Using Moodle with Firefox (Mac users)

In Moodle whenever there's a text entry box usually one finds instead a nifty HTML editor which provides a WYSWG interface and produces HTML code.

This interface also allows to easily paste in text from MS Word and retain formatting, insert tables and links , and upload and insert images. Without the HTML editor you have much reduced functionality.

The problem

While the HTML editor works well with Internet Explorer Windows there are some issues with other browsers:

• Mac OS-X Internet Explorer, Safari, & Netscape (v 6.x, 7.0, 7.1).
  In none of these does the editor show up. There seems to be no browser workaround.
  
• Windows Netscape (v 6.x, 7.0, 7.1).
  The HTML editor does not show in this either.

However, Mozilla Firefox shows the HTML editor when used on both OS-X and Windows. Firefox has other advantages too and many faculty dislike I.E and also have a slew of Netscape bookmarks which import straight into Firefox.

You can download firefox for both Windows 2000/Xp and Mac OS-X here

During the Windows install process you are asked whether you want to import your Netscape bookmarks. This file (bookmarks.html) can be rather hard to find. Here's the best way to find your latest bookmarks:

1. Open up windows explorer. Click the Folders icon to expose a folders pane on the left. Open up My Computer and then select Local Disk (C:).
2. Click the Search button and type in bookmarks.html. This will search over the whole of C: for this file.
3. You will eventually see a list of files in the right pane.
4. Click the 'Modified' column until the bookmark file are sorted in date order, newest first.
5. Now right-click on the top item and select Open Containing folder. This should be your newest bookmark file.
6. Select the address in the address bar and paste it into the Mozilla installer folder request box.

On the Mac, just drag the Firefox application into the Applications folder.

Configuration

In the normal way, select Tools —> Options:

• Category : General
  1. set home page to wherever you want (you can also drag link on top of the Home icon in the normal browser)
  2. Fonts & Colors. I suggest the following for the clearest viewing of pages on the web:
     Proportional : Sans Serif
     Serif : Georgia or Palatino (Georgia is a font designed for viewing on a web page)
     Sans Serif: Verdana (a very clear font for the web especially at small font sizes)
     Monospace : Lucida Console or Monaco (anything is better than Courier)
     Uncheck underline links
• Category : Privacy
  1. Cookies +
     check Enable cookies
     check for the originating web site only
     radio for current session only
• Category: Web Features
  1. check Block Popup Windows
     click Add Site (allow Moodle to popup a window)
     enter moodle.earlham.edu
  2. check Enable Javascript

User.js is the firefox file which contains the instructions that permit pasting inside a javascript window in Firefox. Without this present in the correct folder Firefox will not allow the user to cut with Ctrl-X or Cmd-X or paste with Ctrl-V or Cmd-V into an editing window in Moodle. However, you can cut & paste using the Edit menu.

Contents of user.js:

user_pref("capability.policy.policynames", "allowclipboard");
user_pref("capability.policy.allowclipboard.sites", "https://moodle.earlham.edu http://www.earlham.edu
 http://webdb.earlham.edu http://llya049.lly.earlham.edu http://moodle.org");
user_pref("capability.policy.allowclipboard.Clipboard.cutcopy", "allAccess");
user_pref("capability.policy.allowclipboard.Clipboard.paste", "allAccess");

1. right-click on and choose Save Link As or Save Target As
   (on OS-X use Ctrl-click and Save Linked File As)
   
2. On the Mac OS-X, save in:

   Macintosh HD: Users: <username>: Library: Application Support: Firefox : Profiles: default.xxx

3. On Windows 2000 or XP, save in:

   C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\default.xxx

On Mac OS-X Internet Explorer is no longer supported by Microsoft and you are better off not using it. See above for installing and configuring Mozilla Firefox.

• When you browse to earlham's moodle site at https://moodle.earlham.edu using Internet Explorer, you will get a security alert

  Click Yes to proceed. Unfortunately this alert will come up every time you enter the site (Firefox will display it once and then save the security certificate so that the alert will not come up again).

• When the html editor appears on a page where you enter text you'll get this security information popup.

  Here again, click Yes.

• Since this box appears every time a page appears with the html editor you'll want to disable it:

  Tools -> Internet Options
  Security tab : Custom Level
  Miscellaneous : Display Mixed content * Enable