I have posted recently in the wrong place.
Has a change occurred: that to show one topic in 2.3 you now need to go to a URL like this: http://<sitename>/course/view.php?id=41§ion=2
There as in Moodle 2.2 it was like this: http://<sitename>/course/view.php?id=41&topic=2
I have a number of course menus manually created in section zero that merely show one section at a time.
-Derek
Has a change occurred: that to show one topic in 2.3 you now need to go to a URL like this: http:///course/view.php?id=41§ion=2 There as in Moodle 2.2 it was like this: http:///course/view.php?id=41&topic=2 I have a number of course menus manually created in section zero that merely show one section at a time.
Yes, the parameter has been changed to a non course-format specific variable (section). Note that there is backwards compatibility with topic=2 etc. So you shouldn't need to update it. In the new way, those links won't break if you change your course format from topics to weeks (say).
OK, cool. Sorry, this is a sort of double post.
Dan, is this broken in demo.moodle: http://school.demo.moodle.net/course/view.php?id=96 ie setting view single page seems not to have any effect.
I just cannot get it to "work"
-Derek
Dear Derek,
Working for me with the url http://school.demo.moodle.net/course/view.php?id=96§ion=3 - note: the single page format is harder to get to when you are editing the course as you have to click on the section titles even though the sections are displayed in full.
I even tried the legacy url http://school.demo.moodle.net/course/view.php?id=96&topic=3 and it redirected and worked.
Cheers,
Gareth
OK. PEBKAC. What I saw was the new style index page. Click once to get the single section.
My question is now this: With layout set to "show all sections on a page", then http://<sitename>/course/view.php?id=25§ion=1 seems to not show a single section. ie the menus I have made no longer work.
If this is correct, then is this a feature or a bug?
-Derek
Feature to some, bug to others.
IMO switching between one section and all sections should not be done via a course setting.
I really would like it back the way that it was: that topic= or section= does show just one topic on the page when in "Show all sections".
My real question for Dan is: "is the change, is the current behaviour (ie single section vs all in one set at course level) an intentional change, or an oversight?"
The new format has some navigation at the top in the section zero area. But there are only two options: "next section" and "previous section".
It has the "Go back to course home" at the bottom.
It doesn't cut it for me. I have got into the habit of keeping any course design I engage in with a small number of sections, and creating manually a menu in section 1
Just like has been described in a myriad of Scroll of death posts in youtube, blogs and here.
If there are a LOT of course sections I create a menu in a top left HTML block. Manually.
Regular navigation inside a course from section to section (when it is not the next or the previous one) doesn't really come part of the section area. Is there a plan for this? Otherwise, I'm back to a seach for the best course format plugin.
For instance, I'd love a setting that says "Insert section navigation in section zero" (Which I know would be interesting to code)
Something like this, which I know is pretty clunky, but let someone loose on it who knows CSS and it could be tidied up):
The change was quite intentional on grounds that many people got confused by the zoom box. The usual problem with such grounds is that those who find the functionality useful don't make much fuss about that and so it may seem that the confused are the majority.
My course format 'sections' is supposed to work around all this. It allows you to decide whether to include a prev/next navigation bar and whether at the top, bottom or both. But it also comes with a designated navigation block like the standard navigation block but only for the course sections. The format allows you add non-section nodes to the hierarchy. Etc. Have not yet completed its porting to 2.3 (the course ajax part) but should be able to do that soon and then release the plugin.
Grouchy post coming up. Hit delete now if this worries you.
Itamar, you say: "The change was quite intentional on grounds that many people got confused by the zoom box. The usual problem with such grounds is that those who find the functionality useful don't make much fuss about that and so it may seem that the confused are the majority."
Who is 'many people'? Who was 'intentional' about this? Decisions in smoke filled rooms? A lurch to solve a problem by creating another? How on earth do we keep up with these things?
