My Site won't Load! Why this happens and how to prevent it



This tutorial explains why your site or page may not be loading in the Yola Site Builder.  We will explain how you can make sure your content is added correctly so that your site loads and you're able to edit it.

Contents (click on a link if you want to jump to that point):


Effects of copying and pasting from MS Word or an external source
My page is stuck on "Opening Page" and the content does not load
Invalid Component Error Dialog Box when loading my page
What else can I do if my page does not load?
Internet Explorer 8 and Google Chrome
I get validation errors on my page


Effects of copying and pasting from MS Word or an External Source



Do not copy and paste directly from MS Word or any other external sources!


Copying and pasting directly from a program like MS Word, emails or other webpages is one of the easiest ways to destroy your site. When you copy and paste directly from these sources, there is hidden formatting in the text that can cause the page to break. Here are some things that may happen to your site as a result of pasting text directly:

  • Your page will not load in the site builder. This might not happen initially but your page will break at some point.
  • Content on the page might not be editable.
  • Inconsistent appearance of your text in different browsers.
  • Text and images appear "jumbled" and do not display the way you laid them out.
  • Other elements of the style may break, such as the menu links.
  • You may be unable to access various site builder functions, such as saving or publishing.

How to resolve this issue

We've built a tool for you to use! This tool will help you to fix text copied from sources like Word Documents.  The HTML Helper is available on this link: www.html101.yolasite.com.  Bookmark it!

If you have content that is stored on a Word Document or any other program, follow these steps:
  1. Go to HTML101
  2. Click on the "Paste from Word" button.
  3. A dialog box will open.
  4. Copy and paste your MS Word content in the dialog box. Click on "OK".
  5. All formatting will now be removed from your content. It is now safe to copy and paste this content onto your page.

If your MS Word content is already copied and pasted directly onto your page, then please use the steps listed here - Removing MS Word Tags


You can also use Notepad or TextEdit to resolve this issue:

  1. Copy the content from the MS Word Document or external source.


  1. Paste the content into a program like Notepad. All Windows computers have this program. You can find it under: "Start --> Accessories".
  2. If you are using an Apple Mac, you can make use of TextEdit for this purpose. TextEdit will be available in your Finder under "Applications". Please note that if you use TextEdit, you must select the "Plain Text" option after you paste. Go to: "Format --> Make Plain Text."


  1. Notepad or TextEdit will simply strip out any unwanted formatting and you can then safely copy and paste the text into the text widget.
  2. You can then use the Yola text editor to format your text as desired.

How to add images stored in a MS Word Document


In order for your images to display correctly on your page you would need to upload the images individually and not embedded inside a MS Word document.

If you upload the document, a link to the MS Word document will be displayed on your page, instead of the image itself.

Here's how to upload the images:
  1. Open your MS Word Document
  2. Right click on the image, click on "save as" and save the image on your desktop or in any location on your computer.
  3. Follow the above step for all images.
  4. The image will be saved as .gif or .png if it's a graphic illustration, or a .jpg if it's a photograph.
  5. You will now be able to upload your image, using steps outlined on this tutorial: Adding New Pages & Photos.


My page is stuck on "Opening Page" and the content does not load


This is mainly caused by adding invalid HTML code to your page. When this happens the page is not editable and therefore does not allow you to correct the code. This situation is rather unfortunate and your only option is to delete the page and recreate it. Invalid HTML causes very similar problems to text pasted directly from MS Word.

How do I avoid such a situation in the future?


We recommend testing your HTML code first before adding it to your page. Here's how to test the code:
  1. Create a "test site" in your Yola account.
  2. Before adding the HTML code to your site, simply test it out on the "test site" first.
  3. Add the code, save the page, open a different page and then return to the page with the pasted code.
  4. If the code stops the page from loading or if you encounter any problems on the page, I would suggest not adding code to your site until it is corrected.

