Moodle 3.7 - Reply inline and "Advanced" editor mode

Moodle 3.7 - Reply inline and "Advanced" editor mode

by Séverin TERRIER -
Number of replies: 17
Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Testers Picture of Translators

Hi,

Since Moodle 3.7, there is the ability to reply inline to a forum post/discussion, without reloading the page. Nice improvment ; but it has drawbacks:

  • from UI perspective, the "Advanced" link is not clear for (non technical) end users ; it should better be "Complete editor" (more understandable)
  • if a user nearly always use fonctionnality of the Atto (or other) editor, like links, bold... he would like to directly have the complete editor, without neading to use the "Advanced" link. And he should be able to specify in the "Forum option" in his profil preferences to always show the complete editor when replying
  • not sure, but perhaps the administrator could also have a general option to allow (or not) everybody to specify (in his own profil preferences) if the complete editor should be used directly or not

What do you think about these proposition? Are there already existing tracker item for these propositions?

Séverin

PS : if french speaking people come here, they can read a french discussion with same interrogations.

Average of ratings:Useful (6)
In reply to Séverin TERRIER

Re: Moodle 3.7 - Reply inline and "Advanced" editor mode

by Daniel Méthot -
Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers

Hello,
It seems very useful to me that the user can choose in his forum preferences what will be the default editor.
In my case it will certainly be the full editor.
Thank you.
Daniel
Particulary helpful moodler since 2013

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Séverin TERRIER

Re: Moodle 3.7 - Reply inline and "Advanced" editor mode

by Mary Cooch -
Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Moodle HQ Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Testers Picture of Translators
I'm not sure about changing the word 'Advanced' to 'Complete editor' (or something similar) because it needs to be clear that this is how you can also get other things like attachments or display dates. But I do agree about having an option to decide if you want the full editor by default or not - speaking as someone who often uses the full editor. However... I also appreciate that Moodle has plenty of settings already and this would be adding yet another one ;) But let us see what others think once they have experienced the new reply feature for a while.
Average of ratings: -
In reply to Mary Cooch

תשובה ל: Re: Moodle 3.7 - Reply inline and "Advanced" editor mode

by Acqua Alta -
Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers
Hi Mary,
Like others, me and my colleague also think that the admin should be able to determine if advanced options should be displayed by default.
We already got feedback from users that don't find some advanced options and don't notice the "Advanced" button.
Average of ratings:Useful (2)
In reply to Acqua Alta

Re: תשובה ל: Re: Moodle 3.7 - Reply inline and "Advanced" editor mode

by koen roggemans -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Moodle HQ Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Translators
Same here. Adding an attachment to a forum post seems to be used widely in our school and people can't find the upload field anymore.
Average of ratings: -
In reply to koen roggemans

Re: תשובה ל: Re: Moodle 3.7 - Reply inline and "Advanced" editor mode

by Séverin TERRIER -
Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Testers Picture of Translators
Hi,

In our university, lot of teachers didn't see the advanced button, so we created a user tour dedicated to teachers, opening when they create a post, to inform them about this button.

It's a little late, but i've just created MDL-66729 about my previous proposition to define default forum editor (simple or advanced).

HTH,
Séverin
Average of ratings:Useful (1)
In reply to Séverin TERRIER

Re: תשובה ל: Re: Moodle 3.7 - Reply inline and "Advanced" editor mode

by Rick Jerz -
Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Testers
I voted for your MDL item.

Yep, there are times that I love the new Advanced feature and times when it is getting in the way. I really like to be replying to a post, such as this one, and being able to scroll up and see all of the posts. When I switch to Advance mode, I only see the post that I am directly replying to.

However, in this simple mode, keystrokes like ctrl-B, to Bold, don't work. So it doesn't take much to cause me to move into Advanced mode.

But I have not thought about any way to adapt smoothly to these differences.  However, your idea of providing a switch seems like a good idea.  I am not sure if I would always want to be in Advanced mode.  Also, when in Advanced mode, one doesn't seem to have a way to get back to the simple mode.
Average of ratings: -
In reply to Rick Jerz

Re: Moodle 3.7 - Reply inline and "Advanced" editor mode

by Séverin TERRIER -
Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Testers Picture of Translators
Hi,

Looking at improvments for Forum activity, i've seen MDL-66634 about creating a minimal inline Atto version, that could also be a good way to handle things (depending of what you want to use).

Séverin
Average of ratings: -
In reply to Séverin TERRIER

Re: Moodle 3.7 - Reply inline and "Advanced" editor mode

by Eric Hagley -
I also would very much like to be able to have the "advanced" as a default option. Is there anywhere we can vote for this?
Average of ratings: -
In reply to Eric Hagley

Re: Moodle 3.7 - Reply inline and "Advanced" editor mode

by Rick Jerz -
Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Testers
Of course, you can vote. Just go to Severin's MDL-66729 Tracker post and vote. If you have never used Moodle's Tracker, you will need to create an account and do some other minor things, all pretty simple.  Then you are done for life and have Tracker ready to go.

