[Using Sakai] sakai-user Digest, Vol 41, Issue 11

[Verity Allan]

> Another editing example:
> One other problem I had was that I did a paragraph of text paste, without using the Word-paste option, and tried to fix it, but still got the HTML errors.
>
> Since the editor would only undo one level, and it did not show where the errors were, it was a stuck situation. Copy & Export to Word lost information, and it wouldn't save since it had errors.
>
> Finally I found a fix by "view source" and manually locating and deleting the HTML tags. Even then I didn't find a way to search in the editor or to do replacements.
>
> Online discussions say - "do editing in Word, and limit formatting". All of these limitations surprise me. With all of the big-name users and development in Sakai, these seem like fairly notable limitations for a content creation and management system. The new UVa editor changes help, but still the editor seems pretty second-class.
>
> Maybe a better paradigm is that Sakai is more of a front-end portal to content (which is created elsewhere), and adds the course management tools?? But I am very new to it and still learning the basics.
>

There are loads of different ways to use Sakai CLE to present material.

You've already found the html editor; others have suggested using external 
tools (e.g. Dreamweaver, Articulate, whatever) and uploading the zip file 
to the Resources tool.

One other way (if you're less bothered about being able to export the 
results from Sakai) is to use the Wiki tool. You can easily link to static 
documents in the Resources tool, embed pictures (I'm not sure what it does 
with video at the moment - it's 6 months since I last did serious work on 
this sort of thing). You can also choose to make the wiki publicly 
visible, and share materials that way.

The main downside (apart from the export issue) is that you can't really 
connect to Assignments or Samigo tests - you can tell students that 
tests/assignments are available, but you can't enforce taking them before 
the student sees new material.

As others have mentioned, 2.8 and 2.9 go some way to dealing with the 
integration issues, and allow use of Lesson Builder. If you do want to use 
2.9 when it's ready, it does make life easier to upgrade from 2.8, so if 
you can get 2.8 to go, you'll be better able to take advantage of 2.9 when 
it arrives. You (or sysadmins or DBAs) can ask on the production mailing 
list (http://collab.sakaiproject.org/mailman/listinfo/production) for 
help.

Regards,
Verity
CARET, University of Cambridge