Hello, this is my first post about Moodle at all so I really hope I am writing in the right place (I checked everything else but this forum was the closest to my needs).
I am evaluating the use of Moodle for a client and while we are quite satisfied with all the teaching/learning tools in Moodle, we are also very disappointed at its lack of functionality when it comes to publishing. I am concerned about the presentation of the content. As far as I could guess by looking at the various documentation, there is no way to fully customize the whole thing (ie. change the layout completely to suit your client's needs) without having to dig in the core code. Is this correct?
If the answer is yes, then would you recommend to wait for the release of 1.5 before starting to mess with the core code? I would not really want to spend too much time recoding something only to lose all the work at the next release :D
Thanks in advance for your help, appreciate it.
Hello Julia and Welcome,
>As far as I could guess by looking at the various documentation, there is no way to fully customize the whole thing (ie. change the layout completely to suit your client's needs) without having to dig in the core code. Is this correct?
It seems that you might be in the right place, Themes. Customizing your site depends on what you need it to look like.
If you are looking to change the layout, you can play with the blocks and their locations. This would not require code manipulation and can be done as admin of your site. There are some limitations, but you can do quite a lot with what is there.
If you are looking to change the colors and fonts, you can work with the style sheets for each theme. The style sheets schemes will change in version 1.5. As far as I know, it is still not completely worked out, so I cannot give you an idea how that would work. I am sure that some of the themes gurus can help you in that end.
If you are looking for a 'publishing' feature, I think there is some work being done on this. Check here:
http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=18139
Is there any specific layout or design you are thinking of that you are interested in?
Something like Mambo
?
HTH,
Bill
>As far as I could guess by looking at the various documentation, there is no way to fully customize the whole thing (ie. change the layout completely to suit your client's needs) without having to dig in the core code. Is this correct?
It seems that you might be in the right place, Themes. Customizing your site depends on what you need it to look like.
If you are looking to change the layout, you can play with the blocks and their locations. This would not require code manipulation and can be done as admin of your site. There are some limitations, but you can do quite a lot with what is there.
If you are looking to change the colors and fonts, you can work with the style sheets for each theme. The style sheets schemes will change in version 1.5. As far as I know, it is still not completely worked out, so I cannot give you an idea how that would work. I am sure that some of the themes gurus can help you in that end.
If you are looking for a 'publishing' feature, I think there is some work being done on this. Check here:
http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=18139
Is there any specific layout or design you are thinking of that you are interested in?
Something like Mambo
?HTH,
Bill
Hi Julia,
The standard form of publishing content in all
common formats in Moodle is with the Resource module.
If you need a book-like format then you should
consider the Book module.
And if you are looking for a newspaper-like format
then the Netpublish module is the right choice. It is not
quite finished yet (e.g. still no docs) but it works OK
as is.
Cheers, Anders B
Hello Julia,
we are also very disappointed at its lack of functionality when it comes to publishing.
I am concerned about the presentation of the content.
fully customize the whole thing (ie. change the layout completely to suit your client's needs)
What do you want or do you need to do?
_ Do you have ready designed courses you want to offer in a appropriate designed platform?
_ Do you want to create learning material with Moodle?
_ Do you want to make the Moolde design look as your clients internet or intranet?
If you could please explain your needs, we could offer some proposals if or how you can get there.
Please keep in mind, that if you decide to take Moodle at day X and start to extensively change it, you will be cut off the very dynamically progression of Moodle.
I support this: the user of Moodle needs a choice: "
"Will I use the great HTML-editor for cut & paste on the fly or do I switch to a more structured fill-in form, based on an XML-multi-target-tree?
It depends of your local situation...