Thomas Hanley

Hi,

I have had a look through the Moodle docs and through this Blocks forum but I can't find the answer to this question.

I have placed a custom HTML block on the front page of my site (containing one line of text and an image which is a link to an external website).

I would like to have some control of layout/font/appearance so I decided to use a little bit of CSS. I had to resort to writing the CSS inline within the HTML which is not ideal.

Is there a css file somewhere within Moodle's site configuration files that controls the appearance of the HTML block specifically? Or is their a CSS file for *all* blocks. Or should I just accept that for a custom HTML block I have to write the CSS inline?

Any feedback would be appreciated.

~thomas

Hi Thomas,

I am a 4 week old Moodle user so this is a bit of a longshot but anyway worth ruling out...

I have just spend two hours trying to upload a Word document. I uploaded the file into the relevant course files area. I then tried to do what should be simple:

-->Add a resource
-->Link to a file or website

However, the link failed. Yet the file was on the server. Finally noticed another file that failed. Both files had the same thing in common

Impact_Evaluation_Partners.doc
Monitoring_Evaluation_Guidance.doc

When I looked at rename both had been automatically chopped in the middle:



Eval had been cut out. I am guessing that 'eval' is a key word in PHP and that these file strings were auto detected for security reasons.

I notice that the course name you are trying to restore also has the dreaded word "evaluation" in it! Maybe the problem I encountered is also relevant to your situation? Try renaming the course without using the string "eval" and see if this works. Worth a try anyway!

~thomas

Hi Stefan,

I guess alot depends on the number of users you have but manually creating all accounts sounds like alot of work! As does manually assigning students to courses.

I am also fairly new to Moodle but as far as I know once you disable email based self-registration there is no other automatic facility within Moodle to confirm to users that they have an account.

Perhaps the simplest way of resolving this is to enable email based self-registration. Then allow limited access (ie some courses or information screens can be viewed by all users. Then use enrolment keys to allow access to courses.

An example of this approach can be seen here:

http://www.getmoodling.com/

If you register on this site and then explore it you will see how this works.

Not sure if this the solution you are looking for, but hope it helps a little : )

~thomas

Hi,

Many thanks everyone for the really helpful responses which I will be using to state the case to use a Moodle partner for hosting our VLEs

My question was not exactly hypothetical as currently the 6 Moodle VLEs have been setup and are being hosted with a company who does not officially support Moodle.

I realise of course that migrating servers will be an issue. However, only 2 of the 6 sites have been developed in any significant way and I feel that it will be well worth any short-term pain in changing host given the clear long-term benefits in terms of expertise and support.

--Michael a great summary of the key points and good advice to speak to the Moodle partners and assess how easy it is to form a relationship with them.

--Ron, it turns out that no-one in my organisation has PHP skills, the environment is very much Microsoft-centric. There are 5 UK partners so it is not too daunting contacting all of them for a quote. Incidentally based on the info on one of their websites I believe that the cost of using a Moodle partner may turn out to be significantly lower.

A forum to rate Moodle partners does indeed sound useful. I guess though that this may not have happened due to the possibility of conflicts/ litigation occurring!

--Howard, good point also about more than hosting being involved as training up potential moodlers is one issue with regard to the work I am involved with.

~thomas

Hi,

I would like to know what kind of hosting company it would be best to use for a network of Moodle sites. There will be several Moodle instances on one server which will need to be networked.

Inevitably I would think there will be issues / errors / glitches as part of the networking process.

One hosting company we currently have a link with has stated that the do not officially support the Moodle application and that support would be on a best effort basis.

I believe there are Moodle partners who are hosting companies with in depth expertise in hosting Moodle.

Would the level of support/expertise offered by a Moodle partner or by a company which officially supports Moodle be *significantly better* than that offered by a non-specialist hosting company?

Any thoughts / advice would be much appreciated.

~thomas