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)

"Special characters" spell TROUBLE

Many problems in D2L begin with a simple, innocent mistake: using special characters.

"What," you may ask, "*are* they? Where will they cause trouble, and how can I avoid becoming involved with these unsavory characters?"

As a rule, D2L has no trouble with English letters and standard number characters (A-Z, a-z, 0-9). Dashes and underscores have not been known to cause issues.

Beyond that -- watch out!

Both students and instructors should avoid the use of special characters, especially in file names. Instructors would also be well advised to inform their students of the best practices for submitting files to a dropbox and other areas in D2L.

Special characters have been found to be the cause of problems with:

- Login
- Content
- Dropbox
- Discussions
- Locker
- Searches

Here is a list of "special character" issues from the University of Wisconsin System D2L Knowledgebase. Click on any link for more detail.

Submitting Files to a Dropbox

Special Characters for File and Folder Names

Possible Problems Uploading Files with Invalid Characters in File Names

Unable to View Content Topics in Course

User Receives Internal Server Error When Attempting to Logon

Trouble-shooting Problems when Accessing Files from the Locker

Avoid Using Apostrophes in Search Text Fields

Special Characters in Role Type Names