Semantics and definitions
This document is a loose collection of various additional information, defining some terms and explaining how some details of Tobira work. This hopefully enables more precise communication in Tobira-related discussions.
Common UI elements
Content Pages
Tobira contains a hierarchy of content pages, collectively also called the page tree. There is one root content page (also called home page or start page), which is the first thing you see when visiting Tobira. Each content page can have sub-content pages, which page-moderators can add and remove. Each content page has a name (which is shown at the very top) and contains an ordered list of "content blocks". Currently, there are title blocks, text blocks, series blocks and video blocks.
In Tobira's user-facing UI, content pages are simply called "pages". But as "page" is a very generic term, this document will use the term content page to specifically refer to these user-editable pages described in this section.
In addition to this main page tree, each user (who is allowed to as per auth.user_realm_role configuration) can create and manage their own page tree.
These content pages are called "user pages".
User pages (and content only included on user pages) do not appear in the search or anywhere in the main page tree; one has to know the username or link to a user page in order to visit it.
Video Pages
The main place to watch a video is the video page. It contains the video player, the video's metadata, and buttons to share and (optionally) download the video. If the video is part of a series, the other videos of that series are shown at the bottom.
A video page can be reached via two different means: via direct link or coming from a content page. This only affects the navigation and breadcrumbs. See the next chapter for more information on this.
Routes
Different routes exist in Tobira to access content pages, videos, the management section, or other features of Tobira.
The values in this style are the URL paths, e.g. what the browser will show after your domain (e.g. tobira.my-university.de) when visiting that route.
- Main content pages:
/<path/to/page>. Shows a content page in the page tree. There are certain limitations on the path segments that can be used here in order to not collide with the routes defined below. Examples:/(home page)/conferences/lectures/biology/2023
- User pages:
/@<userid>/<path/to/page>. Shows a user page. They always start with/@and then the user ID of the owning user. Examples:/@peter(user root page)/@peter/math-explanations
- Videos in context:
/<path/to/page>/v/<videoid>. Shows a video with page context (meaning: a video or its series is included on a content page). The navigation of that content page is shown. This is the normal route you reach by clicking on a video included in a content page. Also works for user pages. Examples:/lectures/biology/2023/v/L5CUekz9uQ0/v/ENIGYvfETox/@peter/dance-lessons/v/HFl9DghSw4x
- Video direct links:
/!v/<videoid>or/!v/:<oc_id>. Shows a video without page context. The home page navigation is shown. Useful when the video is not included in any content page yet, or if you want to generate a link from an Opencast ID. Examples:/!v/L5CUekz9uQ0/!v/:25e82f02-db10-4ba6-937f-3252353cfbe8(Opencast ID prefixed with:)
Series direct links:
/!s/<seriesid>or/!s/:<oc_id>. Exactly like video direct links, but for series.Management routes:
/~manage/<...>and/~upload. For various "management" pages, like "my videos" or modifying a content page.Other internal routes:
/~<...>, e.g./~about.
"Listed" and being findable via search
Entities like pages, videos and series are either "listed" or "unlisted". This is a derived property and not something that can be toggled individually. Only listed entities can be found via search. Of course, for videos, the ACLs determine whether someone can see the video at all. So if the ACLs don't allow someone to see a video, they won't be able to find it via search, even if it's "listed". A video must be readable and listed to be found via search.
User pages can never be found via search. Non-user content pages can always be found via search.
A series is considered "listed", if a series-block of that series exists on at least one non-user page.
A video is considered "listed", if any of the following blocks exists on at least one non-user page:
- a video-block of that video, or
- a series-block of that video's series, or
- a playlist-block of a playlist containing that video.
Permissions in Tobira
There are a number of special roles that grant users the permission to perform certain actions in Tobira.
All these roles can be configured in auth.roles.
| Config | Permissions |
|---|---|
roles.upload | Can use Tobira's uploader |
roles.studio | Can use Studio from Tobira |
roles.editor | Can use the Editor from Tobira |
roles.user_realm | Can create own user page |
roles.can_find_unlisted | Can find unlisted items when editing page content |
roles.global_page_admin | Is page admin on all non-user content-pages |
roles.global_page_moderator | Is page moderator on all non-user content-pages |
roles.tobira_admin | Is Tobira admin and can do all of the above |
For content-pages, permissions can be given to users and groups via the UI. Permissions are inherited down the page tree. There are currently three permission levels:
| Name | Permissions |
|---|---|
| None | Can only see the page, but not edit in any way |
| Page moderator | Can edit content, rename, change sub-page order and add new sub pages |
| Page admin | Can do everything: all page moderator permissions plus deleting the content-page, changing its path and changing page permissions |