I've just upgrade the theme on my local install of Moodle.
The layout of the footer does not appear as it should. I previously had two html blocks, one located in the left column, one in the right, with the middle column empty. The html block located in the right column is now in the middle. I have tried adding a block to the middle but it just disappears.
Any body able to help?
Same behaviour here - looks for me the footer regions are filled up from left to right and block region parameters are just ignored.
Chris
I've just tested by adding a block in the middle by using the settings and not dragging and dropping it into place (this won't work for me). when I have three blocks at level 0 in the footer they all display. if i delete the middle one the right block floats left.
I'm just going to do some testing for this behaviour, so can you tell me which Moodle versions you are both using?
Many thanks
Mary
I'm on Moodle 2.6.3 and the Essential Theme is 2.7.2 Build 2014070802.
Chris
I'm finding lots of errors in Moodle 2.7 with Essential 2.7.2.
So can you enable Debugging?
Site Administration > Development > Debugging
Set the top most dropdown select box and set it to DEVELOPERAnd SAVE your setting before leaving that page.
Don't panic if you get lots of errors, I am finding mostly undeclared variables which are not a major things but small trivial things that can slow thing down, and make some setting not work as they should. So if icons are missing it this that's causing it. Same too for the layout/includes/fonts.php which I have just finished fixing in my version.
The major problem I am having is that the drag-n-drop in the blocks is not working.
Cheers
Mary
Enabled debugging and got some lines of debugging info just after saving the new settings. As far as I can see, the are all of type Invalid get_string() identifier and related to filter_mediaplugin.php. But afterwards no more errors.
Chris
Moodle 2.6.3+ (Build: 20140613)
Essential 2.7.2 ( lastest release)
Debugging on and i'm not getting any errors
No blocks appearing in the footer when on the login page either. Hmmmmmm
I don't know what's happened to this version but it as buggy as anything!
Hi Mary and all others,
these items are unfortunately the result of trying to fix other items that are broken even more.
Please instead of congregating here and complaining, report the bugs in the location that is specifically meant for that: https://github.com/DBezemer/moodle-theme_essential/issues?state=open
Gareth and me are mere humans, and cannot do this type of QA testing on our own, so if you would kindly report everything you find, we will do our utmost to resolve these things as soon as possible.
The block footer issue is already solved in the master branch on the repository, and other major fixes are on their way as well.
Regards,
David
David,
Thanks for being clear on this. Do you know what will happen with already logged issues in Moodle Tracker (https://tracker.moodle.org/browse/CONTRIB/component/12748/) ?
Cheers, Chris
Hi Christoph,
I believe the best course of action for the tracker issues is to transfer the ones still valid to GitHub and then close them all. I'm going to go through them all and make a comment to the effect of 'If this is still an issue, then please say so within the next week, otherwise will be closed.' if I believe it is not a known current issue.
I have triaged all of the issues and assigned to me.
Cheers,
Gareth
Sorry David, truly I am, but I am just telling it like it is.
If you want a QA tester just give me a shout and I do some testing.
Mary, I appreciate the feedback, but what I appreciate even more are reported bugs so they can get fixed.
In the end we all work towards the same goal: making this theme even more awesome.
That being said, we could use some dedicated QA right now as there is a monster changeset on the master branch that has changed/solved a lot.
If you would volunteer to test I would appreciate that very much.
You can grab a copy at: https://github.com/DBezemer/moodle-theme_essential.git
For everyone that is going to be angry about the changes, we're sorry, but feel like we had to do it it be able to maintain this theme for the future. Mainly the slideshow was giving major issues, and I think that Gareth did an awesome job on creating the new, all-responsive, slideshow.
If you want to test prior to this theme being released, grab your personal (developer) copy above and help us test!
Regards,
David
'report the bugs in the location that is specifically meant for that' - On a Moodle project wide basis, isn't that supposed to be CONTRIB in Tracker?
I don't really see that there is much difference between tracker and GitHub. At least with GitHub you can easily track pull requests and commits to issues without as much hassle as tracker. And its not as if tracker has a single sign on with moodle.org, you have to create an account on both. Therefore with the difference being marginal for the user and better for the developer, then fixes will be quicker and the user benefits.
