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External content

With the help of the external content blocks, you can include RSS feeds, external media or GoogleApps documents etc. into a page.

External feed

Embed an external RSS or ATOM feed, e.g. to display an external blog.

Configure the external feed

Configure the external feed block

  1. Block title: If you leave the title blank, the title of the feed will be used.

  2. Feed location: Put the entire feed URL from a valid RSS or ATOM feed in here. If the feed is not displayed, try to view it in a regular feed reader to make sure that the URL is correct. You must provide a feed URL here.

    Unfortunately, Firefox and Chrome do not display the RSS feed icon for a page immediately near the address bar anymore. In Firefox you will have to go to View → Toolbars → Customize and then drag the RSS icon to your toolbar. It lights up orange / white when a feed is available.

    If you use Chrome, you will have to install the RSS Subscription Extension.

  3. Insecure SSL mode: Switch this option to “Yes” if you wish to enable the insecure SSL mode. This mode allows you to override certificate errors generated by a feed.

  4. HTTP username: Provide a username if you wish to access a feed that requires authentication. This is the username to access the feed and not your portfolio system.

  5. HTTP password: Provide a password to access a feed that requires authentication. This is the password to access the feed and not your portfolio system.

  6. Items to show: Decide how many of the latest items in the feed you wish to display. You can choose up to 20.

  7. Show feed items in full: Switch this option to “Yes” if you want to see the entire feed content and not only the heading of a blog post.

  8. Tags: Enter tags for this block to find this content more easily. The tags are displayed as part of the page tags.

  9. Retractable: Choose whether you want to allow users to reduce the block to its heading on a page or see just the heading only automatically. The options are:

    • No: The block and its content is displayed at all times.
    • Yes: Allow users to reduce the block to just the heading by clicking the Retractable icon .
    • Automatically retract: Only the heading of the block is visible, and the user can click the Retracted icon  to view its content.

  10. Click the Save button to accept your changes, or click Cancel to leave the block’s content as it is. Remove is shown only when you place the block into the page for the first time.

  11. You can also click the Close button  in the top left-hand corner of the modal window to either remove a newly created block before it is being saved or to cancel any changes and leave the block’s content as it is.

If your feed is not updated automatically, please ask your site administrator to check the cron settings.

If you click an entry in the RSS feed, it will open in a new window.

External media

With this block you can embed content from a wide variety of third-party sites. The sites that are allowed are listed below the text area in the configuration screen. You see only their favicons, but when you hover over an icon with your mouse, you see the site’s name as well.

Mahara comes with a number of sites that are allowed per default. These are listed on the page. Your site administrator can add additional iframe sources.

Configure the external media block

Configure the external media block

  1. Block title: Choose a title for your embedded content.

  2. URL or embed code: Paste the URL or the embed code of a page where the content is located.

  3. Embed code: Content from the sites listed in this section can be embedded using the <iframe> embed code. Any new site that the site administrator allows will be added in alphabetical order. The default sites are:

  4. URLs: Content from the sites listed in this section can be embedded by simply grabbing the page URLs where the content can be found. The default sites are:

  5. You can also paste an Embedly embed code and display your content that way.

  6. Width: Choose the width (in pixels) that the content should take up on the page. This only goes for the content for which you provided the URL.

    If you use the embed code, you need to provide the correct width and height directly in the embed code and can ignore this setting here.

  7. Height: Choose the height (in pixels) that the content should take up on the page. This only goes for the content for which you provided the URL.

    If you use the embed code, you need to provide the correct width and height directly in the embed code and can ignore this setting here.

  8. Tags: Enter tags for this block to find this content more easily. The tags are displayed as part of the page tags.

  9. Retractable: Choose whether you want to allow users to reduce the block to its heading on a page or see just the heading only automatically. The options are:

    • No: The block and its content is displayed at all times.
    • Yes: Allow users to reduce the block to just the heading by clicking the Retractable icon .
    • Automatically retract: Only the heading of the block is visible, and the user can click the Retracted icon  to view its content.

  10. Click the Save button to accept your changes, or click Cancel to leave the block’s content as it is. Remove is shown only when you place the block into the page for the first time.

  11. You can also click the Close button  in the top left-hand corner of the modal window to either remove a newly created block before it is being saved or to cancel any changes and leave the block’s content as it is.

You can use the same iframe embed code around Mahara in notes, text and journal entries as well.

Watch the video Saving a video from iPad to MyPortfolio if you want to see how you can embed a YouTube video into your Mahara portfolio using an iPad. You can use a similar work flow for adding YouTube videos also via Android or on your computer. “MyPortfolio” is the name of a Mahara instance in New Zealand for schools.

Google Apps

Embed any of the following content available via Google (Apps):

  • books
  • calendars
  • documents, spreadsheets, presentations
  • maps

You can only display the content, but not immediately edit documents, spreadsheets or presentations. You will have to be logged in to your Google (Apps) account to do so. You can use this block with a regular, personal Google account or if you have a Google Apps account via an institution, e.g. your school or university.

If certain documents are restricted to a Google Apps domain or to specific people, a login screen is displayed.