Your post made me think about this feature a little more.  Let's see if this logic makes sense:

1) The Moodle system should have a setting, "Always use Advanced."  
2) Then, this setting might be overruled at the course level, for some instructor reason.
3) Then, this setting could be overruled by an individual's setting.

Or, would you like these reversed?

(By the way, I am not the programmer, so this is why it is so easy for me to ask these questions.)


Average of ratings:Useful (1)
In reply to Séverin TERRIER

Re: Moodle 3.7 - Reply inline and "Advanced" editor mode

by Andrew Hancox -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Plugin developers
For anyone looking for a quick patch for this I've written an incredibly grim hack to make the add a post/reply buttons go straight to the advanced editor screen skipping the in-line editor entirely.
It's a tour de force of how not to do JS in Moodle so YMMV but is working for my client until something better comes up.

<script type="text/javascript">
    $(document).ready(function () {
        $('div.p-t-1.p-b-1 a').click(function () {
            $('#id_advancedadddiscussion').click();
        });
        $('div[data-region="post-actions-container"] a[data-action="collapsible-link"]').click(function (e) {
            window.location.replace($(e.target).attr('href'));
        });
    });
</script>

Average of ratings:Useful (1)
In reply to Andrew Hancox

Re: Moodle 3.7 - Reply inline and "Advanced" editor mode

by Irfad Razick -

Hi Andrew,

Could you please let me know in which file to add this script?

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Irfad Razick

Re: Moodle 3.7 - Reply inline and "Advanced" editor mode

by Andrew Hancox -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Plugin developers

Some themes allow you to inject custom javascript onto pages, you could do this, alternatively you could edit your theme and put it in there.

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Irfad Razick

Re: Moodle 3.7 - Reply inline and "Advanced" editor mode

by Héctor Terán -
hi there, don't know if you already solved your issue, but i used this hack and it worked by adding the code in the Before BODY is closed box available here: /admin/settings.php?section=additionalhtml (add your moodle domain before the line).
Average of ratings: -
In reply to Andrew Hancox

Re: Moodle 3.7 - Reply inline and "Advanced" editor mode

by James Cruickshank -

Hi Andrew 

I tried putting your script in the Additional HTML head section but that had no apparent effect. 

On another point, I wonder why the "Advanced" string is not customisable via the language pack? This seems to break a basic moodle principle of language customisations?

Jim Cruickshank

Average of ratings: -
In reply to James Cruickshank

Re: Moodle 3.7 - Reply inline and "Advanced" editor mode

by Séverin TERRIER -
Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Testers Picture of Translators
Hi James,

For what i remember, the "Advanced" word used is a common one defined globally for Moodle ("advanced" string in /lang/en/moodle.php).

It could/should be changed for a dedicated string, allowing it to be customized with no risk to break things elsewhere.

I'm really not a specialist, but i think used string is defined in /mod/forum/templates/inpage_reply.mustache

Séverin
Average of ratings: -
In reply to Séverin TERRIER

Re: Moodle 3.7 - Reply inline and "Advanced" editor mode

by Regis Tractenberg -

Hi,

Was this issue solved already?

I upgraded to Moodle 3.9 and just noticed the simple text box as default for answers in the forum. 

Would also prefer the full atto editor as the first option, with no need to click the advanced link...


Thanks a lot!
Régis


Average of ratings: -
In reply to Regis Tractenberg

Re: Moodle 3.7 - Reply inline and "Advanced" editor mode

by Eric Hagley -
This might be another way - worked on my Moodle 4.0 site.

In the file
mod/forum/templates/forum_discussion_post.mustache

delete lines 278 to 289 and in their place put   

                                                 <form data-post-id="{{id}}" id="inpage-reply-{{id}}" data-content="inpage-reply-form" action="{{{urls.reply}}}">
                                                        <input type="hidden" name="reply" value="{{id}}"/>
                                                        <button data-action="forum-advanced-reply" class="btn btn-link float-right" type="submit">
                                                                {{#str}} reply, mod_forum {{/str}}
                                                        </button>
                                                    </form>
so that from line 275 to 285 now looks like this

                                           {{/delete}}
                                            {{#reply}}
                                                {{$replyoutput}}
                                                    <form data-post-id="{{id}}" id="inpage-reply-{{id}}" data-content="inpage-reply-form" action="{{{urls.reply}}}">
                                                        <input type="hidden" name="reply" value="{{id}}"/>
                                                        <button data-action="forum-advanced-reply" class="btn btn-link float-right" type="submit">
                                                                {{#str}} reply, mod_forum {{/str}}
                                                        </button>
                                                    </form>
                                                {{/replyoutput}}
                                            {{/reply}}
 
Average of ratings: -