Size does matter..

Size does matter..

by Colin Fraser -
Number of replies: 11
Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Testers
I am having some issues with the size of some dialogues. They are just too small. The editing dialogue for labels is woefully inadequate, as shown below, for instance, and the HTML editor should not need a "fullscreen" editing button. The forms offered should be resized a bit, but easily accessible to make changes if a user requires it. I am finding that I am using the "fullscreen" editor more and more, but I have a 23" monitor, how silly is that?

Also, after a few WEEKS of looking,cool, I finally found where I can add emoticons to the popup that appears. I have a third table, filled with emoticons, but now the popup is too small to accommodate my editing of the array. (BTW, my php skills are completely ..um-um non-existent. I have no idea what I am looking at most of the time. It is all English to me!!!!)

This is the hardest part of Moodle, finding where to change things and make them work. Here, a discussion in General Problems, is a good case in point.


Attachment labeleditingdialoguesize.png
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In reply to Colin Fraser

Re: Size does matter..

by Mauno Korpelainen -

Colin,

I could add a lot of similar examples but mostly they might just show that since first versions of moodle we have seen more and more people asking more and more features but in some cases usability of some actions has not been fully tested.

For example this resizing of editor is easy to solve in moodle 2.0 because in TinyMCE we have a setting "theme_advanced_resizing" - and if it is true in init code of TinyMCE editor gets a tiny button to the right bottom corner that allows you to resize editor both horizontally and vertically - in addition to full screen editor button. And TinyMCE has also a core plugin called autoresize which automatically resizes the editor to the content inside it. This is just not (yet) in init code of moodle 2.0...it is a little buggy and manual resizing works better. A bigger question is what user preferences will be added to moodle 2 later - or are all users forced to use similar editor everywhere...and how init code can be modified.

We have also discussed about theme settings (settings.php) in theme forum and in moodle 2.0 it will be in a way "easier" to implement all kinds of changes - but in some cases you will always need either php, javascript or css to make modifications that do not have preset settings in administration menu - or user-selectable options to modify their tools.

Attachment frogs.gif
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In reply to Colin Fraser

Re: Size does matter..

by Mauno Korpelainen -

Talking about Labels and editor (HTMLArea) height there see

http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=129773

Popup sizes for HTMLArea are defined in file lib/editor/htmlarea/dialog.js and for emoticons

        case "dlg_ins_smile": x = 330; y = 320; break;

(x and y in pixels)

It might have been reasonable to add these settings to Administration > Appearance > HTML editor where you can add emoticons to this popup (and corresponding images to pix/s/ ) ... but remember - it's the OLD HTMLArea

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In reply to Mauno Korpelainen

Re: Size does matter..

by Colin Fraser -
Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Testers
Thanks Mauno, again, smile just half the time I do not realise what I am looking at. But I am sure I had not found that, I been looking in the php pages and styles and so on..

I know that v1.9.x is going to be replaced with 2.0, and I think everyone is expecting it to be a lot more dynamic and such, but for me, this is bells and whistle stuff, but until the basics are right, it is not the time to get into the flummery that can make or break a new program.


Cheers..
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In reply to Mauno Korpelainen

Re: Size does matter..

by Colin Fraser -
Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Testers
The smileys popup must be getting its style or size from somewhere else, because it is not lib/editor/htmlarea/dialog.js .. oh well, keep looking then..smile
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In reply to Colin Fraser

Re: Size does matter..

by Mauno Korpelainen -

In my HTMLArea it is there - line 34 of lib/editor/htmlarea/dialog.js...or are you talking about moodle 2.0 and tinymce?

Try to change that line for example to

case "dlg_ins_smile": x = 530; y = 520; break;

When you make changes to those javascripts remember to refresh your browser - in Firefox you may need to use mouse right click - Refresh over toolbar or clear cache / temporary internet files to see the result.

When you add smileys from administration panel you actually add only "tag smileys" - if you want to add also image smileys you might want to edit lib/editor/htmlarea/popups/dlg_ins_smile.php and add the new images to actual popup window (plugin) - the smiley arrays...

$emoticons = array... (line 20)

$list = array('smiley', 'biggrin', 'wink', 'mixed', 'thoughtful', 'tongueout', 'cool', 'approve', 'wideeyes', 'surprise'); (line 87)

and a little later

$list = array('sad', 'shy', 'blush', 'kiss', 'clown', 'blackeye', 'angry', 'dead', 'sleepy', 'evil'); (line 106)

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In reply to Mauno Korpelainen

Re: Size does matter..

by Colin Fraser -
Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Testers
Well.. Anyway, I got the arrays long before I got to the dialog.js, been sitting there for a bit, having to resize the popup every time I wanted an odd smiley, which is why I asked, got tired of resizing.sad

First time, I refreshed, but then later cleared the cache and lo and behold, IT DID NOT WORK. angry So being persistent, I went back to the file, and looked again, and then changed it again only this time, I SAVED the damned file!!!!! blush Figured it works better than way....duh!!!!

so maybe this time I can even get the graphic to show what I have finally manged to not make a mess of..tongueout SUCCESS HAHAHAAAA!!!!!! And the worst of it is, I don't get to use it now, really, I GOT A JOB and I AM GETTING PAID!!!! even get holiday pay with this one...unbelievable and it is not even April..... And I am getting to sleep at home this year!!!! la-la-la-laaaa!!!!


ohhh dear me... just remembered my tax bill is going to go through the roof this year... damn...


Attachment finishedsmileydialoguesize.png
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In reply to Colin Fraser

Re: Size does matter..

by James McLean -
We dropped HTMLArea quite early on and went with TinyMCE, there's a working modification for Moodle to install TinyMCE on 1.9.x somewhere on the forum here. I was a little hesitant when asked to do it but it's turned out to be flawless for us except a few minor issues, but nothing we can't easily fix...

Good luck with the new job, will you be working with Moodle there?
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In reply to James McLean

Re: Size does matter..

by Colin Fraser -
Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Testers
Never considered using TinyMCE, but will look at it. As for the new jobm, if I am not at the start of the year, then I certainly will by the end of April..big grin

I am not being a zealot here, it is just that with such a large area of interest, there needs to be a much stronger technical focus. If we are using the internet to any large degree, which we will, as well as a range of digital equipment, which we are in Digital Photography and Multimedia, then there is no reason we cannot be using Moodle for a range of intersecting learning activities. Just going to have to dust off the old Photoshop and Flash tutes and upgrade them. The problem is though I cannot see them allowing me admin rights... blowflies just don't get that kind of respect easily. sad

EDIT: The integrating of TinyMCE is going to have to be a lot clearer for me before I would attempt it. My PHP skills are non-existent, so unlikely to take the risk, but maybe later, as I learn more.
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