Adding blocks to lesson
The lesson module lends itself well to blocks. It already has a three column format same as a course format. Also, via a lesson's settings one can add a left menu, a timer or a link to a media file. All of these are displayed in the left or the right column, but are static.
In order to add greater flexibility to the lesson display and to reduce the number of settings in the lesson settings, which are numerous, block functionality should be added to lesson.
Lesson blocks
Lesson features that would be extracted from lesson and placed into blocks would be the following:
- Left menu (block name lesson_menu)
- Media file (block name lesson_media_file)
- Timer (block name lesson_clock)
The settings for these would be removed from the lesson's settings and be handled by the block configuration.
Other blocks
By adding block functionality to lesson, other blocks become available for adding to a lesson. Some blocks would not make sense in a lesson like the admin block. To handle this, lesson would have a global configuration that can disable blocks from being added to a lesson. This will help to reduce confusion for lesson authors.
Sticky blocks
Sticky blocks could be used to force a block to appear on every lesson page. Then non-sticky blocks would only appear on the page to which it was added. This would allow one to add a sticky block like lesson_menu to all pages and then on a specific page add an HTML block with specific content for that page.
The possibility of using sticky blocks is still fuzzy. It could prove to be difficult to design an interface that works well with the current block API.
Conclusion
Adding blocks seems to suit lesson well. By doing so, lesson gains a the following:
- A more flexible layout.
- A new powerful tool: blocks. Users can create their own blocks to plug into lesson.
- The lesson settings will be reduced.
Author
Mark Nielsen 20:12, 21 December 2006 (CST)
