Why is the WebCT screen blank after I click some links?
There are a couple of reasons you might see a "blank" screen after you click a link in WebCT.
The browser may not be loading the page completely.
In this screen shot the My WebCT page hasn't finished loading,
either because the computer doesn't have enough memory or processing
power at the moment, or maybe there's a network bog-down. You
might need to click the Refresh/Reload button, or even quit your
browser and other applications and try again.
The document you're trying to view isn't viewable in a web browser.
Web browsers can't always display all file types in the browser window. When that's the case, the file is downloaded. Common file types that might not open in the browser window include:
- Microsoft Word - .doc
- Microsoft Excel - .xls
- Microsoft PowerPoint - .ppt
- Acrobat - .pdf
- and lots more...
For example, in this screen shot, WebCT has tried to open the
Syllabus link on the course homepage. In this case, the Syllabus
is a Microsoft Word document (.doc), which can't be displayed in
most web browser windows. This results in the content area of the
WebCT course appearing blank.
To continue with this example, this screen shot shows the browser's
Downloads window. The Syllabus document was downloaded to the computer's
desktop. To open the file, go to the Desktop and double-click the
Syllabus document.
Depending on what browser you use and how your browser is configured, you may see slightly different download behavior. Some browser may display a dialog box asking if you want to download and save or open the file. Other browsers might display a tiny prompt near the top of your browser window to ask you if you want to download the document.
Once your browser downloads the document, it will be saved to your browser's designated download area. For most people, this will be the computer's desktop area.