Patrick Malley

by Harald Lohmann - Thursday, April 5 2007, 08:33 AM

Hi Patrick,
I like your theme and have it installed on all my three moodles. Thanks for your good job. There is one thing I'd like to mention: as soon as I want to look at my users' list the font_size is obviously too big, the information scrolls to the right.
Is there anything I can do to change that?

I have installed 1.7.2+ and I use firefox.

Thanks,
Harald

Harald -

I hope that you don't mind that I answer your question here. This is a much better-suited place for discussions than the the Themes Repository

I guess that I didn't see this as a problem on my 17" MacBook Pro - I simply widened the browser window! Looking at it now, I guess a width of 1150px is a little much to be necessary to avoid the break!

For a smaller font-size in all tables, include the following code at the end of your styles_color.css file:

.generaltable {
font-size:0.8em;
}

This will get the max-width necessary to prevent breaks down to about 1000px (still not that great).

Rather than going any smaller than that, here's another idea: getting rid of the blocks on the "Browse a list of users" page will afford you around 250px. Being without the admin block on this page (or any other admin page that the table breaks your screen resolution) won't harm your navigation that much (it will be like working with Moodle pre-1.7!).

Or, you could get a bigger monitor!

Also - what version of Moodle is this?

My first guess is a PHP error in:

../moodle/theme/index.php

or

../moodle/theme/preview.php

You may want to try (for the sake of trouble-shooting) replacing your entire theme directory.

Regardless, if it is a PHP problem, you may have better luck getting help in the General Problems forum. Most discussions in this forum surround the CSS/theme development side of Moodle.

While I'm more than willing to help you out, I know only enough about PHP to know that I can't help you if you have altered any scripts.

Good luck.

Does an "empty shell" of a page show? Do the names of hte themes show? What precisely is happening?

It sometimes helps if you give us a screenshot of what you're seeing.

First, check your themes folder, Are there themes present in that folder?

moodle/theme/

Other than that, until I know more, I'm not of much help.

I am a little sleepy, so you'll have to stay with me if I go astray.

I have developed a rather sophisticated way of grading forum discussions that is based on the following custom scale:

Rating	Explanation
Should not be counted toward grade	This rating is given to posts that do not meet my grading requirements. Used for: agreement without new substance, general humor, posts that do not fit into the current discussion.
Answered as required, but nothing more	This rating is given when a post answers all parts of my question, but does nothing more. May shows an absence of depth or thought.
Replied as required, but nothing more	Same as above, but for replies.
Connects back to what others have written	This rating is used when an author refers back to a discussion in another forum or thread.
Opinion based in fact	This rating is given when a person writes a fact-based forum post. The facts could come from lecture, a required reading, or any other external source.
Thought-provoking new ideas	Lets the author know that what they have written has made others think about the topic in a new way. Used also for unique ideas.
Challenges Others’ Ideas	I want challenge in the forum. I want debate. Why agree?
Exceeded Expectations	Extra Credit. This must be earned

Expectations:

I will be adding a new forum every week starting with the second week. You are expected to:

• Visit each forum at least twice per week.
• Write a unique response to my question(s). Read everything I write before responding. I am very particular about what I expect in the forums. Do not take shortcuts.
  
• Reply thoughtfully a minimum of two times. Your replies must be thought-provoking and sincere.
  

General Guidelines

• Each individual forum is open for only one week at a time.
• New forums open every Monday morning at 12:00am and close Sunday night at 11:55pm.
• I will drop your lowest Forum Grade for each marking period.
• Forums can be submitted to but will not be counted after they have closed.
• Missing forums cannot be made up in any way.

Grade Calculation

The grade I give you on each forum will depend on the quality of the work you produce. I don’t give specific sentence or word count requirements because that’s not the point of this exercise. The purpose of you visiting this forum is to share your ideas. Don’t belittle your classmates by lazily slopping down words to get this assignment done.

While you are only required to post a minimum of 3 times per forum, doing so does not guarantee that you’ll get an “A”. That is simply the minimum. See the rating scale to learn how to ensure an “A” on every forum every week.

***If you consistently get ratings at the top of this scale (the bottom 4 as shown above), you will get an “A” every week.

***If you get a rating at the bottom of this scale (the first 3 shown above), simply post more frequently to get your average up.

---

Then, I simply read and rate like a madman! At the end of the week, I export my gradebook to an excel file which gives me a ratings output that looks something like this:

0/1/2/0/0/0/1/0 (4)

This tells me that this student posted four times: s/he answered the question, replied to two students, and challenge someone! That is an "A"!

I have tried having students rate each other - doesn't give the same quality at the end of the semester. This rating system really does produce quality arguments.

Now, to bed!