[Xerte] Creating custom templates on the basis of Nottingham.rlt

[RonM]

Some good points Peter and I've briefly discussed bits of this with Julian
too but less about local customisation and more about us all being able to
add to the Nottingham developed templates (and share with the community) in
a way that is efficient and not overridden by future releases. For
example...

 

Over the last couple of weeks we've been looking at and testing the
differences between different swf and video file formats and how to get them
to work with either the existing page types or where necessary a custom page
type. As a result Julian has added some code to cope with moletv links and a
new page type specifically for Jing movies. But the team at Notts can't
possibly keep up with all the variations out there and not everyone would
need those extra pages either. We can create customised stuff for local
needs which is obviously one of the big benefits of what is a fantastic
tool. However I think we need a way to build additional templates, to share
those with the community and somehow allow an author to use any of the
templates available in the same LO.

 

I think Julian had some ideas of how this might be achieved but I doubt that
will be in time for the imminent release of toolkits v1. In fact I don't
think we should distract Julian and Pat from getting that finished or do
anything to stop the frequent updates and improvements that have been added
recently or in the future. I think we just need a solution to prevent
duplicated effort.

 

From: xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk
[mailto:xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] On Behalf Of Peter Huppertz
Sent: 11 March 2009 21:59
To: xerte at lists.nottingham.ac.uk
Subject: [Xerte] Creating custom templates on the basis of Nottingham.rlt

 

Dear List, 

the Nottingham-template of the xerte installation includes many nice
features I would like to have in my own template. On the other hand I want
to tailor the design of my learning piece to the ci of my institute and to
the needs of the project I work on. 
So my approach in the past was to take the Nottingham template and redesign
it. For example: 
- change the size of the project to my needs 
- change the interface with custom header, buttons, panels, fonts, etc. 
- change the position of the different items that are generated/loaded/etc. 
- include custom exercises 

In the last few days literally every hour a new version of the template
arrived. Which is good in terms of development, but which is bad for me,
cause I must either change my template to include the new features, or
tailor the Nottingham-template again. 

So now my question is: is my process the right way to tailor a template to
my needs or is there a completely different approach which is much simpler?
If there is no simpler way, would it be possible to make the
Nottingham-template easier to tailor. Some ideas I have: 

- store all positing data in variables based on the size of the stage 
- use css styles for all text which is displayed 
- create a template for a custom interface (including next/previous buttons,
help button, etc.) 

So, please tell me what you think. If you see some value in my idea I would
be happy to help you! 

Before I forget it: Xerte is really a great tool. The best balance between
userfriendlyness and totally customizable I have ever seen! Good job. 

Peter

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