FAQ about AEM
For information on the new ETHZ wide homepage and how to switch an existing legacy homepage to the new template, please refer to ETHZ wide homepage
Authors cannot be freely added in the system by authors at the moment. To request additional authors for your website, you will need to send a ticket to the Service Desk
The default setting in Chrome is not to download the PDF which will only show a teaser or first page of a PDF. A good explanation of how to fix this, allow the download and redirect to your system viewer can be found on a page of Southhampton's E-learning.
Information about document accessibility can be found on the manual page, Creating accessible documents.
Check that the file names are correctly formatted for a URL, with no spaces or special characters (umlauts, parentheses, etc).
Dashes are best practice for word separators for file and page URL naming. Underscores are ignored by search engines, whereas dashes will remain and keep terms understandable.
There can be various reasons for this:
- There are regular downtimes of the AEM author server. These are necessary for offline compaction and backup. The server is stopped daily at midnight and then started again around 1:30 (Swiss time). The server cannot be used during this time.
- The system might be interrupted when a release may require it. Most releases do not require a system interruption, but if necessary, all authors will be informed ahead of time with an email notice from the CC webteam and a red banner notice in the system.
- Authorization is not automatic for ETH members, is on a per-website basis and must be requested by the owner or a current editor of a website.
- If you have not accessed the system since the migration to IAM, then your authentication may not have migrated in the system and may need to be added again.
The login status appears to be lost in the browser. However, if you click on another folder in the DAM or another page in the Website management window and then return to the desired folder or page, your active editing status will return to the menu items. This can occasionallly happen when bookmarking a page in the Page editor view as well. If you know for sure you have rights for a page, then a simple refresh of the browser should rectify the editing status of the window.
Be sure you are using Firefox. Firefox is the only browser that is fully supported. Other browsers such as Safari, Edge and Explorer will not work and can corrupt pages in AEM.
The use of the URL 'project' or 'projects' should be avoided as a main navigation item because this is used specifically by the Adobe system and can cause issues with a website. It is, however, possible to use it as a second level or lower page.
This cannot be overrided and is built into the navigation. The first link in the flyout is the link to the main navigation item. The system places 'overview' at the end of the page title name to distinguish it from the subpages listed in the main navigation dropdown.
Social media icons can be configured in the page properties.
Quick links can be configured in the page properties.
The Contact page link in the footer is now only required if one is not using the new integrated Contact box component in the footer. If the contact box component is configured, then the link to the contact page will be hidden. Please note that the Text with image component next to the contact box in the footer is intended for additional contact information such as opening times and should not be used for other content. If you wish to use the Contact box for basic contact info, but your contact page provided specific contact options such as for Communications, ISG, and Student Administration. You can still add a link to that page by using the integrated Text with image component to the right of the contact box, adding a short description and link to your website's original contact page.
Information about the Contact box and Text with image component can be found in the manual.
If necessary, there is a 'Reset' button under the Contact box in the footer, which can be used to clear the information from the footer contact box and Text with image component to the right. Using this reset button will restore the link to the Contact page (in your utils folder) under Services.
Currently, there is no way to embed social media directly on our sites due to data protection and tracking of the external social media sources. It is recommended to use the official social media icons in the footer of your website by configuring them in the page properties of the homepage and link to the source.
For general information on how to implement a carousel for a homepage, please refer to Homepage carousel
The title, teaser and image must be configured in the page properties of the target page before adding the target page with the link-picker in the carousel component on the homepage.
- (Frontend) Check that the image is activated.
- (Backend) Check that the image is in RGB format, not too large (less than 3000px wide) and formated for the correct size/aspect ratio. 2696 x 1348px is the recommended size for Homepage carousel images. If your uploaded image is not exactly this size, then use the Homepage/carousel cropping feature in the carousel image editor.
- Check that the file name is correctly formatted with no spaces or special characters (umlauts, parentheses, etc).
Information on adding a news article to your carousel can be found on the Homepage carousel page.
Yes, you can and it is recommended now to switch all legacy Universal content pages to the standard ETHZ content page (wide page) because they will soon be retired from the system. This should be done from the Page editor view (not management window view). All content and context information containers must be removed from the right column. Hint: It is best to turn on all context areas in the page properties to be sure that there are no hidden elements before trying to switch the page.
For detailed information on the page switching, see ETHZ content page (wide)
It could be that the page content is cached in your browser's cache. Clear your browser cache to see if the problem is resolved.
