is it just me or is this not really useful? I think I understand what it's trying to accomplish *in theory* - but, in practice, this seems to be a perfect example of the all-too-common complaint that Moodle is "over engineered".
Sorry if that sounds mean - I'm not upset, and I don't intend to offend anyone (especially whoever made the decision).
Hi Danny,
I would generally disagree - this is actually intended to make things more usable.
By default, only the current course is expanded and the list of Courses is not:
Even when you open that list of Courses, is isn't expanded:
The purpose is to show you the complete list of courses in context, rather than changing the list around to not show the current course. It is intended to provide a stable and consistent base.
How is this an example of over-engineering, and how does it negatively impact you?
Andrew
p.s. I was one of those who made the suggestion to switch to showing 'Current course'. Prior to this, the current course was highlighted in the list of all courses which was much less usable. The decision to keep the current course in the list of all Courses was partially for backwards compatibility.
How is this an example of over-engineering, and how does it negatively impact you?
Well I think this sums it up:
The decision to keep the current course in the list of all Courses was partially for backwards compatibility.
lots of data is listed twice on the page (albeit initially collapsed) for "backwards compatibility" - but my experience is that generally, normal people at least, aren't XML driven and don't need to be API compliant. Backwards compatibility here actually means "added complexity" by not doing one instead of the other.
Or, to put on my "Moodle tech support" hat, users be all "what's this? why's it here now? But it's still there? Why is it here twice? What's this, I don't even..." etc...
tl;dr - IMO it's more complex than before, when it was seeking to simply something.
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All that said - again, it doesn't really bother be, or even affect me negatively. But it doesn't affect me positively either, which I would hope that most UX changes would do. I do appreciate the front-end team's constant search for things to improve so keep up the good work!
Hi Danny,
Sorry for taking so long to reply - busy busy busy.
Perhaps backwards compatibility was the wrong phrase to use. It was more a consideration of consistency to make things easier for people to find what they're looking for. Although we don't need to make user interfaces backwards compatible in the same way we do for APIs, people don't like change - we are creatures of habit.
Remembering that the list of courses is limited to not show all courses, just the top X (IIRC, by default X = 20); if we remove the currently active course from the full list of courses, this will make space for a different course. We're now showing courses 2-21 instead of 1-20. So if you're on the front page, you'll see courses 1-20, but if you're on a course you'll see 1-21 minus the course you're currently in if it's in the last of 20. If you're in a course not in that 20, you'll see 1-20.
I wouldn't say that this is a case of over-engineering, but trying to consider the user needs and pains. As I say, people are creatures of habit and we don't like it when things change. Equally, we don't like it when we sometimes have to look in one place, and sometimes in another for the same content. I disagree that it is more complex in terms of real people. As a developer you see it as superfluous, but as a user you might not. Going by your argument, Microsoft should remove any button from the Menu and context menus of Word, if it appears in the ribbon.
I'm still confused by your issue with this change, but glad you appreciate the work we do.
FYI, this change was made while I worked for Lancaster University after users finding the previous menu unusable if you were enrolled in a significant number of courses (scroll of death related). Some users still preferred the full list of courses - as I recall, it was students in particular who wanted to navigate between several courses and didn't care which course they were currently in. I think they were largely arriving as a result of targeted e-mail (e.g. forum, assignment/grading, etc) and then using that as a launch point to their next task.
Best wishes,
Andrew
