WOG Uploading Issue: Why HTML Files Sometimes Fail to Render Properly

Background

Recently, while preparing a workshop for the Science Unit, I encountered an unexpected issue when uploading an HTML5 interactive to the Student Learning Space (SLS). The interactive was designed to showcase live chat and DAT features for assessing group communication, collaboration, and participation — and to demonstrate the power of AI-generated HTML5 interactives.

At first, everything seemed fine: the simulation worked perfectly on my PC and browser, but once uploaded via the Whole-of-Government (WOG) environment, the file failed to render properly in SLS.

Observations and Troubleshooting

Here’s what I found during the debugging process:

1. Uploads via phone worked perfectly

   • Compressing the interactive into a ZIP file on my phone and uploading it to SLS resulted in the file rendering exactly as intended.

2. Uploads via WOG failed

   • Compressing the file into a ZIP on WOG and uploading it produced a broken version of the module.

   • Even using AI-assisted zippers in the WOG environment produced the same failure.

3. Browser playback remained stable

   • If the ZIP was uploaded successfully, playback and interaction within SLS or WOG browsers worked without issue.

Key Insight

This indicates that the issue lies specifically during the upload stage in the WOG environment, rather than with the HTML5 file or SLS itself. It is likely that WOG’s system either:

• Strips out or modifies certain elements during the upload process, or

• Handles compressed ZIP structures differently from non-WOG environments.

Steps Taken

• Uploaded all three ZIP versions for testing:

  1. Phone-compressed, phone-uploaded → ✅ Works perfectly

  2. WOG-compressed, WOG-uploaded → ❌ Counter elements and dynamic features failed

  3. AI-zipper compressed, WOG-uploaded → ❌ Same issues as above

Workaround

For now, the simplest fix is:

• Compress the HTML interactive outside the WOG environment (e.g., using your phone or a personal device).

• Then upload the ZIP to SLS.

This avoids the WOG-related upload issues entirely.

Next Steps

• Raise the issue with the IT team managing WOG to investigate whether the upload process modifies the ZIP structure or content.

• Test alternative compression methods within WOG to identify if specific tools bypass the issue.

• Document cases where the problem occurs for clearer troubleshooting in the future.

Conclusion

This issue highlights an important reminder: when things break during the upload process, the problem might not be your file or SLS itself — but the environment handling the upload. Until a permanent fix is rolled out, uploading outside the WOG environment ensures smooth rendering and a hassle-free experience.