HOW TO BUILD A WEBSITE in/with MOODLE

HOW TO BUILD A WEBSITE in/with MOODLE

by rockerz g -
Number of replies: 13

OK, I would just like to understand the following. I could build a website and put a link to moodle for students who want to do courses. The website would be all about the college and moodle would be there for the education and course management. instead of the website being separate, could I build the website in Moodle? Would the construction of pages for the site have drawbacks given that the pages would be constructed in Moodle'spage editor?

Again, could I somehow import an already made site into Moodle? I have not seen inside Moodle yet but I have built site with Joomla.

thanks

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In reply to rockerz g

Re: HOW TO BUILD A WEBSITE in/with MOODLE

by Mike Walters -

The first option you discussed is a lot more common - the moodle site sits in a subdomain behind the main website.  It is very easy these days to skin both site to look similar (I have done it before using a Wordpress/Moodle combination).

There is actually no real reason technically however why you can't create your entire website within the moodle installation.  You can skin moodle to make it presentable and then use custom navigation and html labels to give it more of the "website" feel.

The drawback you have to consider though is the limitations you will have doing it this way.  Moodle is a Learning Management System, not a Content Management System.  Moodle will not give you a lot of freedom when creating your new site whereas using something such as Wordpress or Joomla will give you much more power to manage and manipulate the way visitors access your information.

Put simply, if the "website" component of your project contains only a few pages of information then go for it, but if you have a complicated plan stick to the two site system.

All that said, I have never seriously tried to create a website entirely inside moodle and the neatness of the proposal really appeals to me so it is certainly something worth developing to see what could be done smile

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In reply to Mike Walters

Re: HOW TO BUILD A WEBSITE in/with MOODLE

by David Bach -

I have a project on the back burner now that looks like it wants to do something like you have in mind. It appears to me Moodle 2 is a better choice for this than 1.9 (though all my other Moodle sites are in 1.9).

But looking ahead, I'm wanting to take Moodle 2 as far as I can toward a combination learning site and related website.

Perhaps as you progress we can share ideas.

db

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In reply to David Bach

Re: HOW TO BUILD A WEBSITE in/with MOODLE

by Mary Cooch -
Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Moodle HQ Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Testers Picture of Translators

I think it is perfectly feasible to have Moodle as your website AND virtual learning environment. With judicious use of nice themes, guest access and open access courses  you can set up  your front page and anything that links off to it as  your website while retaining the log in for users who want to access the courses. We do it with our school Moodle where its front page is our website. Ours isn' t particularly pretty as we just use the standard logo theme but it functions fine - I have seen other places that use it in a similar way with catchier themes.

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In reply to Mary Cooch

Re: HOW TO BUILD A WEBSITE in/with MOODLE

by Grant Mucha -

Hi Moodlers,

I recommend a combination of Wordpress and Moodle. Can be done as one domain or two depending on your preference.

Wordpress is very easy to manipulate by using php and Moodle is much similar.

Wordpress can act as your entry point allowing easy access to content management including homepage, about, contact, etc... This also allows you to grant access to a Content Management person who can update wordpress however not access Moodle data. Allowing Moodle to focus entirely on learning.

Let me know if you need any additional information!

PS - I would avoide Joomla

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In reply to Grant Mucha

Re: HOW TO BUILD A WEBSITE in/with MOODLE

by rockerz g -

these are great answers so far - thank you!

somehow in registering, I am also getting other discussions in my email besides this thread. How can i stop that please?
happy to get posts to this thread but not other thread...

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In reply to rockerz g

Re: HOW TO BUILD A WEBSITE in/with MOODLE

by Visvanath Ratnaweera -
Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Translators
> I am also getting other discussions in my email besides this thread. How can i stop that please?

Welcome to your first problem with Moodle.
;-(

Seriously, how do you plan to find the answers to your future questions, which are being discussed now?
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In reply to Grant Mucha

Re: HOW TO BUILD A WEBSITE in/with MOODLE

by Glenys Hanson -

Hi Grant,

Could you say a bit more about why you would avoid Joomla?

Cheers,

Glenys

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In reply to Glenys Hanson

Re: HOW TO BUILD A WEBSITE in/with MOODLE

by Derek Chirnside -

I can't speak for Grant of course.

But using Joombla for a 'small website' like this is like using a Boing 737 to do a bit of topdressing: it is a bit of overkill.  Joomla is a framework, and needs a lot of careful and skilled setting up.  It does not "work' out of the box.  Worpress does.

Want to add a new theme to Wordpress? Download and install from the dashboard.  Want to upgrade: do it from the dashboard - ie no need to have access to the server.  Want to tweak the CSS? it's all there in a form.

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In reply to Glenys Hanson

Re: HOW TO BUILD A WEBSITE in/with MOODLE

by Grant Mucha -

Joomla and Wordpress are similar however I abandonded Joomla awhile back due to their upgrade process. Essentially whenever new releases come I found every single time my website was basiclly non functioning due to incompatible plugins etc. While wordpress also uses plugins I now have 20+ websites all running wordpress and rarely if ever have a problem with upgrading (which is automatic) and updating plugins (which is also automatic)

Also it is very easy to create distinct themes within wordpress.

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In reply to Grant Mucha

Re: HOW TO BUILD A WEBSITE in/with MOODLE

by Purity Githembe -

I am kinda new to Moodle, and I am trying to self teach. The other day, I downloaded and installed Moodle 2.0 on my computer (I have Vista). I went thru all the steps and even created a class. As I was trying to do some edits, I suddenly got error:Firefox can't establish a connection to the server at localhost. I have not been able to access my class at all. I am trying to find a job at a university in Kenya where Moodle is the Platform(I have used other platforms to teach online, such as BlackBoard). I was hoping to have a "sample class" on Moodle to give me a cutting edge.

Would anyone have an idea as to what I need to do.

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In reply to Purity Githembe

Re: HOW TO BUILD A WEBSITE in/with MOODLE

by Glenys Hanson -

Hi Purity,

Have you checked the server is actually running? You may need to restart it it.

Cheers,

Glenys

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In reply to Glenys Hanson

Re: HOW TO BUILD A WEBSITE in/with MOODLE

by Purity Githembe -

Hi Glenys, Thanks for your response. I am a little lost about this Server issue. I am using my laptop as the server???(or am I?) So when you say to check if the server is working, I am not really sure what that means. Restart my laptop? Please help. I really appreciate the help from this forum.

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