LearnR is now a child theme of Boost Union

LearnR is now a child theme of Boost Union

by Chris Kenniburg -
Number of replies: 8
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Hello All,
I just wanted to give a heads up to anyone who might have been using the LearnR theme.  The next release will be a complete re-write and a true child theme of Boost Union.  It will no longer be a fork of Boost Union. 
So, if you do use LearnR you will want to:
  • Uninstall LearnR completely.
  • Install Boost Union
  • Install LearnR -   version =2024021300
  • Choose the LearnR theme in Site Admin theme chooser.

Most settings will be inherited directly from the Boost Union theme admin area.  The LearnR admin area are settings and features that are only available to LearnR.  The settings for LearnR will be located within the Boost Union Admin area moving forward.

We will be launching this very shortly.  The new code is available on github: https://github.com/dbnschools/moodle-theme_learnr

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In reply to Chris Kenniburg

Re: LearnR is now a child theme of Boost Union

by Séverin Terrier -
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Hi Chris,

This seems a very nice news sourire

Just to be sure to well understand what being a true child theme means exactly:
  • uninstalling LearnR theme means you'll lose all dedicated settings of LearnR ?
  • you can define Boost Union settings, that will apply if you use Boost Union
  • you can define other settings reserved to LearnR, that will apply if you use LearnR, on top of Boost Union settings (so you also use Boost Union settings, and don't need to redefine them?) ?
  • or does it just means that you reuse code, but settings are still independant from Boost Union and LearnR, and needs to be defined twice (or just in LearnR settings?) ?
Other question : for translators, is there a useful (and easy) path to reuse existing translations from Boost / Boost Union / LearnR for the translation (of the new settings) ?
I mean being able to find them, perhaps by they're identifier, to copy them on another theme.

Séverin
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In reply to Séverin Terrier

Re: LearnR is now a child theme of Boost Union

by Chris Kenniburg -
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Hello Séverin,
Previously, LearnR was a fork and separate from Boost Union. As a child theme, it will inherit the features and styling from the parent and then LearnR specific enhancements will be added on top of the Boost Union features.
  • uninstalling LearnR theme means you'll lose all dedicated settings of LearnR ?
    • Yes.  I recommend you install Boost Union first and then copy over your settings such as Adverts etc to the Boost Union theme settings.
  • you can define Boost Union settings, that will apply if you use Boost Union
    • You must use Boost Union as it is now a requirement of LearnR child theme.  You can transfer adverts and other settings to Boost Union.
  • you can define other settings reserved to LearnR, that will apply if you use LearnR, on top of Boost Union settings (so you also use Boost Union settings, and don't need to redefine them?) ?
    • Most settings will be found in Boost Union.  I am trying to make sure LearnR reuses almost everything from Boost Union.  For instance, the course fallback image will be used by LearnR as are other elements.  I am trying to only use LearnR admin settings to apply specific items that I add on top of the Boost Union theme.  
  • or does it just means that you reuse code, but settings are still independant from Boost Union and LearnR, and needs to be defined twice (or just in LearnR settings?) ?
    • LearnR is dependent on Boost Union now.  When you install the latest release you will see that almost all the LearnR settings are removed and only the specific items we add into Boost Union remain.  LearnR will inherit styling and features directly from Boost Union and then transform them or enhance them along with the settings in LearnR.  

The process is to install Boost Union along with LearnR but activate LearnR in the theme chooser.  You can set most theme options in Boost Union and then set and forget the LearnR options and features.

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In reply to Chris Kenniburg

Re: LearnR is now a child theme of Boost Union

by Stefan Schoch -
Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers
Hey there,

first of all thank you so much for all your efforts serving us with the beautiful LearnR theme!

Updating was quite an unpleasant experience for me today.

First, I had not realized that i had to install Boost Union prior to the installation of LearnR. So, I ran into a problem that the whole site was stuck with an error that only could be solved by installing the Boost theme manually. After that I could access my Moodle site again, but all LearnR setting were gone. 
I had read the information on the Moodle Plugin page, but I seem to have missed that part. My bad. 🫣
A more prominent warning might help other users not to run into the same problems.

