I have not moodled much lately and am only now slowly exploring the new features in Moodle 1.6. One that baffles me are the new "Front page format" setting selectors on the "Site settings" page. I can't figure out what they are supposed to do. Can someone explain? That explanation could then also go onto MoodleDocs at http://docs.moodle.org/en/admin/site
This feature is from NZOSVLE development suggestion list. The original proposal is:
Be able to select site look options via multiple tick box selection (instead single dropdown selection) so you could potentially have Announcements AND Resource/Activity drop downs on the main page or any combination of the current three options.
From the interface, you can select the order of each possible options displayed on the front page, or just hide it.
Have a try and you will see how it works.
Be able to select site look options via multiple tick box selection (instead single dropdown selection) so you could potentially have Announcements AND Resource/Activity drop downs on the main page or any combination of the current three options.
From the interface, you can select the order of each possible options displayed on the front page, or just hide it.
Have a try and you will see how it works.
Patrick, thanks a lot for the explanation. I would never have guessed. I thought that by selecting '2' for 'News items' I would get 2 news items. To save others the same confusion I have now introduced language strings for the ordering choices and in the English language I have used 'First', 'Second', and 'Third' instead of 1, 2, 3.
There also seems to be some bug with this feature because I am getting two "Available Courses" sections on my site page unless I choose "Hide" in which case I get one. This of course added to my confusion about what these numbers meant.
There also seems to be some bug with this feature because I am getting two "Available Courses" sections on my site page unless I choose "Hide" in which case I get one. This of course added to my confusion about what these numbers meant.
I can't reproduce the problem you have mentioned. Could you try to clean up the "frontpage" configuration value in the database and try again?
Well actually you are right.
If you don't have any other course categories than "Miscellaneous", and you are displaying both "list of courses" and "list of categories" on the front page you will have two "Available Courses" on there.
This is bacause if there are no other categories in the system the category block will default to displaying courses.
I think I can fix that.
If you don't have any other course categories than "Miscellaneous", and you are displaying both "list of courses" and "list of categories" on the front page you will have two "Available Courses" on there.
This is bacause if there are no other categories in the system the category block will default to displaying courses.
I think I can fix that.
I have revised the code to do a better job.
Now "list of categories" should aways show course categories and as a plus, if "list of courses" is not showing at the sametime, "list of categories" will show courses in each category as well.
Now "list of categories" should aways show course categories and as a plus, if "list of courses" is not showing at the sametime, "list of categories" will show courses in each category as well.
Patrick, thank you for those improvements.
You say that the list of categories may show courses in each category as well. Will that not be a problem on large sites with many courses?
You say that the list of categories may show courses in each category as well. Will that not be a problem on large sites with many courses?
But this is actually the original behaviour of "list of categories" front page type.
If you are keeping the old behaviour for the course categories list then everything is fine, on large sites this only shows the categories. Perhaps the way these front page lists behave should at some point be explained at http://docs.moodle.org/en/admin/site.
Hi Patrick,
Is there any way (other than hacking the code) to achieve the same look than in version 1.5.x with a list of Course categories (and subcategories) but WITHOUT the huge list of our courses?
If you have more than 20-30 courses on your moodle, the front page looks VERY bad this way, and it is very long too, which is not desirable.
TIA for your answer.
Is there any way (other than hacking the code) to achieve the same look than in version 1.5.x with a list of Course categories (and subcategories) but WITHOUT the huge list of our courses?
If you have more than 20-30 courses on your moodle, the front page looks VERY bad this way, and it is very long too, which is not desirable.
TIA for your answer.
I am waiting for exact the same explanation ;) thx in advance, too.
*waiting and hoping,
michael
*waiting and hoping,
michael
Same thing here. k
Hi Nicolas......in my site front page is not showing..i tried but failed...how can i get my front page option ......Please help me..
front_page_missing.bmp
Is there any way to have a "list of categories" that is expandible? Like with the (+) and (-) that would display the courses or sub-categories beneath? That would be great!
yes, that would be amazing! We have a installation with more than 50 courses (some of them in an archive category) and the new behaviour is not really doing nice in this situation.
This is now corrected as of 1.6.1 
See bug 5965
See bug 5965
wow, nice thx! could someone please tell me which files have to be replaced because I cannot do an complete update from 1.6. to 1.6.1 at the moment and I want the new frontpage "design" possibility as soon as possible..
so I want to replace just the necessary files.
tia, michael
so I want to replace just the necessary files.
tia, michael
index.php
admin/site.html
admin/site.php
course/lib.php
lang/en_utf8/admin.php
lang/en_utf8/moodle.php
(and other languages if needed)
admin/site.html
admin/site.php
course/lib.php
lang/en_utf8/admin.php
lang/en_utf8/moodle.php
(and other languages if needed)
thank you very much, Nicolas!
greetings from austria, michael
greetings from austria, michael
Hi Nicolas,
I just upgraded to 1.6.1 and have the new look on the front page. I too would like the old look of the categories/subcategories list. However, I am a total novice at this and don't know how to code. I am hoping it just requires changing a setting and you can indulge me with very specific steps to do it. Thanks, John
Log as an admin, then go to Administration > Configuration > Site settings and select "Combo list" as Front page format and Front page format when logged in.
We would like the front page after logging in to only list course(s) in which the student, teacher, or other user is actually enrolled (admin user excepted). The users should not have access to lists of other courses on the site, even if they are not enrollable. (We do not allow self enrollment.) Any suggestions would be appreciated, and thanks in advance. We're using 1.8.
Mary you should be able to set the Front page Settings >> Front page items when logged in to List of Courses and this will display only the courses that the user is enrolled in.
We are having the problem that we want to display the category the course is in as well for the list of courses the student is in. I though this was a combo list but when i select combo list it just gives me another list of categories that shows all the courses in that category. We are using 1.8.2
We are having the problem that we want to display the category the course is in as well for the list of courses the student is in. I though this was a combo list but when i select combo list it just gives me another list of categories that shows all the courses in that category. We are using 1.8.2