Moodle plugins directory: Collapsed Topics | Moodle.org
Collapsed Topics
An interchangeable topic or week (day for 2.3.1+) based format that solves the issue of the 'Scroll of Death' when a course has many topics / weeks. All sections except zero have a toggle that displays that section. One or more sections can be displayed at any given time. Toggles are persistent on a per browser session per course basis but can be made to persist longer by a small code change. Full installation instructions, code adapt-ions and credits are included in the 'Readme.md' file.
If you have a course with more than fifty two sections then currently the toggle persistence will not work for the fifty third section and above. Then you need to upgrade to the Moodle 2.5 version+.
Support:
The format comes with NO support. Please see the 'Support' section in 'Readme.md' file that comes with the format. This is because the format is complex and I regret that I don't have the time / resources to freely assist with questions pertaining to specific enhancements / changes / knowledge improvement.
I will investigate genuine bugs and issue fixes in a timescale set by myself. When reporting issues you MUST clearly state the full version and release of both Moodle and the Collapsed Topics format as contained within their 'version.php' files - if not it takes me longer to figure out, often resulting in me asking for the details anyway and slowing the process of solving your problem down. It really helps to read the 'Reporting Issues' section in the 'Readme.md' file and upload and describe in detail the issue you are having on the 'Course formats' forum.
Book:
NEW: 'The Complete Guide to Collapsed Topics' (and 'Blurb') book is now available, covering: installation, upgrade, uninstallation, course and global features, resetting, capabilities, language strings, overriding icons / styles in a theme and adding a new icon set.
NOTE: The latest version incorporates functionality to support new UK / EU Cookie Law which is implemented as a user acceptance in the 1.9 version and no 'cookie' is used at all in 2.x versions.
Screen casts:
Privacy API support starts with V3.3.1.2 for M3.3 and V3.4.0.2 for M3.4 where the API has been implemented in the minor release of Moodle.
Screenshots
Ok, at the moment "Flexible Sections" is destructive when it comes to the structure of the course. I.e. after switching to it and then to another format, then the sections are all messed up. I believe that a course format should only ever alter the display of the course and nothing else. You should be free to switch to another course format without performing any additional work. Collapsed Topics as it stands I consider to have just about the right amount of functionality to be usable without being confusing and overbearing. Therefore the only course of action would be to create and design a new course format along the lines of Collapsed Topics and Flexible Sections such that it was coherent and completely thought out to be user friendly via a proper intuitive interface.
Kind regards,
Gareth
I wish there was a good, supported way to have collapsible sub-sections within a course, perhaps by using indentation levels of content.... (And I wish I were a better Moodle programmer, while I'm wishing....)
The closest format would be 'Flexible sections' but that does not have tabs. Conceptually it would be possible to make this happen, but it would be a lot of work.
Cheers,
Gareth
I am happy to announce this plugin has been just featured in our Plugins traffic blog. Well done Gareth! https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=323007#p1296838
How do I change language settings? I would like to change language or alternatively hide "Open all" and "Close all"
Many thanks for your support !!!
Stefano
As Collapsed Topics is in the plugins database then the English language strings will appear in AMOS (https://docs.moodle.org/dev/AMOS_manual?redirect=no) and thus anybody who signs up for an account there can go in and translate them. Then the translated strings will appear in the language packs and I assume there is some way of updating them.
To hide 'Open all' / 'Close all', comment out this line: https://github.com/gjb2048/moodle-format_topcoll/blob/master/renderer.php#L628
Cheers,
Gareth
Is there something else that we need to do for the update to work properly? Or perhaps is this a problem others have seen?
Thanks much..... Brian
I don't know, I've raised: https://github.com/gjb2048/moodle-format_topcoll/issues/21
Cheers,
Gareth
The section titles are working for me in both the M2.7 and M3.0 versions - they are the toggle headings after all. Please post screen-shots on: https://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=47 with full details of the theme you are using.
Kind regards,
Gareth
I hope this makes sense and is helpful. Please let me know if it would still be a good idea for me to submit this to the forum.
Thanks... Brian
I've scowered the code and none of the supplied defaults are white. So I don't understand why you are setting them all to white. What was the previous version of Collapsed Topics please? As these settings have been in place for ages and do control the colour of the section title and hence when you do change to Topics they go back to that of the theme setting.
I'll have another look tomorrow and double check.
No need for a post yet.
Kind regards,
Gareth