Games Issues and Blank Screens

Games Issues and Blank Screens

Games are slow to load, fail to load or freeze

Normally the game screen will appear blank on first launch followed with a filling shark to show loading. However, if the games freeze during play, the launch screen remains blank or the shark continues to remain on screen (but the game does not load), below are possible causes and solutions:

Causes:

  1. Temporary loss of connection
  2. Software scanning programs
  3. Loading out of date pages
  4. The browser page has been zoomed in too far
Solutions:
  1. Press the refresh or back button and reload
  2. Add *.onwordshark.com as an exception
  3. Clear cache/browsing history
  4. Reduce page zoom 
To adjust the zoom in Windows:
  1. Select the three dots next to the browser's address bar
  2. Adjust the zoom

To adjust the zoom on a Mac: 
  1. With Wordshark Online open in Safari, select 'Safari'
  2. Choose 'Settings for this Website'
  3. Adjust the zoom

Missing 'Ready' button for 'Shark Challenge'

This will happen if:
  1. You are using an incompatible device Wordshark Online Minimum requirements
  2.  You have zoomed the page in too far 

Blank screens

A blank screen can occur instead of a game or when moving between different tabs/sections of the program.

Causes:
  1. Internet filters
  2. Loading out of date pages
Solutions:
  1. Allow access to *.onwordshark.com
  2. Clear cache/browsing history
An incompatible device can also cause these issues. Wordshark Online is not compatible with Internet Explorer.

If the above does not help and symptoms persist, contact support@wordshark.co.uk with the following information:
  1. Device
  2. Browser
  3. Game affected
  4. Word list affected
  5. Occurred during:
    1. Supershark
    2. Set work
    3. Free Play



    • Related Articles

    • Games categories

      Each game helps to develop a variety of reading and spelling skills – not only rote practice. There are games for single letters, phonics, syllables and whole words. After every third game a reward game is offered as additional motivation. Note that ...
    • Why are only 3 games offered in Set Work sometimes?

      Why does this happen? Students can choose from the variety of games. However, only 3 games are shown/offered when a student doesn't happen to have chosen to play any of the 3 spell check games that Wordshark uses to 'test' the students. This testing ...
    • General info for parents/students

      What is Wordshark Online? Wordshark is a games-based product for learning spellings and for reading skills. Wordshark was the first of it's kind when it first came out, 25 years ago! The latest edition is 'Wordshark Online', re-written and in the ...
    • Release Notes

      September 26th, 2024 (Sprint 102) Fixed Bug fix and minor improvements September 12th, 2024 (Sprint 100 and 101) Added New weekly leaderboard New Total Game Play Time Report Changed Reports are now available to view immediately Fixed Bug fixes and ...
    • Internet Filters (AKA 'whitelisting')

      How do you know that there's an issue? Internet filters set up on computers can cause a few issues: Error messages saying that the page is restricted Wordshark/games failing to load normally/at all Email filters may block Wordshark emails from ...

    Still need help?

    Complete our automated Contact Form or email support@wordshark.co.uk with your query.
    We will get back to you as soon as we can.