How do I fix my invalid HTML code:

  1. Go back to the source of the HTML code and make sure you have copied the entire code. To make sure you are copying the entire code, simply right click on the code with your mouse and click on "select all". This will ensure that all code is selected, then click on "copy".
  2. Use an HTML TIDY TOOL - there are many HTML tidy tools available for correcting invalid HTML code. We recommend using http://infohound.net/tidy.

Here's how to use the HTML tidy tool:
  • Copy your html code (Right click with your mouse, click on "select all", right click again, click on copy - this will ensure all code is copied).
  • Paste the HTML code into the field called "HTML".
  • Click on "Tidy!" Your invalid code will be corrected.


  • By clicking on "Tidy", the code is automatically corrected for you. Simply copy and paste the corrected HTML code into an HTML widget on your page. (Remember, Right click with your mouse, click on "select all", right click again, click on copy - this will ensure all code is copied)



Invalid Component Error Dialog Box when loading my page



If you see a similar error dialog box with a message like this "Invalid Component id '134'. Cannot Find Component HTML" this is mainly due to pasting invalid HTML code on your page.

This type of Error message is much easier to resolve and in most cases does not require for the page to be deleted and recreated.

Here's how to resolve the problem:

  1. Hold down on the "Esc" key or click on "ok" until the message closes.
  2. Locate the last piece of HTML code that was added to your page, this is most likely the cause of this issue.
  3. Delete the HTML widget containing this code off your page.
  4. Save the page and click on "refresh"
  5. If the Error dialog box does not appear, then the HTML widget you deleted was the offending widget. If the Error Dialog box still appears, then you still need to locate the offending HTML widget and remove it off your page.

How do I correct the invalid code

Follow the steps outlined above - How do I fix my invalid HTML code.


What else can I do if my page does not load?


If you did not copy and paste from MS Word or add any invalid HTML code to your page and your page is not loading in the Yola Site Builder, then try the following:

Clear your browser's cache

This link has information on how to clear your browser's cache: Clear cache.

Check the Privacy Settings

Your settings must be set to enable cookies from Yola, this link has those details: Enabling Cookies.

Enable Javascript

Check that your browser is set to enable Javascript: Enable Javascript.

Check for large pictures or large files

This can definitely cause a page to load very slowly. Open your file manager. Web friendly images are generally between 20 and 100 KB. If yours are larger than this, try saving them with a smaller file size using Photoshop's "save for web" function, or use the "save and share" tab at http://www.picnik.com

Check your Network

Check with your network or internet service provider. They might be experiencing problems. Try navigating to other sites to see if they load for you.

Try a different browser

Test your site in different browsers. For example will the page load in Firefox, but not in Internet Explorer? There may be a widget on your page that a particular browser cannot load. Try your site in Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari.



Internet Explorer 8 and Google Chrome



I am using Internet Explorer 8 and my text does not appear on my page.


If you have recently upgraded to Internet Explorer 8 and the text on your site is not showing, click on the Compatibility View button of your browser (next to the refresh button) and add Yola to the Compatibility settings. For more information, see: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/features/enhanced-navigation.aspx.


I am using Google Chrome and the text widgets are going crazy!


Google Chrome is not yet a Yola-supported browser. We recommend switching over to Firefox for the best Yola site-building experience.



I get validation errors on my page


When you see such errors on your page, there is nothing to be alarmed about. These HTML validation errors have little or no practical impact to how browsers render your site or how search engines index your content.

We consulted one of our Javascript Developers and here's what he has to say:

"Due to the nature of Yola it's quite difficult and time intensive to ensure complete HTML/CSS compliance. Traditionally we've focused more on features and work-flow than generated code quality because we felt most users weren't aware of HTML validation and would prefer more features and better work-flow to higher quality generated code and less features / worse work-flow.

That said, as former standards compliant web developers ourselves, we understand the goals of standards compliance. We get big smiles on our faces when everything validates correctly and will be placing an emphasis on fixing as many of these issues as we can in the future."

Please try the above suggestions if you are having problems loading or editing your site. If you are still experiencing difficulty, contact support@yola.com.