Front page: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 11:55, 7 April 2010

The Front Page is the initial page seen by someone reaching a Moodle site after or before a login. Typically a student will see courses, some blocks of information, displayed in a theme.

A combination of site policies, user authentication and Front Page administration settings determine who can get to the Front Page. And once they get there what they can see and what they can do.

In many ways, a Front Page has similar features and functions to those in a course.

Guest view of a simple Front Page, displaying via the Formal White theme

Front Page administration

The Site administration block includes links to manage this special page. Users who have teacher rights on the front page, will only see the "Front page" settings in this block.

Front Page settings

Front Page settings control the look and feel of this page. Please see the link for more information.

Front Page roles

As in a course, you can assign users roles just in the context of this page. Note this is different than the default user role found in Front Page settings. Many sites will only assign roles to those who can modify the Front Page.

Front Page backup

You can backup the front page, similar to a Course backup.

Front Page restore

As in a course, you can Restore a backed up version of the front page.

Front Page questions

The Question bank is accessible from the Front Page. For example, if "topic" is checked in the Front Page settings, you can add a Quiz module activity.

Site files

Unlike files in a course, these files are accessible to anyone. See Site files for more information.

Tips and Tricks

Backup topic section tips

In earlier versions of Moodle, there is no obvious way to backup or move something placed in a topic on the front page. One trick is to go to any course and click on the backup icon. Change the id in the address bar of the browser to 1.

For example http://demo.moodle.org/backup/backup.php?id=2

Change to http://demo.moodle.org/backup/backup.php?id=1

Go to that page. This will show a standard backup menu for the Front Page's activities and resources. It will behave just like any Course backup and Restore process. The backup file will be located with the site files (admin block >Server>Sitefiles) in a folder called backupdata. You will need the correct permissions to be able to do this.

Front page format examples

A Moodle site's front page can be reconfigured from the default standard to give it a different look and or change how it functions. Depending upon the changes, this can be a simple or a more complex process. Here are some examples =

=The one column, no block format

The standard Moodle page format of Blocks on the left and blocks on the right is not always appropriate or considered pretty. The site administrator can change this basic format by simply deleting or hiding blocks that can be seen by a teacher or student.

The two column format

The Administrator decides which blocks should appear on the front page and moves all of them to the left or right side.

Tip: It is possible to force a block column to assume a specific width. For example, placing an image of 400 px in a block will force that column to 400 px.

The clean look

Some sites want an uncluttered look, one which appears to be a single HTML page. Or a site administrator wants to start with the most basic look and then add features.

One example:

The site administrator will turn on editing and hide or delete all blocks that can be see by teachers or students on the front page.
Then go to the Site administration block► Front Page ► Front Page settings and:
1. Set the "Front page" list to None, None, None, None
2. Set "Front page items when logged in" list to the same
3. Uncheck the box for "Include Topic section"
4. Edit the "Front page description with the HTML editor tool
5. Save

A variation on the above:

Follow the above steps except:
1. Keep the Front page description blank
2. Check the box to "Include Topic a section",
3. Save
Return to the front page
1. Use the edit hand link to call up the HTML edit tool to create a page that looks like an HTML page.
2. Add any resources or activities that are appropriate for the site.

@@ Line 14: / Line 14: @@
 ===Front Page roles===
-As in a course, you can assign users roles just in the context of this page.  Note this is different than the default user role found in Front Page settings. Many sites will only assign roles to those who can modify the Front Page.
+As in a course, you can assign users [[Roles|roles]] just in the [[Context|context]] of this page.  Note this is different than the default user role found in Front Page settings. Many sites will only assign roles to those who can modify the Front Page.
 ===Front Page backup===
 You can backup the front page, similar to a [[Course backup]].

Documentation