MoodleDocs - User contributions [en]

Adding/editing a hotpot

2012-03-12T11:14:47Z

Ghanson: Added title

{{Hotpot}}
==Installing the HotPot Module==

#First, download and install Hot Potatoes software on your PC: http://hotpot.uvic.ca/#downloads
#Next create the Hot Potatoes quizzes on your PC: http://hotpot.uvic.ca/wintutor6/tutorial.htm
#Install HotPot module on your Moodle site
##download from http://bateson.kanazawa-gu.ac.jp/moodle/zip/moodle-20.hotpot-module.zip
##unzip file - creates folder called "moodle-20.hotpot-module"
##upload subfolderfolders of "moodle-20.hotpot-module"
###mod/hotpot - upload this to "mod/hotpot" on your Moodle site
###question/format/hotpot - upload this to "question/format/hotpot" on your Moodle site
#Add HotPot activity to your Moodle course
##Login to Moodle, and navigate to a course page
##Enable "Edit mode" on course page
##Locate course topic/week where you wish to add the Hot Potatoes exercise
##Select "HotPot" from "Add an activity" menu
##Next to "Source file name" click "Add" button
##Click "Upload a file", then "Browse" to the Hot Potatoes file on your PC
##Click "Upload this file"
##Review other settings
##Click "Save changes" at bottom of page

Note: If you have a lot of Hot Potatoes quizzes to upload, you may save time by zipping them all up into a single file, uploading that to Moodle and then unzipping it there.

==Relative URLs in Hot Potatoes quizzes==

Definitions:

* URL - The address of an internet resource, such as a webpage, image or sound file
* Absolute URL - A URL that begins with "http://" is called an absolute URL. Wherever it is used, it always refers to the same target resource.
* Relative URL - A URL that does not begin with "http://" is called a relative URL. It can be combined with the absolute URL of a "base" page, to get the absolute URL of the target resource.

Relative URLs are a convenient way to specify images, sounds and videos in a Hot Potatoes quiz, because they allow the quiz to be viewed and tested on a local PC, before being uploaded to a Moodle site. When the quiz is uploaded to the Moodle site, the multimedia files must also be uploaded, so that they are available when the quiz is administered via Moodle.

For security reasons, Moodle does not allow direct access to course files. All requests for files in a given course go through a guardian script which verifies that the person requesting the file is enrolled in the course. However, this mechanism can break relative links used in the quiz, because the normal rules for deriving an absolute URL from a relative URL do not work.

The solution is simple enough: all relative URLs must be converted to absolute URLs by the time the quiz reaches the browser. In the case of Hot Potatoes quizzes, the URLs will be converted by Moodle, so content creators do not have to bother with this tedious and error-prone task.

==Media players in Hot Potatoes quizzes==

Some media players will not accept the media file if it comes via the script which guards the course files. In this situation, it is necessary to replace the media player with one that is known to be compatible with Moodle. You can do this yourself by modifying the reference to the media player in the quiz, or you can force Moodle to do it by setting the "Force media plugins" option on the quiz's settings page to "Yes".

[[es:Agregar un Hot potatoes]]
[[fr:Ajouter/Modifier un module Hot Potatoes]]
[[de:HotPot-Test anlegen]]

Adding/editing a hotpot

2012-03-12T11:02:45Z

Ghanson: Updated to latest instructions

{{Hotpot}}

#First, download and install Hot Potatoes software on your PC: http://hotpot.uvic.ca/#downloads
#Next create the Hot Potatoes quizzes on your PC: http://hotpot.uvic.ca/wintutor6/tutorial.htm
#Install HotPot module on your Moodle site
##download from http://bateson.kanazawa-gu.ac.jp/moodle/zip/moodle-20.hotpot-module.zip
##unzip file - creates folder called "moodle-20.hotpot-module"
##upload subfolderfolders of "moodle-20.hotpot-module"
###mod/hotpot - upload this to "mod/hotpot" on your Moodle site
###question/format/hotpot - upload this to "question/format/hotpot" on your Moodle site
#Add HotPot activity to your Moodle course
##Login to Moodle, and navigate to a course page
##Enable "Edit mode" on course page
##Locate course topic/week where you wish to add the Hot Potatoes exercise
##Select "HotPot" from "Add an activity" menu
##Next to "Source file name" click "Add" button
##Click "Upload a file", then "Browse" to the Hot Potatoes file on your PC
##Click "Upload this file"
##Review other settings
##Click "Save changes" at bottom of page

Note: If you have a lot of Hot Potatoes quizzes to upload, you may save time by zipping them all up into a single file, uploading that to Moodle and then unzipping it there.

==Relative URLs in Hot Potatoes quizzes==

Definitions:

* URL - The address of an internet resource, such as a webpage, image or sound file
* Absolute URL - A URL that begins with "http://" is called an absolute URL. Wherever it is used, it always refers to the same target resource.
* Relative URL - A URL that does not begin with "http://" is called a relative URL. It can be combined with the absolute URL of a "base" page, to get the absolute URL of the target resource.

Relative URLs are a convenient way to specify images, sounds and videos in a Hot Potatoes quiz, because they allow the quiz to be viewed and tested on a local PC, before being uploaded to a Moodle site. When the quiz is uploaded to the Moodle site, the multimedia files must also be uploaded, so that they are available when the quiz is administered via Moodle.

For security reasons, Moodle does not allow direct access to course files. All requests for files in a given course go through a guardian script which verifies that the person requesting the file is enrolled in the course. However, this mechanism can break relative links used in the quiz, because the normal rules for deriving an absolute URL from a relative URL do not work.

The solution is simple enough: all relative URLs must be converted to absolute URLs by the time the quiz reaches the browser. In the case of Hot Potatoes quizzes, the URLs will be converted by Moodle, so content creators do not have to bother with this tedious and error-prone task.

==Media players in Hot Potatoes quizzes==

Some media players will not accept the media file if it comes via the script which guards the course files. In this situation, it is necessary to replace the media player with one that is known to be compatible with Moodle. You can do this yourself by modifying the reference to the media player in the quiz, or you can force Moodle to do it by setting the "Force media plugins" option on the quiz's settings page to "Yes".

[[es:Agregar un Hot potatoes]]
[[fr:Ajouter/Modifier un module Hot Potatoes]]
[[de:HotPot-Test anlegen]]

Installing AMP

2011-05-07T11:19:26Z

Ghanson: /* Vista and Windows 7 */

AMP, stands for '''A'''pache, '''M'''ySQL & '''P'''HP. Moodle is written in a scripting language called [[PHP]] and stores most of its data in a database. The recommended database is [[MySQL]]. Before installing Moodle you must have a working PHP installation and a working database to turn your computer into a functional web server platform. As individual applications, [[Apache]], MySQL and PHP can be tricky to set up for average computer users. Moodle uses one of the AMP programs to make the process easier. When you install a Moodle AMP package it installs both the server, database, PHP and Moodle itself with their basic interconnections already made.

In 2008, Moodle is rolled into XAMPP (which includes Perl) in the [http://download.moodle.org/windows Windows complete package] and into MAMP for the [http://download.moodle.org/macosx Mac OS complete package]. Of course, the [http://download.moodle.org Standard install packages] contains just the Moodle program.

:'''TIP:'''Installing Moodle '''for the first time''' on a [[Localhost|localhost]] (a stand alone computer) is easy and can be a very useful tool even if a web based production Moodle Server is available for use.

== Mac OS X - MAMP==
[[Complete Install Packages for Mac OS X]] are named Moodle4Mac. These do not have sufficient security for public, production servers--only use for private, local testing purposes.

These packages allow Moodle to be installed, along with the prerequisites that includes a web server, database and scripting language (Apache, MySQL and PHP in this case). Several versions of the complete install package are available. You will find versions for Intel based Macs and for older PPC based Macs. Please use the correct version for your processor.

[[Installing_AMP#Mac_OS_without_the_complete_install|See below]] if you want a secure, public server with OS X. This will use the web server that comes preinstalled with every Mac Computer.

See also [[Step-by-step Guide for Installing Moodle on Mac OS X 10.4 Client]].

== Red Hat Linux ==
You should install all available RPM packages for Apache, PHP and MySQL. One package that people frequently forget is the php-mysql package which is necessary for PHP to talk to MySQL.

Once these are installed the standard [[Installing Moodle|Installation guide]] should be fairly straightforward.

A more detailed walkthrough is here: [[RedHat Linux installation]]

== Windows - XAMPP ==
For a complete description of installing an XAMPP webserver and then adding your own standard windows Moodle install package see [[Windows installation using XAMPP]].

'''NOTE:''' There is a difference between the XAMPP Installer used in the Moodle/Windows/XAMPP installation package and the XAMPP webserver.
[[Complete install packages for Windows|The complete install package page]] has detailed instructions for a Windows installation using XAMPP and there is the [https://docs.moodle.org/en/Xampp_Installer_FAQ XAMPP Installer FAQ].

=== Tips and Tricks for Windows XAMPP ===
There are lots of ways to start a Moodle after an install. Most Moodlers will have one or more "localhost" links on their computer installed in "Favorites" or even as a browser's default opening screen. But first a web server has to be started. Here are two ways to start them.

==== Automatic Windows services startup ====
In order to make starting Moodle more convenient in the future you could install the web and database servers as Windows services that are started automatically. To do this go to Start -> Run... and type the command "c:/moodle/server/service.exe -install" into Open box. Then click OK.

Start Moodle by typing localhost in the web browser and/or adding localhost as a favorite site.

==== Single button service startups ====
Use the "xampp_start" or "xampp_restart" to start your webserver. You can install multiple localhost webservers on a computer. Each will have it's own start and restart programs.
* Create a shortcut on the start menu, favorites or desktop that points to each specific file like <nowiki>c:\Moodle19\restart_xampp.bat</nowiki> . Label each shortcut to a localhost differently, for example C_Moodle19, or Moodle16 or MoodleSchool.

Start Moodle by placing localhost in the web browser or adding it as a favorite site. Whichever localhost you restarted, that is the Moodle your web browser will find.
* Use the xampp_restart program. It will automatically close any running webserver on your computer before it starts the version of Moodle you want to run.
* Use any xampp_stop to close any running webserver on your computer.

=== EasyPHP - similar to XAMPP ===
As an alternative to the above package you could use a package like EasyPHP that bundles all the software you need into a single Windows application. Note that the EasyPHP 1.8 uses older versions of the software that are too old for Moodle 1.6. Also many menus for EasyPHP are still in French. EasyPHP may be a good option again once its version 2.0 is released.

=== Mac OS without the complete install ===
It is possible to use the [[Apache]] server that Apple provides, and add PHP and MySQL using Marc Liyanage's packages. Both of the pages below come with good instructions that we won't duplicate here:

* '''PHP''': Download from here: http://www.entropy.ch/software/macosx/php/
* '''MySQL''': Download here: http://www.entropy.ch/software/macosx/mysql/

Once these are installed the standard [[Installing Moodle|Installation guide]] should be fairly straightforward.

Go here for a [[Step-by-step Guide for Installing Moodle on Mac OS X 10.4 Client]] (not server).

=== IIS for Windows ===
Here you can find steps for an [[IIS]]: [[Windows installation]] for XAMPP or Windows 2003.

=== Hosting Service ===
Hosting services vary quite a lot in the way they work. Some will install Moodle for you. Others may have "scripts" that you can choose that can add Moodle to your site.

Most will offer a web-based control panel to control your site, create databases and set up cron. Some may also offer terminal access via ssh, so that you can use the command shell to do things.

You should work your way through the [[Installing Moodle|Installation guide]] and take each step at a time. Ask your hosting provider if you get stuck. Remember, you will not use a Complete install package from Moodle, but rather one of the Generic packages if you already have a webserver.

== Testing PHP ==
Once you have installed your web server and PHP you should be able to create a file (for example phpinfo.php in the document root) with the following in it:

<?php phpinfo()?>

You should be able to open this file in a web browser by going to to the URL '''localhost/phpinfo''' and see a web page that has PHP status information in it such as [[phpinfo|this]].

==Vista and Windows 7==

Many people have trouble installing the stand alone local [http://download.moodle.org/windows/ Moodle for Windows] on Vista and Windows 7.

There are several solutions:

- A simple one is to use http://bitnami.org/stack/moodle

- Another solution is to look at these videos at [http://www.sebastiansulinski.co.uk/web_design_tutorials/tutorial/7/install_apache_php_and_mysql_on_windows_vista Sebastian Sulinski Design] for Windows Vista.

- Also, the page at [http://www.webdevelopersnotes.com/how-do-i/install-apache-windows-7.php Web Developer's Notes] outlines how you can install an AMP on windows 7.
Installing Moodle from there should be considerably easier.

- It's also easy to install a [http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html Xampp server] and then a [http://download.moodle.org/ Standard Moodle Package] Note: '''''not''''' Moodle for Windows.

== See also ==
* [[Installing Moodle]]
* [[Installation FAQ]]
* [[Xampp Installer FAQ]]
* [[Upgrading Moodle]]
* [[Debian GNU/Linux installation]]
* [[Complete install packages]], also includes instructions for creating a stand alone (localhost) installation on a single computer.

[[Category:Installation]]

[[es:Instalación AMP]]
[[fr:Installation de AMP]]
[[ja:AMPのインストール]]
[[ru:Установка AMP]]
[[pl:Instalacja AMP]]
[[de:Installation von Apache, MySQL und PHP]]

Forum activity

2010-10-21T07:50:21Z

Ghanson: /* Caveat: */

{{Forums}}
Forums [[Teacher_documentation#Activity_modules|activities]] can contribute significantly to successful communication and community building in an online environment. You can use forums for many innovative purposes in educational settings, but teaching forums and student forums are arguably the two more significant distinctions.

==Guidelines for Teaching and Learning Forums==

When you decide to use a discussion forum as an activity in an e-learning environment it is important to be aware that your time will be needed in some sense in order to make the activity successful. If your goal is to encourage discussion, the forum will only work if:

a) '''participants feel there is a need/reason to participate and they will gain something from the experience.''' Incentives for learning, gathering support, etc. should be explored and encouraged early on in order to clearly convey the purpose of the forum to others. Anyone considering offering grades or marks for participation is advised to think very carefully about the difference between quantity and quality of discussions in forums.

b) a sense of community and purpose can be fostered amongst participants. This sense of community can be fostered through tutor/teacher initiative and scaffolding, or primarily through the students/participants themselves depending on the intentions of the activity.

==Selecting forum type==

Moodle has four kinds of forums each with a slightly different [[Viewing a forum|layout]] and purpose.

Which of the forums will best suit your needs for a particular activity? In order to answer this question it is useful to think how you might lead such a discussion in a face-to-face environment. Would you throw the question out to the class and sit back to observe them in their answers? Or would you break them up into smaller groups first and ask them to have discussions with a partner before bringing them back to the main group? Or perhaps you would like to keep them focused on a particular aspect of a question and ensure that they do not wander away from the topic at hand? All of the above approaches are both valid and useful, depending on your learning outcomes, and you can replicate all of them in Moodle forums.

===A standard forum for general use===
The standard forum ([[Viewing_a_forum#Standard_forum_for_general_use|view here]]) probably most useful for large discussions that you intend to monitor/guide or for social forums that are student led. This does not mean that you need to make a new posting for each reply in each topic although, in order to ensure that discussion does not get 'out of control', you may need to be prepared to spend a significant amount of time finding the common threads amongst the various discussions and weaving them together. Providing overall remarks for particular topics can also be a key aspect of your responsibilities in the discussion. Alternatively, you could ask students to summarize discussion topics at agreed points, once a week or when a thread comes to an agreed conclusion. Such a learner-centred approach may be particularly useful once the online community has been established and, perhaps, when you have modeled the summarizing process.

===A single simple discussion===
The simple forum ([[Viewing_a_forum#A_single_simple_discussion|view here]]) is most useful for short/time-limited discussion on a single subject or topic. This kind of forum is very productive if you are interested in keeping students focused on a particular issue.