Generally the activation of a page for the first time will appear immediately on the published side. However, if you are editing an existing page, there can be a delay of several minutes before content appears on the published side. Typically changes made by authors in the page editor can take up to thirty minutes to show on both published instances. This can mean that sometimes two users can see different content: an updated page or an older page. Or, the same user could see both upon browser refresh. Information can be pushed quicker if necessary by using the AEM Purge Tool.
- Check that the Share and not the browser URL was used in the component configuration.
- Check to be sure the video can be shared and does not have a privacy setting.
- Check that the image is activated.
- Check that the image is in RGB format.
- Check that the file name is correctly formatted, with no spaces or special characters (umlauts, parentheses, etc).
- Check that the file in the DAM appears with a file size. If not, the image may need to be resaved externally and re-uploaded because the file data is not being processed correctly.
- Check that all pages and parent pages are not in modified (blue) status. All pages should be in activated (green status).
- Both published instances may be out of sync with the changes. Be sure all pages in the structure have the green published status and if necessary you can purge the page from the server cache using the AEM Purge tool starting with the top level of the section in question.
It is recommended to deactivate pages before using the Move menu item to rename a URL or to move a page elsewhere in your website structure. If you have moved or renamed a page's URL without deactivating it first, it can leave 'ghost' navigation items on the frontend.
To remove a ghost page, create a page with the same URL name in the same location in the structure and then activate it, then deactivate it and then delete it. The problem should then resolve itself. In future, remember to deactivate previously published pages first before moving or renaming them.
- If you are drawing news from other channels, it could be the owner of the channel has not yet published the news item (all news whether published or not is seen in the backend).
- Check that the article and its parent pages (month and year pages) are all activated.
- Content delivered from other applications such as publications from Research Collections and events from the Event calendar application can take longer as these rely on the API to the source applications to deliver the requested content.
- Person list updates from the OrgDB database can take up to 24hrs to show if the changes were not manually pushed to AEM from the application itself.
- E-Adressen can take up to one hour before the data is synchronised with the person search application and up to an additonal 30 minutes until the data is visible on webpages.
Authors need to consider their content carefully to make sure that content is delivered as expected on all devices. See 2-column container for more information.
If you are receiving an increasing amount of spam mail since going online with your website, check to see that you have not used the 'mailto:' functionality for name links. Manually created email links are not encrypted. Person list, search page, contact box and person detail contact information is encrypted and not exposed to lower level phishing. Solution: Instead of using the direct 'mailto' link for names, link to the the person's detail page using the Short link solution where visitors can get contact information.
The backend URL of the webpages of each language must match exactly and be in the same logical structure order. Using the language copy functionality, instead of copying pages, ensures that the page is copied with the correct URL and in the correct place in the structure.
To have translated URLs for the language copy on the frontend, you must use the 'translated URL' field in the Basic tab of the page properties of the page and leave the backend URLs identical.
It is possible to add mathematical formulas to webpages using LaTeX formatting and checking the Parse LaTeX checkbox in the page properties of each page that contains LaTeX formulas. An example can also be found on the Text (with image) manual page.
It is possible to show code snippets on websites using the Code snippet component.
Some components have a built in place for an anchor such as the Accordion tab component. In general for content anchors, the Text with image component must be used and then the anchor linked to. The format of the anchor link will differ depending on whether it is an in-page link or a link to an anchor on another webpage. For information on creating general anchors, please refer to the Components page.
Standard email links are created using the form mailto:youremailaddress@ethz.ch in the 'Link to' field in the hyperlink dialogue.
To create an email link with a predefined subject, use the form mailto:youremailaddress@ethz.ch?subject=My subject avoiding the use of single quotes in the subject part after the equal sign.
If you are using the automatic child page option in a Link list component for listing pages that are either hidden from navigation or are protected pages, then the 'Include hidden pages' and/or 'Include protected pages' option must be selected in the Child pages tab of the Link list component for the links to appear.
In the authoring environment, external links can be checked using a combination of hot keys:
- (Mac) while holding down the Shift key, click on the link
- (PC) while holding down the Windows logo key, click on the link
This is unavoidable - links with anchors will not work initially, but only after the user has passed the underlying Shibboleth check, because the Shibboleth check strips away the #link after the page URL.
The text editor naturally strips most formatting from content to avoid unwanted tagging and formatting that does not adhere to the corporate design or accessibility. To copy and keep the formatting of existing AEM content intact, use the Paste from Word menu item in the text editor
In the search picker, the asset tree in the dialogue shows assets:
- by title, if the asset has a metadata title
- by file name if no title is given in the metadata title field
The internal link checker will check relative links created with the search picker, as well as images used in components and the status of pages in the subnavigation and related content navigation at the bottom of the page. Further information about the link checker can be found on the AEM Website Functionality Overview page.
