[#MDL-18349] Adding link of section 0 to the "Section Links" block

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Key:	MDL-18349
Type:	Improvement
Status:	Open
Priority:	Major
Assignee:	Nobody
Reporter:	Wen Hao Chuang
Votes:	0
Watchers:	3

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Moodle

Adding link of section 0 to the "Section Links" block

Created: 23/Feb/09 04:32 AM Updated: 24/Feb/09 06:55 PM

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Component/s:

Blocks, Usability

Affects Version/s:

1.8, 1.9

Fix Version/s:

None

File Attachments:

backup-sectionLinkTest.zip (12 kB)

Image Attachments:

1. block_setting.png
(6 kB)

Database:	Any
Participants:	Anthony Borrow, Nobody, Ray Lawrence and Wen Hao Chuang
Security Level:	None
Affected Branches:	MOODLE_18_STABLE, MOODLE_19_STABLE

Description

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I found this as a really annoying problem now that I'm teaching again this semester. For courses that has a lot of course materials (especially if you have a lot of materials under section 0 area), if you selected "show this week(topic) only" for a certain week (let's say week4) and have the "Section LInks block" enabled, somehow if you click into a resource/activity in week4, then use "breadcrumb" to quickly go back to the course, moodle will automatically bring you to the "TOP' of the course page. Then if you want to continue with the next activity of week4 (with "show week4 only" enabled), if you click on the "4" in your "Section links" block, it won't bring you right to week4 area! This has created some navigation usability issues (especially when you have a lot of course materials in section 0 area and has chosen to enable "Show only weekx" optoin . Please try the attached backup file to understand what I was talking about.

One solution is to add "0" for topic/week 0 in the "Section Links block" and treat topic/week 0 as a "regular" topic/week. Also implement the "Section Links" block in the way that no mater you have "Show only weekx" or "Show all weeks" enabled, the section link block will behave the same. This issue is also related to my suggestion of MDL-18237. Thanks!

Shouldn't be difficult to implement, if no one is taking this one, I could take a look when I'm less busy.

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Anthony Borrow added a comment - 23/Feb/09 07:41 AM

Wen - I am not sure I agree this would be a good change for core. The idea of topic 0 is to hold materials that are meant to be readily available to the students at all times. So I would encourage the teachers to plan and design their courses well. Only things like the syllabus or other resources used throughout the semester would be in that section. Again, I think you would be better served by breaking down the sections into more reasonable units. The section link block simply displays the page for that section view. Removing the ability to see section 0 which is currently a feature (of having one section that remains constant) would be a loss of a feature in my opinion. Peace - Anthony

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Anthony Borrow added a comment - 23/Feb/09 07:48 AM

Wen - For the version that is affected, I think it would be better unless you are filing a bug report that is specific to a particular version to just use the unreleased versions or the generic 1.6, 1.7, etc. I don't see a need or benefit to highlighting every version. Peace - Anthony

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Ray Lawrence added a comment - 24/Feb/09 09:00 AM

Agree with Anthony, plus section/week "0" ins meaningless to users. There is no section "0" that is apparent to users - it's not numbered and week "0" makes even less sense.

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Wen Hao Chuang added a comment - 24/Feb/09 09:46 AM

OK, Anthony, I have changed the version to just 1.8 and 1.9. Somehow I got the impression that if I put just a generic 1.8 and 1.9, it would be referring to 1.8.0 and 1.9.0 (and will NOT show up when you filter the issues in JIRA). Maybe I was wrong about that impression... (sorry!)

Well, I thought about you and Ray's comments. Would it be a good idea to make it "block level setting" (that would be available to teachers, see screenshot) for this (show section 0 in the "section links block" or not)? I guess people would have different preferences so maybe that would be a good idea. To me, as much as I want to break down the sections into more reasonable units, but the section 0 area probably would still be long (especially if you have some graphics arts, etc., in that area). When this happen, based on all the navigation aids that moodle currently has (section links block, the jump to pull-down menu, the zoom-in-and-out feature, etc.), it still need a lot of mouse scrolling... just my 2 cents.

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Ray Lawrence added a comment - 24/Feb/09 06:55 PM

I'm still not convinced.

Having different behaviour for the (seemingly) same block across courses is not a good idea IMO.

A better solution is to implement something like the Side Bar / Main Menu/ Social Activities block that is available in all course formats.

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