Loads of extra headings in Moodle 2.6. Do we really want that?

Loads of extra headings in Moodle 2.6. Do we really want that?

由Tim Hunt發表於
Number of replies: 12
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Following the developer's hackfest last year, Amy Grosheck and other started working on http://docs.moodle.org/dev/HTML_Guidelines, which seemed like a good idea. People have often said here that we should have better guidelines to make the HTML in Moodle to be more consistent.

The problem is what happened next. The Moodle HQ frontend team decided to start trying to implement those guidelines, even though they are not really finished, and they have not been discussed much.

And the real problem is that what has actually been done in response to that spec (MDL-40685, MDL-41615) is that they have added lots of additional headings to all the different Modules in Moodle core. (But they have not yet documented what they have done, to explain to third-party module developers how to update their modules in a consistent way.) They have done this by adding lots of separate $OUTPUT->heading() calls in lots of separate *.php files.

I have several problems in this:

  1. When you are studying a particular activity, e.g. reading a book or forum, or taking a quiz, you know what you are doing. Those headings waste space on every page that would be better taken up by the learning material.
  2. The information about the current course and activity are already in the page header. (So, if it is desirable to have the current course and activity name marked up as headings in the HTML, for accessibility, just change the markup in the header. It is certainly undesirable for screen-reader uses to have the same text repeated redundantly after the skip to main content link target.)
  3. The the goal is to be consistent on every page, why has this been implemented has separate calls to $OUTPUT->heading all over the codebase, why was this not just implemented once in a renderer method, guaranteeing that the way this is displayed on every page is consistent, and making it possible for themes to override how this is displayed?

Anyway, that is what going on and why I am concerned. However, you folks know much more about design and what theme developers need that me, so perhaps you tell me to stop worrying; or you can confirm my worries and help to propose a better solution before it is too late. Thanks.

 

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In reply to Tim Hunt

Re: Loads of extra headings in Moodle 2.6. Do we really want that?

由Mary Evans發表於

Hi Tim,

Not that I have much dealings with Moodle courses and such, building themes to make Moodle look nice is all I do. However, that said I do feel that there are lots of things being added in the background that as a theme designer I have no control over, and in some cases I am finding that some of these changes actually break some themes.

What headers are you actually referring to? Can you post a couple of examples, since it is said that a pictures is worth a thousand words?

Cheers

Mary

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In reply to Mary Evans

Re: Loads of extra headings in Moodle 2.6. Do we really want that?

由Tim Hunt發表於
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Screen grabs are a good idea. It should be possible to get them by comparing the Moodle features demo on qa.moodle.net and demo.moodle.net, but someone must have deleted it from demo, so I will have to wait until the next reset there, and I think I might go to bed instead.

Here is a forum thread:

Scorm package:

Really, make your own comparisons (when demo comes back.)

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In reply to Tim Hunt

Re: Loads of extra headings in Moodle 2.6. Do we really want that?

由Mary Evans發表於

If you mean the repeated heading in this SCORM course header...

then yes I do agree...a bit of overkill. I must admit I did wonder why those course header settings went into core theme layouts (if that is what you are talking about). I leave them off themes I make and add them in only if required.

I think your worries are well founded.

Mary

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In reply to Mary Evans

Re: Loads of extra headings in Moodle 2.6. Do we really want that?

由Tim Hunt發表於
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Worse than that. The headings did not go into core theme layouts, they went into mod/scorm/view.php, so no way to remove them in your theme (other than horrible hacks.)

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In reply to Tim Hunt

Re: Loads of extra headings in Moodle 2.6. Do we really want that?

由Julian Ridden發表於

Is not the issue here in this specific example to to with the SCORM implementation?

Like Mary, my understanding is that these were built to be used in course layouts. Is there a document outlining their intended use?

Like you, I also agree with your concerns but also do agree with elements of the functionality. Understanding the purpose and intended best practice guidelines might hep before I offer a "less informed" opinion.

Julian

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In reply to Tim Hunt

Re: Loads of extra headings in Moodle 2.6. Do we really want that?

由Rossiani Wijaya發表於

The reason we are changing this is to standardize the look of Moodle. Without the patch from MDL-40685, some pages were displayed with activity name and some were not. This create an inconsistent page layout for Moodle. While working on improving Moodle's UI, We are also noticing the header level in some pages are not properly used. Most of the time, it used as styling instead of page hiearchy as it should. The importantcy of having a logical hiearchy level within web page will help user with screen reader and other assistive technology to navigate the web pages by page structure.

We brought up this issue to attention and discussed it during our regular sprint planning meeting. As part of improving Moodle's usability and accessibility, we decided it should fixed and improved. This decision is considered with reference to W3C guidelines http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20-GENERAL/H69.html, http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20-GENERAL/H42.html and http://webaim.org/techniques/as a guidelines.

As for your concern in the following issues:

1. It is not a waste of space when we are trying to make it visually semantic.

2. The information about the current activity is only available for the browser title, which usually contains the course short name and activity name. This information can't be reused as content's header because it displaying incorrect info. We are also making it consistent to display the activity name.

3. The heading on the web page are mostly implemented through $OUTPUT->heading() and I was just matching the previous behaviour. However, you do have a good point of implementing it through $OUTPUT->header(). That is why I'm proposing new fix in MDL-41615. The patch is adding h2 to be part of header(). I understand that it creates duplication of h2 for a moment due to the used of heading() on several pages. However, it should be resolved through sub-tasks in order eliminate complex conflicts during integration. At the end, when all sub-tasks issues are implemented, we will have a consistent page and content heading.

As for repetition of heading in Scorm, the alternative would be to use different title from the Scorm file. Also, if you have access to the template that means you can have access to the css file for the theme. Therefore, you can add a css class to hide the title (through css hiearchy definition).

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In reply to Rossiani Wijaya

Re: Loads of extra headings in Moodle 2.6. Do we really want that?

由Mary Evans發表於

But hiding headers is using the css in a bad way by styling the header then hiding it.

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In reply to Mary Evans

Re: Loads of extra headings in Moodle 2.6. Do we really want that?

由Jason Fowler發表於

Mary, could you please elaborate on what you mean by "styling the header then hiding it"?

We already do this with headers on the course page in some/most themes.

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In reply to Jason Fowler

Re: Loads of extra headings in Moodle 2.6. Do we really want that?

由Mary Evans發表於

You obviously know what I was meaning, Jason, however I was not aware that themes were hiding course headers, unless these are using JS to switch back and forth depending on their state which is a totally different thing than what I was meaning, which was by using h1.headingblock {display:none} or whatever class selectors are these days, where the h1.headingblock is styled in a particular way

My sentiment is that if something needs removing using CSS then it should not be there in the first place. And if it is an option, then that option needs building into the page layout or course format or wherever these headers are being generated. 

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In reply to Mary Evans

Re: Loads of extra headings in Moodle 2.6. Do we really want that?

由Kym Schutz發表於

We are getting alot of complaints from our teaching staff about the forced extra headings feature. In particular, in the Book Module there is the main course heading then the Book heading then the topic heading.  Only the small topic heading can be made invisible.The headings take up over half of the screen on a small device such as a tablet.

I also think Moodle is a learning platform not a web site. While WCAG compliance is driving these changes we are finding that extra headings on the screen is distracting and confusing for our learners, particularly our low level literacy learners who need graphics, and animation to support their learning.

Surely the Moodle course developers should be responsible for ensuring WCAG compliance and it should not be forced on them. So... is it possible to have the page heading and book headings made invisible if required? We have used graphic banners with ALT tags for with meaningful graphic themes in our courses - are these no longer satisfactory for WCAG compliance?

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