===Each person posts one discussion===
This forum ([[Viewing_a_forum#Each_person_posts_one_discussion|view here]]) is most useful when you want to achieve a happy medium between a large discussion and a short and focused discussion. A single discussion topic per person allows students a little more freedom than a single discussion forum, but not as much as a standard forum where each student can create as many topics as he or she wishes. Successful forums of this selection can be active, yet focused, as students are not limited in the number of times they can respond to others within threads.

===Question and Answer forum===
The Q & A forum ([[Viewing_a_forum#Question_and_Answer_forum|view here]]) is best used when you have a particular question that you wish to have answered. In a Q and A forum, tutors post the question and students respond with possible answers. By default a Q and A forum requires students to post once before viewing other students' postings. After the initial posting, students can view and respond to others' postings. This feature allows equal initial posting opportunity among all students, thus encouraging original and independent thinking.

====Caveat:====
A student can post in Q&A forum, then have a look at other posts, and then have the editing time (usually 30 minutes) to edit their own post in the light of what they read of others' posts. In effect this waters down the intent of this setting for the forum. The bug tracker reference is here: http://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-9376

====Tips for Question and Answer====
When the Question and Answer mode is selected, Moodle hides the replies to the initial thread post by the teacher but not the entire forum itself.

:''Tip:'' Post each question as a thread in the forum and then have students post replies to the question. In this fashion, Moodle will protect the replies from being viewable (subject to the caveat above) by other students but allow the initial post/thread visible for reply by all students.

:''Tip:'' Do not post the question in the forum summary because every student answer will become a thread and visible to all students. In this scenario, it may appear as if the Question and Answer forum is not working correctly, since the new initial posts in the thread are intentionally designed not to be hidden, just their replies.

:''Tip:'' If you have set up groups for your forum the facilitator needs to post a question to each of the groups and not to 'all participants' as questions asked of all participants (students) are able to be read by ALL students. Questions posed to group members are only visible to those group members and replies are only visible once a group member has posted a message.

==Concepts for use in forums==
===Participation and Scaffolding ===

Whilst one of the great advantages of e-learning is the flexibility it affords participants, this does not mean that days or weeks should pass without response and discussion in a forum (unless it is appropriate for it to do so). This is perhaps most especially true at the beginning of a course or programme when students and tutors are new to each other and in need of welcome messages/encouragement. Whilst e-learning, and discussions in particular, can support learning that is not always tutor/teacher-centred, your role will be important, especially as an online community begins to develop. It is during these initial stages of introductory material that a group of students can become a community of participants who begin to grow in their understandings of course material and individual contributions to the knowledge construction process.

As the discussions progress and learners become accustomed to the mechanics and the tone of the forums then there are key ways in which your input can be reduced, thereby helping to foster a community that is less dependent on the tutor/teacher. Even then, however, you will probably want to be a presence in the discussions although you may choose to be one of many contributors rather than the font of all wisdom.

===Commitment and Participation===

Ask yourself if

# you wish to have involvement in the forum or if you want the students to lead and own the space
# you want the forum to add value to the face to face environment or have a life of its own in its own right outside the lecture theatre/classroom or seminar room
# you are prepared to make appropriate contributions to the discussion in order to:
## encourage discussion if students are quiet
## help shape ideas if students begin to wander off-task
## your role will be defined as discussions/a course progresses
## you will explicitly but gradually relinquish control of the discussions
## you will encourage and support learners to share control of discussions(for example you might ask a learner/group of learners to summarise contributions to a discussion thread/topic or you might ask learners to initiate discussion topics)

===Student Centered Forums===

With the growing popularity of social networking software like Facebook, Bebo, MySpace and the like, students are leaving schools and coming to Higher and Further Education with a new technological sophistication and with new expectations for communication. And as school, colleges and universities recognise that reflective and life long learning are significant goals in education, student centered learning and the creation of student centered spaces online are also gaining credence in educational settings. We know that effective learning requires access to social and academic networks for both study material and emotional support; as such, online communities can offer a holistic knowledge construction and support mechanism and recognize that affective activity is effective.

Social forums, often called ‘Virtual Cafes’ or ‘Common Rooms’ can be set up for courses or for programmes, depending on the student need. Such spaces provide a common area for students to come together and discuss unlimited topics, including social activities and educational ideas. They are supportive spaces for students, most successful with large first and second year courses where students would not otherwise have the opportunity to communicate with others outside their own tutorial group. It is arguable that students will experience a greater sense of community within and a sense of belonging to an educational institution or individual department having had the experience and convenience of the social forum on their course; this could arguably have implications for retention.

These spaces are typically highly active, especially in first term. Depending on your institution, they are usually self monitored by students, who understand that the same ‘rules’ and ‘netiquette’ that apply to them within any computing space, also apply in Moodle.

===The News Forum===

Moodle courses automatically generate a [[News forum]] which defaults to automatically subscribe all participants in a course. The name of the News Forum can be changed to something more appropriate, such as ‘Important Announcements’ or the like. This is a useful feature and many use this forum in a Moodle course to announce exam dates, times or changes to exams, lectures or seminars, as well as important information about course work throughout a term or special announcements relating to events.

===Teacher/Tutor forums===

''Prior to Moodle 1.7, each course had a teacher forum, accessible via a link in the course administration block.''

A teacher/tutor-only forum may be added to a course by creating a hidden forum. Teachers are able to view hidden course activities whereas students cannot.

==Some forum suggestions to consider==

#If your course is at a distance, if your face to face time is limited, or if you just wish to foster a sense of community in your Moodle course which supplements your face to face course, it is good practice to begin with a welcome or introductory message or thread in one of your forums. This welcome or introduction from you invites participants, for example, to post some specific details to introduce themselves to you and their peers. This can be your icebreaker or you can have an icebreaker separately.
#If you have two questions for participants to answer, starting the two strands or topics within the forum itself will both help learners to see where to put their responses, and remind them to answer all parts of your question.
#Remember that you are communicating in an environment that does not have the benefit of verbal tone, eye contact, body language and the like. Careful consideration of your communication is, therefore, necessary.
#Postings to a forum are always written but they can take different forms and you may wish to consider what form best suits the activity. For instance, you might choose to articulate a form of contribution in order to be explicit. Thus you might say, 'This is a think-aloud forum in which, together, we will try to tease out ideas and possibilities' or 'This is a formal forum in which you are invited to share your ideas on (topic)' and, where you select the latter, you might have already suggested learners plan those ideas offline or in another kind of activity within Moodle.
#Create a forum where only the teacher can start discussions, but the students can only reply. Each thread you start contains an essay question (or several similar ones). The students make a bullet point plan for the essay and post it as a reply. This works well as a revision strategy as the students can see how others have approached the same task. Once everyone has posted their plan, you can start a discussion as to which plans seem better and why. Creating a scale to use for rating the posts can be useful so that the students can see how helpful other people think their effort were. (Note: At this time, there is no option to hide the "Add new discussion topic" button, so you need to tell your students not to start discussion threads, but to only reply to threads started by the teacher. If you only need one thread, then you can use the "a single simple discussion" format and the "Add new discussion topic" button is not available to the students.)

===Grading forums===
The teacher can use the [[Forum ratings|ratings]] [[Scales|scales]] to [[Grades|grade]] student activities in a forum. There are several methods for calculating the grade for a forum that can be found in the [[Adding/editing_a_forum#Grade|Forum settings under grades]]. There are 5 ways in Moodle 1.9 to [[Adding/editing_a_forum#Aggregate_type|aggregate ratings]] automatically to calculate a forum grade for the [[Gradebook]]. These include: Average, Max, Min, Count and Sum.

*In older versions of Moodle, only the average aggregate function was available. Teachers often use the Assignment module as a work around in order to manually calculate and then manually give a grade for a specific or all forum activities. The Forum grade would appear in the gradebook as an assignment, called for example "Weather forum participation".

===Best Practice and shared discussions===
*There are lots of discussions about Forum best use and Forum assessment in the Teaching Strategies Forum http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=41.

*A useful discussion about Forum assessment can be found here http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=66008.

== See also ==

* [[Using Moodle book]] Chapter 5: Forums, Chats, and Messaging
* Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?f=116 Forum module]

Using Moodle forum discussions:
* [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=5367 The philosophy underlying "no editing after 30 minutes"]
* [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=66008 Best Practices for grading discussions]
* [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=88000 Two Courses, One Forum?]
* [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=93304 Using a forum for 1 to 1 teaching]
* [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=95470 Technicalities of managing a Forum]

[[Category:Modules]]

[[de:Forum]]
[[es:Foros]]
[[eu:Foroak]]
[[fr:Forum]]
[[it:Modulo forum]]
[[ja:フォーラムモジュール]]

Installing AMP

2010-07-27T07:26:17Z

Ghanson:

AMP, stands for '''A'''pache, '''M'''ySQL & '''P'''HP. Moodle is written in a scripting language called [[PHP]] and stores most of its data in a database. The recommended database is [[MySQL]]. Before installing Moodle you must have a working PHP installation and a working database to turn your computer into a functional web server platform. As individual applications, [[Apache]], MySQL and PHP can be tricky to set up for average computer users. Moodle uses one of the AMP programs to make the process easier. When you install a Moodle AMP package it installs both the server, database, PHP and Moodle itself with their basic interconnections already made.

In 2008, Moodle is rolled into XAMPP (which includes Perl) in the [http://download.moodle.org/windows Windows complete package] and into MAMP for the [http://download.moodle.org/macosx Mac OS complete package]. Of course, the [http://download.moodle.org Standard install packages] contains just the Moodle program.

:'''TIP:'''Installing Moodle '''for the first time''' on a [[Localhost|localhost]] (a stand alone computer) is easy and can be a very useful tool even if a web based production Moodle Server is available for use.

== Mac OS X - MAMP==
[[Complete Install Packages for Mac OS X]] are named Moodle4Mac. These do not have sufficient security for public, production servers--only use for private, local testing purposes.

These packages allow Moodle to be installed, along with the prerequisites that includes a web server, database and scripting language (Apache, MySQL and PHP in this case). Several versions of the complete install package are available. You will find versions for Intel based Macs and for older PPC based Macs. Please use the correct version for your processor.

[[Installing_AMP#Mac_OS_without_the_complete_install|See below]] if you want a secure, public server with OS X. This will use the web server that comes preinstalled with every Mac Computer.

See also [[Step-by-step Guide for Installing Moodle on Mac OS X 10.4 Client]].

== Red Hat Linux ==
You should install all available RPM packages for Apache, PHP and MySQL. One package that people frequently forget is the php-mysql package which is necessary for PHP to talk to MySQL.

Once these are installed the standard [[Installing Moodle|Installation guide]] should be fairly straightforward.

A more detailed walkthrough is here: [[RedHat Linux installation]]

== Windows - XAMPP ==
For a complete description of installing an XAMPP webserver and then adding your own standard windows Moodle install package see [[Windows installation using XAMPP]].

'''NOTE:''' There is a difference between the XAMPP Installer used in the Moodle/Windows/XAMPP installation package and the XAMPP webserver.
[[Complete install packages for Windows|The complete install package page]] has detailed instructions for a Windows installation using XAMPP and there is the [https://docs.moodle.org/en/Xampp_Installer_FAQ XAMPP Installer FAQ].

=== Tips and Tricks for Windows XAMPP ===
There are lots of ways to start a Moodle after an install. Most Moodlers will have one or more "localhost" links on their computer installed in "Favorites" or even as a browser's default opening screen. But first a web server has to be started. Here are two ways to start them.

==== Automatic Windows services startup ====
In order to make starting Moodle more convenient in the future you could install the web and database servers as Windows services that are started automatically. To do this go to Start -> Run... and type the command "c:/moodle/server/service.exe -install" into Open box. Then click OK.

Start Moodle by typing localhost in the web browser and/or adding localhost as a favorite site.

==== Single button service startups ====
Use the "xampp_start" or "xampp_restart" to start your webserver. You can install multiple localhost webservers on a computer. Each will have it's own start and restart programs.
* Create a shortcut on the start menu, favorites or desktop that points to each specific file like <nowiki>c:\Moodle19\restart_xampp.bat</nowiki> . Label each shortcut to a localhost differently, for example C_Moodle19, or Moodle16 or MoodleSchool.

Start Moodle by placing localhost in the web browser or adding it as a favorite site. Whichever localhost you restarted, that is the Moodle your web browser will find.
* Use the xampp_restart program. It will automatically close any running webserver on your computer before it starts the version of Moodle you want to run.
* Use any xampp_stop to close any running webserver on your computer.

=== EasyPHP - similar to XAMPP ===
As an alternative to the above package you could use a package like EasyPHP that bundles all the software you need into a single Windows application. Note that the EasyPHP 1.8 uses older versions of the software that are too old for Moodle 1.6. Also many menus for EasyPHP are still in French. EasyPHP may be a good option again once its version 2.0 is released.

=== Mac OS without the complete install ===
It is possible to use the [[Apache]] server that Apple provides, and add PHP and MySQL using Marc Liyanage's packages. Both of the pages below come with good instructions that we won't duplicate here:

* '''PHP''': Download from here: http://www.entropy.ch/software/macosx/php/
* '''MySQL''': Download here: http://www.entropy.ch/software/macosx/mysql/

Once these are installed the standard [[Installing Moodle|Installation guide]] should be fairly straightforward.

Go here for a [[Step-by-step Guide for Installing Moodle on Mac OS X 10.4 Client]] (not server).

=== IIS for Windows ===
Here you can find steps for an [[IIS]]: [[Windows installation]] for XAMPP or Windows 2003.

=== Hosting Service ===
Hosting services vary quite a lot in the way they work. Some will install Moodle for you. Others may have "scripts" that you can choose that can add Moodle to your site.

Most will offer a web-based control panel to control your site, create databases and set up cron. Some may also offer terminal access via ssh, so that you can use the command shell to do things.

You should work your way through the [[Installing Moodle|Installation guide]] and take each step at a time. Ask your hosting provider if you get stuck. Remember, you will not use a Complete install package from Moodle, but rather one of the Generic packages if you already have a webserver.

== Testing PHP ==
Once you have installed your web server and PHP you should be able to create a file (for example phpinfo.php in the document root) with the following in it:

<?php phpinfo()?>

You should be able to open this file in a web browser by going to to the URL '''localhost/phpinfo''' and see a web page that has PHP status information in it such as [[phpinfo|this]].

==Vista and Windows 7==

Many people have trouble installing the stand alone local packages for Windows on Vista and Windows 7.

One simple solution is to use http://bitnami.org/stack/moodsle (from amazon.com).

== See also ==
* [[Installing Moodle]]
* [[Installation FAQ]]
* [[Xampp Installer FAQ]]
* [[Upgrading Moodle]]
* [[Debian GNU/Linux installation]]
* [[Complete install packages]], also includes instructions for creating a stand alone (localhost) installation on a single computer.

[[Category:Installation]]

[[es:Instalación AMP]]
[[fr:Installation de AMP]]
[[ja:AMPのインストール]]
[[ru:Установка AMP]]
[[pl:Instalacja AMP]]
[[de:Installation von Apache, MySQL und PHP]]

Complete install packages for Windows

2010-07-27T07:21:02Z

Ghanson: /* Vista and Windows 7 */

Complete install packages are available from Moodle.org's [http://download.moodle.org/windows Windows download page]. The packages are designed for new installations on a standalone computer. The complete install package can be used on a server, but it is not recommended that it be used as a production site. Please note Moodle.org's [http://download.moodle.org Standard install packages] only contain the Moodle code.

This document provides instructions for using the Windows packages. Separate instructions are available for [[Complete Install Packages for Mac OS X|Mac OS X packages]].

The complete install packages allow Moodle to be installed, along with the prerequisites that includes a web server, Apache, database, MySQL, scripting language, PHP, an administration tool, phpMyAdmin and Moodle all wrapped in the Xampp-lite shell. Several versions of the complete install package are available. The instructions on the download page provide guidance on which version is likely to be most suitable.

In short, complete install packages are designed to create a matched webserver and Moodle site on a standalone computer with minimal effort.

==System requirements==
:*256 MB RAM (minimum), 512 MB RAM (recommended)
:*160 MB free Fixed Disk (more space will be needed depending on user uploads)
:*Windows 98/ME (minimum)
:*Windows NT/2000/XP (recommended)

==Install complete package process==
The complete install package is a zip file that contains a webserver called [[Apache]], plus Moodle and Moodle's required [[MySQL]] database and [[PHP]] program.

