure
- Hover over the arrow associated with the parent section
- Select Modify from the drop down section named Modify
- Select the tab named Reorder
- Use the 'Move' arrows to reorder the sections
How do I get table borders?
To apply a border to your table...
- insert cursor anywhere a table
- click on the table properties button
- select 'advanced'
- in 'class', enter 'border' [no quote marks]
Why does my table have a large space above it?
You will only notice this if you are using particular versions of Internet Explorer. To remove the space you need to reset the width of your table to 98%
- Modify the content item that contains the table
- In the page editor, insert the cursor anywhere in the table
- Click on the 'Table Properties' button in the toolbar
- A pop-up window should appear
- Click on 'ADVANCED'
- In 'Style' type 'width: 98%;' [no quote marks]
- Click 'OK'.
How do I permanently remove 'inactive' or 'deleted' sections or content items?
You cannot do this. As t4 System Administrators, the web team must purge content that you have deleted or set as inactive. We will do this on the first Monday of each month. In order that we do not purge content that you may want to recover later (and also to tidy up the t4 interface for yourself), we suggest that you create a new section called 'Recycle'. You may then move content into this section ready for deletion. Create and populate a Recyle section as follows:
- Select Content > Site Structure.
- Hover over the arrow associated with your top-level section (usually the name of your department/unit or 'home' section) and select ADD.
- Enter Recycle in the box called 'Name' and uncheck the box called 'Show in navigation?' and select ADD.
- Hover over the arrow associated with your new Recycle section and select DELETE. This prevents the contents of this section from being published.
- Anytime you want to permanently delete a section or content item, you may hover over the associated arrow and select MOVE.
- A pop-up window will appear. Navigate and select your Recycle section to move content ready for deletion.
Important: All content items and sections moved to your Recycle folder will be deleted on the first Monday of every month and will not be recoverable. The web team will also delete the recycle section itself. You will need to recreate this section in order to use it again.
How do I roll back to an earlier version of a Content Item?
- Select Content > Modify.
- Navigate and select the Section that contains the desired Content Item.
- Hover over the arrow associated with the desired Content Item and select 'History'.
- This will display all previously saved or 'Update(d)' versions of
this Content Item. You may selct 'View' to see any previous verison.
- Select 'Set Active'.
- A new pop-up window appears. Select 'OK' to roll back to a previous version.
How do I mirror content in two different sections within my own website?
- Select Content > Modify
- Select the section that contains the content item that you wish to mirror
- Hover over the arrow next to the content item that you wish to mirror
- Select MIRROR and the entire site structure of t4 will appear
- Select the section in which you want to place the mirrored content item
- You should now see the window named 'MODIFY CONTENT, SHOW DETAILS' with the mirrorred content item highlighted by a 'snowflake' icon
Can I change templates?
It's not possible to apply a different template to existing content. To switch, for example, from a one column template to a two column template...
- Create a new content item using the two column template
- Cut the content from the old content item and paste into the new content item
- Delete the old content item.
How can i remove text underlining from links?
We prefer to underline text links displayed within a paragraph. In this way, the link is more easily noticed by visitors to your web site. Sometimes the page can look cluttered where the 'Bulleted List' tool is used to create a list of links (eg. departments). The 'longlist' option allows you to remove text underlining in a list of links. Within the page editor (modify mode), click anywhere within the text of the list, then select the <ul> property underneath the editor window (as pictured). This will highlight the whole list and you may then select 'longlist' from the drop down menu named <Default>.
How do I upload files to the media library?
Select Tools > Media Library. Right click on the name of your media library and select Add New. This will open the screen named 'General Media Information'. Fill out the following boxes and leave the rest blank.
- Name. Insert a sensible name so that you can find the file in the media library later.
- Description. Text inserted here is used to describe the file within the final published web page. In the case of .jpg and .gif image files, this text is displayed in the browser when a visitor hovers over the image with their cursor. This text also forms the alternative text or "Alt tag" description that visitors using assistive browsing technology will have read out to them. For example, the descriptive text associated with an image allows meaning to be conveyed to a visually impaired person.
