[Using Sakai] sites created via template are always unpublished

[Ziegler, Jeff]

Interesting question.

While it can be used immediately, a template site is basically intended as a starting point that can be modified to meet the individual needs of the site owner.  Some instructors have no problem with a site being unpublished while others feel more comfortable leaving it unpublished until they feel it is ready for prime-time.  Personal preference, in other words.  Although it is unlikely (but possible) that the site will be accessible to anyone else until participants have been added by the owner, in my experience, instructors often fail to:

a) realize that the site is published/unpublished ("unpublished" indicator at the top of the tools menu notwithstanding)
b) understand how to publish/unpublish the site

Given these factors as well as the fact that we give creators a choice when they create a site from scratch (although that choice is defaulted to "published"), I would think it would be preferable to err on the side of caution and create the template site as "unpublished".

IIRC, we started out by setting the default when creating from scratch to unpublished but changed it later because so many instructors forgot to publish the site, preventing student access to a site they were told to go to for class materials.

In the end I guess that the "right" choice will come down to the majority preferences of local users (if that can somehow be extrapolated).  Seems like you should somehow be able to set a published/unpublish default when creating the template...


Jeff





On May 12, 2011, at 3:47 PM, John Bush wrote:

> When I create a site from a template it is always unpublished.  Is this the intended behavior?  It seems to me it ought to inherit the publish status from the template site instead.  
> 
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> John Bush
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"New != better.  Different != better.  Only better == better."

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Jeff Ziegler 
Information Technology Services
Teaching and Learning Group
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