There are three basic parts to the this install process.
#Download and unpack the complete install package.
#Start the webserver.
#Install Moodle using a web browser.

===First create file structure===
====Download the package====
[http://download.moodle.org/windows Download Windows] packed-zip file from Moodle.
[[Image:Moodle Setup zipfile.jpg|frame|center|A downloaded complete install package Windows 1.9 zip file in Windows Explorer]]

====Unpack the package====
Unpack (extract files by clicking on) the zip file you downloaded to a drive or partition of your choice. The extract process will create three files ("Start Moodle", "Stop Moodle", and "README") and a subfolder called "server".
*Do NOT rename the "server" subfolder
:''Note:'' There will also be a folder under this server subfolder, called \moodle that holds the Moodle program.

:''TIP:'' Create a folder and extract the files there. For example, you might have one folder called Moodle193 and another one called Moodle187 for different versions or purposes.

:''TIP:'' Make path to "server" subfolder simple. Best way if it will be in drive root. Like "D:\moodle193\server". Long path especially with any strange symbols can make XAMPP not working properly.

===Second - start the webserver===
Now you are ready to start the webserver. Use the "Start Moodle.exe" file which you should find in the top directory. Once the "Start Moodle.exe" program is open, don't close it, use "Stop Moodle.exe" for that purpose.

:''Note:'' These programs control both Apache and MySQL programs that operate the webserver. Some sites will individually start and stop Apache and MySQL with the Xampp bat files found in the "server" subfolder.

:''Tip:'' Alternatively, on a stand alone computer with several potential webservers that might be running, you can use the "xampp_restart.exe" file in the "server" subfolder.

:''Tip:'' You can also add shortcuts to the commands that start and stop the site in your Windows "start" menu.

Now you are ready to start the Moodle installation.

:''Warning:'' Windows XP requires the msvcr71.dll library file in order to run Xampp. Installing the [http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=262D25E3-F589-4842-8157-034D1E7CF3A3&displaylang=en .Net 1.1 framework] (not .Net 2.0 and upper) could resolve it. You can also search for the file on Google, download it and copy it into the server/apache/bin folder.

===Third - start Moodle installation===
Start your web browser and type <nowiki> localhost, or http://127.0.0.1 or http://localhost </nowiki>in the address bar. You will either start your first time Moodle installation or if it is already installed you will enter the Moodle site's [[Front Page]] or Login screen.

:''Tip:'' After Moodle installs, put the site in your "favorites" or as a "bookmark" in you browser.

[[Image:Moodle_Setup_localhost_browser.jpg|frame|center|A browser's addressbar showing "localhost". Click on the green Goto arrow will go to the installed Moodle site.]]

:''Tip:'' After Moodle installs, put the site in your "favorites" or as a "bookmark" in you browser.

====Set language====
The initial install page will be displayed after you type "localhost".

[[Image:C Install Windows 1.png|thumb|center|600px|Set initial language]]

*Choose your preferred language (English is used in this example) and click the “Next” button.

====Diagnostic results====
A diagnostic report is displayed – hopefully it will look like this, if not you may need to address some issues.
[[Image:Complete Windows Install 2.png|thumb|center|546px|Moodle liked and gave a Pass ]]

*Click the “Next” button to continue.

====Moodle paths====
The paths for your Moodle installation are shown – if you are only using this as a local testing server, accept the ones that are shown on your screen.

What you enter in the "Web Address" field depends on what you intend to use the new Moodle installation for.
If you are just going to use it for local testing, then use 'http://localhost'.
If you are going to test the new installation on a LAN, and will be accessing it from other machines on that LAN, then put the private IP address or network name of the serving machine, followed by a forward slash and moodle: Web Address - http://192.168.1.1/moodle
If you are going to test the installation on the internet, then you will need to put the public ip address followed by a forward slash and moodle: http://your_ip_address/moodle or you can put your domain name here instead.

[[image:Complete install Windows 3.png|thumb|center|600px|Installation paths]]

*Click the “Next” button to continue.

====Database configuration====
*In the next fields, we enter the database settings. The fields are populated with some suggested values.

*We strongly recommend you place a user name and password in this screen. (Don't forget them).

*DO NOT USE THE “ROOT” USER WITHOUT A PASSWORD FOR PRODUCTION INSTALLATIONS AS THIS CREATES A SECURITY VULNERABILITY
[[image:Complete install Windows 4.png|thumb|center|535px|Installation's database settings]]

*When the fields have been populated, click the “Next” button to continue.

====Check server====
The install process checks the server it installed.
[[image:Complete install Windows 5.png|thumb|center|535px|Check server environment screen]]
*Click the “Next” button to continue.

====Confirm initial language pack====
Moodle will now check to see if the language pack is available for the language you selected at the first step. If it is not, Moodle will continue with the install in English.
[[image:Complete install Windows 6.png|thumb|center|535px|Language pack check]]

====Confirm config.php====
Provided the Moodle folder is writable, a message confirming the configuration has been completed will be displayed.
[[image:Complete install Windows 7.png|thumb|center|549px|Confirmation that config.php has been created]]

*Click the “ Continue” button to proceed.

====Moodle copyright & agreement====
The Moodle copyright / license notices are displayed.

[[image:Complete install Windows 8.png|thumb|center|400px|Copyright notice and agreement]]

*Click the “Yes” button to continue.

====Current release and unattended option====
The current release information is shown.
'''Check off the unattended operations box'''. This will automatically advance through many screens. If you would like to watch the install screen by screen, do not check this box and be prepared to press the "continute button" many times.

*Click the "Continue" button and wait.
[[Image:Complete install Windows 9.png|thumb|center|600px|Current release and "unattended" check box]]

====Installation modules and blocks screens====
In most cases this will be followed by a series of screens that have a continue button on the bottom. This process stops with Admin user profile settings which needs to be filled out.

====Administrator user profile====
[[Image:Complete install Windows 10.png|thumb|center|The administrator's users profile screen]]

Fill out the required fields.
*Click on "Save" to continue

====Front page settings====
The next screen is the Front Page settings page. There are two parts to it.
The first part will ask for your Full site name and a short name for the navigation bar. There is also a place for a description. You can change these later.

[[Image:Complete install Windows 11a.png|thumb|center|The Moodle sites [[Front Page]] information]]

The second part on the bottom instructs Moodle if you will disable the new user self [[authentication]] through email process. The default is to disable. This can be changed later in the [[Site administration block|site administration block]].

[[Image:Complete install Windows 11ba.png|thumb|center|500px|Determine if users can create their own profiles when they log onto the side via email self authentication]]

*Click on "Save changes" button to go to Moodle sites home page.

====Moodle on====
'''Now you are ready to Moodle !'''

[[Image:Complete install Windows 12.png|thumb|center|Blank Front page of your new site]]

The Site Administration block is on the left, the "Turn edit on" button in the upper right corner, withe the site description block just below it.

===Congratulations - Moodle has been installed===
This finishes the installation of a complete package. Type <nowiki>http://localhost</nowiki> (or what ever you set for web address earlier in the setup!) in your browser and Moodle will open.

Your next task will be to configure Moodle to meet your needs. Don't worry, it is easy to change any of the settings now that Moodle is up and running.
*The [[Site administration block]] is where most of the site configuration takes place. The
[[Administrator_documentation]]for links that help configure Moodle. The Administrator documentation page has a [[Administrator_documentation#Configuration|configuration section]].

==More tips and cautions==
*For installation on a Windows 2000 or Windows 2003 production server it is good practice to perform a manual install (see the manual installation section in [[Windows_installation|Windows Installation]]).

*After installing the Windows package, you may wish to add additional contributed modules and plugins. Theset may involve more customization of configuration files.

*The latest complete install package version components, may not be backwardly compatible. Always check version compatibility of each component if you intend to develop materials on a later version of Moodle than the version installed on your "main" Moodle site. In short, complete install packages are designed for first time install on a "clean" machine.

== Security matters (A MUST READ!)==

As mentioned before, XAMPP is not meant for production use but only for developers
in a development environment. The way XAMPP is configured is to be open as possible
and allowing the developer anything he/she wants. For development environments this
is great but in a production environment it could be fatal. Here a list of missing security
in XAMPP:

The MySQL administrator (root) has no password.
The MySQL daemon is accessible via network.
phpMyAdmin is accessible via network.
Examples are accessible via network.

To fix most of the security weaknesses simply call the following URL:

<nowiki>http://localhost/security/</nowiki>

The root password for MySQL + phpMyAdmin and also a XAMPP directory protection can be established here.

Note that on the Windows installer package, some (all?) of these issues have been fixed already by default and the above link does not work.

If in doubt, more info is [http://www.apachefriends.org/en/faq-xampp-windows.html here]

== Apache and MySQL tweaks ==
Most of the time it is not necessary to tweak Apache or MySQL after completing the complete install package. Nor is it necessary to individually start and stop them because that is what the Xampp_start, Xampp_restart and Xammp_stop files are for.

=== Installing Apache and MySQL as services===
(This is only for NT4 | Windows 2000 | Windows XP operating systems)

\xampplite\apache\apache_installservice.bat =
==> Install Apache 2 as service

\xampplite\apache\apache_uninstallservice.bat =
==> Uninstall Apache 2 as service

\xampplite\mysql\mysql_installservice.bat =
==> Install MySQL as service

\xampplite\mysql\mysql_uninstallservice.bat =
==> Uninstall MySQL as service

==> After all Service (un)installations, please restart your system!

===Apache Notes===

You can use the apache_start and apache_stop bat files to start and stop apache from running. However the Xampp_start or Xampp_restart and Xampp_stop is recommended to turn on/off both Apache and MySQL.

====Troubleshooting====

If you find that Apache is very flaky, with the page often not loading properly or even at all (especially on localhost), try adding these lines to the end of C:\your_moodle_installer_directory\apache\conf\httpd.conf

EnableSendfile Off
EnableMMAP Off
Win32DisableAcceptEx

If You edit some .php files but browser still show old state of them, try to disable eAccelerator extension in \server\php\php.ini

[eAccelerator]
;extension=eaccelerator.dll

===MySQL notes===
Again, the recommendation to start and stop the entire webserver is to use the xampp_start or Xampp_restart and the Xampp_stop. The following maybe useful if you wish to tweak the system further. Please be careful.

(1) The MySQL server can be started by double-clicking (executing) mysql_start.bat. This file can be found in the same folder you installed xampp in, most likely this will be C:\xampplite\. The exact path to this file is X:\xampplite\mysql_start.bat, where "X" indicates the letter of the drive you unpacked xampp into.This batch file starts the MySQL server in console mode. The first intialization might take a few minutes.

Do not close the DOS window or you'll crash the server! To stop the server, please use mysql_shutdown.bat, which is located in the same directory.

(2) To use the MySQL Daemon with "innodb" for better performance,
please edit the "my" (or "my.cnf") file in the /xampplite/mysql/bin directory or for services the c:\my.cnf for windows NT/2000/XP. In that director, activate the
"innodb_data_file_path=ibdata1:30M"
statement. Attention, "innodb" is not recommended for 95/98/ME.

:To use MySQL as Service for NT/2000/XP, simply copy the "my" / "my.cnf" file to C:\my, or C:\my.cnf. Please note that this file has to be placed in C:\ (root), other locations are not permitted. Then execute the "mysql_installservice.bat" in the mysql folder.

(3) MySQL starts with standard values for the user id and the password. The preset user id is "root", the password is "" (= no password). To access MySQL via PHP with the preset values, you'll have to use the following syntax:
mysql_connect("localhost","root","");
If you want to set a password for MySQL access, please use of mysqladmin.
To set the password "secret" for the user "root", type the following:

\xampplite\mysql\bin\mysqladmin -u root password secret

After changing the password you'll have to reconfigure phpMyAdmin to use the new password, otherwise it won't be able to access the databases. To do that, open the file config.inc.php in \xampplite\phpmyadmin\ and edit the following lines:

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['user'] = 'root'; // MySQL user
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['auth_type'] = 'http'; // HTTP authentificate

So first the 'root' password is queried by the MySQL server, before phpMyAdmin may access.

Have a lot of fun! Viel Spaß! Bonne Chance!

==Vista and Windows 7==

Many people have trouble installing the packages for Windows on Vista and Windows 7.

One simple solution is to use http://bitnami.org/stack/moodsle (from amazon.com).

==See also==
*[[Site administration block]] where most of the site configuration takes place
*[[Administrator_documentation]]for links that help configure Moodle.
**[[Administrator_documentation#Configuration|Administration configuration section]]
*[[Installation FAQ]]
*[https://docs.moodle.org/en/Xampp_Installer_FAQ Xampp Installer FAQ]
*[[Installation guide - Moodle for Windows on a USB Memory Stick]]
*Return to [[Windows installation]]
*[[Windows 1 computer many servers |Multiple web servers, on 1 computer]] similar to windows installation page, with some tips
*[https://docs.moodle.org/en/Windows_installation_using_XAMPP#Troubleshooting Troubleshooting]if you are running Skype.
*[[Installing_AMP]] lots of XAMPP stuff. XAMPP stands for X (cross platform), Apache, MySQL,PHP and Perl. XAMPP used in Moodle does not include Perl. MAMP stands for Mac, Apache, MySQL and PHP.
*[[Complete Install Packages for Mac OS X]]

[[es:Paquetes_para_Instalaci%C3%B3n_Completa]]
[[pl:Kompletne pakiety instalacyjne]]
[[de:Vollständiges Installationspaket für Windows]]

[[Category:Administrator]]
[[Category:Installation]]

Complete install packages for Windows

2010-07-27T07:19:44Z

Ghanson: Solutionfor Vista and Windows 7

Complete install packages are available from Moodle.org's [http://download.moodle.org/windows Windows download page]. The packages are designed for new installations on a standalone computer. The complete install package can be used on a server, but it is not recommended that it be used as a production site. Please note Moodle.org's [http://download.moodle.org Standard install packages] only contain the Moodle code.

This document provides instructions for using the Windows packages. Separate instructions are available for [[Complete Install Packages for Mac OS X|Mac OS X packages]].

The complete install packages allow Moodle to be installed, along with the prerequisites that includes a web server, Apache, database, MySQL, scripting language, PHP, an administration tool, phpMyAdmin and Moodle all wrapped in the Xampp-lite shell. Several versions of the complete install package are available. The instructions on the download page provide guidance on which version is likely to be most suitable.

In short, complete install packages are designed to create a matched webserver and Moodle site on a standalone computer with minimal effort.

==System requirements==
:*256 MB RAM (minimum), 512 MB RAM (recommended)
:*160 MB free Fixed Disk (more space will be needed depending on user uploads)
:*Windows 98/ME (minimum)
:*Windows NT/2000/XP (recommended)

==Install complete package process==
The complete install package is a zip file that contains a webserver called [[Apache]], plus Moodle and Moodle's required [[MySQL]] database and [[PHP]] program.

There are three basic parts to the this install process.
#Download and unpack the complete install package.
#Start the webserver.
#Install Moodle using a web browser.

===First create file structure===
====Download the package====
[http://download.moodle.org/windows Download Windows] packed-zip file from Moodle.
[[Image:Moodle Setup zipfile.jpg|frame|center|A downloaded complete install package Windows 1.9 zip file in Windows Explorer]]

====Unpack the package====
Unpack (extract files by clicking on) the zip file you downloaded to a drive or partition of your choice. The extract process will create three files ("Start Moodle", "Stop Moodle", and "README") and a subfolder called "server".
*Do NOT rename the "server" subfolder
:''Note:'' There will also be a folder under this server subfolder, called \moodle that holds the Moodle program.

:''TIP:'' Create a folder and extract the files there. For example, you might have one folder called Moodle193 and another one called Moodle187 for different versions or purposes.

:''TIP:'' Make path to "server" subfolder simple. Best way if it will be in drive root. Like "D:\moodle193\server". Long path especially with any strange symbols can make XAMPP not working properly.

===Second - start the webserver===
Now you are ready to start the webserver. Use the "Start Moodle.exe" file which you should find in the top directory. Once the "Start Moodle.exe" program is open, don't close it, use "Stop Moodle.exe" for that purpose.

