Changing the visual appearance of the Available Courses column

Hi,

When I access my Moodle installation,

http://www.01254.info/moodle/

prior to logging in, the front page appears.

The central column is headed "Available Courses".

In the given example, the first of these courses is called "Landscapes in Art".

The second of these courses is called "The Tudors".

Each of these courses sits in a rectangle with grey borders.

What are these rectangles called? 'Panels'?

Until I have the correct term, I will call them 'Panels'.

Each panel is divided, by default, into two columns. The first column contains the name of the teacher(s). The second column contains a 'course outline' (text).

I am not happy with the layout of the 'course outline'. The column is too narrow. I want the course outline text go right across the 'panel', from left to right.

In effect I do NOT want the panel to be divided into two colums, but I want a one-column panel.

How can I fix that?

Thanks.

Adrian

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Re: Changing the visual appearance of the Available Courses column

Mary Cooch - 2008年04月15日星期二 22:06

Would this be anything like you'd want to achieve? (just set this up as trial) I can't see how you could get it to be just one column without altering the code and I don't know how to do that. However, if you got rid of the blocks you have on the right of your site (calendar/site description/courses) then it will stretch the available course 'panel' across the screen as mine has.

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Re: Changing the visual appearance of the Available Courses column

Adrian Stock - 2008年04月16日星期三 08:22

Hi Mary,

Thanks for your reply.

1) No, I do not want to alter the code, have no time to go into that. Only want to see what Moodle allows 'normal' users to do. However, I am very dissatisfied with what I have on my screen at the moment. If that is Moodle default (rather than Adrian-fault), then it is quite unacceptable, waste of space and user-unfriendly.

2) Click here to see what is at present on my screen and what I want to change;
available_courses_as_is.jpg

I call this a 2-column layout: one column for teachers' names, most of which is wasted

one column for the text; the column for the text starts below the information about the teachers. total waste.

3) Click here to see the layout I want;
available_courses_as_wanted.jpg

4) i.e. I want to change the 2-column layout into a 1 column layout

5) in different terms, the present layout constitutes a table with two rows and two columns, and cells as follows:

A1 A2
B1 B2

At present A1 is occupied by Teacher information. B2 is occupied by text information.

A2 and B1 are entirely wasted.

I want only one column, with two cells:
A1: for teacher information
B1: for text information

I am embarrassed to show that wasteful layout to my school. That's why I am looking for a simple way of changing it.

Question: Can I achieve this in Moodle without messing around with the code?

Thanks.
Adrian

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Re: Changing the visual appearance of the Available Courses column

Steve Hyndman - 2008年04月16日星期三 08:59

Question: Can I achieve this in Moodle without messing around with the code?

Well, if you call css "code" then the answer is "No". You will need to edit the css in your theme to change that default layout.

Steve

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Re: Changing the visual appearance of the Available Courses column

Adrian Stock - 2008年04月19日星期六 17:56

Hi Steve,

I am capable of editing or even devising a style sheet for websites which I have constructed myself and where I am aware of the consequences not only on the page I want to change but on other pages not in front of me.

But I would not dare to do it in Moodle because it is so huge I do not know its file structure, how the templates are interlinked, etc. Unforeseen consequences might arise, which I might then discover by accident months later.

Moreover what I am doing must be something that other people in my school can easily follow, on the basis of my written instructions. Therefore I must stick to what the present version of moodle allows to any administrator to do.

thanks.

Adrian

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Re: Changing the visual appearance of the Available Courses column

Lesli Smith - 2008年04月16日星期三 10:18

Well, hmm. Are you absolutely wedded to the preference of having the course descriptions visible without any "clicking"?

Personally, I find that too text heavy for my population, at least, and have gone with the following layout by choosing "combo list" for the login setting under front page settings. I don't really want to encourage too much snooping around for guests, so I only have the main categories visible without login, though the diligent explorers can still find their way into course descriptions if they want to do so.

In any case, clicking on the "i" next to the course name link presents a picture that is closer to your desired use of space.

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Re: Changing the visual appearance of the Available Courses column

Lesli Smith - 2008年04月16日星期三 10:20

Forgive the double posting, but here is a picture of what happens when you click on the "i" next to the course name.

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Re: Changing the visual appearance of the Available Courses column

Adrian Stock - 2008年04月19日星期六 19:13

Hi, Lesli

Sub-Subject: Dies irae

Thank you for your suggestions.

The layout in your message of Wednesday, 16 April 2008, 03:20 AM, looks very acceptable to me and I would be happy if I could achieve that. However,

1) I am not at all sure *** where *** (on which page) in Moodle you can create that by clicking on "i". I have no "i" anywhere next to my course names.

2) For your (and anybody else's) information, here is a screenprint of the page with which I am concerned:

http://tudo.co.uk/moodle/available_courses_as_is.jpg

3) While in the long-term I want to learn Moodle properly, right now I am in a short term emergency which does not allow me any more time for any experiments, any changes of course, however desirable. I must do nothing which might open up yet another can of worms, lead to yet another string of questions etc.

My school is getting impatient. I have spent so many weeks getting to where I am now (pretty close to the goal) that they are getting fed up, I have to deliver next week without tying myself up in knots or everything falling apart, and I feel like an ill-prepared student two days before his finals, or even more like a prisoner on a cart being led to his execution.

