Moodle 3.8 - block docking gone?

Moodle 3.8 - block docking gone?

by Jack Wright -
Number of replies: 4

I have recently upgraded a personal Moodle from 3.5 to 3.8. While happy with the improvements, I noticed that the dock option has disappeared?

I haven't tried it on 3.9 or 3.7, but I have a few moodles that run 3.8 and they have all had their dock taken away.

3.5 Moodle:

3.8 Moodle:


I feel like there's been a change the the attitude to docking, in that since searching around online I get the impression it is a more disliked feature and that it is being phased out.

What I found strange is that in my 3.8 theme files they all tried to disable the dock in the config file with "$THEME->enable_dock - false". So I edited the theme configuration file and changed the $THEME->enable_dock from false to true in my theme and in Boost which didn't do anything (even after clearing the cache).

The above screenshot is from Lambda, but it also happens in Adaptable and I can't see it in Boost either.

Any ideas on why 3.8 doesn't show a dock and/or how to resolve it?


Average of ratings: -
In reply to Jack Wright

Re: Moodle 3.8 - block docking gone?

by Richard Oelmann -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers

Docking of blocks has (unfortunately in my opinion) been going since around 3.6. The line you're seeing in the theme config was inserted in themes around that time in case a theme was built without the dock features but got installed on a Moodle that had docking (at least that's why I used it at the time). You're right, altering it has no effect because 3.8 themes are not built with docking because it isn't supported by core anymore.

There are a couple of themes which have block regions which can be minimised to a sidebar or a pull out tab, but that's about it for a resolution.

There's also the multiblock block - which allows blocks to be brought together in tabs/accordian/etc so that multiple blocks can be accommodated in the space of 1. Not the same, but an alternative as docking is no longer available.

Average of ratings: Useful (3)
In reply to Richard Oelmann

Re: Moodle 3.8 - block docking gone?

by Jack Wright -
Thank you so much for that reply, it is straight to the point and very useful to know!
Average of ratings: -
In reply to Richard Oelmann

Re: Moodle 3.8 - block docking gone?

by nim rod -
Thanks! your reply was very helpful. Is the show-hide block toggle, which used to reside next to the 'dock' icon also gone in 3.6?
Average of ratings: -
In reply to Jack Wright

Re: Moodle 3.8 - block docking gone?

by Rick Jerz -
Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Testers
Way back (I don't remember the version of Moodle but perhaps when the MORE theme was around) one could a) dock bocks, and b) compress blocks. These features went away, maybe with Boost.

I felt the ability to "collapse" blocks was most important to me. There is a Tracker item, MDL-57305, with this feature request. Please vote for it and add your additional comments. In MDL-57305 there is a workaround fix that began with some great help and code from Daniel. I have been implementing his code, even updated it a little, on my Moodle 3.9.2+. This code fix works in Boost. I don't know if it would work in Lambda.

In MDL-57305 you will see some thoughts from Martin. Even though he mentions that the removal of the collapsed blocks feature was deliberate, he also seems open to ideas as o why blocks should have the features. I have added some pictures of some blocks that get extremely long, such as Online Users for course that might have 200 or more users logged in.
Average of ratings: Useful (2)