:''Note:'' These programs control both Apache and MySQL programs that operate the webserver. Some sites will individually start and stop Apache and MySQL with the Xampp bat files found in the "server" subfolder.

:''Tip:'' Alternatively, on a stand alone computer with several potential webservers that might be running, you can use the "xampp_restart.exe" file in the "server" subfolder.

:''Tip:'' You can also add shortcuts to the commands that start and stop the site in your Windows "start" menu.

Now you are ready to start the Moodle installation.

:''Warning:'' Windows XP requires the msvcr71.dll library file in order to run Xampp. Installing the [http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=262D25E3-F589-4842-8157-034D1E7CF3A3&displaylang=en .Net 1.1 framework] (not .Net 2.0 and upper) could resolve it. You can also search for the file on Google, download it and copy it into the server/apache/bin folder.

===Third - start Moodle installation===
Start your web browser and type <nowiki> localhost, or http://127.0.0.1 or http://localhost </nowiki>in the address bar. You will either start your first time Moodle installation or if it is already installed you will enter the Moodle site's [[Front Page]] or Login screen.

:''Tip:'' After Moodle installs, put the site in your "favorites" or as a "bookmark" in you browser.

[[Image:Moodle_Setup_localhost_browser.jpg|frame|center|A browser's addressbar showing "localhost". Click on the green Goto arrow will go to the installed Moodle site.]]

:''Tip:'' After Moodle installs, put the site in your "favorites" or as a "bookmark" in you browser.

====Set language====
The initial install page will be displayed after you type "localhost".

[[Image:C Install Windows 1.png|thumb|center|600px|Set initial language]]

*Choose your preferred language (English is used in this example) and click the “Next” button.

====Diagnostic results====
A diagnostic report is displayed – hopefully it will look like this, if not you may need to address some issues.
[[Image:Complete Windows Install 2.png|thumb|center|546px|Moodle liked and gave a Pass ]]

*Click the “Next” button to continue.

====Moodle paths====
The paths for your Moodle installation are shown – if you are only using this as a local testing server, accept the ones that are shown on your screen.

What you enter in the "Web Address" field depends on what you intend to use the new Moodle installation for.
If you are just going to use it for local testing, then use 'http://localhost'.
If you are going to test the new installation on a LAN, and will be accessing it from other machines on that LAN, then put the private IP address or network name of the serving machine, followed by a forward slash and moodle: Web Address - http://192.168.1.1/moodle
If you are going to test the installation on the internet, then you will need to put the public ip address followed by a forward slash and moodle: http://your_ip_address/moodle or you can put your domain name here instead.

[[image:Complete install Windows 3.png|thumb|center|600px|Installation paths]]

*Click the “Next” button to continue.

====Database configuration====
*In the next fields, we enter the database settings. The fields are populated with some suggested values.

*We strongly recommend you place a user name and password in this screen. (Don't forget them).

*DO NOT USE THE “ROOT” USER WITHOUT A PASSWORD FOR PRODUCTION INSTALLATIONS AS THIS CREATES A SECURITY VULNERABILITY
[[image:Complete install Windows 4.png|thumb|center|535px|Installation's database settings]]

*When the fields have been populated, click the “Next” button to continue.

====Check server====
The install process checks the server it installed.
[[image:Complete install Windows 5.png|thumb|center|535px|Check server environment screen]]
*Click the “Next” button to continue.

====Confirm initial language pack====
Moodle will now check to see if the language pack is available for the language you selected at the first step. If it is not, Moodle will continue with the install in English.
[[image:Complete install Windows 6.png|thumb|center|535px|Language pack check]]

====Confirm config.php====
Provided the Moodle folder is writable, a message confirming the configuration has been completed will be displayed.
[[image:Complete install Windows 7.png|thumb|center|549px|Confirmation that config.php has been created]]

*Click the “ Continue” button to proceed.

====Moodle copyright & agreement====
The Moodle copyright / license notices are displayed.

[[image:Complete install Windows 8.png|thumb|center|400px|Copyright notice and agreement]]

*Click the “Yes” button to continue.

====Current release and unattended option====
The current release information is shown.
'''Check off the unattended operations box'''. This will automatically advance through many screens. If you would like to watch the install screen by screen, do not check this box and be prepared to press the "continute button" many times.

*Click the "Continue" button and wait.
[[Image:Complete install Windows 9.png|thumb|center|600px|Current release and "unattended" check box]]

====Installation modules and blocks screens====
In most cases this will be followed by a series of screens that have a continue button on the bottom. This process stops with Admin user profile settings which needs to be filled out.

====Administrator user profile====
[[Image:Complete install Windows 10.png|thumb|center|The administrator's users profile screen]]

Fill out the required fields.
*Click on "Save" to continue

====Front page settings====
The next screen is the Front Page settings page. There are two parts to it.
The first part will ask for your Full site name and a short name for the navigation bar. There is also a place for a description. You can change these later.

[[Image:Complete install Windows 11a.png|thumb|center|The Moodle sites [[Front Page]] information]]

The second part on the bottom instructs Moodle if you will disable the new user self [[authentication]] through email process. The default is to disable. This can be changed later in the [[Site administration block|site administration block]].

[[Image:Complete install Windows 11ba.png|thumb|center|500px|Determine if users can create their own profiles when they log onto the side via email self authentication]]

*Click on "Save changes" button to go to Moodle sites home page.

====Moodle on====
'''Now you are ready to Moodle !'''

[[Image:Complete install Windows 12.png|thumb|center|Blank Front page of your new site]]

The Site Administration block is on the left, the "Turn edit on" button in the upper right corner, withe the site description block just below it.

===Congratulations - Moodle has been installed===
This finishes the installation of a complete package. Type <nowiki>http://localhost</nowiki> (or what ever you set for web address earlier in the setup!) in your browser and Moodle will open.

Your next task will be to configure Moodle to meet your needs. Don't worry, it is easy to change any of the settings now that Moodle is up and running.
*The [[Site administration block]] is where most of the site configuration takes place. The
[[Administrator_documentation]]for links that help configure Moodle. The Administrator documentation page has a [[Administrator_documentation#Configuration|configuration section]].

==More tips and cautions==
*For installation on a Windows 2000 or Windows 2003 production server it is good practice to perform a manual install (see the manual installation section in [[Windows_installation|Windows Installation]]).

*After installing the Windows package, you may wish to add additional contributed modules and plugins. Theset may involve more customization of configuration files.

*The latest complete install package version components, may not be backwardly compatible. Always check version compatibility of each component if you intend to develop materials on a later version of Moodle than the version installed on your "main" Moodle site. In short, complete install packages are designed for first time install on a "clean" machine.

== Security matters (A MUST READ!)==

As mentioned before, XAMPP is not meant for production use but only for developers
in a development environment. The way XAMPP is configured is to be open as possible
and allowing the developer anything he/she wants. For development environments this
is great but in a production environment it could be fatal. Here a list of missing security
in XAMPP:

The MySQL administrator (root) has no password.
The MySQL daemon is accessible via network.
phpMyAdmin is accessible via network.
Examples are accessible via network.

To fix most of the security weaknesses simply call the following URL:

<nowiki>http://localhost/security/</nowiki>

The root password for MySQL + phpMyAdmin and also a XAMPP directory protection can be established here.

Note that on the Windows installer package, some (all?) of these issues have been fixed already by default and the above link does not work.

If in doubt, more info is [http://www.apachefriends.org/en/faq-xampp-windows.html here]

== Apache and MySQL tweaks ==
Most of the time it is not necessary to tweak Apache or MySQL after completing the complete install package. Nor is it necessary to individually start and stop them because that is what the Xampp_start, Xampp_restart and Xammp_stop files are for.

=== Installing Apache and MySQL as services===
(This is only for NT4 | Windows 2000 | Windows XP operating systems)

\xampplite\apache\apache_installservice.bat =
==> Install Apache 2 as service

\xampplite\apache\apache_uninstallservice.bat =
==> Uninstall Apache 2 as service

\xampplite\mysql\mysql_installservice.bat =
==> Install MySQL as service

\xampplite\mysql\mysql_uninstallservice.bat =
==> Uninstall MySQL as service

==> After all Service (un)installations, please restart your system!

===Apache Notes===

You can use the apache_start and apache_stop bat files to start and stop apache from running. However the Xampp_start or Xampp_restart and Xampp_stop is recommended to turn on/off both Apache and MySQL.

====Troubleshooting====

If you find that Apache is very flaky, with the page often not loading properly or even at all (especially on localhost), try adding these lines to the end of C:\your_moodle_installer_directory\apache\conf\httpd.conf

EnableSendfile Off
EnableMMAP Off
Win32DisableAcceptEx

If You edit some .php files but browser still show old state of them, try to disable eAccelerator extension in \server\php\php.ini

[eAccelerator]
;extension=eaccelerator.dll

===MySQL notes===
Again, the recommendation to start and stop the entire webserver is to use the xampp_start or Xampp_restart and the Xampp_stop. The following maybe useful if you wish to tweak the system further. Please be careful.

(1) The MySQL server can be started by double-clicking (executing) mysql_start.bat. This file can be found in the same folder you installed xampp in, most likely this will be C:\xampplite\. The exact path to this file is X:\xampplite\mysql_start.bat, where "X" indicates the letter of the drive you unpacked xampp into.This batch file starts the MySQL server in console mode. The first intialization might take a few minutes.

Do not close the DOS window or you'll crash the server! To stop the server, please use mysql_shutdown.bat, which is located in the same directory.

(2) To use the MySQL Daemon with "innodb" for better performance,
please edit the "my" (or "my.cnf") file in the /xampplite/mysql/bin directory or for services the c:\my.cnf for windows NT/2000/XP. In that director, activate the
"innodb_data_file_path=ibdata1:30M"
statement. Attention, "innodb" is not recommended for 95/98/ME.

:To use MySQL as Service for NT/2000/XP, simply copy the "my" / "my.cnf" file to C:\my, or C:\my.cnf. Please note that this file has to be placed in C:\ (root), other locations are not permitted. Then execute the "mysql_installservice.bat" in the mysql folder.

(3) MySQL starts with standard values for the user id and the password. The preset user id is "root", the password is "" (= no password). To access MySQL via PHP with the preset values, you'll have to use the following syntax:
mysql_connect("localhost","root","");
If you want to set a password for MySQL access, please use of mysqladmin.
To set the password "secret" for the user "root", type the following:

\xampplite\mysql\bin\mysqladmin -u root password secret

After changing the password you'll have to reconfigure phpMyAdmin to use the new password, otherwise it won't be able to access the databases. To do that, open the file config.inc.php in \xampplite\phpmyadmin\ and edit the following lines:

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['user'] = 'root'; // MySQL user
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['auth_type'] = 'http'; // HTTP authentificate

So first the 'root' password is queried by the MySQL server, before phpMyAdmin may access.

Have a lot of fun! Viel Spaß! Bonne Chance!

==Vista and Windows 7==

Many people have trouble installing the packages for Window.

One simple solution is to use http://bitnami.org/stack/moodle (from amazon.com).
==See also==
*[[Site administration block]] where most of the site configuration takes place
*[[Administrator_documentation]]for links that help configure Moodle.
**[[Administrator_documentation#Configuration|Administration configuration section]]
*[[Installation FAQ]]
*[https://docs.moodle.org/en/Xampp_Installer_FAQ Xampp Installer FAQ]
*[[Installation guide - Moodle for Windows on a USB Memory Stick]]
*Return to [[Windows installation]]
*[[Windows 1 computer many servers |Multiple web servers, on 1 computer]] similar to windows installation page, with some tips
*[https://docs.moodle.org/en/Windows_installation_using_XAMPP#Troubleshooting Troubleshooting]if you are running Skype.
*[[Installing_AMP]] lots of XAMPP stuff. XAMPP stands for X (cross platform), Apache, MySQL,PHP and Perl. XAMPP used in Moodle does not include Perl. MAMP stands for Mac, Apache, MySQL and PHP.
*[[Complete Install Packages for Mac OS X]]

[[es:Paquetes_para_Instalaci%C3%B3n_Completa]]
[[pl:Kompletne pakiety instalacyjne]]
[[de:Vollständiges Installationspaket für Windows]]

[[Category:Administrator]]
[[Category:Installation]]

Hotpot module

2009-09-24T22:09:35Z

Ghanson: /* See also */

'''Note:''' It is hoped that the [[QuizPort module]] (renamed as the ''TaskChain module'') will replace the Hotpot module in Moodle 2.0.

{{Hotpot}}
[[Image:Hot_Potatoes_icon.GIF]] '''The Hotpot''' [[Teacher_documentation#Activity_modules|activity]] module allows teachers to administer [http://hotpot.uvic.ca/ Hot Potatoes] and [http://www.cict.co.uk/software/textoys/index.htm TexToys] quizzes via Moodle. The quizzes are created on the teacher's computer and then uploaded to the Moodle course. After students have attempted the quizzes, a number of reports are available which show how individual questions were answered and some statistical trends in the scores.

Note for administrators: The Hotpot module is disabled (hidden) by default in Moodle. It can be enabled by clicking the eye icon in the hide/show column in ''Administration > Modules > Activities''.

==See also==

*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=1599 Hotpot module forum]
*[[QuizPort module]]
*The manual: [http://bateson.kanazawa-gu.ac.jp/moodle/19/mysql/mod/quizport/docs/tutorials/ The QuizPort module ]

[[Category:Modules]]

[[cs:Modul Hotpot]]
[[es:Hotpotatoes]]
[[eu:Hotpotatoes]]
[[fr:Hot Potatoes]]
[[de:HotPot-Test]]

QuizPort module

2009-09-24T22:07:30Z

Ghanson: Added link to QuizPort manual

'''Note:''' The QuizPort module is to be renamed the ''TaskChain module'' and added to contrib with the view to replacing the [[Hotpot module]] in Moodle 2.0.

[[Image:Quizport structure.gif|thumb|Structure of a QuizPort activity]]
* The QuizPort module is basically HotPot 2.0.
* It can be used to administer potentially *any* externally authored quiz format.
* The QuizPort module is designed for Moodle 2.0 (as it was in Feb 2009). It is compatible with Moodle 1.0 - 1.9.
* It treats a unit of quizzes as a single entity.
* Pre-conditions and post-conditions can be set to create adaptive learning materials.
* Content is cached to speed up delivery to browser.
* [square bracket] notation may be used to easily insert multimedia.
* There are multiple output formats for quiz source files.
* The QuizPort module is in beta status.
* The QuizPort module may be downloaded from http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?d=13&rid=2228

==See also==
*[[Hotpot module]]
*The manual: [http://bateson.kanazawa-gu.ac.jp/moodle/19/mysql/mod/quizport/docs/tutorials/ The QuizPort module ]

[[Category:Contributed code]]
[[Category:Hotpot]]

Hotpot module

2009-09-24T20:05:01Z

Ghanson: /* See also */

'''Note:''' It is hoped that the [[QuizPort module]] (renamed as the ''TaskChain module'') will replace the Hotpot module in Moodle 2.0.

{{Hotpot}}
[[Image:Hot_Potatoes_icon.GIF]] '''The Hotpot''' [[Teacher_documentation#Activity_modules|activity]] module allows teachers to administer [http://hotpot.uvic.ca/ Hot Potatoes] and [http://www.cict.co.uk/software/textoys/index.htm TexToys] quizzes via Moodle. The quizzes are created on the teacher's computer and then uploaded to the Moodle course. After students have attempted the quizzes, a number of reports are available which show how individual questions were answered and some statistical trends in the scores.

Note for administrators: The Hotpot module is disabled (hidden) by default in Moodle. It can be enabled by clicking the eye icon in the hide/show column in ''Administration > Modules > Activities''.

==See also==

*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=1599 Hotpot module forum]
*[[QuizPort module]]
*The manual: The QuizPort module [http://bateson.kanazawa-gu.ac.jp/moodle/19/mysql/mod/quizport/docs/tutorials]

[[Category:Modules]]

[[cs:Modul Hotpot]]
[[es:Hotpotatoes]]
[[eu:Hotpotatoes]]
[[fr:Hot Potatoes]]
[[de:HotPot-Test]]

Installing plugins

2009-08-02T15:24:13Z

Ghanson: /* Module installation */

''Warning: Please be aware that some contributed modules and plugins have not been reviewed, and the quality and/or suitability for your Moodle site has not been checked. The modules and plugins may have security problems, data-loss problems, interface problems or just plain not work. Please think carefully about maintenance before relying on contributed code in your production site, as some of this code may not work with future versions of Moodle.''

