Hi Jaime,
Thanks for your report. I was going to update the filters help file for Moodle 1.9 when I discovered that it's no longer used on the manage filters page! Here's a copy of a discussion I had with Eloy regarding whether the manage filters page should have a help file or not. Please let us know what you think.
Helen Foster says: the manage filters page had a help file describing all the filters, but the manage auth page provides descriptions of each auth plugin on each auth plugin settings page, the manage enrolments page also provides descriptions on each enrolment plugin settings page, the manage blocks page really has too many blocks to describe in a help file
Eloy Lafuente says: I'm not really sure if the "number" of plugins is a good argument to keep help icons visible or no. Imagine that, for 2.0 we end with 20 filters. Then, will do delete the help icon? One thing is to explain what filters are or common settings. but that should be independent of the list IMO. and, if no other page has help icons... well I really think it's better to leave the filters one clean too. do you get my point?
Helen Foster says: yes, help popups are not used much on admin pages as explanations are provided as lang strings in the pages
Helen Foster says: just looking where help popups are used: front page roles, grade letters, bulk user actions, roles, assign system roles
Eloy Lafuente says: I see them more for "actions" than for pages. i.e. the editor help, or one setting..., yup, for forms it's ok. explaining settings. anyway, I think the key is to be consistent. or we enforce linking to Docs or we enfoce having more help files. Really for pages I would enforce the Docs linking.
Helen Foster says: is enabling a filter an action?
Eloy Lafuente says: of course, it's an action.
Helen Foster says: so does it qualify for a help popup?
Eloy Lafuente says: well, perhaps that is another thing (tooltip texts), over visual interface elements, or perhaps, also, we could have one hideshow.help page explaining how it works in a newutral way (like the smilies help) and apply it when necessary. anyway... visual actions are less dangerous... at least they provide some visual infomation. and, with one tolltip, it can be well "documented". is more about choices, to know the meaning of each one are so (aka. forms)
Eloy Lafuente says: anyway, all the conclusions should end in some sort of usability doc. (or guidelines for devs), but in a consistent way. IMO, of course. hehe, nothing decided, then.
Improvement
Open
Minor
Hi Jaime,
Thanks for your report. I was going to update the filters help file for Moodle 1.9 when I discovered that it's no longer used on the manage filters page! Here's a copy of a discussion I had with Eloy regarding whether the manage filters page should have a help file or not. Please let us know what you think.
Helen Foster says: the manage filters page had a help file describing all the filters, but the manage auth page provides descriptions of each auth plugin on each auth plugin settings page, the manage enrolments page also provides descriptions on each enrolment plugin settings page, the manage blocks page really has too many blocks to describe in a help file
Eloy Lafuente says: I'm not really sure if the "number" of plugins is a good argument to keep help icons visible or no. Imagine that, for 2.0 we end with 20 filters. Then, will do delete the help icon? One thing is to explain what filters are or common settings. but that should be independent of the list IMO. and, if no other page has help icons... well I really think it's better to leave the filters one clean too. do you get my point?
Helen Foster says: yes, help popups are not used much on admin pages as explanations are provided as lang strings in the pages
Helen Foster says: just looking where help popups are used: front page roles, grade letters, bulk user actions, roles, assign system roles
Eloy Lafuente says: I see them more for "actions" than for pages. i.e. the editor help, or one setting..., yup, for forms it's ok. explaining settings. anyway, I think the key is to be consistent. or we enforce linking to Docs or we enfoce having more help files. Really for pages I would enforce the Docs linking.
Helen Foster says: is enabling a filter an action?
Eloy Lafuente says: of course, it's an action.
Helen Foster says: so does it qualify for a help popup?
Eloy Lafuente says: well, perhaps that is another thing (tooltip texts), over visual interface elements, or perhaps, also, we could have one hideshow.help page explaining how it works in a newutral way (like the smilies help) and apply it when necessary. anyway... visual actions are less dangerous... at least they provide some visual infomation. and, with one tolltip, it can be well "documented". is more about choices, to know the meaning of each one are so (aka. forms)
Eloy Lafuente says: anyway, all the conclusions should end in some sort of usability doc. (or guidelines for devs), but in a consistent way. IMO, of course. hehe, nothing decided, then.