I HAVE JUST CREATED THIS TRACKER TICKET
TO ASK THAT ESSENTIAL THEME BE ADDED TO MOODLE 2.6
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JQuery is currently used to do 2 things.
- The slider
- A cool little scripts allows me to add a css class to the first word of course heading to allow me to change it's colour.
Neither of these I would call "evil" and have been implemented the Moodle recommended way. I was not aware that JQuery was "officially" on an endangered list in Moodle to be actively removed. Maybe MD can put his voice here so we know?
Julian
Dear Julian et al,
This is the policy decision made back in Feb regarding jQuery core and contrib -> https://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-15727?focusedCommentId=204876&page=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.issuetabpanels:comment-tabpanel#comment-204876
Cheers,
Gareth
Again I do not see your issue Gareth. Petr has commented numerous times that Jquery is fine for themes. If you check out the docs he has written" http://docs.moodle.org/dev/jQuery
In his words "However due to significant demand it will be possible to use also jQuery in Moodle add-ons"
he specifically targets themes in his comments and discusses the use of: $page->requires->jquery(); to do so.
As Essential uses jQuery in the intended fashion (something I was very keen to do) I cannot see this as a stumbling block. Wy do you think this will be an issue?
Julian
Julian, did you read the comment Gareth linked to? Martin is clear:
- jQuery code will not be accepted into core at any time ...
- The jQuery library is provided solely for the convenience of Moodle add-on authors who are not able to use YUI3 for some reason.
- If you want a plugin using jQuery to be considered for core, you'll need to rewrite the JS using YUI3 ...
Dear Julian,
Sorry about that. My comment relates to use of jQuery in core and not jQuery in general. I was involved in testing MDL-15727 and had a solution that Andrew Nicols helped me greatly with until Petr came up with a much better one.
I quite like jQuery from a UI framework point of view, but YUI seems better at the nitty gritty. There are lots of 'reusable components' around for jQuery which makes it so attractive and AJAX with it is very easy. I looked for a lightbox replacement for the Grid format and found loads for jQuery and only two for YUI both of which were out of date and not maintained.
There is a port of the Bootstrap jQuery code to YUI which Bootstrapbase partially implements - http://jshirley.github.io/bootstrap/javascript.html - but the collapse is not working for some reason. Perhaps David Scotson or Bas Brands could answer / expand on this.
Cheers,
Gareth
In short I hate being drawn on Battlelines on this issue. Both have their place. I certainly see the major advantages of using a YUI framework over a jQuery library for a project the size of Moodle. But jQuery is certainly easier for designers to move around. Significantly so.
I certainly lack the ability to recreate the functionality of Essential in YUI and my initial research is suggesting (although I am NOT an expert) that it may not be possible to recreate the Parallax effect.
I would rather stay as a plugin and keep the functionality than go into core with something that is sub-standard.
This is not a moaning or bitching session from me. More a statement on where I stand. If anyone wants to see Essential in core and can help transpose the code from jQuery to YUI I would love your help.
Regards
Julian
Essential is the *ONLY* theme I really like so far.
I don't know about programming and I usually get lost on all the tech conversations, so probably my opinion might be taken from an end user point of view.
For the end user, it doesn't matter if Moodle is a great piece of software if it looks 'OLD' and 'BORING'.
eLearning is about engaging people and you won't engage people with old-looking interface.
The feedback I usually receive from my group of learners is that no one enjoys the interface experience, the just put up with it (and I try to hide it as much as possible).
Our Wordpress sites are exactly the opposite. There are so many options of GREAT themes (*sexy* looking, as someone said).
Again, I don't know about the technical stuff, so I can't say anything about that, but, I always wondered why Moodle can't 'look the part'.
I see so many *new* (same old same old) themes, where innovation seems to be changing colours, moving a box to the left or to the right...and I walk away instantly.
Props to Julian for thinking a bit outside the box!
Someone should make this happen... somehow?
Oh, by the way (voted)
I have been using Moodle now for almost 9 years. I have always thought it was the most useful LMS available and I've used quite a few. But I've never really loved most of the themes in the core. Even with all of the differences between them, most Moodle Themes look well....Moodly. Most of the time, I've almost always resorted to using Joomla as my portal with Moodle in the backend. I love the idea of not having to use a Joomla-Moodle integration. This theme allows me to skip the integration. The slide-show glitch still needs to be looked at. But this theme (IMO) brings the Moodle interface light years forward.