==Downloads==

Contributed modules and plugins may be downloaded from...:

* [http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?id=6009 the Modules and plugins database] or
* [http://cvs.sourceforge.net/viewcvs.py/moodle/contrib/ cvs:moodle/contrib] using the URL <nowiki>http://download.moodle.org/download.php/modules/directory_name.zip</nowiki>

==Module installation==

To install a contributed module:
# You must have access to the server containing Moodle. This can be direct access, through a network or to a remote server through Internet with an FTP client, you can't do it from "inside" Moodle itself. (There are many free FTP programs like FileZilla that can be used. If you use FTP, you will need to know [from the server provider] the ID and password and maybe a couple more things. Once it is setup, it's as easy as other file management.)
# Download the zip file and unzip it to your ''moodle/mod'' directory.
# In your browser, go to your Moodle site:
Site Administration
Notifications
Continue

Note: The module may contain language files. If so then just leave them in the folder and they'll be found automatically. However, language strings cannot be edited using the ''Site Administration > Language'' editing interface.

To install a contributed module to a local Mac OS X web server:

Download the zip file and unzip it to:
/Applications/MAMP/htdocs/moodle19/mod
Visit your Local Moodle site <nowiki>http://localhost:8888/moodle19/</nowiki>
Site Administration
Notifications
Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on "Continue"
Check your new module has been installed:
Site Administration
Modules
Activities
Manage activities

==Block installation==

To install a contributed block:
# Download the zip file and unzip it to your ''moodle/block'' directory.
# Visit your admin page <nowiki>http://your_moodle_address/admin/index.php</nowiki> to complete the installation.

==Other types of plugin==

Plugins are installed in various places in Moodle, depending upon the plugin. For example, plugin question types need to be unzipped to your ''moodle/question/type'' directory.

You can work out the correct place from the download link. If the download link is http://download.moodle.org/download.php/plugins19/mod/quiz/report/responses.zip, then after unzipping, the responses folder needs to be copied into the mod/quiz/report folder of your Moodle install.

After installing any plugin, you should visit the admin notifications page of your web site (URL .../admin/index.php) to allow the plugin to install itself if necessary. (It is not always necessary, but you should always check.)

==Installation trouble-shooting==

If you visit the admin page and don't get a message about a new block (or module) being successfully installed then check the following:

# The new block folder is named correctly. For example, the Learning Resources block folder should be named "learning_resources" (not "learning_resources_block").
# The new block folder is not contained within another folder. For example, unzipping ''block_learning_resources.zip'' results in a folder named "block_learning_resources" containing a folder named "blocks" containing a folder named "learning_resources". If it's easier, just copy and paste the folder named "learning_resources" into the blocks folder of your Moodle site.

If you browse the blocks folder of your Moodle site, you'll notice that all the blocks follow a pattern - the activity_modules folder contains a file ''block_activity_modules.php'', the calendar_month folder contains a file ''block_calendar_month.php'', the learning_resources folder contains a file ''block_learning_resources.php'' etc. Modules follow a similar pattern.

==Module and block removal==
To remove a contributed module:
# Access ''Administration > Modules > Activities > Manage activities'' (or ''Administration > Modules > Activities'' in versions of Moodle prior to 1.9).
# Click on delete next to the module you wish to remove.
# Use a file manager to remove/delete the actual module directory from ''moodle/mod'', otherwise Moodle will reinstall it next time you access the site administration.

To remove a contributed block:
# Access ''Administration > Modules > Blocks > Manage blocks'' (or ''Administration > Modules > Blocks'' in versions of Moodle prior to 1.9).
# Click on delete next to the block you wish to remove.
# Use a file manager to remove/delete the actual module directory from ''moodle/blocks'', otherwise Moodle will reinstall it next time you access the site administration.

==See also==

*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=44 Contributed modules and plugins forum]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPUB_ReBPeg Installing contributed modules in Moodle video]

[[Category:Contributed code]]
[[Category:Installation]]

Development:Usability/Improve Moodle User Experience Consistency/Detailed project plan

2009-07-02T21:51:25Z

Ghanson: /* Implement of the most important changes (week 32) */

Parent page:[[Development:Usability|Usability]] > [[Development:Usability/Improve Moodle User Experience Consistency|Improve Moodle User Experience Consistency]]

* '''See also:''' [http://www.pilpi.net/software/moodle/ The higher-level dimensions (goals) of this project] in the project blog.
*'''Progress meter:''' MDL-19586
*'''Goal of this document:''' comprehensiveness, in order to ensure that we take into account everything that needs to be taken into account while designing the guidelines and their format. That is, I try to list here every resource and action that ''might'' be useful. The primary goal of this document is not, contrary to the guidelines themselves, to be optimized for an easy/light read.

''If anyone has a clue how to make mediawiki show the below image in its original size, it will be welcome. :)''
[[Image:Development-Usability Improve Moodle User Experience Consistency Detailed project plan.png|||680px]]
__TOC__
''(Chart created in OpenOffice.org with the help of this tip: [http://www.openofficetips.com/blog/archives/2005/10/charting_creati.html Charting: Creating a Gantt chart]. Not the ideal UI for this, but worked swell after figuring out what in the OOo UI has changed since the tip was written.)''
== Community discussion; learning about developer conventions (constant) ==
Throughout the whole project, I will look for ways for usability people to communicate with various groups of developers.

=== Involving developers ===

The main objective is to understand the processes developers go through when planning, designing and implementing UIs: to plug into the phases of the work where usability considerations would be fruitful. Ask everybody (in one form or another): '''What is an appropriate way/mode/phase of involvement/usage of the guidelines for you?''' In what way would you think that User Experience (UX) design and development would ideally cooperate?

How to ideally have this discussion?

Also helping developers understand the special nature of usability work and its relationship to development processes will help developers take use of both the guidelines of this project and the services usability practitioners can provide.

* Take part in Moodle developer course in dev.moodle.org
** plug into the overall structure of the course
*** which parts should have thinking about the users integrated;
*** which parts about usability testing;
*** which parts about documenting the UI
** There is a glaring lack of '''any kind of thinking about the UI''' in that course schedule/syllabus! It even talks about ''design'' without any thought given to the fact that interaction is a subject of design just like the software architecture: "Design and produce a complete requirements document for a programming project with identified business processes and functional requirements" (well, of course understanding business processes/functional requirements do contribute to also understanding how the interaction should be modeled... will have to dive deeper into what is said.)
** Contact the content creators at http://dev.moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=85

Involve developers to take part as soon as possible. (See [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=119507 http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=119507] for Thomas Hanley's willingness to cooperate.) For each module, let the ones responsible for different parts of moodle:

* document which of the elements listed in the guidelines are included in the module/part of moodle they are responsible for?
* Document the preferred way to implement the interaction in question in Moodle (some of these ideals could be presented as an API)

=== Involving other stakeholders ===

How to involve other stakeholders, such as other usability practitioners? Thomas Hanley has expressed [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=119507 his interest] for a framework for evaluating user interfaces, that any usability practitioner or a developer (?) could use to help complete the guidelines, since it is obvious that in one summer I will not catalogue ''all of Moodle''. Though the goal is to gather only the interaction styles that are common to various parts of Moodle, there is still '''a lot''' of work.

== Planning (week 22) ==
Determine the different phases of the project and keep track of relevant information related to each phase (this document). Narrow down target audiences and types of documents to create. Define terminology for the project:

* Usability practitioner vs. UX professional etc.
* Human Interface Guidelines vs. UI guidelines vs. UI patterns etc.

What should be communicated throughout the project about the project status?

Which parts of the project can be delegated in as early a phase in the project as possible?

Start gathering a sketch of a guidelines document, but make it clear it is a sketch: Something very simple that people can comment on already at this stage. (Thanks, Helen for the idea.)

TODO:
* consider studying the existing guidelines earlier than currently planned, so that developers and all of the community could have something to comment on as soon as possible.'''DONE'''
* Read through discussion with Helen on May 26th.
* Respond to any unfinished discussions in forums, noted in task management/gtd
* Make the entire process lighter, lighter, lighter, and transparent. -> just take one simple point of view, target group, and keep the tagging relatively light at this point, too. General guidelines + guidelines related to different elements + links to examples for everything? How about documenting the use cases? Guidelines 2.0 feature?

== Examine/prioritise different components (week 23) ==
There are a lot of UIs and intricate functionality in Moodle that I simply do not know yet. Like in the [http://www.d7ux.org/ Drupal 7 UX project] it was for Leisa and Mark, this can be a benefit for me as a usability practitioner: I have a fresh pair of eyes to look at things with. However, it is still an additional workload: I really need to narrow down what is relevant for this project, at this point in time of the Moodle community's development towards usability issues.

Go through Moodle in a variety of ways. Take Moodle courses, read Moodle books, use modules like the book writers think I should be using them. Find the core processes/scenarios (of end users; students, teachers) of Moodle, to find out which screens need to be emphasized. Determine the most common elements, prioritize them.

Priority on the use cases of teachers and students and less on those of admins. Further determine based on [https://docs.moodle.org/en/Pedagogy#Progression https://docs.moodle.org/en/Pedagogy#Progression] and observations of the modules/course views themselves ([https://docs.moodle.org/en/Development:Usability/Improve_Moodle_User_Experience_Consistency#UIs_to_examine https://docs.moodle.org/en/Development:Usability/Improve_Moodle_User_Experience_Consistency#UIs_to_examine]), and on discussions with various stakeholders (Community/teachers? Tim Hunt? Helen Foster?).

== Examine pattern libraries and guidelines for content and information architecture (week 24->26) ==
'''Goal: determine what the guidelines should look like and how they should be structured'''

[https://docs.moodle.org/en/Development:Usability/Improve_Moodle_User_Experience_Consistency#HIGs https://docs.moodle.org/en/Development:Usability/Improve_Moodle_User_Experience_Consistency#HIGs] (Especially determine the current relationship to Fluid)

Also related: '''if it has not been done already, narrow down the target groups and the scenarios in which the guidelines are meant to be used at this point.'''

Go through different HIGs (domain term: Human Interface Guidelines) [[Help:Contents|docs style guide]] and pattern libraries with two goals in mind:

* Determine the information architecture (IA) used in each HIG (the way the guidelines/patterns are organized and the way information is organized within the patterns);
** Compare different IAs and discuss with community which aspects would be optimal for Moodle. Also find out with what different categories/kinds of tags (taxonomies) should be created for each element, to be searchable.
** Find relevant recommendations in other HIGs, for inclusion also in the Moodle guidelines

As per discussion with Tim, create a guideline template, and consider Tim's changes to the format, currently expressed as [[Development:Progressive_Disclosure]] (combine many of the headings to one).

Create a tracker item and subitems for the project. Clean up the [[Development:Usability/Improve_Moodle_User_Experience_Consistency|original project plan]] to communicate the project and especially its main goals to the community (refer to discussions with Tim); move everything that is a resource for the project itself into another document (tracker? this page?).

=== interface guidelines? ===
Also, determine the relationship of the new guidelines to [[Development:Interface_guidelines]]. That name is actually appropriate for the current contents of that page, dealing mostly with the ways to implement certain aspects of UIs. But comparing usability work to interface (i.e. API) design is comparing apples to oranges - at a minimum, the commonly-known term '''User''' Interface, though still misleading, should be used?
* Current content as a subpage of the new guidelines
* Current content merged into the implementation instructions (of specific interaction styles/elements, and of more general usability guidelines)

it is not about just creating an interface
https://docs.moodle.org/en/Development:Interface_guidelines

when you design user interface (i.e. interaction), I find a spectrum from zero to three helpful

----
-1
Usage of UI libraries, correct usage of HTML and CSS, and also security (when viewed from a technical and not social standpoint) are off the spectrum. They are development activities - of course you do need to know the restrictions set by technology)

0
Interface design is the discipline involved with putting elements on a page and making sure buttons are big enough that the user can easily reach them. I hesitate to call this usability since if only this is assumed to be usability then the application is almost sure to fail.

1
What are the goals of the users, what to prioritize- this overlaps with requirements engineering. (This can be thought of as features)

3
Conceptual design. Who are the users? What are their lives about?

----

interface guidelines: disambiguation page: "this page is about user interface guidelines. For information on other interfaces, see Development:Interfaces"

== Navigation 2.0: which interaction styles and elements are introduced (week 26) ==
Strive to understand the goals of the Navigation 2.0 project. Derive the new interaction styles and elements interaction styles introduced by the project into the documentation. Further reflect on the relationship of such projects that affect the entire Moodle UI and UI guidelines.

Examine freedom placement of blocks/controls in a theme

== Catalogue high-level UI elements, interaction styles, preliminary use case descriptions (week 26->28) ==
Based on the work done in previous phases, create the first iteration of the guidelines in Moodle Docs. Document core use cases to be used in usability testing. If I have mental space left, compare UIs to UI heuristics ([http://www.useit.com/papers/heuristic/heuristic_list.html http://www.useit.com/papers/heuristic/heuristic_list.html]).

Was this too ambitious for now? ''The intended use of the main core modules will be studied and preliminary documentation will be gathered so that anyone building on an existing UI will know what user needs they are designing for. This will also facilitate usability testing since it will be transparent to what the main tasks to test against are, even to people who do not already know the UI (this seems to avoid the bias of defending the familiar, during usability tests).''

A preliminary list of styles to include: [https://docs.moodle.org/en/Development:Usability/Improve_Moodle_User_Experience_Consistency#Interaction_styles.2Felements_to_examine https://docs.moodle.org/en/Development:Usability/Improve_Moodle_User_Experience_Consistency#Interaction_styles.2Felements_to_examine]

Joel on software [http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000036.html http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000036.html] gives plenty of useful advice about writing readably.

Study MediaWiki and use its templating etc. systems to enable tagging each element on multiple dimensions.

Goals (to be considered):

* '''Relatively high-level rules, instead of too constraining rules. Or should the rules be exact to make it ''really ''straightforward to follow them (potentially to the UIs doom if done too literally)? Discuss this with the community with examples.'''
* '''lightness: searchability, tagged according to various taxonomies'''
* '''simple language: usability and UI (User Interface) are generally understood terms amongst developers, I suppose. (Consider having a section (or a link to somewhere else) that explains the various terms used: Human-Computer Interaction, HIG, User Experience (UX), Information Architecture (IA), ... but then, this is not really relevant for the goals of this project.''')
* '''links to examples of each interaction style or element (links to screenshots or a to a demo of Moodle that remains on a specified version?)'''
* Links to: controls that selve the same purpose better; controls that should be replaced with this;controls with a similar purpose for a different context?
* Use cases'': The intended use of the main core modules will be studied and preliminary documentation will be gathered so that anyone building on an existing UI will know what user needs they are designing for. '''''Required for usability testing. Related: '''I wonder what is the status of this [https://docs.moodle.org/en/Talk:Developer_meeting_September_2008 https://docs.moodle.org/en/Talk:Developer_meeting_September_2008]
* ''developers should be capable of searching the documentation for topics such as “selecting a group of users” or “opening a file” and find a concise explanation describing what the user experience should look like and possibly how to implement it.''
* ''Index of the current screen types, interaction styles and elements, with their intended uses.''
* ''The most standard i.e. common and mundane tasks need to be the most easy-to-find, keeping at least them standard across Moodle. ''
* Screen types: Course pages, functional pages, content pages, settings'' ''pages?
* index of usage information for different parts of moodle (index that which is hidden in chapters of design documents)?

== Determining and prioritizing delta between guidelines and current Moodle (week 28) ==
Figure out the level of consistency in Moodle 2.0 HEAD. Find similar functionality with similar UIs. Document all occurences of different interaction styles/elements which were documented in step 6, and if necessary, create new entries in the guidelines. Create tickets in the tracker for consistency issues.

