"Blocks Editing Off" button missing?

"Blocks Editing Off" button missing?

by Carol Baker -
Number of replies: 16

As site admin, I have a button on the upper right called "Blocks Editing Off" which removes the "Add A Block" option from the right column allowing it to collapse and yield that space to other columns.  As Course Admin, I have no such privilege and have to spend a lot of time performing finger calisthenics to shift the browser back and forth to do simple work.

Is there any reason why the Add-a-block is locked into the left side column even when all other blocks can be docked into the border?

With my poor vision, I have to use <ctrl> mouse roll to expand the type and the left column expands making matters even worse.


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In reply to Carol Baker

Re: "Blocks Editing Off" button missing?

by AL Rachels -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers

Hi Carol,

I don't know of a fix for "Add a Block" but I sympathize with you as more and more often, I find myself having to "use <ctrl> mouse roll" to see screen content comfortably. That's why I have stubbornly stuck to using themes that feature fixed width block columns. I can give myself a much larger main content area, and even though the text in the blocks still zoom too, I can view more in the main content than I can with responsive themes.

I have managed to keep the old Formal White theme mostly working, but the current PoodLL and it don't get along completely and I've been too busy to figure out why. The only other theme I know of currently that has fixed block width is Anomaly. To make life easier, I allow for user, course, and category themes and a quick visit to my profile lets me quickly switch to whichever theme I want to use.

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In reply to AL Rachels

Re: "Blocks Editing Off" button missing?

by Carol Baker -

Maybe someone will post the CSS statement that changes the width from autosizing to fixed.  At least  then it would not change width and take up more space if I extend the screen width.

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In reply to Carol Baker

Re: "Blocks Editing Off" button missing?

by Itamar Tzadok -

The 'Add a block' block is a fake block which is probably why it is not dockable. It only "exists" in editing mode. The "Blocks editing off" button appears when you are in editing mode. If you don't see it when in editing mode there is either something wrong with the theme or with the module where you encounter this issue. I've tried to work around such issues by moving the editing option to the user menu. See MDL-54653 for an initial proposal. smile

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In reply to Itamar Tzadok

Re: "Blocks Editing Off" button missing?

by Carol Baker -

All one needs to do is change the "Turn Editing On" in the course admin page to the "Blocks Editing On" button as seen in the site admin page. There is an option in the administration menu for "Turn Editing On" already.



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In reply to Carol Baker

Re: "Blocks Editing Off" button missing?

by Itamar Tzadok -

Not sure I understand what you mean. My point is that the whole concept of the Editing on/off button is problematic. It's behavior (including presence or absence) is inconsistent throughout Moodle, which is probably what you are encountering. The proper way to address this would be to replace the button with an option menu that is more conveniently available throughout, e.g. in the user menu. It is true that the option appears in the Adminisration block but it is not particularly effective as the administration block can be set to not appear on certain pages or for certain roles. At any rate, you should probably open a tracker issue for that. smile

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In reply to Itamar Tzadok

Re: "Blocks Editing Off" button missing?

by Carol Baker -

We have a coincidenition of ideas here.  I agree that in some places the "Turn Editing On" button is not visible however, is it not always available in the side bar Course Administration tab?  This makes the TEO button on the upper right side moot, no?

My observation is to replace the TEO button with a "Blocks Editing On" button allowing to remove the left column which stretches to take up a horrific amount of real estate without improving the situation.

Come to think of it, the TEO/BEO idea can be totally removed from the right side column top and add the "Blocks Editing On" option to the Course Administration tab right below the "Turn Editing On" option.

Right now, only the site admin can hide that left column. Why can't the Course administrators?  If we could, a lot more useful information can be had on the screen without jockeying the scroll bars and stretching the browser window.



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In reply to Carol Baker

Re: "Blocks Editing Off" button missing?

by Itamar Tzadok -

While there are two levels of editing - admin and regular - the TEO and BEO are effectively interchangeable within a level. They turn the same editing mode on/off to the same effect. The TEO label would typically be used in the course context and some other contexts such as gradebook where you edit more than blocks or no blocks at all. The BEO label would typically be used in module contexts and admin pages where you would only add/remove blocks. So there is no real need to add the BEO option next to the TEO option. One is sufficient and the more general TEO should probably be preferred.

I'm not sure that the TEO/BEO has anything to do with your concern about the left column. If I understand you correctly, the issue is that despite moving all blocks to the right column or docking them, the fake 'Add a block' remains in the left column, and so in editing mode the content area and right column are shrunk or pushed outside of view. At least I had such an issue.

The 'Add a block' block is rendered in the default column which in most cases is the left column. The proper way to make it render in the right column is to use a custom theme which defines the right column (side-post) as the default column. This of course would affect the default location of all other blocks so may not be the best approach for everyone. The other option is to add a specialized configuration setting to set the default column of the 'Add a block' block. HQ, however, doesn't like to add further configuration settings so this is not likely to happen. Using CSS might be very tricky and is not likely to function well.

smile


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In reply to Itamar Tzadok

Re: "Blocks Editing Off" button missing?

by Carol Baker -

Consider Occam's razor here....

and let's simplify this.  As Site admin, one has a  button that removes the add-a-block so it is obvious that this can be done.   Is there any reason this courtesy is not extended to course admin?   In site admin, there is no editing in the form that there is in course admin so this needs to be done without a prevention of editing in course admin.




