MoodleDocs - User contributions [en]

Theme scrapbook

2008-01-26T15:27:07Z

Frazelle09: /* Scraps */

{{Themes}}

The Moodle '''theme scrapbook''' is a collection of small how-to descriptions. You theme designers and Moodle users working with themes add your knowledge here to help new Moodle users with tips and tricks for their theme work.

=== Scraps ===

*[[Alternate Icon Set|Using an alternate icon set in Moodle]]
*[[Center Forum Posts|Centre smaller forum posts on the page]]
*[[Footer positioning|Positioning the page footer]]
*[[Fixed-width theme|Creating a fixed-width theme]]
*[[Header logo|Adding a logo to the theme header]]
*[[Homepage design|Homepage design of moodle.org]]
*[[Left-align quiz|Left align quiz questions and answers]]
*[[Favicon|Change the logo that shows in front of the web address]]
*[[Footer replacement|Replace the logo with your web address and/or or own logo]]

[[Category:Themes]]

Footer replacement

2008-01-26T07:35:50Z

Frazelle09:

Well, this is my first, so please bear with me.

This is to replace the Mooldle logo and web address with your own address at least. i still haven't gotten it to show up as a real link, but at least the text appears properly.

i'm using the StandardGreen theme.

Open the footer.html file.

Replace this line

<?php echo $home ?>

with your web address, like so...

<?php echo "www.fundacionanisa.org" ?>

Save the file and check it with your browser.

Perhaps someone more familiar with how this thing works could add the code so that the address shows up as a regular web link.

Well, after a Google and a visit to a How-To on basic HTML i see that this will give us an underlined web address

<a href="http://www.fundacionanisa.org/">Fundación Anisa, A.C.</a>

Now, if i can just figure out how to get my icon/image in this position and use it as a link, just like the Moodle icon was...

After some more experimentation, i got this to work...

<?php echo $loggedinas ?>
<a href="http://www.fundacionanisa.org/"><img src=http:***//www.fundacionanisa.org/moodle_anisa/file.php/1/anisa_logo_small.jpg>***</a>

which places the "small" logo at the bottom and has a link to the web page as well. The three astericks on either side of the address keep the image from showing up as an image here on this document. Yippee!

Footer replacement

2008-01-26T07:34:40Z

Frazelle09:

Footer replacement

2008-01-26T07:33:30Z

Frazelle09:

Well, this is my first, so please bear with me.

This is to replace the Mooldle logo and web address with your own address at least. i still haven't gotten it to show up as a real link, but at least the text appears properly.

i'm using the StandardGreen theme.

Open the footer.html file.

Replace this line

<?php echo $home ?>

with your web address, like so...

<?php echo "www.fundacionanisa.org" ?>

Save the file and check it with your browser.

Perhaps someone more familiar with how this thing works could add the code so that the address shows up as a regular web link.

Well, after a Google and a visit to a How-To on basic HTML i see that this will give us an underlined web address

<a href="http://www.fundacionanisa.org/">Fundación Anisa, A.C.</a>

Now, if i can just figure out how to get my icon/image in this position and use it as a link, just like the Moodle icon was...

After some more experimentation, i got this to work...

<?php echo $loggedinas ?>
<a href="http://www.fundacionanisa.org/"><img src=http://www.fundacionanisa.org/moodle_anisa/file.php/1/anisa_logo_small.jpg></a>

which places the "small" logo at the bottom and has a link to the web page as well. Yippee!

Footer replacement

2008-01-26T07:01:58Z

Frazelle09:

Footer replacement

2008-01-26T06:28:32Z

Frazelle09:

Footer replacement

2008-01-26T06:23:54Z

Frazelle09:

Theme scrapbook

2008-01-26T06:19:59Z

Frazelle09: /* Scraps */

Moodle myths

2006-07-02T17:24:32Z

Frazelle09: /* There’s no point in looking at Moodle unless you have a full time, php developer on your staff. At the very least you need a lot of technical support to run it in house */

The top 10 list started life in [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=33044 a post by Josie Fraser], as part of the 2005-6 [http://helpusgettobett.com HUGToB campaign].

{{About Moodle}}

==Once Moodle is stable, it will be put under licence. If it were any good, they’d already be charging for it==
Martin Dougiamas is [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=41253 on record] that Moodle will always be free and under the GPL. Even if it weren't, the community could take the latest GPL code and continue development from there. One of the reasons why Moodle's so good is that it's open source code, and so the world wide educational community can contribute to making it better still.

==There’s no point in looking at Moodle unless you have a full time, php developer on your staff. At the very least you need a lot of technical support to run it in house==
There are ''plenty'' of institutions running Moodle as is, without any php developers in sight. You don't need to know any programming if you just want to run a copy of Moodle. That said, PHP is actually a fairly easy language to pick up, and the Moodle code is well documented, so if you did want to help with development, it's a fairly gentle learning curve.

