FAQ

General Questions

• What is Gato?

  Gato is the name of Texas State's web content management system that enables users to quickly and easily create, manage and maintain sophisticated websites without having to know complex web technologies or programming languages.

  As the size and complexity of websites increase, well delivered and managed content is essential to ensuring that the process of updating, revising and redesigning does not become an obstacle to maintaining an up-to-date and relevant website.

• Where can I find user guides?

  If you're looking for tutorials for how to use specific tools in Gato, or are simply looking to refresh your knowledge of the system, you can visit the Gato Essentials Training course in Canvas. 

  Otherwise, you can also check out our glossary page as well. 

• What features does Gato provide?

  • A user-friendly environment for content editing.
  • Support for images and videos.

• What is the max size of an asset that can be uploaded to GATO?

  25 MB

• Can a student worker be a manager for a website?

  While students can become website editors, the manager role is limited to current TXST faculty and staff. Retired faculty and staff, guests, and students cannot be added as managers.

• Can student workers have access to Gato?

  Student workers are allowed to become website editors, as long as they complete the required Gato training course and are approved by authorized website owners or managers.

• How can I transfer or move a GATO page from one department that is hosting it to another?

  Editors are able to move pages from one website to another if the editor has access to both websites. Otherwise, IT can assist with this process as long as administrators for both websites sign off on the move.

• My website changed from the TXST Standard template to Calico. What additional changes need to take place for all editors to continue to have access?

  In order to have access to websites using the Calico template, additional training is required. This self-paced Calico training course can be found in Canvas. Please see the Training page for more information.

• Does Gato support custom code?

  The Gato content management system does support custom code by editors. However, IT support cannot provide support for it. Maintaining custom work is the responsibility of website administrators.

• Does Gato auto-publish assets?

  Gato will auto-publish assets. However, editors have the ability to modify or unpublish assets as needed.

• How does one get the URL or a GATO doc/asset for hyperlinking?

  Many of the tools within the Gato CMS allow editors to link to an asset by locating and selecting it from a list of files. Otherwise, editors can enter an asset ID instead of a full URL in order to link to the asset. This asset ID can be found by viewing the asset details in the asset manager (by editing it). It's labeled as 'Identifier.' Once this ID is added and saved, visitors to the site can click on this link and see the full URL in the address bar of their browser.

• How can I assess the health of my website? (broken links, accessibility, spell checking, etc)

  Siteimprove is our third-party website quality assurance platform. It tracks accessibility, link checking, spell checking, stale pages, reading level, policy topics, as well as provides a digital certainty index (DCI) for each website it monitors in order to track website improvements over time. For assistance with Siteimprove, please visit the Siteimprove FAQ page.