Access protection can be implemented for a single page, a group of pages, as well as for a document folder in the DAM. Information about how to protect pages can be found on Access protected pages.
In order for protected or hidden pages to show up in a link list of child pages, the appropriate checkbox (Include hidden pages and/or Include protected pages) must be selected in the Child pages tab of the Link list component.
Pages will not be visible to authors in the AEM backend or for any users on the published side unless they belong to the CUG or Leitzahl used for the protected content.
Information about creating short URLs can be found on Creating short URLs.
It is important for websites to be accessible because we don't have the right to limit the availability of our content to potential users. Swiss law dictates adherence to minimum accessibility standards for all federal institutions, and Article 21 of the United Nation's Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities recognizes the right to information internationally. Since websites offer content on a global scale and not just locally, international laws should also be recognized. Another reason for creating accessible websites is that search engines rank accessible websites higher.
No. Making information accessible is not more expensive or complicated. It only needs a little forethought and understanding of the needs of individuals with disabilities. More information about accessibility can be found on Making a webpage accessible and WebAIM.
See Creating accessible documents for information on creating an accessible Word document and preserving accessibility when converting to a PDF format.
Absolutely. Your website is your business card and represents you, your unit, and ETH Zurich as a whole. We strive to provide the best possible quality for our websites because ultimately this reflects on the ETH Zurich image. You may request a general post-live quality check of a whole website or specific pages by sending a request to the CC web team, including the website URL, the sitename of the website, page links if it is for specific pages and a description of what you would like us to do. If you prefer a personal consult, you can also request this and we will set up a Zoom or MS Teams consult.
Be sure to check that the person that is missing is actually included in your Leitzahl. This can be checked in Personensuche in the Advanced Search result tab under the Org. unit code column.
Either they belong to your Leitzahl or they were manually added to the list at some point in the past and must be removed manually by an OrgDB administrator in your department. Check the Search Results (advanced) tab in Personensuche for a person's associated Leitzahl.
Please be aware that manually manipulated lists will need manual maintenance instead of remaining fully automatic as unadjusted ones are. The task of the management of the lists in the organizational database lies with the respective department staff of each department. Requests to correct lists should include:
- the Leitzahl number
- the type of list (e.g. People A-Z, PhD Students, etc)
- the full names of the persons to the added/deleted.
Multiple channels can be added to a newsfeed component to provide your website users with a variety of news that is applicable to your unit. To add relevant news articles found in the ETH News channel to your newsfeed, you can use tags associated with the ETH News articles. There are various components used to pull news depending on the template used. Find the relevant newsfeed component manual page on the manual's table of contents page.
Information on how to configure and use the Newsletter Configurator template to send a newsletter of news items from your news channel can be found on Newsletter Configurator template.
On the new ETHZ wide homepage, the unit logo is added to the on-page Organisational information component.
Partner logos are managed by the HK web team. If you need a partner logo on your website, please contact webteam(at)hk.ethz.ch.
The Universal content pages with the right column are being retired and will no longer be supported in the system. It is recommended that all authors switch their Universal content pages to wide pages.
Code cannot be freely added to websites for security and accessibility reasons. If possible, existing components in the the system should be utilized. If you do not find a component for a particular need, then a special application request can be made via the online form. Each request is reviewed and if approved a component will be assigned to the website with a particular author for editing. Once the component programming is completed, a quality check must be done by Software Services and a member of the CC web team to ensure the scripting doesn't interfere with the system and the design and accessibilty of the solution meet the current system guidelines.
You can set the colour theme in the Website Settings tab of the homepage page properties.
Additionally, if needed, you can override the website colour theme for a specific page by setting a custom colour in the page properties of a webpage in the Appearance tab
At the component level, one is also able to set a custom colour for the Link list, Tab/Accordion, Citation and Highlight container. See individual manual pages for each for details.
Like the rest of the text, the email addresses that are displayed on a webpage contain control characters for correct display and hyphenation. These should never be directly copy/pasted from a webpage. It is strongly recommended that you do not use the email address itself as the display text for mail links, so that users are not misled and instead link a person's or organisation's name.
In addition, it is highly recommended to link names and unit names instead of writing out the full email address on webpages to avoid spam mail.
There is no audio file component. One can link to them as any other file it but will rely on the user's system for functionality.
Video files should not be uploaded to the DAM. There are three video components that can be used in the system: Video (for videos submitted to the Matterhorn repository which are then available in the content finder), YouTube and Vimeo