Data entry tips

Field format
System timeout
Pasting text from Word
Ordered lists
Extra paragraph spacing
Line breaks/soft returns
Word/character limits
Embedded links

Field format

As some fields are used in many publications, it is very important that the field contains data as specified in the field format guidelines.

Information must be written in the present tense, third person, using full sentences (unless the field does not require full sentences). Marketing speak, unsubstantiated non-factual claims, and jargon should be avoided.

Fields that do not comply with the format guidelines will not be approved and will therefore either be returned to the faculty for amendment or will be amended by the APO so that they do comply.

Beside every field heading there is a question mark (in-content help) icon (). Clicking this icon opens a pop-up box containing the description of the field, its purpose, word/character limit and details of the data required. Close the pop-up box by clicking the icon again and moving your cursor away from the icon.

System timeout

The system will timeout after 25 minutes of inactivity. Users will lose all data changes if they have not clicked the [Save] button before this occurs. You will get an onscreen warning five minutes before timeout.

Pasting text from Word

Microsoft Word documents contain lots of hidden characters and tags that will not reproduce correctly within the database and are very likely to cause coding problems. Therefore, if you are pasting text from MS Word into the database, you should either:

1. paste it in using the [Paste as plain text] icon/button at the top of each edit box (i.e. click the [Paste as plain text] icon/button (), paste your data into the pop-up window and click the [OK] button), or
2. save the file you're working from as 'Text only' before you copy and paste the data directly into the edit box.

If the data has been copied from Word, the data in the editor may look fine, but if you click the [Source] button you may see some odd coding which will mess up PDF pagination and fonts, e.g.

The editor can look like:

'satisfactory'

but the source can look like:

‘satisfactory’

Any ‘ or ’ would then need to be manually replaced with ' for the pagination to work. So, instead of pasting directly from Word, paste the data into the editor using the 'Paste as plain text' button attached to the editor and there will be no issue with the pagination.

Ordered lists

Ordered lists are by default '1, 2, 3'. You can, however, have ordered lists that are 'a, b, c' or 'i, ii, iii'. To create one, in the text editor style your list as an ordinary ordered list and then do either of the following:

1. PC: right mouse click in the list; Mac: control click in the list. A menu appears.
   
   Choose 'Numbered List Properties'. A pop-up window appears.
   
   At 'Start' insert the number from which you want the list to start (e.g. you want the list to start at 'c', then insert '3'; leave blank if '1'). At 'Type' choose what type of list you want, e.g. 'Lowercase Letters'. Click [ok].
2. click the [Source] button. Change the <ol> at the start of the list to <ol type="a"> or <ol type="i">.

Extra paragraph spacing

Do not add extra paragraph spacing to the data within the system. Paragraph spacing will be applied to the data by the stylesheet/styles of the particular product using the data. A double paragraph may look correct in the system, but could cause excessive white space to appear in publications using the data.

Line breaks/soft returns

If you want to add a line break instead of a paragraph break (i.e. so the data sits without paragraph space formatting, for example in the 'Subject coordinator and contact details' field), insert a soft return at the end of the paragraph. A soft return is generated in the text editor by holding [Shift] and clicking the [Return]/[Enter] key on your keyboard. It is equivalent to the <br /> tab in the html coding.

Word/character limits

Owing to space requirements in many publications, there are word/character limits on most fields.

Embedded links

Due to the often lengthy links/URLs used on the UTS website and the problems this causes with layout and aesthetics (particularly in subject outline PDFs), users are encouraged to embed all links where possible (unless the field is to be used only in a print publication).

To embed a link using the text editor tool bar, select the display text you want to embed your link behind, click the link button () on the tool bar, and enter the address (select Link Type: URL or E-mail) in the pop-up box and click [OK].

A user video demonstrating text editor toolbar functions, including embedding links, is also available.

The following table shows the preferred format for embedding links.