If you run into any issues when creating a project, please drop a note here and we’ll be in touch to troubleshoot. While you wait to hear from us, here are a few common issues you can diagnose yourself:
Make sure you have logged in via the homepage to complete your account set up before clicking on “Create a Project”
Ensure your project name starts with a letter or number and that there are no spaces or special characters at the start of the field
Check that the project name you want to use isn’t already taken! It’s always best to be very specific, and you can always change this later you need time to decide. (Check existing project names in Open Textbooks in Development)
If you’ve been successful in creating your project home and are looking for what to do next, here are some suggestions:
Fill in as much information on your project page as you can! Check out our user guide to find out how to edit your project
Create some new topics on your discussion space - this could include an introductions thread, a status update on the latest work and/or the story of how your project came to be!
Hi all! We’re currently assessing a bug in project creation - we believe it’s only affecting projects with project names over 50 characters. We’re gathering more info to confirm that that’s the source of the error and will release a fix as soon as possible. I will update here once it’s resolved, and apologies for any inconvenience in the meantime!
Hello Zoe, I would like to learn how to change the bubble with our initials…can you direct me in that area. We are still working on contributors. I think MaryAnn said that was the advertising piece.
Hi Joan! The bubbles with the initials are created automatically as a placeholder for every user, and you can change it by uploading an avatar image to your user profile (e.g. your profile). I’d suggest making sure all the admins on your project do so so that new users can see something a little more personal, and of course you can suggest to any contributors you’re chatting with to do the same!
Hmm. I just did some testing and it looks like the avatar isn’t loading properly for the creator of a project. I’ve noted it as a bug and will have our developers take a look! In the meantime, the others on your team shouldn’t have the same issue, and I will update you as soon as we get to the bottom of this. Thank you for flagging it for us
Zoe, good morning. So sorry but I cannot seem to do the same thing twice …how do I add someone to the team. I cannot seem to get back to the edit screen.
Hi Joan - no problem, it takes some getting used to! And we’re obviously still smoothing out things on our side. To edit your team, you can click on the edit button (a little pencil) in the top write of the team block, but if you’re not seeing it, you may not be signed in. To do so, click on the “LOGIN” button in the top right corner of your homepage and follow the prompts. Once you’re logged in, you’ll need to navigate back to your homepage, so it might be an idea to keep it open in another tab or copy the link to return to it once you’re logged in. Let me know how you get on
Hello, I have tried over and over. Trying to log out them logging in. Still no edit pencil… I did it once to get two on but cannot get back there. Tomorrow is another day.
I successfully created a Test Project page, so it must be something with the cover image or the metadata in Global Perspectives? Does a project page for that already exist?
Hi Allison, thanks for reporting the error. A project page for Global Perspectives doesn’t exist yet. For now, could you possibly share the information that you had entered when trying to create the project? @zoe will be in touch if she needs anything more to troubleshoot the issue.
Hi Joan - I’ve had a look at it seems the admin permissions were accidentally removed from all users on the project (this is indicated by the little blue badge next to your name). I’ve restored them for you and Maryann, which should mean you see the pencil again and can restore them for anyone else on your team (clicking the icon grants or removes the admin permissions). I will keep a close eye to see if this occurs again or on other projects, which would indicate a bug, and I have made a note to ensure that at least one user must had admin permissions which we will put in place in the next few weeks. Keep me posted!
Hey Allison! I think this is happening because there was an existing category with the same name you’re trying to create - I’ve now quickly created the new page with the bare minimum info and made you an admin so you can work on filling the rest of it out. This is why we’ve been manually recreating the existing projects, but you’re much quicker than we are! Let me know if there are any other issues.
Yes!!!.. I thought it was me…I appreciate your help/ Friday a few of us have a research conference so will miss the meeting. We watch for the follow-up paperwork. Thank you again.
Yay!! Very glad it’s working for you again, Joan Thank you for bearing with us! And @apurva will note your apologies for Friday and make sure you get the handouts afterwards. Hope you have a great time at the conference and we’ll talk again soon.
We’ll miss you at the session @joan.buckley but hope the conference goes off well! The handouts and slides are up already in this thread: Session 5: Recruiting and Managing Contributors. I’ll likely add in a few more examples today or tomorrow, so you can keep an eye out in the thread for those updates!
Thank you for bearing with us! And