It's fair to say you need a certain amount of technical know-how to run your own instance of Moodle securely, but this has more to do with getting a web-server, SQL database and scripting language up and integrated than the Moodle scripts themselves. If you can run your own webserver, you should be OK to run Moodle on it.

You don't actually have to run Moodle in house though - there are well respected [http://moodle.com Moodle Partners] who'll run Moodle for you, some of the more enlightened Local Authorities and Regional Broadband Consortia (in the UK) will provide Moodle hosting, and Moodle will work on plenty of commercially hosted webspaces too.

==Moodle won’t be compatible with our other systems/software==
Moodle will run on Linux, Windows and Mac OS-X. It's compatible with a huge range of databases through ADODB integration. There's a whole host of authentication and enrolment mechanisms, including LDAP. Moodle will allow teachers to integrate content in a range of different formats, including SCORM, Flash, MP3s and RSS feeds. On the [[Roadmap]] for future releases is a Web API which will allow easy integration with other web-based applications.

Finally, remember that this is open source software, with a well documented data and file structure. If Moodle's not compatible with a particular application at the moment, then you can pay a developer to code up that integration, or develop it in-house.

==Moodle just doesn’t have the commercial experience we’re looking for==
Check out the [http://moodle.com partners]. Moodle is currently used by some big name corporate clients for in-house CPD.

==You can’t just use Moodle out of the box – the basic Moodle install just isn’t that sophisticated==
Have a look at the [[Features|feature list]], all of which comes as standard. Additional themes, blocks and activities are easy to integrate and the vast majority are free, open source code too.

==There’s no documentation, training or technical support available – you’re on your own==
There's excellent (and expanding)documentation online, provided by the user and developer community. The Open University's [http://moodle.org/user/view.php?id=9318&course=5 Jason Cole] has written an excellent introduction to Moodle for teachers, available as a [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0596008635/ proper book] from O'Reilly.

Most users find the Moodle interface intuitive and this helps reduce the training requirements. It's possible for institutions to run in-house training and many have successfully adopted this approach. Some Moodle Partners [http://moodle.com/training/ moodle.com] also specialize in training.

High quality, timely technical support is available from the user and developer community in the Using Moodle course on [http://moodle.org moodle.org]. Some LAs and RBCs (Local Authorities and Regional Broadband Consortia in the UK) support Moodle in their areas. Commercial support contracts are available from authorised Moodle Partners [http://moodle.com/support/ moodle.com].

==The total Cost of Ownership is actually higher for Moodle than it would be with a wholly commercial platform==
Stop and think for a moment. With both Moodle and commercial platforms, you'll still need to pay for hosting, support, training and content, one way or another: with Moodle, more of these costs ''can'' be brought in-house, because the code's open source and Moodle's great at providing the tools teachers need to write online activities themselves, but that doesn't mean you have to.

The difference is that with Moodle, there are '''no''' licence fees to pay. None. The money you do spend can go back into making the software better, or remain within the educational community for the common good. None of it needs to go to meet shareholder dividends or pay back the venture capitalists. Furthermore, you're not exposed to the risks of commercial suppliers unilaterally increase their licence fees, or going out of business.

It's therefore not that surprising that when the UK government agency [http://www.becta.org.uk Becta] examined the [http://www.becta.org.uk/corporate/publications/documents/BEC5606_Full_report18.pdf Total Cost of Ownership of open-source software] on desktops in UK schools, they found significant savings compared to commercial alternatives. The savings on support costs were particularly impressive. It's likely that these savings would have been greater still had they examined web-based applications like Moodle.

==Moodle is just no good for an institution as large as mine==
So, that would be one larger than the UK's Open University, with 180,000 students, yes? The OU has [http://www3.open.ac.uk/events/7/2005118_40887_nr.doc announced] that they're moving to Moodle as their institutional VLE, and there are plenty of other [[Large_installations|large institutions]] officially using Moodle, and a good number of others where sections are.

==Moodle is just not designed to cope with my specific group of learners or customers==
Moodle's being used successfully from elementary education, including early years provision, up to higher education, in all subject areas including art, languages, the humanities and mathematics. It's also established itself in the world of life-long learning, teachers' CPD and corporate training.

==We have all our stuff on *******, it’s just not worth the hassle of switching to Moodle==
The switch may not be that much of a hassle, as Moodle will happily import content in a wide range of standard formats, including SCORM. There are an increasing number of Further and Higher Education institutions that are making the move.

Pedagogically, there's much to be gained from moving to a VLE which puts social, collaborative learning at the centre, and acknowledges the vital role that learners have to play, as well as providing teachers with the tools that they need to build effective on-line learning communities, rather than just presenting resources and activities.

From a financial perspective, the costs involved in switching to Moodle should be quickly recouped through savings in licence fees.
[[Category:Core]]
[[es:Los 10 mitos de Moodle]]