You can change the default setting for forums in Site administration -> Plugins -> Activity modules -> Forum. At the top of that page, you can set the default setting of the display mode. Any user can still change this setting. I searched the permissions for students but I couldn't see a setting in permissions that would prevent them from changing the default display mode.
In reply to Hartmut Scherer
Re: Forums defaulting to 'Display flat with newest first'
by Frank Black -
Thanks.
That setting is at the default (nested), but none of the test users had it nested when I opened the new forum for the first time.
So I am now guessing that the first time a user changes this setting, it becomes a global user preference.
Therefore a forum would only default to nested if the user had never changed the display mode on any forum.
In reply to Hartmut Scherer
Re: Forums defaulting to 'Display flat with newest first'
by Fabian Glagovsky -
Is this feature (preventing students from changing their views of the forum to something other than the default for the server) something that exists now in some version of Moodle, or is something that is on the plans for the future, or is something that exists in a different forum plugin?
It would be very useful for us, since rating boxes appear only in those messages we want them to appear in the nested view, while in flat views, they appear in every message.
I would really appreciate an answer from someone.
Best,
Fabian
In reply to Fabian Glagovsky
Re: Forums defaulting to 'Display flat with newest first'
by Frank Black -
Sorry, I don't know. You're right though - we should be able to set it up so that users can only rate the original poster. We should also be able to control the forum layout, and prevent students from changing it.
If you can't find a setting for it in the rating or forum modules, then you might want to report the issue in the tracker (you might need to login to be able to follow that link).
In reply to Frank Black
Re: Forums defaulting to 'Display flat with newest first'
by Fabian Glagovsky -
Thank you Frank.
I have a way of hiding the scrolldown menu to change the view of the forum (the mode) with custom css in the theme. And I would activate it if it weren't for the fact that students who are already in a different mode than the default for our Moodle will not be able to go back (I cannot ask them to add "&mode=3" to their URL.
But I wonder how long does the preference remains and whether that cookie expires. I could eliminate the menu in between Terms, maybe. But I wish I knew a custom CSS to set the nested view for all forums by default
To hide the menu:
.discussioncontrol.displaymode {
display: none;
}
To hide rating boxes in replies to replies in nested view (we are actually using this one now)
.indent .indent .forum-post-rating {
display: none;
}
I will mention the possible improvement in the tracker as you suggest.
Best,
Fabian
Update: here is my suggestion