- Type. Select the associated file type from the drop down menu. Please mail webteam@gla.ac.uk if you wish wish to upload a filetype not listed.
- Browse. Select browse and navigate to the file you wish to upload
Select the button named Add to upload the file to the media library.
What dimensions should the image files that I upload to the media library files be?
Splash picture template
Images used with the 'splash picture' template should be 200-300 pixels in width and 100-200 pixels in height.
One column templates
The maximum width for an image in the one column template is 510px [the height dimension is not important]. At this width the image should not be floated.
Right or left floated images used within a text paragraph [with text wrapping around the image] should be 80-200 pixels in width.
Two column templates
Images placed within the fixed width right hand column of the two column templates must be 140 pixels in width [the height dimension is not important].
The maximum width for an image in the flexible column in a two column template is 350 pixels [the height dimension is not important]. At this width the image should not be floated.
Right or left floated images used within a text paragraph [with text wrapping around the image] should be 80-200 pixels in width.
News templates
The image used for the summary in a news template should be 140 pixels wide and 100 pixels high.
In PREVIEW, try changing the width of your browser window to check that your page still works even at narrow widths.
What size should the files that I upload to the media library files be?
We reccomend the following upper limits
- pdf or Microsoft Office files : 2.5 MB
- images : 64 KB
How do I resize images before uploading to the media library?
It is good practise to set your image size before uploading to the media library. This keeps the file size down and also gives better results when displaying the image on the page.
There are several free image editing programs. We recommend IrfanView, which can be downloaded from http://www.irfanview.com/
To resize:
- Open your image in IrfanView.
- Select Image > Resize/Resample.
- Type in the new dimensions in width and height. Note that by default the editor will automatically set a height if you input a width and vice-versa.
- Click 'ok'
- Select File > Save
An image I uploaded to the media library doesn't show in a browser?
When an image (or any file) is uploaded to the media library, you should select the file type from the drop down menu named Type. (Otherwise the file will be stored by default in pdf format).
You can alter a file type as follows:
- Open the media library window
- Right click on the file name and select Modify
- Now change the file type as desired
How do I add a 'Physical Access' button link?
DisabledGo have recently published a physical access audit of 80 University services and departments. This audit provides detailed accessibility information to assist disabled people visiting buildings across campus. If your department/service has been audited you will be able to use a button to link directly to the relevant section within the DisabledGo site. However, even if your department has not been audited you may find teaching and lecturing space which you use has been audited (such as the Sir Charles Wilson Building or the lecture theatres in the Boyd Orr Building).
The process of adding a Physical Access button is the same as described in How do I add a button link? with the following exceptions:
- Replace the button used in this example with the one named 140 Physical Access in the media library named Photo Library > right column buttons
.
- Replace the section link with an external link
- You may either link to the main DisabledGo landing page using the following link
http://www.disabledgo.info/Education/Default.asp?TownID=152. Or use a specific building link using a link from our list of Physical Access locations
How do I move documents and images to another folder (category) within the Media Library?
- Open your Media Library and right click on the appropriate file
- Select Modify
- Select the tab named Categories
- Tick the new category and untick the old
- Select Update
How do I delete an item from the media library?
In the media library, right click the item you wish to remove and select 'delete'How do I edit an item in the media library?
In the media library, right click the item you wish to edit and select 'modify'You can now rename the item or upload a new version over the top of the existing item.
How can I stop Internet Explorer 7 blocking pop-ups?
IE7 has security features which may cause problems when using t4. To resolve these involves two steps...
Allow pop-ups
- Go Tools > Pop-up Blocker > Pop-up Blocker Settings
- In 'Address of website to allow' box, type: t4.gla.ac.uk
- Click 'Add', then click 'Close'.
Trusted sites
- Go Tools > Internet Options > Security tab
- Select the 'Trusted Sites' icon
- Click on 'Sites'
- Untick the 'Require server verification (https:) for all sites in this zone' checkbox
- In the 'Add this website to the zone', box, type: t4.gla.ac.uk
- Click 'Add', then, click 'Close, then 'OK' to close Internet Options.
