Hi guys, I'm using 2.4.3. For our install of Moodle we don't use blocks very much for our courses or on activity pages. The users prefer the full screen effect, which we can get by setting the visibility of the Settings to "No".
Anyway, I'd like to figure out how I can get it so that when teachers make activities, the settings block is invisible by default. It seems that Moodle always makes the setting block visible.
Hi Adam, I suspect you may be better off posting this in the General Developer Forum, more likely to get a more accurate answer there about whether you can completely hide it, but why? Staff can place the block on the dock where it is unobtrusive.
>Staff can place the block on the dock where it is unobtrusive.
But that's an extra click! Staff rarely use any of the features that the settings block provides, and hiding it doesn't take away the feature either, they can just click the cog to get things like "Change role to Student"
I just think that full screen without obtrusive, rarely-used clicks is more of a priority than having the settings block always there.
(Not a fan of Moodle's blocks!)
Adam, it is good that you are thinking through your options. You might have seen enough examples of various ways of setting up Moodle, and know exactly what you want. However, if you are still trying to explore other ideas, I thought that I would share with you how I set up my own Moodle. You will see in my videos which blocks I like to use and why. These videos I made for my students.
Hi Adam,
Yo do not need to click on a docked block in order to see it, you just hover the cursor over its tab. Apart from that, accessing any "invisible" functionality is bound to involve clicks. I remember seeing a Moodle theme that rendered the blocks as links in the top menu bar. Maybe that is what you are looking for, but I can't remember what it was called.
Rgrds,
Paul.
Paul:
I believe what you are looking for is the Awesome bar, part of Decaf.
https://moodle.org/plugins/view.php?plugin=theme_decaf
Message me if you'd like to see a site with this in action. Remove the Navigation Scroll of death.
You may also like https://moodle.org/plugins/view.php?plugin=block_course_menu
-Derek
We are also using Decaf. And I was working on customizing our navigation as well.
To remove the settings blocks, you can comment out "echo $awesome_settings" in /theme/decaf/layout/general.php but you want to filter users by has_capability()
To add custom menu, you may want to look into the render_custom_menu() in /theme/decaf/renderers.php
Hope this helps!
Mao
Steven, I am not sure that you need to do any hacks. I had some help from Paul to sort this, and I posted in the plugins database, but the comment has no perma-link. Here is what I posted:
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You can't run Awesome bar AND the built in Nav and Settings menus. Just to much overhead. I did all my testing on decaf with these OFF and somehow someone added them in recently.
So, you are best to
1) go to home page and for NAV and SETTINGS blocks show on front page only
2) Then "hide on front page"
3) in DECAF settings set both to 'Show on front page=NO".
Slowness problem gone.
Using Decaf is a philosophical change: ditch the regular nav and settings bar - posted 8 FEB 2013 (on page 2 of the comments at this point in time)
https://moodle.org/plugins/view.php?plugin=theme_decaf
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Other random notes:
Cheers.
-Derek