Create HTML artifact in ePortfolio

Create an HTML file

ePortfolio provides the option to create HTML artifacts using a simple HTML Editor. HTML files may contain formatted text, images, videos, audio files, and links to content in Learning Environment.

1. Click the New button on the My Items page and then click HTML File from the drop-down menu.
2. Enter the File name you want the file to be stored as.
3. Use the HTML Editor to add your content.
4. Click Next.
5. Enter the Name you want to display for the file and a Description.
6. Add any Tags you want the artifact to have.
7. Click Add.

Discussions - No text in messages

Occasionally, a posting to a discussion forum (or a response to a posting) may appear to be blank.

This situation may be a result of this known issue: https://jira.doit.wisc.edu/KnownIssuesList/RequestController?issueId=43512&stylesheet=knownissues.css

As described in the linked article, removing certain HTML tags from the original posting (using the HTML editor) may resolve the issue.  However, it is difficult for most users to find the offending tags and eliminate them in the html view of the editor -- most people don't even know that view exists.

One best practice is for users to compose their D2L Discussion postings in something OTHER than MS Word. Notepad is an easy solution, but since there is no spellcheck, the person who uses Notepad might want to do spellchecking and editing (font, bold, italic, etc) AFTER they paste into D2L.

This known issue is not consistent across all users who copy/paste from Word into the D2L HTML editor, and it doesn't even happen EVERY time for a single user, for some reason, so it is very difficult to prevent and troubleshoot.

Resizing the D2L HTML editor window

It is possible to change the size of the window where I type in D2L!


1.  Click on the lower right-hand corner of the HTML editor window, then 
2.  drag it to make the window larger or smaller, as you wish. 


Here's a quick (silent) video that illustrates how to do it: http://screencast.com/t/CyFAublxZALC

No HTML Editor Appears When Editing Discussion Topic in Course

On occasion, the Discussions tool of a course cannot be edited. The course instructor or an administrator clicks on the pencil to edit this topic, the tabs - Properties, Restrictions, and Assessment - are visible, but there is no HTML Editor and the remaining edit areas are blank. Typically, bad HTML code in the discussion topic Description is to blame. To fix this problem:

1. Go to the [My Home] page
2. Click on [Set your D2L Preferences] under "Utilities 
3. Select the [Appearance & Accessibility] tab
4. In the [HTML Editor Settings] section, click the box [HTML Editor: Turn off rich text editor and view source]
5. Click [Save]
6. Go back to [My Home], and select the course
7. Go into the Discussion topic
8. Under the [Properties] tab, delete the problematic HTML code from the Description
9. Click [Save]

D2L 9.2.1 SP3 – September 2011

Quiz Report Error

Quiz Report for Question Details gives 500 error When Viewed as HTML


Creating a Quiz report for "Question Details" results in a 500 error when selected to view as HTML. 


The vendor acknowledges that this is a bug, which should be fixed in the next release.


Workarounds are: 


1. Export to a csv file


-- OR --


2. Click on quiz, select stats, question details. The information displays on the screen, including the question difficulty.




.

Mobile Learning with D2L

Many people are now using mobile devices to access internet sites, including Desire2Learn (D2L).

Effective March 28, 2011 mobile devices accessing UW-Milwaukee's D2L site will automatically see the new Desire2Learn 2Go mobile web interface. Please click the link to learn more, including how to switch back to the "desktop version" on your mobile device.

Please use caution! Especially when using the "desktop version" of D2L on your mobile device, please remember that wireless devices can lose internet connectivity much more unpredictably than hard-wired connections. We do not recommend using any wireless device, whether a mobile device or a full-sized laptop, for any operation that is critical -- especially timed operations that involve grades, like quizzing.

No surprise: mobile devices can behave differently.

• D2L (both the mobile and the desktop view) works well in the mobile world on the Droid and similar devices.
• Blackberry users may choose to use a special suite of applications. To read about them and download to your Blackberry, if you wish, from the vendor's website, please visit http://www.desire2learn.com/desire2learn2go/highered/blackberry/
• An Android and iPhone app is available that does allow access to courses and UWM quicklinks.  Please visit http://www4.uwm.edu/mobile/

NOTE: if you have problems viewing D2L on your mobile device, please switch to a laptop or desktop computer.

D2L 9.2.1 SP3 – September 2011

Two Unicode Characters Can Disrupt Functions in D2L for Non-IE Browsers

Two Unicode Characters Can Disrupt Functions in D2L for Non-IE Browsers

Two Unicode characters, the line separator and paragraph separator characters (U+2028 and U+2029), when used in the HTML editor, can disrupt a variety of functions on the page when viewed with browsers other than Internet Explorer. There are two documented examples of this. (1) If the characters appear on a Content page, the content is not visible to Firefox, Safari, Chrome, or other non-IE browsers. The navigation functions through the Table of Contents sidebar may also be disrupted. The content can be viewed if the window is undocked. (2) If used in Quiz questions, you can preview the questions with the unicode character and you can see the question text and choices when you are in the Add/Edit view, but when you attempt to edit the quiz you cannot; none of the buttons except Cancel work

If you encounter a situation where there is user-generated HTML content on a page that works with IE, but not with other browsers, please inform the Learning Technology Center. We will complete a Problem Reporting Form and ask our host Utility to contact the vendor to look for the offending characters.

Source: [Learn@UW Utility] Service Announcements (02/12/2010)

HTML Editor: User Preferences

Sometimes, we'll hear from someone who can only see a plain text editor in various areas of D2L. The problem may be that they turned off the HTML or rich-text editor in their preferences.

Here's where the user can control that preference in UWM's D2L instance, and some information that may help them decide whether the HTML editor is best for them:

1. On the D2L MyHome page, under the Utilities widget, click the [Click here to set your D2L screen display and other preferences] link.

2. Click the [Appearances & Accessibility] tab.

3. Decide whether to turn off the HTML editor.

4. Remember to hit the [Save] button!

Why aren't my changes showing up!?!?!

If you're making changes to a file in D2L using the HTML editor, but you're not seeing the changes reflected in the file after saving the file, you might need to change a browser setting in Firefox.

The setting is called: browser.cache.check_doc_frequency in Firefox

The default setting is 0, which corresponds to "Check for a new version of a page once per session (a session starts when the first application window opens and ends when the last application window closes)."

We recommend you change the setting to 1, which corresponds to "Check for a new version every time a page is loaded."

To change this:

• type about:config in the address line,
• agree that you'll be careful, then
• scroll down the list of variables to browser.cache.check_doc_frequency, and
• change it to 1.

Many thanks to Dan Semi at UW-River Falls and Brook Soltvedt at the Wisconsin Learn@UW utility for this question and solution!

Discussions: Incorrectly formatted HTML = 500 error

Problem: When an administrator, instructor, or student selects "Discussions" from the navbar of a particular course site, a 500 error is triggered.

Solution: An incorrectly formatted HTML link in one of the forum descriptions caused the error to be displayed on the page. Top-tier support administrator removed the bad code from the link, and now the Discussions page loads normally.

Pending: We've asked whether there is a link that might enable a local Site Administrator to resolve the issue without higher-level support intervention.