Cascade Server Tips

Common problems/issues

Formatting problems when pasting

When you paste something into a page in Cascade Server, it will try to reproduce the formatting of the copied material. It may look okay, but it will cause problems later, when you try to reformat it using the styles that are built into the SNC template. In order to eliminate the unwanted formatting and avoid problems, always copy the text into a plain text editor first, and then paste it from there, using the following technique:

Copying & pasting plain text into Cascade Server using Notepad in Windows

1. Copy the text you wish to paste into Cascade Server. This can be from a web page, Word, etc.
2. Open Notepad (Start - Programs - Accessories - Notepad).
3. In Notepad, go to Edit - Paste (or Ctrl+v). You will see your text without the formatting.
4. In Notepad, go to Edit - Select All (or Ctrl+a) to highlight the text. Go to Edit - Copy (or Ctrl+c) to copy it.
5. On the Cascade edit screen, place your cursor where you want the text and go to Edit - Paste (or Ctrl+v).
   Note: If you get an error message when using Ctrl+v in Firefox, contact the Help Desk for a solution.

Copying & pasting plain text into Cascade Server using TextEdit on a Mac

1. Copy the text you wish to paste into Cascade Server. This can be from a web page, Word document, etc.
2. Open TextEdit (Go – Applications – TextEdit).
3. Paste the text into TextEdit. At this point, the text may still have some formatting.
4. In TextEdit, go to Format - Make Plain Text (or Shift+Apple+t). When it asks if you want to remove the formatting, click OK.
5. In TextEdit, highlight the text and copy it.
6. On the Cascade edit screen, place your cursor where you want the text to be inserted and paste it (Edit – Paste).

"Copy plain text" Firefox add-on

When copying text from web pages, another way around these formatting problems is to use a Firefox add-on called Copy Plain Text. (Add-ons, or extensions, are small pieces of software that can add new features or tiny tweaks to your Firefox.) This extension adds a right-click menu option to "Copy as Plain Text," thus eliminating the need to paste the text into Notepad and then copy it again. To get the Copy Plain Text add-on, go to https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/134/.

Copy-Paste error in Firefox

In Firefox, when you try to cut, copy, or paste using the right-click menu or the buttons on the Cascade toolbar, you may get a pop-up error message. This is a security feature, but it can make editing inconvenient. To eliminate the error and allow copying & pasting normally, close Firefox, then go to Start - Network Software and double-click on Fix Firefox Copy-Paste problem (Cascade, Moodle) . Follow the on-screen prompts to apply the fix. (for Windows XP & Vista only)

Can't delete the page header

When you erase a Page Header and save the page, the Page Header comes back. Cascade will not let you delete it. This is a known problem and will be fixed in a future release of Cascade Server. In the meantime, if you need to delete a Page Header, enter a single space in the Page Header box.

Navigation menu/re-publishing pages

Whenever you change anything that affects the navigation menu, Cascade Server will automatically update all of the necessary pages, but then you must re-publish all of the pages containing that navigation. Be sure to re-publish all of the effected pages if you:

• add a page to the navigation menu
• delete a page
• change the Display Name of a page
• change the order of items on the navigation menu

General topics

Forms

The page editor in Cascade Server does not include any tools for creating web forms, so they must be created directly in the HTML code. If you need to create web forms as part of your site in Cascade Server, please contact the Web Team. For those who create their own forms, more information can be found on the Web Forms page.

Creating new pages & folders

To create a new page, copy a page from the same folder. The new page will take on all of the characteristics of the copied page, including the navigation. Because you cannot change the navigation, be sure to copy a page that has the navigation you want, rather than one that has the content you want (to copy content from another Cascade page, just copy & paste it). Do not copy pages from one top-level folder to another, or you’ll end up with the wrong navigation and will not be able to change it.

Photo banners/background images

The photo banners you see at the tops of College web sites are inserted as background images. As such, you cannot see them in the Cascade Server WYSIWYG editor, but you can see the large space reserved for them. Do not delete that space. To insert a background image into a web page, you must insert this code into the HTML source*, replacing the path to this image (/dining/images/dinningbanner.jpg) with yours. Note that the &#160; MUST exist inside the <div> tag, or Cascade will delete it.

<div style="background-image: url(''); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 120px">&#160;</div>

*If you are not familiar with HTML code, please ask for assistance.

Warnings

Deleting files & folders

Be very careful when deleting files and folders from Cascade Server! Once you delete something, it cannot be recovered in any way. If you delete the wrong thing, you will have to recreate it from scratch. When deleting a file or folder, always click on it in the column on the left right before you click Delete. Even if it looks like the right thing is already highlighted, click on it again, to be absolutely sure you're deleting the right thing – then click the Delete tab. When the confirmation screen comes up, read it carefully to be sure you understand what's being deleted, if it's being unpublished, and if so, from which destinations. If you're unsure of anything, ask for help before clicking Submit. Also, don't click the Delete tab while on the Edit screen; it's not meant for deleting text or images from pages.

Saving your work

Be sure to save your work before leaving the screen you’re working on, e.g., if you need to refer to something on another page, or want to preview or publish the page. Cascade Server will not warn you if you leave a page you’ve edited without saving it, and there's no auto-save feature. Always remember to scroll down and click the Submit button at the bottom before clicking on another file or tab, or you will lose your work.

Note that every time you save, another “version” of the page will be created. This can be useful, but it also means that you should only save when you’ve actually edited the page.

Less common problems/quirks

WYSIWYG editor screen flashing

The WYSIWYG editor screen has been known to flash strangely in older versions of Firefox, especially version 1.0x. If this is happening to you, please check your version: Help - About Mozilla Firefox. You should have version 1.5x or later. If you have an older version (especially 1.0x) please upgrade. Windows users can do this by going to Start - Network Software - Install Firefox.

WYSIWYG editor tool bar is too big

In our testing, we found one computer (Windows XP, Firefox 1.5.0.4) where the WYSIWYG tool bar took up too much vertical space on the page. This did not happen in IE. We were not able to nail down the exact cause, except to say that it has something to do with a corrupt Firefox profile. To fix it, you have to delete your Firefox profile and recreate it. Unfortunately, this process will cause you to lose all of your bookmarks and extensions. If you experience this problem, please contact the Help Desk for assistance.