Problems with EasySiteWizard Page Properties - entering keywords and summary and other matters....

[BirdBrayn]

Hi, BirdBrayn here,

Over the past couple of months whilst struggling with the EasySiteWizard and Templates, I have tried ringing various BT helpline numbers that I have been given and been passed from pillar to post and even promised on one occasion (after hanging on in a queue for half an hour) that someone would ring me back..... so today, on trying again, I was told there IS NO HELPLINE for EasySiteWizard and template problems!!!!   GREAT!!!

So for my LATEST PROBLEMS!!!!  ...... Can anyone help PLEASE????

Number 1:  Summary and Keywords on Page Properties

Have managed to put in summary and keywords into the Page Properties menu on three of my pages, then selected the fourth page to do the same and when I click "save page" or "apply" I get this error code:

XMLHTTP:122Uknown]

and, of course, it won't save the entries.  Yes, I came out of the package and went back in and I've come out of Windows Explorer  and gone back in - still same code!  Oh, yes, and the image of the blue "loading bar" (that blue cord looking thing in a white box that shows you it's doing what you've asked - or not as the case may be) is stuck on the Menu Editor page and won't go away!  The image of it freezes, but I can still operate the Menu Editor around it apart from saving anything into it!!! - same error code every time.

Number 2: GBP £ sign and spurious character appearance

All along, anywhere I have used a £ sign (GBP sign) iin text and table boxes, whenever I go back to the page or run a Preview, the £ sign is preceded by spurious characters usually a capital A with an accent over it and then the next time it adds an additional character, sometimes a square, until I end up with a string of gobbledygook in front of my prices!!! Yes I delete them occasionally and it just happens all over again.  How can I make sure this doesn't happen when I publish?  (If I ever get this thing finished to publish - I've been working on it off and on since August and am at the end of my tether!!!)

Number 3:  Website name and Domain name at top of page

The name of the website and the domain name occasionally appear at the top of the page, interfering with my logo and artwork - even though I have locked them at the bottom of the Master Page and every other page too.  They don't appear every time, but occasionally enough to worry me that they will do just that when I publish.

Number 4: Copy of website in Existing Sites

How do I make a copy of the website I am currently creating? I want to keep a spare version of it in my "existing sites" list - just in case the original one screws up completely??

Number 5: Publishing my website

When I publish (and I'm being optimistic here) will the website still be in the "existing sites" list to work on for updates, or does it disappear into space? And will any changes I make and save affect the "Published up in space" version - or do you have to hit Publish again to achieve that?  And that's why I want to make a copy of it, so if I do screw up I'll have an original version to immediately overwrite the published version with!

Number 6: General observation - Text Boxes and erratic behaviour

Interested to know if anyone else has had this problem - to help with the erratic application of font size and colour selection in text boxes, which seems to be a hit and miss affair -  I tried duplicating one that had the right size and colour in it and moved it elsewhere on the page and changed the wording etc, then repeated the process again for the next box etc.  I then found that if I deleted one of these boxes at any time or messed around with one, the others had a tendency to disappear too!!!!! So, yes, you guessed it, I stopped copying them and just kept plugging away at each new text box, highlighting, selecting and "applying" the fonts and colours over and over until they "stuck". 

Number 7: Menu Editor - Buttons and Page list.

Sometimes I'll go into Menu Editor and the buttons "family tree" will have vanished - just a blank space - even my list of pages in Page Manager once!  After typing them all in again the first time it happened and re-linking the pages - I actually found the next time, just "exiting" out of everything without "saving" anything, and then going back into the package they would miraculously reappear!  Is this a problem others have experienced?  It is most disconcerting and giving me grey hairs!!! I'm worried one day they won't reappear.

I think that's enough for now!!

I really would appreciate any help or advice anyone has.

Many thanks.....

BirdBrayn 

[rhosyn]

Hiya

1) I know I got that HTTP message when for some reason the broadband connection had been interrupted, so effectively logging me out of the system. You can still do various changes BUT it will not save or publish without you going and logging in again

2) No idea!

3) I dealt with this by deleting the title and slogan in the bt admin page (you know, the first page when you log in, more or less) It won't let you have blank boxes but I just deleted it and put a full stop in the box, which is easy to hide!