== Planning usability testing; implementation of prototypes (week 29) ==
Determine the principal changes to be proposed to the community.

Determine a suitable public venue or an educational institution to get test subjects from.

Ask moodle.com to sponsor for incentives (i.e. coffee+pastry) for test subjects in local coffee shops.

Write test tasks for usability tests.

* '''http://www.meryl.net/2008/01/how-to-do-usability-testing-cheap-and-fast/'''
* http://thalasar.com/archives/softwar/design/earlymisercom_b.html
* http://sensorymetrics.com/2007/01/24/ambush-usability-part-4-the-ambush-part-finding-users/
* http://www.uie.com/articles/usabilitytesting_dc/

Additionally, ask moodle.com if they would be willing to invest $100-200 ($29 for signup, $10-$20 to get users to use an intricate web app (versus the normal web app tested on that service, see http://www.usertesting.com/faq.aspx ) on testing in http://www.usertesting.com/

Attempt to get permission to record the sessions on video, both the screen (using software) and the user, combining these two to a single video somehow. See: [http://www.isrl.illinois.edu/~twidale/pubs/fm90mph.pdf Usability@90mph: Presenting and Evaluating a New, High-Speed Method for Demonstrating User Testing in Front of an Audience]

== Usability testing with prototypes (week 30) ==
MDL-19659

== Implementation of the most important changes (week 32) ==

Development:Usability/Improve Moodle User Experience Consistency/Detailed project plan

2009-07-02T21:49:40Z

Ghanson: /* Involving developers */

Development:Usability

2009-07-02T21:34:51Z

Ghanson: /* Books */

{{GSOC 09}}
Some pointers, links, and resources on the topic of usability with respect to Moodle.

For general information on the concept of usability see
[http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?797 Definition of user experience (UX)].

==Contribute to Moodle through Usability testing==

An ongoing need of a project such as Moodle is to keep the interface usable as the code matures. Improvements and added functionality may seem like a wonderful innovation from the coder's or administrator's point of view, but if the end-user is confused or frustrated by it (or can't even find it!), its usefulness drops dramatically.

The idea of usability testing is simple: a person who is well-versed in Moodle gets together a small number of willing participants, who have no previous experience of using Moodle, and who are not technology experts (such as web designers etc...). The closer these people are to the "typical user" (for example a high school student), the better. The person conducting the test simply observes the participant as he/she tries to achieve a number of tasks. A video/sound recording can also be made with the prior consent of the participant, and is useful for later analysis.

The person conducting the test then pools together the issues that were common between most participants, and produces a short and concise report that is then used by Moodle developers to improve the user interface.

This sort of contribution requires no coding skills whatsoever, not even HTML. You just need to be familiar with using Moodle as a learner.

The links at the bottom of this article include Steve Krug's book, "Don't make me think!". This books is the best introduction to Usability testing I know of.

== "Bike Sheds" ==

Because changes with regard to Usability are necessarily visual and on the surface, it is a potential Bike Shed issue. This is a metaphor bandied around in Open Source circles that suggests (in brief) that the smaller the change, the greater the discussions that surround it in forums and mailing lists. People proposing small improvements to Moodle should be aware of this phenomenon and not take the level of discussion as an implicit criticism of their suggestion.

You can read a well-written account of this metaphor that [http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/faq/misc.html#BIKESHED-PAINTING originated on the BSD mailing list] under http://www.bikeshed.com.

==Avoid the word "intuitive"==

(Definition: [http://www.usabilityfirst.com/glossary/main.cgi?function=display_term&term_id=444 Intuitive])

Intuitive is a word you should avoid in discussions of usability as its meaning is often confused.

It is generally accepted that a large part of usability is based on familiarity and experience. Human Interface Guidelines published by people such as Apple or Gnome strive for logic and consistency so that the learning can be easier, and the experience more valuable. Using 'intuitive' as a short-hand for something that is familiar often gives the impression that if something is 'intuitive' then it is so regardless of prior learning or experience and therefore equally true for everyone. It suggests that the goodness or badness of an interface is situated within the interface itself, rather than in the relationship between the user and the interface.

Very few people would object to the statement that 'Apple software is more intuitive than Windows software' yet to someone who has only used Windows software, this is clearly not the case. Avoiding using the word yourself and mentally translating other people's use of intuitive as 'something I like' e.g. "Moodle's block system is unintuitive" = "Moodle's block system is something I don't like" may help to defuse arguments because it is harder to argue about personal opinions that are stated explicitly as personal opinion rather than disguised as objective statements about the software.

Therefore what is called intuitive, in the case of Moodle, will depend on your experience and expectations of other learning systems, web applications or sites, as well as software in general and thus varies from person to person. Usability studies should therefore average out the expectations of many people to find what is 'intuitive' and check to see if different groups (e.g. users of particular alternative systems, total beginners) have different expectations.

This article explains more and better (with diagrams!): http://www.uie.com/articles/design_intuitive/

==Learnability versus usability==

People often confuse these topics, understandably as they do have a great deal in common. Generally what are referred to as 'usability' improvements make things both easier to learn and easier for experienced users. Occasionally decisions need to be made favouring one over the other, and in those situations it helps to be explicit which of the two you are referring to. There are many successful software tools that sacrifice learnability so that power-users can be more efficient. It seems likely that Moodle will continue to lean towards learnability in these cases, though again 99% of the time these goals are not in conflict.

==Don't automatically suggest a new preference==

In open source projects it is often easier (in the short term) to defuse any disagreement by 'adding a preference'. This means you end up with double (or triple..) the code to achieve the same thing. That's more code to write, debug, maintain etc. And once you end up with preferences interacting the potential combinations become astronomical and you end up in the situation that no two people are actually running the same program.

This can, over time lead to a profusion of preferences, each of which has a cost that needs to be weighed against its benefit. Sometimes finding a solution that pleases everyone (to some degree) is preferable to adding preferences for each idea,

This is explained far better by Havoc Pennington in his piece on Open Source and User Interface, in particular the "Question of Preferences " section about half way through: http://www106.pair.com/rhp/free-software-ui.html

==Is Moodle a website?==

The somewhat tricky thing with regard to Moodle's usability is that Moodle is a web application, not a web site (though the line between the two is sometimes blurry) and few, if any, books have been written for that class of software. Therefore many applicable pieces of advice (from web, software or product usability guides) need to be reassessed with Moodle's nature in mind.

== Additional Resources ==

=== Websites ===

* 37 Signals Blog: Signal versus Noise http://www.37signals.com/svn/
* Jakob Nielsen's website http://useit.com/
** [http://www.elearningpost.com/articles/archives/jakob_nielsen_on_e_learning/ an interview of Jakob Nielsen about e-learning]
* Joel Spolsky's User Interface Design for Programmers http://www.joelonsoftware.com/uibook/chapters/fog0000000057.html
* First Principles of Interaction Design by Tog (Bruce Tognazzini) http://www.asktog.com/basics/firstPrinciples.html
* [http://mpt.net.nz/archive/2008/08/01/free-software-usability Challenges of usability in an Open Source context]
* [http://wiki.fluidproject.org/display/fluid/Design+Handbook Fluid Design Handbook], an excellent resource to User Centered Design methods

=== Books ===

'''Web specific'''

* [http://www.sensible.com/ Don't Make Me Think] by Steve Krug
:A really good book, full of good info yet brief, well written and accessible. A [http://www.sensible.com/chapter.html sample chapter] is made available on his site, as well as [http://www.sensible.com/secondedition/index.html 3 complete chapters] from the 1st edition in pdf format, covering a complete script for usability testing.

* [http://www.digital-web.com/articles/defensive_design_for_the_web/ Defensive Design For The Web] by [http://www.37signals.com/ 37 Signals] (Matthew Lindeman and Jason Fried).

* [http://www.zeldman.com/dwws/ Designing with Web Standards, 2nd ed.] by Jeffrey Zeldman

'''Computer specific'''

* [http://books.google.fi/books?id=04cFCVXC_AUC&dq=the+inmates+are+running+the+asylum&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=COknSur4FIfz_AaDzuXYAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4 The inmates are running the asylum - Why High-Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity] by Alan Cooper
:A usability classic: a thought-stimulating, yet an entertaining higher-level perspective on the friction between user-centered thinking and software engineering thinking, and on solutions to start really designing for the actual goals of the users using Personas, Goals and Scenarios.
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=D39vjmLfO3kC The Humane Interface] by Jef Raskin
:Jef, who sadly passed away recently, has been more and more research focused for the last 15 years, since his days helping to create the first Macintosh. This led to a discarding all practical considerations to concieve of the 'perfect' UI, rather than attending to the pragmatic, checklist-style "improve your site in 15 minutes" genre. However his writing is excellent in consistently laying the blame for problems with the computer and its software, not the user. It is often easy to fall into the trap of thinking 'stupid' users are the problem, rather than simply a design parameter. It is however worth remembering that (unless you are a research fellow) many of these technical faults must be worked with to a certain degree, and that "perfection can often be the enemy of the good".

'''General'''

* ''Psychology of Everyday Things'' by Donald Norman (new edition aka [http://books.google.com/books?id=EXwkGwAACAAJ The Design of Everyday Things])
:It's a classic, so some of the examples are a bit dated, but the basic message that it is fundamentally hard for a designer (no matter how smart) to place themselves mentally in the position of a user is put across well. I think about this book's simple message every time I push a door I was supposed to pull and vice versa.
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=h_wAbnGlOC4C Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things] by Donald Norman

== See also: ==
* [[Usability FAQ]]

[[Category:Developer|Usability]]
[[Category:Usability]]

[[ja:開発:ユーザビリティ]]

Development:Usability

2009-07-02T21:31:47Z

Ghanson: /* Learnability versus usability */

{{GSOC 09}}
Some pointers, links, and resources on the topic of usability with respect to Moodle.

For general information on the concept of usability see
[http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?797 Definition of user experience (UX)].

==Contribute to Moodle through Usability testing==

An ongoing need of a project such as Moodle is to keep the interface usable as the code matures. Improvements and added functionality may seem like a wonderful innovation from the coder's or administrator's point of view, but if the end-user is confused or frustrated by it (or can't even find it!), its usefulness drops dramatically.

The idea of usability testing is simple: a person who is well-versed in Moodle gets together a small number of willing participants, who have no previous experience of using Moodle, and who are not technology experts (such as web designers etc...). The closer these people are to the "typical user" (for example a high school student), the better. The person conducting the test simply observes the participant as he/she tries to achieve a number of tasks. A video/sound recording can also be made with the prior consent of the participant, and is useful for later analysis.

The person conducting the test then pools together the issues that were common between most participants, and produces a short and concise report that is then used by Moodle developers to improve the user interface.

This sort of contribution requires no coding skills whatsoever, not even HTML. You just need to be familiar with using Moodle as a learner.

The links at the bottom of this article include Steve Krug's book, "Don't make me think!". This books is the best introduction to Usability testing I know of.

== "Bike Sheds" ==

Because changes with regard to Usability are necessarily visual and on the surface, it is a potential Bike Shed issue. This is a metaphor bandied around in Open Source circles that suggests (in brief) that the smaller the change, the greater the discussions that surround it in forums and mailing lists. People proposing small improvements to Moodle should be aware of this phenomenon and not take the level of discussion as an implicit criticism of their suggestion.

You can read a well-written account of this metaphor that [http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/faq/misc.html#BIKESHED-PAINTING originated on the BSD mailing list] under http://www.bikeshed.com.

==Avoid the word "intuitive"==

(Definition: [http://www.usabilityfirst.com/glossary/main.cgi?function=display_term&term_id=444 Intuitive])

Intuitive is a word you should avoid in discussions of usability as its meaning is often confused.

It is generally accepted that a large part of usability is based on familiarity and experience. Human Interface Guidelines published by people such as Apple or Gnome strive for logic and consistency so that the learning can be easier, and the experience more valuable. Using 'intuitive' as a short-hand for something that is familiar often gives the impression that if something is 'intuitive' then it is so regardless of prior learning or experience and therefore equally true for everyone. It suggests that the goodness or badness of an interface is situated within the interface itself, rather than in the relationship between the user and the interface.

Very few people would object to the statement that 'Apple software is more intuitive than Windows software' yet to someone who has only used Windows software, this is clearly not the case. Avoiding using the word yourself and mentally translating other people's use of intuitive as 'something I like' e.g. "Moodle's block system is unintuitive" = "Moodle's block system is something I don't like" may help to defuse arguments because it is harder to argue about personal opinions that are stated explicitly as personal opinion rather than disguised as objective statements about the software.

Therefore what is called intuitive, in the case of Moodle, will depend on your experience and expectations of other learning systems, web applications or sites, as well as software in general and thus varies from person to person. Usability studies should therefore average out the expectations of many people to find what is 'intuitive' and check to see if different groups (e.g. users of particular alternative systems, total beginners) have different expectations.

This article explains more and better (with diagrams!): http://www.uie.com/articles/design_intuitive/

==Learnability versus usability==

People often confuse these topics, understandably as they do have a great deal in common. Generally what are referred to as 'usability' improvements make things both easier to learn and easier for experienced users. Occasionally decisions need to be made favouring one over the other, and in those situations it helps to be explicit which of the two you are referring to. There are many successful software tools that sacrifice learnability so that power-users can be more efficient. It seems likely that Moodle will continue to lean towards learnability in these cases, though again 99% of the time these goals are not in conflict.

==Don't automatically suggest a new preference==

In open source projects it is often easier (in the short term) to defuse any disagreement by 'adding a preference'. This means you end up with double (or triple..) the code to achieve the same thing. That's more code to write, debug, maintain etc. And once you end up with preferences interacting the potential combinations become astronomical and you end up in the situation that no two people are actually running the same program.

This can, over time lead to a profusion of preferences, each of which has a cost that needs to be weighed against its benefit. Sometimes finding a solution that pleases everyone (to some degree) is preferable to adding preferences for each idea,

This is explained far better by Havoc Pennington in his piece on Open Source and User Interface, in particular the "Question of Preferences " section about half way through: http://www106.pair.com/rhp/free-software-ui.html

==Is Moodle a website?==

The somewhat tricky thing with regard to Moodle's usability is that Moodle is a web application, not a web site (though the line between the two is sometimes blurry) and few, if any, books have been written for that class of software. Therefore many applicable pieces of advice (from web, software or product usability guides) need to be reassessed with Moodle's nature in mind.

== Additional Resources ==

=== Websites ===

* 37 Signals Blog: Signal versus Noise http://www.37signals.com/svn/
* Jakob Nielsen's website http://useit.com/
** [http://www.elearningpost.com/articles/archives/jakob_nielsen_on_e_learning/ an interview of Jakob Nielsen about e-learning]
* Joel Spolsky's User Interface Design for Programmers http://www.joelonsoftware.com/uibook/chapters/fog0000000057.html
* First Principles of Interaction Design by Tog (Bruce Tognazzini) http://www.asktog.com/basics/firstPrinciples.html
* [http://mpt.net.nz/archive/2008/08/01/free-software-usability Challenges of usability in an Open Source context]
* [http://wiki.fluidproject.org/display/fluid/Design+Handbook Fluid Design Handbook], an excellent resource to User Centered Design methods

=== Books ===

'''Web specific'''

* [http://www.sensible.com/ Don't Make Me Think] by Steve Krug
:A really good book, full of good info yet brief, well written and accessible. A [http://www.sensible.com/chapter.html sample chapter] is made available on his site, as well as [http://www.sensible.com/secondedition/index.html 3 complete chapters] from the 1st edition in pdf format, covering a complete script for usability testing.

* [http://www.digital-web.com/articles/defensive_design_for_the_web/ Defensive Design For The Web] by [http://www.37signals.com/ 37 Signals] (Matthew Lindeman and Jason Fried).

