Making forums more user-friendly (was Request for votes on 1.9 gradebook issues)

Making forums more user-friendly (was Request for votes on 1.9 gradebook issues)

by Nancy Webb -
Number of replies: 9

Have to agree with making forums more user friendly, could have simple things like "Search within forum" to limit the results.  I wanted to find postings about efficient ways to set up forums for grading.  Either I have to look through so many discussion topics in the Forum forum, page after page hunting for one that might be relevant, or I use the search forums feature.  I typed in "Grading Forums" and of course all those words were in your post.  It is not helpful to find what I'm looking for.

There are such simple things that could make Moodle so much better.  Open Source has its benefits for sure, but it is frustrating to be a teacher trying to use this program.

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In reply to Nancy Webb

Re: Searching within a forum

by Helen Foster -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Moodle HQ Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers Picture of Translators
Hi Nancy,

Regarding searching within a forum, please try the advanced forum search (available via the link in the search forums block, or by not filling in the search text box and then clicking 'Go').
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In reply to Helen Foster

Re: Searching within a forum

by John White -
Helen,

Whilst talking of Advanced Forum Search, I would really appreciate the Advanced Search link appearing on every forum page (beneath the ordinary search box), BEFORE you actually commit to a search.

The mere fact that I had no idea I could just click Go with an empty search box, suggests that others might also benefit from an Advanced Search link!

I appreciate that the reason was to keep things simple to start with, but I feel the benefit of 'immediacy' well out-ways the advantage of 'simplicity'.

Regards,

John
Average of ratings: Useful (1)
In reply to John White

Re: Searching within a forum

by Robert Brenstein -
I second that. Actually, I noticed that in the newest design, only 'search moodle.org' appears consistently on every page. Search forums in current course requires first switching pages; for example, editing the reply page.
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In reply to Helen Foster

Re: Searching within a forum

by John White -
Helen, Martin D, and all,

Last week when I wrote about minor matters in the forum design I had thought of having another 'pop' at that recurring theme 'subscription by discussion thread', then I though better of it... why should I bemoan things not yet achieved without being willing to do something about it.

So I did just that, and I have posted the results, a zip file and instructions for implementing this in 1.9.3, in the Forum Module forum. http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=115149

Best regards,

John

PS: I'll get to 1.9.4 ASAP.
2.0 anyone?
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In reply to John White

Re: Searching within a forum

by Tim Hunt -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Peer reviewers Picture of Plugin developers
There must be a tracker issue about this, it would be good to attach your code there too, so it does not get lost.
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In reply to Tim Hunt

Re: Searching within a forum

by John White -
Thanks Tim.

I have found http://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-7368 which is very old , but unresolved (though it says otherwise), and http://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-10472 which currently refers to 1.6, 1.7, 1.8.
But I noticed that the issue kept recurring in the forums, and yet was not a target in the 2.0 roadmap and planning sheet. That's why I took it on, that, and my own frustration with too many emails (or a big digest to digest smile).
There is at least one other deprecated tracker entry on the same subject, which one is the most appropriate to update and use?

Cheers,

John
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In reply to John White

Re: Searching within a forum

by Tim Hunt -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Peer reviewers Picture of Plugin developers
Both the issues you mention were resolved as duplicate.That means that there was already another issue that already covered the same thing, and if you look at the issue links, it will point you to that other issue, namely MDL-1626. It is not helpful having duplicate issues sitting in the database, which is why they get closed.

That is targeted at Moodle 2.0, presumably because of the number of votes. However, no one has really started working on it yet, so it would be particularly worthwhile if you could attach a patch.

(Useful trick, just type the issue ID like MDL-XYZ and it will automatically be converted into a link for you.)
Average of ratings: Useful (2)
In reply to Tim Hunt

Re: Searching within a forum

by John White -
Tim,

As you will now see, I have both put a further post with said patch in the Forum forum, and a comment with the patch in MDL-1626 .

Thanks again,

John
Average of ratings: Useful (1)