4) No idea

5) Yes it'll stay in the 'existing sites' list to be worked on at any time

6) I have the same bl*&%y problem and still do, so can't help on that one, sorry!

7) Again no idea but it's happened to me too.

Sorry I can't be of much help, I only know this much through 2 years of muddling through ESW myself!

Rhosyn

[BirdBrayn]

Hi there,

Thank you SO much for responding - it really is such a reassurance when you find someone else has the same sort of problems - even if there is no easy answer!!!!  Sorry I've been slow to reply, but after reading you reply yesterday, I got started on my website again and the time just went!!

1. Re: the Error Code - Internet Explorer is still refusing to let me do the Page Properties.  But after what you said about connection problems, I tried Firefox Browser and BRILLIANT! I was able to do all of my summaries and keywords.  I might have to re-set Internet Explorer or something as turning the hub on and off hasn't helped.  I haven't gone into Firefox today yet so I hope that is still working......

2. The £ sign problems are back again today on Int Expl browser, will look later on Firefox - they might go away!!

3. If when I publish I find the title & domain name has moved again, I'll use the full stop idea - thanks.

4. Copy - it's a mystery!  It's just that when I first signed up, I was reading blogs to look for general advice and  some BT Adviser said you should make a copy of the website blah blah.  But I guess he meant if you were using a decent software package not the ESW crap! And I always keep copies of important things, but hell knows how you can do it with this package!

5. Thanks - that's reassuring at least!

6. The text box fonts/colour erraticisms are still erratic in Firefox!  It is just so time consuming isn't it?

7. Scary isn't it!

I also realised, rather late in the day, that if I ever move my website/domain to another provider - I'll need to completely re-do my website all over again! (Because I'm using a BT template and ESW software which I guess are not transferable!!!! not that I want the ESW, but I like the template)  I think I should have just coughed up for some decent design software right at the beginning of this escapade!

Well, thanks again - maybe see you around the blog sometime!

Regards,

BirdBrayn 

[rhosyn]

Hiya Yes, I always use firefox, it seems so much more reliable.

Hope you're getting on with it better now, ESW is naff - I wish I'd gone with someone else but the b^&%$£s won't let you cancel before the year's up, so best to keep plugging away at it!

Rhosyn

[Fiona]

Hi

If you can supply the domain names and any relevent information (page titles etc) then i can ask for someone to look into this.

Kind Regards

Fiona

BT Business Forum Moderator

[BirdBrayn]

Hi Fiona,

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR CONTACTING ME!!!!

Sorry about the delay in responding, have been away this week.

Domain name:    sunnysouth.co.uk   (not published yet)

Main Account Name: Martin Cooper (my name Vicki Bray also on our account paperwork)

Using EasySiteWizard - Seagull Template (dark blue background)

1) When using Internet Explorer and in Page Properties of the Menu Editor, suddenly I cannot save any text I enter into Summaries and Keywords for ALL my pages.  It has worked in the past - suddenly stopped - keep receiving Internet Explorer error code - as mentioned in earlier string of this blog.

However, I have found that in Firefox I seem to be able to edit and save ok so far - so obviously am using Firefox at present, but would rather use Int.Exp.

2) PLEASE tell me how, in text boxes, I get the text to be the right size, colour, etc. etc. on the FIRST attempt - you can keep going into the font editor over & over and it won't apply your settings, or it'll finally accept the last change and revert the rest back to where you started!!! This happens in Firefox AND Int.Expl. All pages and all text boxes, whether I highlight the text or not.

3) The (GBP) £ signs in my Tariffs page and on my Home/Index page will suddenly acquire a Greek "A" with an accent over it, placed in front of the pound sign - and if I leave it long enough, every time I visit the page it seems to grow more and more spurious characters in front of it.  PLEASE tell me how to stop it doing this - it will look most unprofessional in my finished website.

4) The Website Name and the Website Address which are normally at the top of the page "crash" with all my artwork.  I have "locked" them at the bottom of each of my pages, BUT will they stay locked at the bottom of the page or will they revert to the top again when I publish my website?  PLEASE tell me yes they will stay locked - if not, tell me how I can get rid of these words altogether, because I don't particularly want them in my website.

5) Re: Page Properties - Do I need to put in a Page Summary and Keywords in my MASTER PAGE??  Or will this just make it appear in all pages based on my Master Page? (I don't want the same Summary/Keywords to appear in all pages based on the master page - as they are all different!) I am just referring to the Page Summary and Keywords in this question, NOT the page contents, artwork and layout.

