News as a fully featured starting page including sortable blocks

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1 Initial Problem

The current implementation of the ilpdnewsgui cannot be set as the starting page after login and is missing a lot of useful information (calendar etc.).

2 Conceptual Summary

The News GUI in the Personal Desktop could be reworked to a fully featured starting page, including sortable and movable blocks for the calendar, tags, mail etc. We could apply the same template for this GUI as is used in the Overview (pd/sel_items) and the Courses and Groups (pd/crs_grp) view.
The News would be place in the middle main colum.

• The new view would have the same features as the standard ones mentioned above. The user could show/hide the same blocks and move them left or right of the main column with the news.
• The standard news block used on the Overview and Courses and Groups screen is not made available on the News GUI as it would only contain the same information.
• In its stead the News GUI includes a small block for Courses and Groups. See Small block for Courses and Groups on Personal Desktop.
• The News can be configured as a starting point/page for all (new) users via the ILIAS administration.
  • If the news service is not active the News cannot be set as a starting point (option is greyed out)
  • In case the news are disabled after being used as a starting point, a user who logs in will be redirected to the next defined and valid starting point as per starting point rules. If there is no other starting point defined in the ILIAS administration that could be applied, the user is sent to the Overview of the Personal Desktop.

3 User Interface Modifications

3.1 List of Affected Views

screen ids of affected views:

• news
• user/general_settings
• usrf/settings/starting_points

3.2 User Interface Details

News GUI:

Set News as personal starting point:

3.3 New User Interface Concepts

None.

4 Technical Information

{The maintainer has to provide necessary technical information, e.g. dependencies on other ILIAS components, necessary modifications in general services/architecture, potential security or performance issues.}

5 Contact

• Author of the Request: Sesterhenn, Fabian [sesterhenn]
  
• Maintainer: {Please add your name before applying for an initial workshop or a Jour Fixe meeting.}
• Implementation of the feature is done by: {The maintainer must add the name of the implementing developer.}

6 Funding

If you are interest in funding this feature, please add your name and institution to this list.

• TH Köln

7 Discussion

8 Implementation

{The maintainer has to give a description of the final implementation and add screenshots if possible.}

Test Cases

Test cases completed at {date} by {user}

• {Test case number linked to Testrail} : {test case title}

Approval

Approved at {date} by {user}.