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In reply to Carol Baker

Re: "Blocks Editing Off" button missing?

by Itamar Tzadok -

I'm not sure what you mean by "As Site admin, one has a  button that removes the add-a-block". Can you post some screenshots? Also, are you using a core theme? If not, you should switch to a core theme and see if you encounter the same issue. smile

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In reply to Itamar Tzadok

Re: "Blocks Editing Off" button missing?

by Carol Baker -

I have to say that I am taken back by your response.  I have always seen these buttons as far back as Moodle 2.2 and in several themes.  Presently I am using the default Clean theme and have not made any changes to it.

I every location where site admin has any capacity to make changes, the "Blocks Editing" (BE) is there.  All it seems to do is remove/allow the Add-a-Block editor in the left column which takes up a lot of valuable real estate.  It seems to be a rarely used option that I wonder why the default is not set to making the Add-a-Block editor invisible.

OTOH, any time a course admin is wants to edit a setting, the "Turn Editing" (TE) button is there which not only enables editing but also places the Add-a-block editor in the left column, once again, taking up a lot of valuable real estate on the screen. This deserves its own option for those extremely rare occasions when one wants to change the blocks.

In Course admin editing, the option to edit a setting is linked to the visibility of the Add-A -Block option.  Does it really need to be? 

Can it not have its own switch for the Course Admin as it does for Site Admin?






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In reply to Carol Baker

Re: "Blocks Editing Off" button missing?

by Itamar Tzadok -

I think that it is important to understand that the only function of the button is to turn editing mode on/off. Don't let the label confuse you. It's the same function either with the label 'Blocks editing ...' or 'Turn editing ...'.

As you've already pointed out, the function is provided by the administration block. Indeed the button is anachronistic and remained there for convenience. But it is not well supported and as such is somewhat inconsistent throughout Moodle.

The 'Add a block' block appears in editing mode on every page that supports blocks. In such pages whenever you are in editing mode you will see this block. It is a fake block and so cannot be docked. It appears in the left column only because the theme you are using defines the left column as the default column. If you want the block to appear in the right column you need to customize the theme accordingly or use another theme.

If you haven't changed permissions, the course admin can turn editing on/off in the course context. Since course pages typically support blocks, when editing is turned on the 'Add a block' block will appear. to hide it again the course admin has to turn editing off. If for some reason the button does not appear on the page, editing can be turned off from the administration block. Again, if you want to be in editing mode and have the 'Add a block' block appear in the right column or remain hidden (in which case you would not be able to add blocks) you need to customize the theme.

hth smile

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In reply to Itamar Tzadok

Re: "Blocks Editing Off" button missing?

by Carol Baker -
The Turn Editing Off button needs to be separated into two, one for each.

If nothing else the tag for the left column needs to be changed from percent width to fixed.  In the idea that as I stretch the browser window to fit two screens, it does no help to have the left column expand to take up even more valuable space nor has anyone explained any benefit for it to do so.

OTOT, apparently this does not bother anyone else save one or two that agree that it is a real PITA.   I see the topic has been argued a little and I think it even saw a reference to it in a tracker.  Since there is so little follow up, maybe everyone else simply tolerates it as "normal" and acceptable.



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In reply to Carol Baker

Re: "Blocks Editing Off" button missing?

by AL Rachels -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers

It DOES bother me. I have stubbornly stuck to Formal White and Anomaly because they use fixed width columns. Granted, I've had to "tinker around" with the code for Formal White to keep it working well enough to be usable, for most things. Lucky for me, Anomaly was updated recently.

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In reply to Carol Baker

Re: "Blocks Editing Off" button missing?

by Itamar Tzadok -

I don't think that fixed width column would work well for a responsive layout.

Again, the button is not the issue here. The issue is the 'Add a block' fake block. I do, however, agree that it could be resolved by way of separation of sorts. To begin with there is simply no need for the 'Add a block' block. This could be a menu option available from the administration block and would open a dialog to choose the block type, similar to the dialog for choosing and activity/resource type.

smile

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In reply to Itamar Tzadok

Re: "Blocks Editing Off" button missing?

by Carol Baker -

I don't think that fixed width column would work well for a responsive layout.


Can you, or anyone,  demonstrate a single reason, anywhere in Moodle where the left column based on a percentage of the browser width benefits over it being a fixed width? What's worse is that only the top inch of the column has any content while the entire rest of the column is wasted blank space.

Maybe someone can supply the CSS code so the percentage column width can be killed off on a case by case basis.








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In reply to Carol Baker

Re: "Blocks Editing Off" button missing?

by Steve Ambro v3.8 -

Almost a full month and not a single reason why the left column is variable width.
I am using Clean but used to use Magazine. It is a problem in both.

I wonder, could it be that:

1) No one reads this message.
2) People are fighting the problem but don't realize it or have just accepted it
3) There is actually a reason but no one is going to speak up.
4)  It is there to purposely annoy...
5) Nobody cares.
6) Some other reason....


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