* [http://www.zeldman.com/dwws/ Designing with Web Standards, 2nd ed.] by Jeffrey Zeldman

'''Computer specific'''

* [http://books.google.fi/books?id=04cFCVXC_AUC&dq=the+inmates+are+running+the+asylum&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=COknSur4FIfz_AaDzuXYAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4 The inmates are running the asylum - Why High-Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity] by Alan Cooper
:A usability classic: a thought-stimulating, yet an entertaining higher-level perspective on the friction between user-centered thinking and software engineering thinking, and on solutions to start really designing for the actual goals of the users using Personas, Goals and Scenarios.
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=D39vjmLfO3kC The Humane Interface] by Jef Raskin
:Jef, who sadly passed away recently, has been more and more research focused for the last 15 years, since his days helping to create the first Macintosh. This led to a discarding all practical considerations to concieve of the 'perfect' UI, rather than attending to the pragmatic, checklist-style "improve your site in 15 minutes" genre. However his writing is excellent in consistently laying the blame for problems with the computer and it's software, not the user. It is often easy to fall into the trap of thinking 'stupid' users are the problem, rather than simply a design parameter. It is however worth remembering that (unless you are a research fellow) many of these technical faults must be worked with to a certain degree, and that "perfection can often be the enemy of the good".

'''General'''

* ''Psychology of Everyday Things'' by Donald Norman (new edition aka [http://books.google.com/books?id=EXwkGwAACAAJ The Design of Everyday Things])
:It's a classic, so some of the examples are a bit dated, but the basic message that it is fundamentally hard for a designer (no matter how smart) to place themselves mentally in the position of a user is put across well. I think about this book's simple message every time I push a door I was supposed to pull and vice versa.
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=h_wAbnGlOC4C Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things] by Donald Norman

== See also: ==
* [[Usability FAQ]]

[[Category:Developer|Usability]]
[[Category:Usability]]

[[ja:開発:ユーザビリティ]]

Development:Usability

2009-07-02T21:27:52Z

Ghanson:

{{GSOC 09}}
Some pointers, links, and resources on the topic of usability with respect to Moodle.

For general information on the concept of usability see
[http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?797 Definition of user experience (UX)].

==Contribute to Moodle through Usability testing==

An ongoing need of a project such as Moodle is to keep the interface usable as the code matures. Improvements and added functionality may seem like a wonderful innovation from the coder's or administrator's point of view, but if the end-user is confused or frustrated by it (or can't even find it!), its usefulness drops dramatically.

The idea of usability testing is simple: a person who is well-versed in Moodle gets together a small number of willing participants, who have no previous experience of using Moodle, and who are not technology experts (such as web designers etc...). The closer these people are to the "typical user" (for example a high school student), the better. The person conducting the test simply observes the participant as he/she tries to achieve a number of tasks. A video/sound recording can also be made with the prior consent of the participant, and is useful for later analysis.

The person conducting the test then pools together the issues that were common between most participants, and produces a short and concise report that is then used by Moodle developers to improve the user interface.

This sort of contribution requires no coding skills whatsoever, not even HTML. You just need to be familiar with using Moodle as a learner.

The links at the bottom of this article include Steve Krug's book, "Don't make me think!". This books is the best introduction to Usability testing I know of.

== "Bike Sheds" ==

Because changes with regard to Usability are necessarily visual and on the surface, it is a potential Bike Shed issue. This is a metaphor bandied around in Open Source circles that suggests (in brief) that the smaller the change, the greater the discussions that surround it in forums and mailing lists. People proposing small improvements to Moodle should be aware of this phenomenon and not take the level of discussion as an implicit criticism of their suggestion.

You can read a well-written account of this metaphor that [http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/faq/misc.html#BIKESHED-PAINTING originated on the BSD mailing list] under http://www.bikeshed.com.

==Avoid the word "intuitive"==

(Definition: [http://www.usabilityfirst.com/glossary/main.cgi?function=display_term&term_id=444 Intuitive])

Intuitive is a word you should avoid in discussions of usability as its meaning is often confused.

It is generally accepted that a large part of usability is based on familiarity and experience. Human Interface Guidelines published by people such as Apple or Gnome strive for logic and consistency so that the learning can be easier, and the experience more valuable. Using 'intuitive' as a short-hand for something that is familiar often gives the impression that if something is 'intuitive' then it is so regardless of prior learning or experience and therefore equally true for everyone. It suggests that the goodness or badness of an interface is situated within the interface itself, rather than in the relationship between the user and the interface.

Very few people would object to the statement that 'Apple software is more intuitive than Windows software' yet to someone who has only used Windows software, this is clearly not the case. Avoiding using the word yourself and mentally translating other people's use of intuitive as 'something I like' e.g. "Moodle's block system is unintuitive" = "Moodle's block system is something I don't like" may help to defuse arguments because it is harder to argue about personal opinions that are stated explicitly as personal opinion rather than disguised as objective statements about the software.

Therefore what is called intuitive, in the case of Moodle, will depend on your experience and expectations of other learning systems, web applications or sites, as well as software in general and thus varies from person to person. Usability studies should therefore average out the expectations of many people to find what is 'intuitive' and check to see if different groups (e.g. users of particular alternative systems, total beginners) have different expectations.

This article explains more and better (with diagrams!): http://www.uie.com/articles/design_intuitive/

==Learnability versus usability==

People often confuse these topics, understandbly as they do have a great deal in common. Generally what are referred to as 'usability' improvements make things both easier to learn and easier for experienced users. Occasionally decisions need to be made favouring one over the other, and in those situations it helps to be explicit which of the two you are referring to. There are many succesful software tools that sacrifice learnability so that power-users can be more efficient. It seems likely that Moodle will continue to lean towards learnability in these cases, though again 99% of the time these goals are not in conflict.

==Don't automatically suggest a new preference==

In open source projects it is often easier (in the short term) to defuse any disagreement by 'adding a preference'. This means you end up with double (or triple..) the code to achieve the same thing. That's more code to write, debug, maintain etc. And once you end up with preferences interacting the potential combinations become astronomical and you end up in the situation that no two people are actually running the same program.

This can, over time lead to a profusion of preferences, each of which has a cost that needs to be weighed against its benefit. Sometimes finding a solution that pleases everyone (to some degree) is preferable to adding preferences for each idea,

This is explained far better by Havoc Pennington in his piece on Open Source and User Interface, in particular the "Question of Preferences " section about half way through: http://www106.pair.com/rhp/free-software-ui.html

==Is Moodle a website?==

The somewhat tricky thing with regard to Moodle's usability is that Moodle is a web application, not a web site (though the line between the two is sometimes blurry) and few, if any, books have been written for that class of software. Therefore many applicable pieces of advice (from web, software or product usability guides) need to be reassessed with Moodle's nature in mind.

== Additional Resources ==

=== Websites ===

* 37 Signals Blog: Signal versus Noise http://www.37signals.com/svn/
* Jakob Nielsen's website http://useit.com/
** [http://www.elearningpost.com/articles/archives/jakob_nielsen_on_e_learning/ an interview of Jakob Nielsen about e-learning]
* Joel Spolsky's User Interface Design for Programmers http://www.joelonsoftware.com/uibook/chapters/fog0000000057.html
* First Principles of Interaction Design by Tog (Bruce Tognazzini) http://www.asktog.com/basics/firstPrinciples.html
* [http://mpt.net.nz/archive/2008/08/01/free-software-usability Challenges of usability in an Open Source context]
* [http://wiki.fluidproject.org/display/fluid/Design+Handbook Fluid Design Handbook], an excellent resource to User Centered Design methods

=== Books ===

'''Web specific'''

* [http://www.sensible.com/ Don't Make Me Think] by Steve Krug
:A really good book, full of good info yet brief, well written and accessible. A [http://www.sensible.com/chapter.html sample chapter] is made available on his site, as well as [http://www.sensible.com/secondedition/index.html 3 complete chapters] from the 1st edition in pdf format, covering a complete script for usability testing.

* [http://www.digital-web.com/articles/defensive_design_for_the_web/ Defensive Design For The Web] by [http://www.37signals.com/ 37 Signals] (Matthew Lindeman and Jason Fried).

* [http://www.zeldman.com/dwws/ Designing with Web Standards, 2nd ed.] by Jeffrey Zeldman

'''Computer specific'''

* [http://books.google.fi/books?id=04cFCVXC_AUC&dq=the+inmates+are+running+the+asylum&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=COknSur4FIfz_AaDzuXYAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4 The inmates are running the asylum - Why High-Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity] by Alan Cooper
:A usability classic: a thought-stimulating, yet an entertaining higher-level perspective on the friction between user-centered thinking and software engineering thinking, and on solutions to start really designing for the actual goals of the users using Personas, Goals and Scenarios.
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=D39vjmLfO3kC The Humane Interface] by Jef Raskin
:Jef, who sadly passed away recently, has been more and more research focused for the last 15 years, since his days helping to create the first Macintosh. This led to a discarding all practical considerations to concieve of the 'perfect' UI, rather than attending to the pragmatic, checklist-style "improve your site in 15 minutes" genre. However his writing is excellent in consistently laying the blame for problems with the computer and it's software, not the user. It is often easy to fall into the trap of thinking 'stupid' users are the problem, rather than simply a design parameter. It is however worth remembering that (unless you are a research fellow) many of these technical faults must be worked with to a certain degree, and that "perfection can often be the enemy of the good".

'''General'''

* ''Psychology of Everyday Things'' by Donald Norman (new edition aka [http://books.google.com/books?id=EXwkGwAACAAJ The Design of Everyday Things])
:It's a classic, so some of the examples are a bit dated, but the basic message that it is fundamentally hard for a designer (no matter how smart) to place themselves mentally in the position of a user is put across well. I think about this book's simple message every time I push a door I was supposed to pull and vice versa.
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=h_wAbnGlOC4C Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things] by Donald Norman

== See also: ==
* [[Usability FAQ]]

[[Category:Developer|Usability]]
[[Category:Usability]]

[[ja:開発:ユーザビリティ]]

Sharing Cart

2009-02-21T20:47:12Z

Ghanson: /* Purpose */ added missing "is"

Block: Sharing Cart 1.9 release 2 - 2009.02.19

==Purpose==
Sharing Cart enables sharing content (resources, activities) between multiple courses on your site. You can share among teachers or among your own courses. It copies and moves the course items without user data—similar to the “Import” function in Administration. It is available only for teachers, course creators and administrators.

==Requirements==
# Topic, Weekly or Project Course Format: The Sharing Cart now works with three formats. Topics and Weekly format are now supported as well as Project course format. See moodle.org for download information.
# Javascript: The Sharing Cart needs a browser with JavaScript enabled even if you are not using AJAX. AJAX turned on is recommended but not required.

==Installation==
# download from: [http://englishforum.sgu.ac.jp/downloads/sharingcart/ englishforum.sgu.ac.jp/downloads]
# unzip the package
# using FTP, open your blocks folder in your moodle program folder on your site
# place the folder "sharing_cart" into the blocks folder
# go to "Notifications" in your site admin area, database tables will be automatically generated
# inside any course, "Turn editing on", go to Blocks "Add...", and you should see "sharing cart" in the list of blocks in the menu.

==Operation==
# '''Copying content to the Sharing Cart from a course''': With editing on, add the Sharing Cart block from the block menu. Then you will notice a small "Copy to Sharing Cart" icon which appears after each resource or activity in the center column of a Moodle course. Click on that icon to send a copy of that resource/activity into the Sharing Cart.
# '''Copy content to a course from the Sharing Cart''': Click "Copy to course" icon in Sharing Cart, then the module is copied into the first section of current course. And the page transits to module placing mode directly. So, if you want to cancel copying completely, the module copied into the first section needs to be removed manually.
# '''Make a folder inside the Sharing Cart''': Click the "Edit" icon on course content item and an input box will appear. Input the name of the target folder there.
# '''Move item into a folder''': Click "Move to folder" icon in Sharing Cart, then a drop-down list appears, and select the target folder. If you click the “Edit” button, you will replace the drop-down list with an input box.

==Known problems==
When AJAX course editing is enabled on your site, dragging the Sharing Cart block to a new location in the blocks area may cause trouble temporarily—all blocks may freeze or all the folders freeze (this is a bug in Moodle core). To unfreeze the folders, reload the page.

==Maintainers==
This block was programmed by Akio Ohnishi and staff at Version2 Educational Web Development. The designers and maintainers of this block are Don Hinkelman and Andy Johnson. Funding was and is provided by Sapporo Gakuin University. For issues and suggestions, please contact Don on the Sharing Cart forums or directly (hinkel at sgu.ac.jp).

==See also==
* [[Project Course Format|Project Course Format: a contributed format for moving sections of a course]]
* [http://englishforum.sgu.ac.jp/downloads/sharingcart/ Download here]

[[Category:Contributed code]]
[[Category:Block]]
[[Category: Teacher]]
[[Category: Administrator]]

Installation FAQ

2009-01-30T19:41:00Z

Ghanson: Deleted out dated instructions for uninstalling Moodle packages on Window.

==PHP - is it installed and what version do I have?==

Make a new file on your web site called ''info.php'', containing the following text, and call it from your browser:

<?PHP phpinfo() ?>

If nothing happens then you don't have PHP installed or your webserver is not configured to handle .php files properly. See the installation docs for some information about where to download it for your computer. See the [[phpinfo]] page for details about the content of this page.

== System information needed for Installation problems forum ==
When posting questions to the [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=28 Installation problems forum], try to provide as much background information as possible about your moodle system. Use this template to copy and paste into your post:
* Server Operating System name (version also if possible):
* Browser name (version also if possible):
* Moodle version:
* Moodle install type? (New/Upgrade):
* Moodle config.php attached?(Y/N):
* Phpinfo attached? (Y/N):

For the last two items, try to include the following in your post as an attachment:
* A copy of your phpinfo output as shown in your browser (see the instructions above for an explanation of how to obtain this, or see [[phpinfo]]).
* A copy of the Moodle configuration file (with secret info like database password deleted, of course). This is located in the main Moodle directory (by default called moodle), and is named config.php

Copy and paste both of these into a single text file (using vi, Notepad, etc) and attach this to your post. If your PC is a Windows box and config.php looks messy (line breaks missing or in the wrong places) in Notepad, try Wordpad.

If you cannot provide your phpinfo, try to copy & paste and complete these in your post:
* Webserver (e.g. Apache/IIS) version:
* Database server (e.g. MySQL, PostgreSQL) version:
* PHP version:

For installation on web hosting accounts: contact your support desk who should be able to tell you this information.

: '''Security Warning''': Make sure you edit any files and delete any passwords before posting onto the forum.

==What & where are Moodle's configuration settings stored?==
Configuration settings are stored in the config.php file stored in your moodle folder. This file is created during the installation process. If there is a problem and the installation cannot create the file, you can try creating it manually from the [[Configuration file]] docs. Please remember that manually editing the file is not recommended and may lead to blank pages, especially if there are additional spaces and/or lines after the final php closing tag "?>".

==Downloading previous releases of Moodle==
* '''Generic Packages''': If your server does not meet the [[Installing_Moodle#Requirements | requirements]] for the current version of Moodle, you can download previous releases by using wget, lynx or curl with this URL:
<nowiki>http://download.moodle.org/stable[version_number]</nowiki>
:For example: to download Moodle version 1.5, use http://download.moodle.org/stable15. You'll see a directory tree with the files displayed. Click on the one you want and download as normal - if you require the latest update of the version, scroll to the end of the list and download the "moodle-latest" file, or alternatively use these URLs for zip or tgz downloads:
<nowiki>http://download.moodle.org/stable[version_number]/moodle-latest-[version_number].zip</nowiki>
<nowiki>http://download.moodle.org/stable[version_number]/moodle-latest-[version_number].tgz</nowiki>

:Changes made in the version in the last month are listed in the "CHANGES" file in the directory listing. The files you download contain Moodle code and are not the Windows or Mac packages - so you need to have a webserver, a database server and PHP already installed. The earliest version available is Moodle 1.3.
* '''Windows Packages''': To download previous releases of the Moodle packages for Windows, use this URL:
<nowiki>http://download.moodle.org/windows/MoodleWindowsInstaller-latest-[version_number].zip</nowiki>
* '''Mac Packages''': To download previous releases of the Mac pacakges, use either of these URLs (depending on whether you need the Intel or PPC package):
<nowiki>http://download.moodle.org/macosx/Moodle4Mac-Intel-[version_number].dmg</nowiki>
<nowiki>http://download.moodle.org/macosx/Moodle4Mac-PPC-[version_number}.dmg</nowiki>
* '''Using CVS''': You can also use CVS to download older releases and incremental releases of the Moodle generic packages, e.g. Moodle 1.5.4 - see the [[CVS_for_Administrators | CVS documentation]].