The issue link is clearly stated here: https://moodle.org/plugins/view.php?plugin=theme_essential
I read this forum several times a day and react to the comments posted on the plugin's page (above) in order to make Essential a better theme. For which David and I are working hard to do so. I have triaged all of the outstanding issues on tracker and started to feed them into the repair process.
Any management transition can be painful for an organisation, so please bare with us whilst this happens.
Hi Gareth,
I completely agree that for an individual plugin there is very little difference between using Tracker and GitHub and as I said, I certainly appreciate the advantages for developers of using GitHub. I think the (possible) benefit for users comes in having all the issues relating to Moodle and its plugins in one location, ie. the Tracker as opposed to separated across individual developers' github accounts. Searches on issues for example will pick up for someone whether an issue has already been identified as a core issue or with a parent theme rather than with the theme they are using, while relying on github means that issues that may actually be with bootstrapbase or even core will get reported onto an individual theme github.
There are advantages and disadvantages to both, and my opinion is a personal one and obviously it is down to individual developers to use whichever they feel is most appropriate for them.
However, as I said, I do believe that issues should be discussed on the forum, with relevant links to the issues on git/tracker as appropriate, rather than the comment made that people shouldn't be 'congregating and complaining' on the forums - I think you and I have both been here long enough to know that while there are a small number of real complaints, the benefits of the help given by the community in raising/solving issues for others - pointing out things which are already fixed or which are actually issues with the way someone is doing something even when they think the theme/plugin is the cause, as well as helping find solutions that developers can then implement - far outweigh the 'complaints' and I don't think people should be put off discussing issues, whether bugs, improvements, opinions or anything else on the forums.
R
(ps. no-one is doubting the hard work you and David are putting in to developing this theme or the commitment and effort you put into this and other forums. Something, I have been very glad and appreciative of over the last few months when I have not been in a position to spend as much time on the forums or in the community as I would like!)
Actually Gareth, what Richard is saying, that of using the tracker to log the work being done on Essential theme would make perfect sense as we could log all the issues being undertaken in one big META issue and as each 'bug' or 'improvement' is committed and then successfully integrated into Essential, these can be closed.
Oh just think, you could be 'ci-bot' and David the 'Integrator'...LOL
So if it was tracked on tracker then one issue could be marked as 'Epic', but then that's more 'Waterfall' than 'Agile' as lots of requirements are put together and released as one. This can be problematic as the user does not get to 'see' and alter their perception of the software for the better and thus future requests are based on less understanding. So by undertaking lots of small improvements that are released quickly, the software can evolve in a direction that the user did not know existed or realised would be a good thing.
Epic issues only really work when there is a known clear outcome that is understood and desired. That this outcome is a major undertaking of work and needs to be broken down to be implemented by multiple developers in a potentially phased manner.
I'm more intelligent than 'ci-bot'.
Perhaps this thread has now diverged into 'What is the best way to manage theme development'. For which there are several points to think about:
And points of note:
Therefore this is where the benefit of the forums comes in as a triage point to filter questions into the correct point.
The problem with the tracker imo is that it's not very user-friendly and it's hard to link fixes on github to tracker items, so you can never find back in the tracker why you made commit xyz.
Also last time it was impossible to own a ticket with more than 1 person, and the amount of manual work needed to get responses on there is massive compared to github (where I can tag a commit with fixes #15, and it will update that issue and close it automatically).
As I do not work on Moodle core, nor wish to, I like to stay away from the tracker as it's seems to be as hostile to me as I am to it.
David
That seems a very narrow minded view of things, David, especially if you have never worked on fixing bugs in Moodle Tracker, and don't ever want to.
My take on the way things are moving, as they are, with respect to the Essential theme, is that we have a very popular theme that is being fixed by yourself and Gareth, for which the Moodle community is very thankful for your time and effort. However, you came across as not being very pleased about the reports that come back through the forums that are telling you that there are still problems with the theme. The trouble is of course that it is hard to distinguish between the real bugs and those that are more to do with the incorrect way that some people tend to use Moodle, especially in the way they savage themes with the knowledge of past forum post, sometime mixing 1.9 fixes with 2.0+. So please do not take these "moanings" and "groanings" personally. They are not aimed at you or Gareth or Julian they are just crys for help.
Take care and be kind to yourself,
Mary
