Introduction
Banner 9 (https://banner.uoregon.edu) is in some ways like a brand new environment. It has its own new perks, and presents its own new challenges.
The following are recommended to have the best Banner 9 experience:
Use Google Chrome
Banner 9 is compatible with many modern browsers (Internet Explorer, Edge, Firefox, etc), but testing by Ellucian and other universities has shown that Banner 9 runs noticeably fastest in Chrome.
Use Private Browsing (instructions for Windows)
To mitigate Banner 9 issues that can be caused by browser caching, you should run Banner 9 in private browsing. In Chrome, this is referred to as an Incognito window.
You should close all browser windows each time you are done using Banner to prevent Banner issues that can be caused by caching.
If you are a Windows user, you can create a shortcut that will automatically load the Banner 9 website in a new Incognito window for you.
Here's how:
- Open a normal Google Chrome window (note: must be a normal window, the steps below don't work from an Incognito window).
- Go to the Banner 9 website: https://banner.uoregon.edu
- Open the Chrome menu (it’s a little button at the top right of the screen, directly next to the address bar, and has three vertical dots).
- In the Chrome menu, click More Tools and then click Create shortcut… (alternatively, you may only see an Add to desktop option; use that if so)
- Click Create.
- Go to your desktop.
- Find the new shortcut named "Banner 9 _ University of Oregon” and right-click it.
- Click Properties.
- Click inside the “Target” text box and at the end of what is already there, type a space and then “--incognito --new-window” (Example: the full text of the text box will look something like this when you’re done: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" --profile-directory=Default --app-id=ogjbmbfjcnappfacnmbehjekmpabopma --incognito --new-window)
- Click OK.
To add this shortcut to your taskbar or Start Menu as well, you can right-click it again and then click "Pin to Taskbar" or "Pin to Start Menu".
Use Private Browsing (instructions for macOS)
To mitigate Banner 9 issues that can be caused by browser caching, you should run Banner 9 in private browsing. In Chrome, this is referred to as an Incognito window.
You should close all browser windows each time you are done using Banner to prevent Banner issues that can be caused by caching.
These steps will show you how to save and launch a bookmark within Chrome as an Incognito tab:
- Open a Google Chrome window.
- Go to the Banner 9 website: https://banner.uoregon.edu
- Click the star at the top to bookmark the page. Here you can also specify where you would like it to be located (i.e. your bookmarks bar or a folder within the bookmarks bar).
- Click Done.
- You should see a bookmark appear named "Banner 9 | University of Oregon."
- To open in incognito, right click (or ctrl + click; or two-finger click) the bookmark and select Open in Incognito Window. You will need to perform this action each time you open Banner 9.
How to run more than one Banner session
If you like to keep more than one Banner session open at a time, you should follow these practices:
- Run them in separate Chrome windows, instead of multiple tabs within the same window
- Reason: using multiple tabs within the same window may result in errors
- Keep all sessions alive
- Reason: allowing one session to timeout due to inactivity will force you to log in again in all sessions, thereby disrupting what you were doing in the session you were actively using
Using the Incognito shortcut described above will automatically open each Banner session in a new window for you.
Close Your Browser
It is important that every time you are finished with Banner 9 for a while, you close the browser window. This is true even when you are using an Incognito window or other type of private browsing.
At the minimum, you should close your Banner browser window at the end of every work day.