GM&F Training

PHASE 3 — WORKING SAFELY · MODULE 10 OF 11

Common Troubleshooting & Best Practices

By the end of this module you will have a calm five-step self-check for “it looks broken”, know the three most common causes, and know exactly what to tell GM&F when you report an issue.

What you’ll learn

  • Run the standard five-step self-check before worrying
  • Recognize the three most common “it’s broken” causes: cache, wrong page, unsaved edit
  • Know what NOT to do when something looks wrong
  • Report an issue to GM&F with the four details that let us fix it fast

Step-by-step instructions

  1. The five-step self-check:
    1. Hard refresh the page: Ctrl+Shift+R (Cmd+Shift+R on Mac).
    2. Check the page in a different browser or a private/incognito window.
    3. Confirm you edited the page you think you edited (Module 4’s admin-bar trick).
    4. Check the Pages list — is the page still Published?
    5. Log out and view the page as a visitor would.
  2. The big three causes:
    • Cached old version — the site is fine; your browser is showing yesterday’s copy. Fixed by refresh or waiting.
    • Wrong or duplicate page — your edit went to a similarly named page.
    • Edits made but never saved — the builder was closed without saving.
  3. What NOT to do when something looks wrong: don’t keep editing to compensate; don’t delete anything; don’t touch Plugins or Appearance “to fix it”.
  4. How to report to GM&F — four lines: the page address (URL); what you changed; what you expected; what you see instead. Add a phone screenshot if you can. That is everything we need.
  5. Best-practices recap: one change at a time · verify live after saving · edit at quiet times · when in doubt, ask early.

What you should practice

  • Do a hard refresh right now, so it becomes muscle memory.
  • Draft (don’t send) the four-line report email about a pretend issue.

Common mistakes to avoid

  • Compensating edits on a cached page. Now there are two problems: the original confusion and the new edits.
  • Reporting “the site is broken” with no page address. The URL is the single most useful thing you can send.
  • Waiting days to mention something odd. Small oddities are quick fixes when fresh.
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