Recently I tweeted some details about the new Presentation Plugin by Ole Vik for the Grav CMS, and I thought I would share them here:
Continue ReadingNew presentations can be quickly created from within the Grav Admin Panel (with optional use of syntax compatible with the awesome @decksetapp Mac App)👇 pic.twitter.com/8k6a0IB1ux
— Hibbitts Design (@hibbittsdesign) February 25, 2019
Recently I tweeted some recent improvements to Sections-type pages, designed to support a large amount of Markdown-based content within a Grav site, and I thought I would share them here:
One of the most popular aspects of the @getgrav Open Publishing Space and Open Course Hub is the 'Sections' type page, where a large amount of content is accessible via sidebar links and next/prev section buttons pic.twitter.com/eCOXuoPxom
— Hibbitts Design (@hibbittsdesign) February 4, 2019
Recently I tweeted some of my thoughts about Markdown, open content, and the release of the new Grav Presentation Plug, and I thought I would share them here:
While not a 'silver bullet' for all open content/#OER scenarios, in my experience Markdown supports truly open (think of the 5Rs) and collaborative materials (when used with Git-based Web services like GitLab/GitHub/etc.) while also enabling a more streamlined workflow. [1/4]
— Hibbitts Design (@hibbittsdesign) January 23, 2019
Recently I’ve been working on trying to visualize my approach for a future-friendly open content system, including how my Grav projects support that system, and I thought I would share them here:
Continue Reading1st attempt to visually represent the future-friendly (i.e. content independent of platform) open content system I've assembled and used for the past several years. #OER is only one aspect - the other aspects are efficient workflows, flexible tool choice, and overall experience🚀 pic.twitter.com/OefBQq26OB
— Hibbitts Design (@hibbittsdesign) November 27, 2018
Today, the biggest update so far to the Git Sync Plugin has been released, and what a release it is! Two of the most requested features have been added - the ability to sync additional user folders and the ability to fine-tune the automatic synchronization of page changes - plus much more!
SFU’s fourth annual DEMOfest is scheduled for Wed, November 21st and I hope to share with my fellow educators how the Grav CMS can be used to expand and enhance Canvas - here’s my submitted proposal:
Expanding and Enhancing Canvas with the Open Source Grav CMS
Tech-savvy educators! Want to incorporate more open and collaborative materials within Canvas? How about improving the online experience? Faced with this challenge, Paul Hibbitts developed components for the file-based Grav CMS (getgrav.org) to effectively work inside of his CMPT-363 Canvas course (https://canvas.sfu.ca/courses/38847). Grav uses the platform-independent Markdown format and enables collaborative editing by students and instructors with Git-based services such as GitHub and GitLab. These also naturally support the 5 Rs (Retain, Reuse, Revise, Remix and Redistribute) of Open Educational Resources. Integrating Grav pages within Canvas is seamless too - without any content restrictions.
As an experiment I’ve created a small set of 30-second demo videos to give a glimpse into some major and minor features of my Open Course Hub and Open Publishing Space projects. I recently tweeted these videos and thought I would share them here too:
Continue ReadingEver want to re-purpose site content by embedding a page without its global navigation, sidebar or footer? With the @getgrav Open Course Hub or Publishing Space you can easily do that for any page with the 'chromeless' content display URL parameter👇(#CanvasLMS example shown) pic.twitter.com/Z8LFgnINZR
— Hibbitts Design (@hibbittsdesign) September 10, 2018
While I’ve been in ‘heads-down’ mode with my SFU CMPT 363 User Interface Design course this summer I’ve also been working away on a brand new Bootstrap 4 based theme for Grav. I recently tweeted a few highlights about the early release of this new theme, called Bootstrap4 Open Matter, and I thought I would share them here:
Continue ReadingIt's an unofficial official release (like 'double secret probation') - the Bootstrap4 Open Matter theme is now at https://t.co/UDkA52gP6f. This one theme can create open + collaborative Markdown-based blogs, course hubs and more! Git Sync & 'chromeless' content display includedđź‘Ť pic.twitter.com/Qrdy6D5oTb
— Hibbitts Design (@hibbittsdesign) July 31, 2018
I am excited to be sharing the most recent developments of my Grav Open Course Hub project at the Festival of Learning on May 29th.
Here is the description of my session:
Delivering a Better Experience by Using the Open, Collaborative and Flexible Grav CMS – Inside or Outside of your LMS
Want to provide students and course facilitators a better online experience but still want or need to use the existing institutional LMS? Faced with this exact challenge, Paul Hibbitts started to develop a set of components in 2016 for the modern Grav Content Management System to partner with his institution’s LMS (Canvas). Grav leverages forward-looking standards such as Markdown for platform-independent content and enables Git-based (i.e. GitHub, GitLab, GitBook, etc.) collaborative workflows, both which naturally also supports the 5 Rs of Open Educational Resources. In addition, the ability to use GitHub Desktop for mirroring Git-based content to one’s own computer for backup and editing with the tools of your choice not only brings peace of mind but also a highly efficient workflow.
Continue ReadingOpen Publishing Space with Git Sync is designed to publish, share and collaboratively edit Markdown-based content using the modern flat-file Grav CMS. I am happy to share the news that a customized version of the new Grav default theme Quark, using the Lightweight, Responsive and Modern CSS Framework Spectre CSS Framework, is now the standard Open Publishing Space theme!
Figure 1. Open Publishing Space Blog List
The original Open Publishing Space theme, a customized version of the Antimatter theme, is still available.
Continue Reading