6) I'm trying to do a Links page - with links to other useful websites and pages not in my own website.  As soon as I turn the text into a hyperlink it appears on my page in small blue underlined text - this is pretty useless as I am using your "seagull template" with dark blue background!!  I have managed (with perseverance above the call of duty) to make my all e-mail address links appear in yellow text in Arial Black and an appropriate size font - but it was just tenacity at the time and now I can't seem to repeat this with my links page. Plus the fact that no matter how small you make the text box, it grows and overlaps other boxes and artwork, so that it covers other links, making it impossible to click on them.

I want the links just to be a list in Arial Black (white text as I have blue background)  ie:

Swanage Steam Railway

Blue Pool

Corfe Castle National Trust

Etc, Etc,

But each one of them to be a "clickable" link to that website. For an example see my old website at: www.sunnysouth.btinternet.co.uk - Links page

HOW can I do this EASILY?

7) How do I make an exact copy of my website before I publish it?  I would rather have a standby copy, so when editing the original and mess it up completely (which isn't difficult with the current software and text boxes just changing at a whim) I will still have a back-up. 

😎 Publishing updates - do you have to "publish" the whole thing again or can a single page be edited and re-published?

9) Re: The menu editor list (the list of page names you click on to move around the pages).  When in "Preview" sometimes a page name in the list will change colour - as if it hasn't loaded correctly.  Is this just an anomaly or will this happen on the real thing when published?

10) WHEN I ever get to Publish - if it doesn't load properly or operate properly - WHO DO I CONTACT? for immediate assistance?

Thanks so much - awaiting your replies.

BirdBrayn (Vicki)

[BirdBrayn]

Hello "Fiona",

PLEASE - is there any response to my questions of 4/12/09 yet??  It's been SIX DAYS NOW that I have been waiting for your (BT's) response!

I need to publish my website.

Yours Desperately,

BirdBrayn

[Fiona]

Hi

Sorry for the delay, I am waiting for a response on this. The minute I get some information either myself or one of my colleagues will post it up to you.

Kind Regards

Fiona

BT Business forum Moderator

[LisaBT · Accepted solution]

Hi There,

1.  Please use Firefox since it is working as intended and since IE is giving error.  Not sure what version of IE is being used at this time but if you would like to provide we may be able to examine further.  Please note, IE7 and above is recommended. 

2. Usually, you simply highlight the text and apply the color, font and size changes.  If your text includes all text in the box, try inserting a space in front of the very first word within the text box.  Also remember to save the page before moving on to editing other pages so that the changes are saved.

3. Not sure about the behaviour here.  Looking at the website and ESW editor right now and the pound sign is appearing clean with no extra characters.

4.  In ESW / Sites section (the first section) try removing the Site Title and Tagline within the site Details box. 

5.  Master page is just for site content and design and not intended to be used for key word and page summary information.  Key words and page summary information is managed on a page by page basis.

6.  Try putting a space in front of the first character, then highlight it, then add the hyperlink, highlight again and change font to white, wait a couple seconds and then moved off of the text block and it stays white (or any other colour you have selected)

7.  ESW Pro does not allow for the copying of websites within the tool, however you can save each page as you go along by clicking the save button.

8.  Updates can be made on a page by page basis but when you publish, all saved changes will be made to the live site.  The tool does not allow for the publishing at the page level alone.  It’s all of the pages that get updated during a “publish”.

9.  Its just an anomaly - we are fixing this.

Hope this helps,

Thanks,

Lisa

[Blue_Van_Man]

I am having exactly the same problem with unwanted site title & tagline appearing on top left corner of the the master page, despite being deleted multiple times by me.

Surely after all this time of being aware of this issue, BT has come up with a more sensible work-round than to replace the site title with a full stop & delete the tagline?!!!  I've tried leaving the site title blank, but this is not allowed...

This still leaves an unwanted full stop in the middle of my logo graphics!

PLEASE can someone from BT let me know how to get rid of that damned full stop - thanks in anticipation.

I'm so frustrated with BT & their completely mis-named "Easy" Site Wizard that I'm thinking of creating the website elsewhere & transferring it to BT - will BT charge me for the priviledge & if so, how much?