topic Re: Cascade story map Website Issues in Classic Esri Story Maps Questions

Cascade story map Website Issues

BradleyDean — Tue, 14 Feb 2017 13:57:39 GMT

I am currently having issues with the Cascade StoryMap Template. It will not allow me to link to any websites through the media tab or as an immersive section.

Re: Cascade story map Website Issues

StephenSylvia — Tue, 14 Feb 2017 14:08:43 GMT

Check the URL of the cascade app to see if it starts with https. Does the URL of the website you are trying to embed also start with https? The browser will not allow you to embed an http URL into an https website. This is a security restriction the browser sets in place. You must have an SSL certificate installed on the website you embed and you must use the https URL to that website.

If you are using an https URL for the website and are still having issues, can you provide the URL of the website so we can investigate?

Re: Cascade story map Website Issues

BradleyDean — Tue, 14 Feb 2017 14:56:43 GMT

Stephen,

I am hosting the cascade app on an https site (https://baker.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Cascade/index.html?appid=ce692d1d86bc4b18aae6b4a34c91594b)

The web pages I am working to embed into the story map are:

Sagecoast.org

wetlandswatch.org/<http://wetlandswatch.org/>

Is there any work around for this?

Thanks,

Brad

Re: Cascade story map Website Issues

BradleyDean — Tue, 14 Feb 2017 15:21:19 GMT

Stephen,

This is a relatively new issue. Both of those webpages had been loaded into the app and have only recently not been working.

Thanks,

Brad

Re: Cascade story map Website Issues

StephenSylvia — Tue, 14 Feb 2017 15:46:54 GMT

This indeed looks like it has to do with the https issue I mentioned previously. Because the cascade app is accessible over both http and https, maybe you we're viewing http version of the story.

This is a security restriction put in place by the browser to prevent secure information being leaked by an insecure embedded app. Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do to override this security restriction.

The good news, wetlandswatch.org does have a https version of their site. Just make sure you embed this URL instead: https://wetlandswatch.org/.

Sagecoast does not have a https certificate so you will not work if the cascade URL has https. I would recommend contacting Sagecoast and request that they add SSL certificate to their website. This is best practice for websites as if is better for SEO, provides better security for their users. They can even receive a free certificate (Let's Encrypt - Free SSL/TLS Certificates).

If sagecoast is unable to add a ssl certificate to their website, you have two options:

Instead of embedding the webpage, provide a link. You could even take a screenshot or use an image of their logo as the link.
(Not Recommended) - Embed the http://sagecoast.org URL then make sure you always share the cascade story using http at the beginning of the URL instead of https. However, if a user finds another link through arcgis online or has a browser extension that auto redirects to https, the embedded webpage will still break. Also, we plan to disallow all http connections and embedded content in about a years time to prevent some of the issues stated above as well as provide better security and best practices to our users.