Here’s a checklist of things to do, or at least consider, when you create a new Moodle site.

Decide where to install the copy of Moodle. Either top-level of the site (i.e., the entire site is Moodle-based) or in a sub-folder (i.e., Moodle is only part of the entire site.) If sub-folder, choose a name for the folder to be used as part of the url of the site. (e.g., courses, moodle, learn)

Use Fantastico to install Moodle.

• Leave “folder” empty if you want top-level. Use folder name if you want it in a sub-folder.
• Use admin as the username for the original admin user. First name “Admin” and last name “Istrator.” Choose a good password.
• Use a special “admin” email address.
• Use “Slogan here” and “Description here” for those boxes.
• Run the cron job at 30 minutes.
• <MORE?>

In cpanel>File Manager:

• Create a /moodledata/ folder outside public_html.
• Edit config.php. If you moved anything, edit the paths. In particular, change the uploaddata path to the new/moodledata/ folder.

Log in to Moodle as admin.

Install en-us language pack.

• Site Administration > Language > Language packs, select English (en-us), and click install.
• Site Admin > Language > Language settings and select en-us as the Default language.
• While on that screen, decide if you want to display a language menu or not.

Create initial users. I like to leave Admin alone, so in case something gets messed up you can go back to the original to get things working again.

• Site Administration > Users > Accounts > Add a new user.
• Do this for all of the initial users you want to set up.

Make some of the users site-wide Admins.

• Site Admin > Users > Permissions > Assign system roles.
• Select the users you want to promote to site wide Admin status. These users can do anything on the site.

Make moodledata not accessible via the web.

• In an FTP client, move /public_html/uploaddata/ to top level, i.e., same level as public_html.
• Edit config.php to change the “dataroot” parameter to point to the new location.

Fix php parameters for Moodle.

• Go to Site Admin > Notifications.
  It will tell you to set register_globals and display_errors to off.
• Use cPanel > Software/Services > php.ini EZconfig to change these.

Clear Nnotifications.

• When the rest of the Notifications have been cleared (e.g., after HG support has fixed the php parameters), register the site to remove the button on the notifications page.

Change the timeout.

I think the default timeout is too short.
{Tell how to change it here.}

(Optional) Turn on RSS capability.

If you want RSS on any part of the site, there are 3 levels to deal with. You might have to change many settings to make each level work.

1. The default setting is that RSS is off for the entire site. To turn on the possibility of using RSS: go to Administration > Server > RSS and turn on the global default. This doesn’t create any RSS feeds, it just makes it possible to do so.
2. The default setting for all activities is to have RSS off. For example, the default for Forums is to have it off. To turn on the possibility that some Forum might have an RSS feed: go to Administration > Modules > Activities > {the activity you want to RSS-enable; e.g., Forum} and turn on the default for this activity. You might have to do this for more than just Forums. This also doesn’t create any RSS feeds, it just makes it possible to do so.
3. The default setting for each instance of an Activity (e.g., a particular Forum) is to have RSS off. To turn on an RSS feed for a particular forum: Go to the particular forum; select the “Update this forum” button. In the RSS section, set RSS feed to “Discussions.” (This turns on both posts and replies/comments. Another option is “Posts” which only sends new posts to the feed.) Set the # of recent entries to the number you want displayed in this feed. I usually use 5. 10 is also reasonable. More if your forum is very active and your users want a longer time slice.

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