I'm tempted to just give up at this point, pay the hundreds of dollars to a MP to get the code check for some course format plugin and get it installed.
Grouching over.
-Derek
Hi Derek,
Who is 'many people'? Who was 'intentional' about this? Decisions in smoke filled rooms? A lurch to solve a problem by creating another? How on earth do we keep up with these things?
Of course I can't quantify this, but we have a community of millions of users and i've had limited exposure to a small fraction of them. A fair number of those i've had exposure to thought that the icon was completely meaningless and confusing.
In Moodles i've supported, a frequent problem was students getting lost after clicking that zoom icon, not able to get back to the other content. I'm sure that there are threads on moodle.org about it too (note though that I strongly suspect moodle.org users aren't those who would struggle most with this, as they generally are way beyond the student who is not able to submit their assignment because they are zoomed into their course and can't get out).
The removal of this feature was discussed in this forum and it was documented in the development spec Dev:Paged course formats.
I'm afraid we can't please everyone all the time, but there are no smoke filled rooms here.
edit: Although perhaps we can please you, see my other post.
I did not realise the significance of Itamar's comment here.
I was fooled: with edit mode on, and single page set on you can see everything.
-Derek
Dear Derek,
I think it is the way it has been designed. However, if you want the links to work (assuming the Topics format) then edit 'format.php' in the '/course/format/topics' folder and change line 49 from:
if (!empty($displaysection) && $course->coursedisplay == COURSE_DISPLAY_MULTIPAGE) {
to
if (!empty($displaysection)) {
Then they will work. However, by default in the show all sections on a page the section titles will not link to individual pages. There is probably a way of altering '/course/format/renderer.php' to do this but would need looking into.
Perhaps a Moodle Tracker requesting Dan for this functionality?
Cheers,
Gareth
Dear Dan,
Thank you for the heads up - really useful as I can make the same change to my format and release it too
.
Sorry for not replying to the 'Developer Bulletin' question on the developers forum, I've been thinking about it and I now consider it to be a good idea. This is because as Moodle is getting bigger and more complex it can be hard to see the wood for the trees to understand all the different developments and decisions that are taking place in separate areas. Therefore a 'bulletin' with a summary of current developments and 'thinking' with a view to understanding the methological (both computing and eductional) direction that Moodle is going in. There may already be something like this - just I don't know about or have found it ;)
Cheers,
Gareth
My question is now this: With layout set to "show all sections on a page", then http:///course/view.php?id=25§ion=1 seems to not show a single section. ie the menus I have made no longer work.
Note, the removal of the zoom button does not necessarily mean we wanted to stop this from working. This wasn't a design decision.
The major problem with the zoom button was that it was sticky - it stuck on, and even if you logged out and back in again and followed the link to your course you would see only the single section. It confused me at times and I can code my way out of practically any moodle hole. :P
We could potentially make those links work as you describe, please file an issue in the tracker. (I say potentially because I haven't looked into the implications of this deeply, we wouldn't want to expose a UI for this as thats what single section mode is).
Dan,
I must agree with you, when I was teaching my students and indeed fellow non-techy teachers found it confusing and often came to me to sort it out, so it's sticky-ness removal is a good idea.
Perhaps looking at the bigger picture this is an ease 'navigation' issue rather than specific to the particular section url functionality as Derek suggests. Therefore perhaps could a horizonal version of the navigation block be added as a 'resource' then the user could place navigation anywhere they liked?
Cheers,
Gareth
Dear Dan,
Having a generic 'section' parameter is an excellent idea - I had not really noticed the change.
I'm going to update my format to cope with the old legacy parameters to then redirect to the new section parameter if somebody changes to my format from Topics or Weeks
Cheers,
Gareth
Hi Gareth,
Thanks for your comments - i'm glad you think it was a good idea.
The course format changes were described in the course/format/upgrade.txt, including this one. Look out for changes in that file for course format related changes, they should all be described in there (and its a bug if they are not).