14 September 2022, 22:57

Hi, I am currently trying to set up a multi-column page template but don't seem to have an option to create anything other than a single column (above/below).  What settings do I need to change to allow this functionality?  I have been given admin right by my university.  I am also struggling to add a navigation page other than a basic click on a link to access a page.  I came across this Mahara e-portfolio (for another university) and wondered if anyone could offer some pointers on how to set this up.  Has it been achieved through some specialist code?  For example, in the Introduction to Mahara navigation section on the left, they have each page within the collection, an introduction to the page and a breakdown of the sections within the page.

15 September 2022, 11:10

Hi Simon,

Your page layout seems to be maxed out in terms of width. That's why you wouldn't be able to add more columns. If you'd like to add another column, reduce the width of the content in the previous one first by dragging the handle at the bottom or a block when you are in 'Edit' mode. That would need to be done for each block individually. So give it a go with one block first before changing everything.

Mahara has the block 'Navigation' which you can use to provide a navigation block on a page to link to other pages in the same or another collection. The screenshot you shared does not use that block because there is additional information added. So that is a manual setup that looks to be achieved using the 'Text' block and the 'Retractable' option that you see at the bottom when you set up your text block. Set it to 'Automatically retract' and you only see the block titles.

Cheers

Kristina

15 September 2022, 20:24

Many thanks for your quick response.  I have emailed the UK contact.

Kind regards,

Simon Patterson

15 September 2022, 23:13

Hi Kristina,

I really appreciate your suggestions regarding the way the navigation has been achieved through a series of text boxes rather than a Navigation block.  I can now replicate the navigation setup as in the screenshot I attached.  The only problem with this is that the screenshot shows the pages within the collection and also shows the various sub-sections that make up each page.  I appreciate that it is simple to add a link to a specific Mahara page to be opened in this setup however I am unable to replicate the opening of a page on a specific text block.  For example, in HTML I would you an anchor and <ahref> tag, how do I accomplish this in Mahara? 

The site I showed you in the original screenshot attachment was (I've had to include it as a screenshot as I can't attach links - Sorry) if you don't fully understand my above question... In the Create your Profile section includes two sub-hyperlinks (Add profile information and Manage your profile page) that open specific sections of the Create Your Profile page.  How are these sections linked to by title rather than just opening the page normally?

Many thanks for all of your help and assistance and I look forward to hearing from you shortly.

Kind regards,

Simon

16 September 2022, 9:29

Hi Simon,

You can now post links. You can set anchors in a Mahara page. However, you can do so only within an artefact, but not across artefacts. Pages cannot be embedded into another page, but they can be linked to. You can also place instructions on each page so students don't have to refer back to a general set of instructions.

If you create a template, be careful with linking to pages as those links won't be updated to the new page URLs. Using the navigation block and then changing the reference collection is much easier and keeps the links up to date.

Cheers

Kristina