It's been a few months since I first posted my first impressions of Moodle here in the forums, a post that sparked a rather heated and personal attacks that left a bad taste in my mouth for anything even slightly related to Moodle.
I've actually started development on my own LMS, with a rich set of features, etc. A few weeks ago, I downloaded and installed Moodle on my development server to better understand the inner workings of Moodle, and to see what features and functions exist that I might have left out.
My main complaint, initially, that started the debate in my first post was in regards to theme. I'm not sure if anything has really changed in that aspect, but I have come very fond of the Experience24 theme, so that solves my theming issues.
Anyhow, as I continued to play around with Moodle I became somewhat addicted. The majority of the problems I encountered came from installing third-party modules. Overall, though, this extensive review of Moodle has changed my overall opinion.
There are still some things I would very much like to either change or add, and Moodle still won't work "as-is" for the project I want to embark on. That said, however, I have been swayed enough to conclude that it might not make a lot of sense to continue developing my own LMS project when instead I could simply make the changes I need by creating additional modules.
So, that is where I am at at the moment. I still might find that what I need is beyond Moodle's capabilities, but I think that I can make it all work. Hopefully, I can even get some experienced Moodler's to assist me. I believe that the project I am attempting to move forward with will spark much interest within the Moodle community, and if I can get Moodle to work the way I need, it will also be a source of residual funding for Moodle developers.
I'll post more details about the project in another post, but I wanted to come back here post my updated opinion. Moodle can be very intimidating and unfriendly to new-comers, but once you start to play around with things, it becomes much easier.
The one thing that I really do dislike, however, is the way there is no seperate 'admin' area for Moodle (though I'm starting to get used to this). As a website administrator and PHP programmer, I am just used to virtually every application having a seperate administrative area. That said, I'm no sure if I dislike the the way Moodle's admin area is presented, or if this is just a matter or adjustment for me.
In closing, I apologize to the Moodle community for my initial remarks, especially if I offended anyone, which was never my intent. I hope that the past can be forgotten and we can all start from scratch.
Sean
Greetings, Sean!
I am curious about what you mean by Moodle not having a separate admin area. It seems to me that it does have separate admin screens. It doesn't seem that much different than, say, wordpress. Could you elaborate on that a little more?
You should take a look at the new themes that Julian is working on (well, I am not sure the links work, but you can see the screenshots).
http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=75760
I never found Moodle to be intimidating or unfriendly, but that is likely because I had some background with LMSs before I started. Put me in front of our content management system, and I am ready to pull my hair out in short order!
At any rate, I am looking forward to hearing more about your project.
atw
I am curious about what you mean by Moodle not having a separate admin area. It seems to me that it does have separate admin screens. It doesn't seem that much different than, say, wordpress. Could you elaborate on that a little more?
You should take a look at the new themes that Julian is working on (well, I am not sure the links work, but you can see the screenshots).
http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=75760
I never found Moodle to be intimidating or unfriendly, but that is likely because I had some background with LMSs before I started. Put me in front of our content management system, and I am ready to pull my hair out in short order!
At any rate, I am looking forward to hearing more about your project.
atw
In Moodle, logging in with administrator credentials essentially turns the front page into an administrative page, adding the Site Administration block. I am used to systems where there is a separate area for administration, usually with it's own look and navigation. Usually, when performing administrative tasks I have the admin section open in on tab and the "regular" site loaded in another.
Like I said, I'm still not sure whether this is just an adjustment issue, or something that I really dislike. Although, as I continue to use Moodle, I am finding myself getting used to having the admin tools on the same page, except when I need to logout to see the site from a regular user's perspective.
I haven't yet started to look into the API documentation for developing Moodle, but as a PHP programmer I'm sure that once I get a feel for Moodle, I'll be able to create the modules I need and will release them as open source. I might also create some new themes, but to be honest, I'm not a designer.
Being a non-profit organization, I have some additional access to funding, which we have used to maintain a relationship with a development firm. In the past, we have had up to thirty programmers/designers working on a single project, but I've since started hooking up with local programmers and designers, and am attempting to do everything in-house, which will also remove the restrictions on releasing stuff under the GPL.
Sean
PS - I think I found Moodle to be somewhat user-unfriendly at first because I was new to LMS. It's also not always useful to be a programmer, as programmers tend to want to reinvent the wheel and do things their way. Like I said, not that I've actually played around with Moodle a bit, I am understanding things much better.
Like I said, I'm still not sure whether this is just an adjustment issue, or something that I really dislike. Although, as I continue to use Moodle, I am finding myself getting used to having the admin tools on the same page, except when I need to logout to see the site from a regular user's perspective.
I haven't yet started to look into the API documentation for developing Moodle, but as a PHP programmer I'm sure that once I get a feel for Moodle, I'll be able to create the modules I need and will release them as open source. I might also create some new themes, but to be honest, I'm not a designer.
Being a non-profit organization, I have some additional access to funding, which we have used to maintain a relationship with a development firm. In the past, we have had up to thirty programmers/designers working on a single project, but I've since started hooking up with local programmers and designers, and am attempting to do everything in-house, which will also remove the restrictions on releasing stuff under the GPL.
Sean
PS - I think I found Moodle to be somewhat user-unfriendly at first because I was new to LMS. It's also not always useful to be a programmer, as programmers tend to want to reinvent the wheel and do things their way. Like I said, not that I've actually played around with Moodle a bit, I am understanding things much better.
Sean
One thing I do to look at admin and user screens concurrently is to use two browsers, one logged in as admin and the other as a user. HTH.
Dave
One thing I do to look at admin and user screens concurrently is to use two browsers, one logged in as admin and the other as a user. HTH.
Dave
Hmm, do you mean two different browsers (IE & Firefox) or two different browser windows (Firefox & Firefox). I tried opening two different instances of the same browser, but the session was still active.
I am running Linux on my PC, but I don't think that would make a difference. I'll try using two different browsers.
Sean
I am running Linux on my PC, but I don't think that would make a difference. I'll try using two different browsers.
Sean
Sorry, yes - two different browsers.
I use one browser (Firefox) two tabs and in one I use the regular URL in the other I substitute the IP address. This creates the two different cookies I think.
Actually, there is a separate admin area: http://example.com/moodle/admin/index.php
Navigating round the admin area is now done with a block. And once that was done, they realised they could put a copy of the block on the front page, to make doing administrative tasks easier for admins.
But if you don't like it, you can probably turn blocks editing on, and get rid of it.
Navigating round the admin area is now done with a block. And once that was done, they realised they could put a copy of the block on the front page, to make doing administrative tasks easier for admins.
But if you don't like it, you can probably turn blocks editing on, and get rid of it.
Welcome back 
Thanks! I'm eager to dive into the documentation and learn the inner workings of Moodle. I've actually done a large amount of work on my own custom system, and would first like to convert that stuff into modules.
Sean
Sean