Configure the Google Apps block

Configure the Google Apps block

  1. Block title: Choose a title for your embedded content.
  2. Embed code or URL: Depending on what kind of content you wish to display, you either provide the embed code or the URL. Click the Help button  for more information on how to embed each Google component.
  3. Height: Choose the height for the embedded content. The width is adjusted to the column width of the block automatically.
  4. Tags: Enter tags for this block to find this content more easily. The tags are displayed as part of the page tags.
  5. Retractable: Choose whether you want to allow users to reduce the block to its heading on a page or see just the heading only automatically. The options are:
    • No: The block and its content is displayed at all times.
    • Yes: Allow users to reduce the block to just the heading by clicking the Retractable icon .
    • Automatically retract: Only the heading of the block is visible, and the user can click the Retracted icon  to view its content.
  6. Click the Save button to accept your changes, or click Cancel to leave the block’s content as it is. Remove is shown only when you place the block into the page for the first time.
  7. You can also click the Close button  in the top left-hand corner of the modal window to either remove a newly created block before it is being saved or to cancel any changes and leave the block’s content as it is.

Google document

  1. Open the document.
  2. Click File in the menu bar and then Publish to the Web.
  3. Click the Start publishing button.
  4. Copy the document link or embed code.
  5. Paste the link or embed code into the Embed code or URL box in the Google Apps block.

Google spreadsheet

  1. Open the spreadsheet.
  2. Click File in the menu bar and then Publish to the Web.
  3. Click the Start publishing button.
  4. Read through the other options and decide on them.
  5. Copy the link for the option Web page or the embed code for the option HTML to embed in a page.
  6. Paste the link or embed code into the Embed code or URL box in the Google Apps block.

Google presentation

  1. Open the presentation.
  2. Click File in the menu bar and then Publish to the Web.
  3. Click the Start publishing button.
  4. Copy the link or embed code.
  5. Paste the link or embed code into the Embed code or URL box in the Google Apps block.

Google Drive folder

  1. Select the folder that you want to share.
  2. Click the Link icon. A shareable link is created.
  3. Copy the link.
  4. Paste the link into the Embed code or URL box in the Google Apps block.

Google Calendar

  1. Open Google Calendar.
  2. Click on the little triangle next to the calendar that you wish to embed.
  3. Click on Calendar settings.
  4. On the Calendar details tab scroll down to Embed This Calendar.
  5. Customize the calendar appearance and then copy the embed code.
  6. Paste the embed code into the Embed code or URL box in the Google Apps block.

Google Maps

  1. Open Google Maps.
  2. Click the My Places button.
  3. Click on the name of the map that you wish to embed.
  4. Click on the Link icon to the left of the map.
  5. Customize the appearance of the map and copy the embed code.
  6. Paste the embed code into the Embed code or URL box in the Google Apps block.

Use steps 2 and 3 only if you wish to embed one of your Google maps. If you wish to embed any Google map, you can skip these steps.

Google Books

  1. Open Google Books.
  2. Find the book that you wish to embed.
  3. Click on the book title.
  4. Click on the Link icon above the book.
  5. Copy the embed code of the book.
  6. Paste the embed code into the Embed code or URL box in the Google Apps block.

Badges

Open Badges are an answer for showing recognition of skills and competencies online with the help of an open framework.

Configure the block

Configure the Open Badges block

Configure the Open Badges block

  1. Block title: Choose a title for your block.

  2. If you do not see all your public badge collections, click the links to verify that you have made all badges publicly available that you want to see.

  3. Mahara checks the backpacks for all email addresses that are associated with your account. If it can’t find any badges to display for a particular address, it’ll show a notice.

  4. Open Badge Passport: All public badge collections from your Open Badge Passport are displayed.

    If you have other “backpacks” that contain badges, the site administrator would need to allow them in the config.php.

  5. Use the Select all or Select none buttons to select all badge collections or to revert your selection.

  6. You can also select individual badge collections if you prefer by ticking their checkboxes.

  7. Mozilla Backpack: All public badge collections from your backpack are displayed.

  8. Use the Select all or Select none buttons to select all badge collections or to revert your selection.

  9. You can also select individual badge collections if you prefer by ticking their checkboxes.

  10. Tags: Enter tags for this block to find this content more easily. The tags are displayed as part of the page tags.

  11. Retractable: Choose whether you want to allow users to reduce the block to its heading on a page or see just the heading only automatically. The options are:

    • No: The block and its content is displayed at all times.
    • Yes: Allow users to reduce the block to just the heading by clicking the Retractable icon .
    • Automatically retract: Only the heading of the block is visible, and the user can click the Retracted icon  to view its content.

  12. Click the Save button to accept your changes, or click Cancel to leave the block’s content as it is. Remove is shown only when you place the block into the page for the first time.

  13. You can also click the Close button  in the top left-hand corner of the modal window to either remove a newly created block before it is being saved or to cancel any changes and leave the block’s content as it is.

Since your badges need to be fetched from an external service, it may take a little bit until they are displayed on the page.

Create a collection of badges in the Mozilla Backpack

Drag a badge onto a new collection space

Drag a badge onto a new collection space

  1. Go to your Mozilla Backpack. You must have already pushed at least one badge to it to complete the following steps.

  2. Click the Collection navigation item to enter your badge collection area.

  3. Drag one of your badges onto a (new) collection space.

    Create a new collection

    Create a new collection

  4. Give your new collection a title by clicking onto “New collection” and typing your title.

  5. Tick the checkbox public so others can see your badges.

  6. Click the Share icon. You will be taken to a page where you can see all the badges in the collection that you created.

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