More flexibility for forum page

[Kristina Hoeppner]

from Simha Bode:

As admin I would like to see the ability to edit a forum page like any other page, i.e. having the ability to add images or text blocks. I think that forums pages should be like another, rather than having only 1 text block to write what the forum is about it should be fully modular page layout with addable blocks.

[Kristina Hoeppner (kris-hoeppner)]

This will need more information of what it should look like because a forum page usually only gives a brief forum description and then the list of topics which are the focus of the forum.

[Aaron Wells (u-aaronw)]

Just to make things clear, we're talking about the interaction/forum/view.php page?

eg: https://mahara.org/interaction/forum/view.php?id=48

[Kristina Hoeppner (kris-hoeppner)]

Yes, Aaron, that was the page.

Simha and I talked a bit more about this and we converged on the idea that it would be nice to be able to embed a single forum topic into a page (and then style the page as needed) if that is the one that you want to focus on / showcase.

The drawback is that you wouldn't be able to see all the other forum topics that are part of that forum. So, the regular forum page should still exist.

[Aaron Wells (u-aaronw)]

Hm, so a "single forum topic" block?

[Kristina Hoeppner (kris-hoeppner)]

Yes, that was the idea. Though it may not that simple because

- you'd also need a link to the full forum if you wanted to see all topics, but some viewers, esp. when the page is in a portfolio page and not in a page of the group where the forum is in, can't see it.
- how much can others see of your forum topic when they are not members of the group or when the group is not public? Could a group admin put restrictions on which topics can be embedded into pages to preserve privacy? Essentially, if you allow the embedding of any forum topic, a group's content can be made accessible to others without the group members /discussion forum participants knowing. They may not be wanting this to happen esp. when it is a private / controversial discussion.
- if a forum topic can be embedded, can you respond directly in the block or are you taken to the actual forum? Those that are not members of the group would not be able to respond, but just see the discussion.