== How to enable and check PHP error logs==
PHP can be set up to log errors in a variety of different ways: two of these involve the use of the php.ini file and the ini_set command.
* '''Using the php.ini file''': The log settings are contained in the php.ini file stored on the server. If you don't know where that is, edit your Moodle ''config.php'' and add the following as the second line

phpinfo();

:then reload the web page. Look for the entry '''Configuration File (php.ini) Path'''.

:When you have located php.ini open it in your favorite text editor. Find the '''Error handling and logging''' section of the php.ini file. Make sure that both '''display_errors = On''', '''display_startup_errors = On''' and '''log_errors = On''' are present and uncommented. Check the value of '''error_log''' - this tells you the location of the file errors are logged to. If it is commented out then errors will be sent to the web server error log file. Remember, if you make any changes to this file you will need to restart the web server (or just reboot the server).

* '''Using ini_set commands''': If you are using Moodle 1.7 or higher, the previous steps are not enough. In those versions error logging parameters are dependant on certain administrative settings that you specify in the debugging section. The problem is that if you can't access the administrative pages, you can't set the debugging options. So the only way to modify them is by adding the following lines to your config.php file, just before the last line (the one containing a single'?>' only):

ini_set ('display_errors', 'on');
ini_set ('log_errors', 'on');
ini_set ('display_startup_errors', 'on');
ini_set ('error_reporting', E_ALL);
$CFG->debug = DEBUG_ALL;

:This will enable the same settings specified above even if Moodle sets them otherwise.
:'''Important''': Remember to put them just before the last line of config.php.

==Email copies are not being sent from my forums==

You ''must'' set up cron properly if you want Moodle to send out automatic email from forums, assignments etc. This same process also performs a number of clean-up tasks such as deleting old unconfirmed users, unenrolling old students and so on.

Basically, you need to set up a process to regularly call the script <code><nowiki>http://yoursite/admin/cron.php</nowiki></code>. Please refer to the [[Cron|cron instructions]].

Tips:
* Try the default settings in ''Administration > Server > Email''. This generally works.
*Make sure that ''allowuseremailcharset'' in ''Administration > Server > Email'' is set to No. Setting this to Yes can cause a problem in some versions of Moodle.

==I can't log in - I just stay stuck on the login screen==

The most common cause for this is that your own computer (not your Moodle server) has a firewall that is stripping referrer information from the browser. Here are some instructions for fixing [http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nip.nsf/46f26a2d6dafb0a788256bc7005c3fa3/b9b47ad7eddd343b88256c6b006a85a8?OpenDocument&src=bar_sch_nam Norton firewall products].

Another possible cause of this problem is that sessions are not configured properly on the server. You can test this by calling the script <nowiki>http://yourserver/moodle/lib/session-test.php</nowiki>.

If you are still having problems, read the [[Can_not_log_in | Cannot log in]] page.

==I log in but the login link doesn't change. I am logged in and can navigate freely.==

Make sure the URL in your <code>$CFG->wwwroot</code> setting is exactly the same as the one you are actually using to access the site.

==Uploaded files give "File not found"==

For example: Not Found: The requested URL /moodle/file.php/2/myfile.jpg was not found on this server.

Your web server needs to be configured to allow the part of the URL after a script name to be passed directly to the script. This is usually enabled in Apache 1, but is usually disabled by default in Apache 2. To turn it on, add this line to your ''httpd.conf'', or to a ''.htaccess'' file in your local directory (see [[Installing Moodle]] for more details):

'''AcceptPathInfo''' on

Note, this will ONLY work for Apache versions 2.x.

For IIS you need to configure URL rewriting. This feature is not available from Microsoft, you need to install a 3rd party IIS extension - see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms972974.aspx
The recommended rewriting rule is

'''RewriteRule''' ^([^\?]+?\.php)(\/.+)$ $1\?file=$2 [QSA]

In theory you could try to use path info on IIS too, but it is not reliable, especially when using unicode file names.

If you are unable to configure your server properly then you can switch Moodle to use an alternative method. The major disadvantages is that you will not be able to use SCORM packages at all and some Adobe Flash and Java applets will not work either.

To use this alternative method, you should change the ''slasharguments'' variable. For moodle versions < 1.7, this is located in the Operating System section of ''Administration > Configuration > [[admin/config|Variables]]''. In later versions, this option is located in ''Site Administration > Server > HTTP''. You should now be able to access your uploaded files.

==Why are all my pages blank?==

Check the dirroot variable in ''config.php''. You must use complete, absolute pathnames e.g.

$CFG->dirroot = "d:\inetpub\sites\www.yoursite.com\web\moodle";

Another reason might be that PHP has not been configured to support MySQL. This is common on Redhat and OpenBSD installations. In this case, an error is generated, but since error displays are often disabled by default, all that is seen on the browser is a blank screen. To enable PHP error displays see [[Installation_FAQ#How_to_enable_and_check_PHP_error_logs | How to enable and check PHP error logs]].

To determine if MySQL support is your problem, insert this as the second line in your ''config.php'' file

phpinfo();

then reload the web page. Examine the output closely to see if MySQL is supported. If not look for a package you are missing.

== Why is a particular page blank or incomplete? ==

*'''Check your web server log files!!'''
:If a particular page is blank or incomplete (it doesn't display the footer), before you do anything else [[Installation_FAQ#How_to_enable_and_check_PHP_error_logs | check your error logs]]. Having established that PHP error logging is working, reproduce the error. Immediately check the error log file right at the end. Hopefully you will see a PHP error message at or very near the end of the file. This may solve your problem directly or makes it a lot easier to diagnose the problem in the Moodle forums.

*If you are '''upgrading to a new version of Moodle''', check that you do not have an old version of a non-standard block or module installed. Remove any such blocks or modules installed using the admin settings page and start the install process again. However, do also make sure that you have included all optional plugins that were required by your courses.

*If you '''do not see any blocks listed''', turn editing on and remove any blocks that you have added to that page and try reloading.

*You may get this error immediately after '''selecting a language'''. At this stage of the installation process your Moodle computer may need to connect to the Internet and download a language pack, so check that the computer can access the Internet by using a browser. Check also that your PHP settings are as given in the Moodle [[Installing_Moodle#Requirements | Moodle Requirements]] page.

'''See also''':
*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=97734 PHP configuration error] forum discussion

==Installation hangs when setting-up database tables==
Sometimes the installation will hang when setting up tables. This will be an abrupt hang with half the page displayed in the browser and/or other outputs removed. Examples are:

- '''Truncated MySQL statements''':

(mysql): SET NAMES 'utf8'
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(mysql): SHOW LOCAL VARIABLES LIKE 'character_set_database'
...
...
(no more statements are displayed)

- '''Missing Continue button''': The “Scroll to continue” link is displayed but no “Continue” button is there.

'''Note''': There is an exception to this when upgrading an existing database and the installation may appear to hang at the roles generation phase. This process can take a very long time - so please be patient.

Below are some solutions you can try to overcome this problem:

*'''Check for MySQL limits'''. This is often a MySQL error and not a php error. Check that there is no limit placed on your mysql database, e.g. a "questions" limit. See [http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/user-resources.html Limiting Account Resources in the MySQL manual].

*'''Check your .htaccess files'''. If the install is on a webhost, adding the following line to the .htaccess file in the Moodle directory has been known to solve the problem.
AddType x-mapp-php5 .php

:Try also renaming the .htaccess file so that it is disabled.

*'''Code customizations'''. You may also want to look and see if you've customized any of your code. Look at the last successful table, and then look at the block, mod, or other code that is referenced by that table. For example, if your install hangs and continues to say that the forum tables were successful as the last message, look at /mod/forum/ for any custom code. If you have customized code, backup those files and replace with the correct files. You can then restart the install by renaming config.php or reinstalling your database from the backup. If your install is successful, you can make your code changes back into the stock Moodle code.

*'''Check your memory limit'''. It may also be that the "memory_limit" in your php.ini is set too low. Please check your php.ini file and allocate the recommended amount (see [https://docs.moodle.org/en/Installing_Moodle#Requirements Moodle requirements]). For Moodle version 1.8 and above at least 40MB is recommended.

*'''Upgrade incrementally'''. To avoid this problem when upgrading, it is recommended to upgrade via each version of Moodle, for example 1.7 -> 1.8 -> 1.9 (with the exception of upgrading from 1.5 or 1.6, when it is recommended that 1.7 be skipped, in other words upgrade 1.5 -> 1.6 -> 1.8 -> 1.9).

A work-around to this problem is to setup a working Moodle system on your local PC or server using the [http://download.moodle.org Moodle Packages]. Once you have a running Moodle, [https://docs.moodle.org/en/Upgrading_Moodle#Backup_important_data backup the database] and import to your webhost. Then backup the Moodle code itself (the "moodle" directory on your PC) and copy this to your webhost using (for example) FTP. Finally, edit the moodle/config.php file for the new settings that have to be changed for the webhost.

Some Moodlers have found the suggestion in http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=65786#p297433 helpful, for some unknown reason. It claims that it is because the fopen function in the line (now line 426 instead of 406) was not being given a string as the first argument, but that's not true. It was a string; after the edit it is a string whose first and last characters are single quote marks. The amazing thing is that it works at all after that edit. What's even more amazing is that it fixes the problem, at least for some users. Go figure.

==Why can't I upload a new image into my profile?==

If you don't see anything on your user profile pages to let you upload user images then it's usually because GD is not enabled on your server. GD is a library that allows image processing.

1. Make sure '''GD has been included in your PHP installation'''. You can check this by going into Administration >> Configuration >> [[Variables]] and looking for the gdversion setting. This setting is chosen automatically every time you visit that page. If it shows GD version 1 or version 2 then everything should be fine. Save that configuration page and go back to your user profile.

2. If Moodle thinks GD is not installed, then you will need to '''install the GD library'''.
*On Unix you may need to re-compile PHP with arguments something like this:

./configure --with-apxs=/usr/local/apache/bin/apxs --with-xml --with-gd
--with-jpeg-dir=/usr/local --with-png-dir=/usr --with-ttf --enable-gd-native-ttf
--enable-magic-quotes --with-mysql --enable-sockets --enable-track-vars
--enable-versioning --with-zlib

* On Windows this is usually a matter of "turning on" the extension in PHP by editing your php.ini file. To do this remove the semicolon for the php_gd2.dll extension - check that this file is actually present in your php extensions folder first (search your php.ini for extension_dir to determine where this points to on your hard disk). You should then have a line that looks like this:
extension=php_gd2.dll

:Windows users should see the [[Installing AMP|installation instructions]] for further help.

3. Remember to '''restart your webserver''' (if possible) and re-visit the Moodle configuration page after making any changes to PHP so it can pick up the correct version of GD.

'''See also''': Using Moodle forum discussion [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=44271 Profile pictures] for additional information.

== Why doesn't my Moodle site display the time and date correctly? ==

Each language requires a specific language code (called a '''locale''' code) to allow dates to be displayed correctly. The language packs contain default standard codes, but sometimes these don't work on Windows servers.

You can find the correct locale codes for Windows on these two pages: [http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/vclib/html/_crt_language_strings.asp Language codes] and [http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/vclib/html/_crt_country_strings.asp Country/region] codes (e.g. "esp_esp" for spanish)

These new locale codes can be entered on the Administration >> Configuration >> [[admin/config|Variables]] page, where they override the ones in the currently chosen language pack.

==How do I uninstall Moodle?==

'''Webhost/manual installation''': If you have installed Moodle manually or have installed onto a webhost, follow these steps:
*Delete the moodle database using this mysql command (or delete using your mysql client, e.g. PHPMyAdmin):
<pre>sql>DROP DATABASE moodle;</pre>
:In the above example replace 'moodle' with the name of the moodle database you created when installing.
*Delete the moodledata directory. If you, or your users, have uploaded materials into this directory take a copy of these before deleting this directory.
*Delete the moodle directory itself. This will delete all of the moodle PHP script files.

==How do I upgrade Moodle? Do I just overwrite the files?==
Do not overwrite files, it may cause strange errors. You should read the [[Upgrade]] documentation before proceeding.

==I obtain the message "Upgrade already running in this session, please wait!"==

Most likely you refreshed the page before the completion message. If you are absolutely sure that there are no upgrade processes active (php and/or mysql), you can click on "!!!" and restart the upgrade.

:''Note'': If you click on "'!!!" or try to restart the upgrade from another browser, there is a chance that your data in the database could be corrupted. If this happens, you will need to restore the database from sql dump and then restart the upgrade and wait - the process can take several hours on large sites.

==Migrating Moodle to a new site or server==
Migrating Moodle means that you have to move the current installation to a new server, and so may have to change IP addresses or DNS entries. To do this you will need to change the $CFG->wwwroot value in the config.php on the new server. You will also have to change any absolute links stored in the database backup file (before restoring the file on the new server) either using the admin/replace.php script, your text editor or another "search and replace" tool, e.g. sed. For more details see the [[Moodle_migration | Moodle Migration]] page.

==Why does my new installation display correctly on the server, but when I view it from a different machine, styles and images are missing?==
In the installation instructions, one of the suggested settings for 'webroot' is 'localhost'. This is fine if all you want to do is some local testing of your new Moodle installation. If, however, you want to view your new installation from another machine on the same local area network, or view your site on the internet, you will have to change this setting:
*For local testing, 'localhost' is fine for the webroot ($CFG->wwwroot in config.php).
*If you want to test your site from other machines on the same local area network (LAN), then you will have to use the private ip address of the serving machine, (e.g. 192.168.1.2/moodle) or the network name of the serving computer (e.g. network_name_of_serving_machine/moodle) as the web root. Depending on your LAN setup, it may be better to use the network name of the computer rather than its (private) ip address, because the ip address can and will change from time to time. If you don't want to use the network name, then you will have to speak to your network administrator and have them assign a permanent ip address to the serving machine.
*Finally, if you want to test your new installation across the internet, you will have to use either a domain name or a permanent (public) ip address/moodle as your web root. To handle both types of access, see [https://docs.moodle.org/en/masquerading masquerading].

==Maximum upload file size - how to change it?==
There are several places to change the maximum file upload size. The first place to check is the Administration block. Security -> Site Policies -> and look for "Maximum Uploaded File Size". This is the "maxbyte" variable found in older versions of Moodle (under Admin > Variables). Teachers may also set the maximum file size by the [[Course_settings#Maximum_upload_size|course administration block]].

The second place to check are the server files. The php.ini file has a limit which will override any other setting. (Hint: remember to restart your server for changes to take effect). For more help see:
*[[Administration_FAQ#How_do_the_limits_on_uploaded_files_work.3F]]
*[[Installing_Moodle#Recheck_PHP_settings]]
*[[Installing_Moodle#Using_a_.htaccess_file_for_webserver_and_PHP_settings]]
*[[Site_policies#Maximum_uploaded_file_size]]
*These forum posts: http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=63840#287960 and http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=93882#p414650

==How do I install Moodle on Windows Vista?==

See [[Installing Moodle on Windows Vista]].

==Moodle claims PHP float handling is not compatible==

The symptom is that when you try to install or upgrade your Moodle, you get a message "Detected unexpected problem in handling of PHP float numbers".

[http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=114945 This forum thread] and MDL-17868 have more information. In short, this problem should not happen, you can help us by telling posting information about exactly which version of PHP, and OS you are using. That may let us find a way to work around this problem.

You may be able to solve this issue by installing a more recent PHP versions. If you compile PHP yourself from source, changing the compilation options may help. However, since we don't understand the cause, we don't really know. If you do find a solution that works for you, please do tell us about it.

==See also==

*[[Errors FAQ]]
*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=28 Installation problems forum]

[[Category:FAQ]]
[[Category:Installation]]

[[es:FAQ Instalación]]
[[fr:FAQ d'installation]]
[[nl:Installatie FAQ]]
[[ja:インストールFAQ]]
[[ru:Установка FAQ]]
[[pl:Instalacja FAQ]]

Installing plugins

2008-07-27T13:27:13Z

Ghanson: /* Module/plugin installation */