Next, I installed the new version of LearnR as described here by first transferring alle settings to Boost Union and then installing LearnR.

For far, so good: until I realized, that the 'theme_learnr | coursetilestyle' is no longer available.
That leads to my site looking completely different than with the prior LearnR version, which I don't want to confuse my clients with.
I always make quite an effort to ensure that the look & feel and the functionality is familiar and consistent for my clients.
So I had to roll back and install LearnR v4.3-r1 again.

Am I missing something, or is the setting 'theme_learnr | coursetilestyle' no longer available?
Will it be added again in a future release?

I really love the way of showing the available courses with the 'Kacheln 4 - mit Kursbeschreibung' style on my site: 
Akademie (integrale-akademie.online), so I very much hope that it will be available soon again!

Stefan
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In reply to Stefan Schoch

Re: LearnR is now a child theme of Boost Union

by Chris Kenniburg -
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Yes, I do plan to implement better course tiles but there might not be a chooser.  There is already a contributed code for Boost Union to use course tiles similar to the Moove theme.  I think they are testing it and might implement it in a future update to Boost Union which would also be available to LearnR.  


Because Boost Union might implement this as a parent theme I am holding off adding something that might break in a child theme.  I wouldn't want my course tiles to break their future implementation. 

I've already implemented the code for the new course tiles into LearnR and I might look to make enhancements to that code just for LearnR.  I will say that the new course tiles are very nice.  

I'm also working on bringing better styling options with doing more in section styles, course background images, and a few other neat tricks.

If Boost Union doesn't implement to coursetiles based on the Moove theme, I will do so with LearnR.  They just look really nice.  

I hope this helps.  

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In reply to Chris Kenniburg

Re: LearnR is now a child theme of Boost Union

by Stefan Schoch -
Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers
Thank you for the detailed explanation!

I understand that it makes more sense to coordinate the development effort with the (now) parent theme.
And I am very much looking forward to what will be coming, both from future Boost Union enhancements and from your contributions, which I always very much appreciate! 

And - I'd like to suggest that you make it very clear on the plugins page that one will loose valuable functionality once one upgrades now to the new theme.
I even haven't really understood how I will find out if it will be 'safe' to try an update again without loosing the tiles.
This might be a problem for other sites, too (not just for me).

I guess I will have to keep the recent version until the tiles are introduced either by Boost Union or a future LearnR release.

Perhaps it would make sense to have to version?
One LearnR v4.3-r1 with the functionality we are used to and a new one as child-theme of Boost Union?

How will I know if it will be safe to try another update?


Stefan
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In reply to Stefan Schoch

Re: LearnR is now a child theme of Boost Union

by Chris Kenniburg -
Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers
I debated making this a separate plugin and maybe I should have but in-house for us it's just how we deploy Moodle. I share out what we do so others might benefit. Sometimes, that means we change directions.

It wasn't a decision taken lightly to switch to a child theme. Moving forward it will be much more stable, improved styling features, and we all benefit from the team of developers behind Boost Union which is truly remarkable.
I should have a new child theme update out soon which has a new course tiles feature. I might take that as a baseline and add new customizations as time goes on.

I don't know if the previous functionality will return but I think most will appreciate the new courestiles.

Following this bump in switching from a fork to a child theme things will be stable moving forward and it'll be easier to develop features and focus more on styling.
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In reply to Chris Kenniburg

Re: LearnR is now a child theme of Boost Union

by Gordon Mills -
Hi Chris is it not possible to have a background image when learnr is being used.
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In reply to Chris Kenniburg

Re: LearnR is now a child theme of Boost Union

by Gordon Mills -
When switching to Learnr we loose the background image across the site, also the flavours background image shrinks and positions its self as determined by the Background image position any ideas what we may have done wrong
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