links to mixed-content pages in Blackboard tabs?

Tue Jul 8 13:04:31 EDT 2014

Hi Lisa, et al-

I was out for a week so it’s taken me some time to reply, but thanks for all of the useful replies. I shared  Lisa’s email with the liaison from our Academic Tech dept, and he confirmed that Bb has released an update which should solve this problem for us …however we cannot implement it yet because our new online bookstore’s (vendor) system doesn’t play nice with the newer version of Bb. So it goes…

So, for now we’re removing the tab before the new term begins. Until then, it will redirect visitors to a page explaining its imminent disappearance.

Best,
-Chris

From: Web technologies in libraries [mailto:WEB4LIB at LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Haitz, Lisa (haitzlm)
Sent: Wednesday, June 25, 2014 2:27 PM
To: WEB4LIB at LISTSERV.ND.EDU
Subject: Re: [WEB4LIB] links to mixed-content pages in Blackboard tabs?

We’re trying to get Blackboard to load a page in the libraries tab, but the page redirects to our actual page, in a new window. To add to the problem, not all the resources we feature on our home page support https, so setting everything to that was not an option.

We were told that a Blackboard update released in April solved this issue. I believe they said that it changes how Blackboard loads the items (they load in an iframe instead of a frame), but don’t quote me on that.

The problem we are facing now is the blackboard folks don’t want to apply the update. They’d rather have the bugs you know, then create new ones.

Lisa Haitz
UC Libraries
University of Cincinnati

From: Web technologies in libraries [mailto:WEB4LIB at LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of <your name> Michael Yunkin
Sent: Wednesday, June 25, 2014 2:19 PM
To: WEB4LIB at LISTSERV.ND.EDU<mailto:WEB4LIB at LISTSERV.ND.EDU>
Subject: Re: [WEB4LIB] links to mixed-content pages in Blackboard tabs?

I would avoid asking users to make changes to their browser configuration - that's a recipe for a poor user experience, and an indication that the tools are inadequate for the task at hand.

It's never the users' responsibility to make our tools work properly.

(Also, we're struggling with the same problem right now. I imagine that we'll either a) start serving our pages securely, or b) build a page directly in Blackboard that links to our site and most important resources. Serving the library website inside a frame doesn't thrill me anyway.)

-Michael Yunkin
Web Content Manager/Usability Specialist
UNLV Libraries
Las Vegas, NV

[Inactive hide details for "Chris R. Wieman" ---06/25/2014 09:56:02 AM---Hi- Following an update to Blackboard last fall, we beg]"Chris R. Wieman" ---06/25/2014 09:56:02 AM---Hi- Following an update to Blackboard last fall, we began having a problem with the Library tab on o

From: "Chris R. Wieman" <c.wieman at USCIENCES.EDU<mailto:c.wieman at USCIENCES.EDU>>
To: WEB4LIB at LISTSERV.ND.EDU<mailto:WEB4LIB at LISTSERV.ND.EDU>
Date: 06/25/2014 09:56 AM
Subject: [WEB4LIB] links to mixed-content pages in Blackboard tabs?
Sent by: Web technologies in libraries <WEB4LIB at LISTSERV.ND.EDU<mailto:WEB4LIB at LISTSERV.ND.EDU>>

________________________________

Hi-

Following an update to Blackboard last fall, we began having a problem with the Library tab on our Blackboard site<https://usciences.blackboard.com/> (I administer the library site but not Blackboard). The problem occurs when you open the library website from within the Blackboard frame; although the exact symptoms vary by browser, generally the main issues are 1) the library page doesn’t load and/or 2) links which are not https won’t open. This occurs because Blackboard is now a secure environment and doesn’t tolerate links within it that are not https. It’s also caused by safety features in browsers which will not load pages of mixed content. There are ways around this issue, but they require the user to configure their browsers …so we’ve been treating this as “educational issue” rather than a technical one, since the solution seems to be out of our hands. That said, one easy way it could be fixed is to configure the link within Blackboard so the Library site opens in a new window/tab …however this can’t be done because the links that appear in the Blackboard tabs can’t be set to do this.

I suspect we are not the only ones who have run into this problem. Has it affected your institution? If so, did you find a workaround?

Thanks for your reads and replies. Best,

Chris Wieman
Information Science Instructor / Systems & Reference Librarian
J.W. England Library
University of the Sciences
600 S. 43rd St., Philadelphia, PA 19104
Office: 215-596-8962 | Ref Desk: 215-596-8967
c.wieman at usciences.edu<mailto:c.wieman at usciences.edu> | Ask a Librarian<http://ask.library.usciences.edu/> | www.usciences.edu/library<http://www.usciences.edu/library>

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