OpenICDL

This document is only of interest to contributors/developers of OpenICDL in Moodle modules on this site.

This guide is currently being developed.

These courses must be designed to work well...

1. ...on a wide range of computer platforms - e.g. Microsoft Windows XP / Vista, Apple Mac OSX, and Ubuntu.
   Anything that relies on a vendor-specific technology is not acceptable (an example might be ActiveX controls which only work on Internet explorer and Avant derivative browsers).
   
   Although this OpenICDL does not use Microsoft products, it may be that learners access their online courses from a variety of locations, many of which will probably use a Windows environment.
   
   
2. ...over a poor internet connection.
   Course materials and content should not disadvantage learners who are accessing course over slow broadband connections, and the aim is to have a usable speed even over dial-up connection speeds. OpenICDL is about including everyone, not excluding those with lower or slower technology
   

Structure

The structure of each OpenICDL in Moodle course is similar:

1. Consistency means a reduced learning-curve as learners move from one module to another
2. The complete OpenICDL in Moodle offering is consistent
3. Quality checks are quicker and easier to run

Course layout:

1. Each module uses the Topic course format in Moodle
   
2. Course layout has the Topic section with helpful documents
   Details to be added here
   

Blocks are setup as:

• Left hand side
• Administration
• Messages
• Participants
• Online Users
  
• Right hand side
• Random Glossary block (blank title) (content rotated from a hidden image glossary)
• Random Glossary block "Module glossary" (content rotated from the terminology glossary)

All resources must be in Lessons (or Quizzes), (placing 'learning content' into a Web page resource is not acceptable), so results can be passed automatically to the Gradebook.
This is essential for participant feedback purposes.

Lessons, Label, and hidden items should be left aligned (no indent).
All other resources (e.g. Choices and Quizzes) should be indented one tab.

Formatting of text

Moodle uses Themes to style content. A Theme is a collection of images and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS).

The Font used throughout this site is Trebuchet.
In fact, the CSS defines the font used as: Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif.
This means that the first font in the list is used.
It is not necessary to change the default font you see aside from two situations:

1. Information to be 'entered on the keyboard' should be in Courier New
2. Information displayed 'on screen' should be in Courier New
   

In order to maintain the greatest visual flexibility of the OpenICDL in Moodle courses it is essential that hard-coding of formats is avoided. Please do not add formatting to Labels for example.

The Heading Styles to be applied are as follows:

• Course heading (in the course topic area) is Heading 1 style
• Individual Topics titles are Heading 2 style
• Headings used within resources and activities should therefore be Heading 3 style, with sub-headings as Heading 4 style.

Graphics

Icons

There are a standard set of icons available in the Files area which are used to maintain a level of consistency across modules.
Only the available icons should be used, so please do not add/use others.
Nuvola (from Italian "cloud") is a free software icon set released under the GNU LGPL 2.1 license, created by David Vignoni. Nuvola Icon Theme version 1.0

Examples:
16x16
24x24
32x32
48x48
64x64

Size 16x16 can be used for illustration purposes, e.g. Click on the "New File" option
Size 24x24 are not currently required or used.
Size 32x32 may be used within courses, resources, and activities as 'signposts' (see below).
Size 48x48 are not currently required or used.
Size 64x64 are only used for Topic header images.

Signposts (32x32)


Attention, file_important_32x32.png
Camera, camera_32x32.png
Desktop, desktop_32x32.png
Folder, folder_32x32.png
Home, folder_home_32x32.png
Link, link_32x32.png
Network, network_32x32.png
Network, printer_32x32.png
Server, server_32x32.png
Star, services_32x32.png
Stop, file_locked_32x32.png
WWW, www_32x32.png

Pictures

All graphics should be appropriately sized and optimised.
Images should be a maximum of 640x480 (landscape) in order to display successfully within an older 800x600 screen size.

Note: some people would suggest that 1024x768 is the standard screen size now, and that most people have this size monitor or larger. A year or two ago this perspective would have been sound thinking, at least within first world developed regions. However, the last two years has seen a huge increase in the number of small notebook PC's from HP, Dell, Asus, Acer and many other manufacturers. Many of thee have screens of 800x600 or smaller. There are also many mobile devices such as the Apple iPhone that have even smaller screens. The maximum image size within the OpenICDL on Moodle courses has been selected as 640x480 to make the courses usable on a wide range of screens.

Format

The format of graphics e.g. screenshots, should be .png or .jpg.

PNG was developed to improve and replace the .GIF format (Graphics Interchange Format), and was specifically designed for transferring images on the Internet.

For photographs and screenshots the .jpg format may be used (as it creates a smaller filesize for full colour images).

Images

Three types of images are allowable:

1. Screenshots - which must be original screenshots
   
2. Graphics from the Tango project (which are included in each course Files area)
3. Images form Flickr that are available for commercial use - you must not use other images where the copyright for use is not available for commercial use
   

Note that attribution must be given for every Flickr image used on the reference page in Lessons.
See the free course for how this is implemented.

Links

We expect links will be made explicit to two locations in these OpenICDL resources:

1. Open Office.org documentation
   
   
2. Wikipedia - as a credible open source community site
   
   
3. Ubuntu.org
   
   
4. Other application specific website - e.g. Mozilla/Firefox, Thuunderbird
   

NOTE: In all these situation links should be to the official sites only, e.g. www.openoffice.org
Links to 3rd party sites is highly discouraged as they may become unavailable at any time.

Accessibility

There is much research and work in the area of online course accessibility.

Language style guides will be places here soon...
However, remember that OpenICDL in Moodle in not a technical manual. It may be helpful if you think of yourself as if you are a teacher talking to a group of learners. Write as you would speak (but avoid colloqualisms, slang, and buzz words).

Accessibility issues within Moodle itself are constantly being worked on, and relevant information may be added here.

Do NOT use pop-up windows.
The only time these should be used is if you are linking to a different website.
This policy reflects the latest best-practice for website accessibility (so the default setting on this site is for resources to open in the same window, not a new one).