Given an empty Moodle installation I must do the following:

create accounts for two specimens of each role
(administrator, course creator, teacher,..., student).
set up two forums (The Tudors, Landscapes in Art),
put on the blurbs (course descriptions), initial questions etc for these forums

Produce a dead easy set of instructions of how to repeat under ideal circumstances (i.e. without my meanderings) what I have done

Demonstrate this to two teachers who will then take over from me and experiment with their classes

- ------------------------------

When I have tested my instructions and call the two teachers to demonstrate things to them, or repeat the procedure together with them, it must run like clockwork.

4) I think I have achieved most of this so far (I have the required accounts, I have two forums, I have course descriptions and forum introductions), but I wanted them to look better to avoid challenges from the two teachers.

Moreover I must be able to repeat any one step on demand.

Most importantly I must repeat the whole procedure several times to make sure I have found the simplest route of getting from a fresh installation to the objective rather than the many meanderings which I originally needed.

Pray for me (smiles) - nunc et in hora examinationis

Adrian

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Re: Changing the visual appearance of the Available Courses column

Mary Cooch - 2008年04月19日星期六 20:42

You are showing on your screenshot Available Courses; in response to number (1) I think this is in 'course categories'. I see you have that in a sideblock - if you click on it, do you then get the elusive i next to your courses?

Incidentally, Adrian; I think you are worrying far too much about the impression it will give to these teachers. Perhaps it is your background in webdesign, and Moodle is a different kettle of fish, but I think you need not be so concerned about the appearance as you are - all of this:

create accounts for two specimens of each role
(administrator, course creator, teacher,..., student).
set up two forums (The Tudors, Landscapes in Art),
put on the blurbs (course descriptions), initial questions etc for these forums

could be easily and quickly done without your changing the CSS or trying to redesign Moodle (so to speak) and I think the teachers will be just as happy

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Re: Changing the visual appearance of the Available Courses column

Lesli Smith - 2008年04月20日星期日 01:59

Sorry. Should have provided a screen shot of the front page settings to show what I meant. Here it is. Go to your admin block on the front page; click front page; click front page settings. The picture is what you should see under the site description box.

Also, I'd like to echo Mary's encouragement. Go in with the attitude that you are showing them a tool that they can "play" with and make it fit their own needs, not a set way of doing something they have to adopt. Teachers like to play. They will be more interested in what the activities can do than in how they look, for the most part (that has been my experience in internal trainings with my colleagues, anyway).

You can limit the number of activities you want to expose them to at first, if that would make you feel better, by hiding certain modules in your admin module settings. Of the top of my head, the things my primary colleagues freaked out about most (I couldn't limit it as I had all levels in my training) were the messaging and online users blocks. I'd turn those off for now. Beginning users usually want to explore these activities first: the quiz, the assignment, choices, the glossary, and the forum. These are varied and complex enough to give them a glimpse into what Moodle can do. Start there.

Convey to them that they won't break anything (you can be doing backups behind the scenes for them to ease their fears) and that they should play. Meandering is what makes it interesting. Let them meander a little bit.

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Re: Changing the visual appearance of the Available Courses column

Lesli Smith - 2008年04月20日星期日 03:40

Screenshots of where to find how to hide blocks and modules attached in a pdf. Just close the eye on the ones you don't want your teachers to see yet. You can always ease them into more options as your training progresses. Best,

Lesli

P.S. I'll try to email the pdf to you as I'm getting an error message saying my file is too big to upload. Should've checked that first.

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Re: Changing the visual appearance of the Available Courses column

Adrian Stock - 2008年04月20日星期日 15:50

Hi Lesli and Mary,

Thank you for your encouragement.

Adrian

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Re: Changing the visual appearance of the Available Courses column

Adrian Stock - 2008年04月22日星期二 01:02

Hi Leslie, I hope you see this.

Thank you for going to all that trouble with the direct email you sent me and for always being so helpful to all and even to sundry.

I tried to reply and say thanks by email (twice) but my messages came back (some authentication problem -- no doubt caused at my end and I have asked our techie to look into it; have had it with other correspondents too).

So thank you again, and this time in public.

Best wishes

Adrian

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Re: Changing the visual appearance of the Available Courses column

Lesli Smith - 2008年04月22日星期二 03:01

You're quite welcome, Adrian. I'll be sending good thoughts your way as you embark upon your actual training sessions.

Best,
Lesli

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Re: Changing the visual appearance of the Available Courses column

Frances Bell - 2008年04月22日星期二 05:23

Regarding your email bounce problem Adrian, I am wondering if it might be because you are responding to email reports of 'private messages' when recipients are off-line. There will probably be a no=reply clue. If you want to mail Lesli, try mailing the address from her profile.

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Re: Changing the visual appearance of the Available Courses column

Adrian Stock - 2008年04月22日星期二 07:12

Hi Frances,

Thank you. I thing the problem is at my end because I had it occasionally with other people too (not connected with any forums), after changing my email client from Agent to Seamonkey.

In the case of Lesli, I first by clicking the reply button in response to her msg.
When that bounced, I copied the email address from which her msg came and pasted into a new msg freshly composed by me.

But I will compare the two email addresses tomorrow, as you suggest.

tx

Adrian

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Re: Changing the visual appearance of the Available Courses column

Martin Dougiamas - 2008年04月22日星期二 15:49

Adrian, as you can see people can be very helpful here in the social forum, but just so you know for the future, the main support area for Moodle is here:

http://moodle.org/course/view.php?id=5

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