Building the Easy-Learning Online Platform Based on New Standards and Technologies

Abstract

This paper describes the optimization project of the Easy-Learning platform, an original e-learning system, designed and developed since 2004 in the e-activities laboratory of the Applied Electronics and Information Engineering Department of the Polytechnic University in Bucharest. A variety of technologies have been used in this project: HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, Symfony, Apache, PHP and MySQL. For the testing part a LG Optimus One Smartphone and an ipad Mini tablet have been used. The main improvements are: A - Rewriting most of the code from Views, forms and a part of the Symfony core, according to HTML5 standards; B - Radical change of the interface and its optimization for intelligent phones and tablets; C - Rewriting and optimization of the JavaScript code. In order to scale the code to mobile devices as smart phones and tablets, we have chosen to create only one application that adapts to the kind of device it is open on. The Apache server has been configured better by applying new practices for improving speed and security. Compression reduces the response periods by reducing the size of the HTTP response. The compression is made with Gzip. The used technique is called Responsive Web Design and Development that has created a web application offering an experience of optimal view, easy to read and navigate, with minimum resizing and loss of quality on a wide range of devices, from PC displays to mobile phones This technique has three basic elements: 1. Fluid gridlines; 2. Flexible images; 3. Media Queries. In order to scale a table with many columns on a mobile device, we have used Media Queries, allowing modifying the CSS depending on many conditions: ratios, widths, type of display, using the mid-width and max-width properties. A new technique for optimizing CSS and JavaScript is concatenating and minimization of all the CSS, respectively, JavaScript files in one or maximum two, in order to reduce the HTTP requests. The original contribution of the paper consists in the optimization process by using recent technologies in order to adapt the Easy-Learning platform to mobile devices and make it easier and more interactive for users and administrators.