Hi,
I'm working on a particular Moodle v2.6.6 installation where I have limited permissions, can't use CSS, don't have access to themes etc.
I'd like to improve navigation on a course. outwith using the gris or just images and hyperlinks Does anyone know of a way of having a menu on a course page? Probably through the TinyMCE editor in the summary section. A useful HTML menu or other suggestion?
Thanks.
Adding html manually is rarely a good idea, its very easy to end up with broken links.
There are some Course Format Plugins and alternative navigation blocks in Moodles plugin directory which maybe a better approach if you can get your administrators to consider doing that.
Failing that within tiny mce there is an html view you can switch to in the text editor which allows you to add html, and to a point add css in the html tags. You can certainly add images with links to things quite easily.
Yes, this is actually quite simple, when you think about it, and obvious, but may be a little annoying to set up.
One way:
Each section can be a Book, everything relative to that book is placed into the book. This creates a single step to multiple topics on a single theme. For example, Algebra Book 1 is Intro, about 5 or 6 pages of pre-algebra. Book 2 is Terms, 3 or 4 pages on like terms, unlike terms and terms and operations. Book 3 Equalities and Inequalities, and so on. This is just one way.
Another way:
Create your course as normal then add all your pre-made pages as a zip file, (include files, images and so on) to the course. In the first section you put in your introduction into the section title and then hide the zip file in there. Unzip it. Then in a label you put in your menu, linking each page into a menu item.
mmm now you got me thinking about it.... The Book option is probably the more immediately sound approach, but... Let me play with it and I will get back to you...
... a little later:
Another way is to create the course, create the menu you want, add links to each menu item uploading files one at a time. There is a few gymnastics you may have to go through with different file types, like .pdf files, not others, html files just load. I didn't test docs or pages, or text files, but I cannot imagine they will be too different.
Be easier to upload a single zip file then unzip it, but may not be possible - still working on that one. bbs...
OK. It can be done by adding a file, uploading a zip file and unzipping it. Make the menu and then delete the zip file. It retains the files linked to by the menu item, but it is going to be painful. It is unlikely you will be able to easily edit anything doing it this way, and may run into problems if you try and update a file. Works well with self-contained files, PDFs and other docs, but not that well with html files. Links break too easily as Jez has mentioned.
Perhaps a SCORM file might be better if you need particular interactivity in the HTML format. SCORMs are a little fiddly to make but can yield some good results if you need a self-contained set of HTML files. I have not made any SCORM for ages now, moved away from the areas that required it so I don't know what the latest standards for them are, but I wouldn't think they have degraded at all, and with HTML 5, might even have improved dramatically.
Good luck...
Hi Carolyn,
You may be able to use something like nav-tabs from here: http://getbootstrap.com/components/#navbar
With kind regards,
Hartmut
Yes you can do it. I have done it successfully but consider myself an advanced HTML user. You need to right click the main page of your course and view the source and look for any "stable" links such as named anchors for what you want to link to. I wanted to create jumps so that students could go direct to a particular week or topic so I used the section numbers.
Create your navigation page with an html editor (outside of moodle).
Go to your profile and set your editor to a basic text editor, not one of the built-in ones. On some versions this is noted "standard web forms".
Back on the course page, add a label. Paste your web page into the label. By using the basic text editor, the css and javascript will be maintained. Make sure you use very unique names for your css classes that will not interfere with the theme.
The warning in the first response should be taken seriously. Links are managed by Moodle and are subject to change. In addition, any other instructor that takes over your course will likely not be able to maintain the nav bar.
Hi, Just to say thanks Jez H, Colin, Hartmut & Douglas,
As site admin isn't an option with this installation I'm trying out your alternative suggestions. I'm also using another webserver for CSS files giving more options, although I need to check for conflicts with the CSS of this installation's theme and find work arounds.
Ah, not to be a site admin or the ability to fix things at the back end. It's a whole new world. Unfortunately there are some layers of bureaucracy preventing common sense with this project at the moment.
Cheers.
