Translations by Ralf Hilgenstock

With version 1.9, Mahara has reached level AA for user-facing areas of the system. The administration of Mahara is predominantly on level AA as well. Only a few things need to be corrected.

You may also wish to check what other `books <https://wiki.mahara.org/index.php/Marketing/Books>`_ or `papers <https://wiki.mahara.org/index.php/Marketing/Papers>`_ have been published on Mahara or what users talk about in `conference presentations <https://wiki.mahara.org/index.php/Marketing/Mahara_Presentations>`_.

Contextual help is available throughout Mahara. Watch out for the *Help* icon |help|. Click on it to find out more about the action you are about to perform.

Mahara has been designed from the ground up to be an open, pluggable system. Creating new artefacts, authenticating against a custom system and much more can be implemented simply through writing a plugin that uses the appropriate core API. What this means is that it is free and easy for you to customise almost anything about Mahara to suit your needs -- and `paid support is available <https://mahara.org/partners>`_ through a network of Mahara Partners should you require it.

**General navigation bar**: Move from one area of Mahara to the next. This can be done by having a second-level navigation that is tabbed or a drop-down menu.

To provide you with the most relevant search results, you automatically search only for users within your own institution, but can choose to search for everyone on your Mahara installation on the :ref:`"Find friends" search page <find_friends>` you are taken to.

The `Mahara E-Portfolios: Beginner's Guide <http://www.packtpub.com/mahara-e-portfolios-beginners-guide/book>`_ by Derrin Kent and Richard Hand is the updated edition of the `Mahara 1.2 E-Portfolios: Beginner's Guide <http://www.packtpub.com/mahara-12-e-portfolios-beginners-guide/book>`_ and a great reference for step-by-step instructions on how to create a portfolio and perform other tasks.

The `Mahara 1.4 Cookbook <http://www.packtpub.com/mahara-1-4-cookbook-for-training-education/book>`_ by Ellen Marie Murphy was published in September 2011. It has over 50 ideas of how to use Mahara in different settings. The book can be purchased in PDF and paper formats.

In particular, while Mahara's APIs are open to all, Mahara can integrate with Moodle natively to provide a streamlined user experience. Since Moodle 2.0 this is not only limited to SSO via MNet, but students are able to export assignments, blogs and much more straight into Mahara to use as artefacts -- which can then, of course, be placed into pages.

At the simplest level, Mahara is two things: an `ePortfolio <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eportfolio>`_ and a `social networking <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network>`_ system combined. An ePortfolio is a system in which students can record "evidence of lifelong learning" -- such as essays, artwork or other such things they produce that can be stored digitally. Such things are known as *artefacts* in Mahara. Social networking systems need little introduction -- think `Bebo <http://bebo.com/>`_, `Facebook <http://facebook.com/>`_ or `MySpace <http://www.myspace.com/>`_. Basically, they give a way for people to interact with their friends and create their own online communities.

`Explore the demo <http://demo.mahara.org/>`_ or `download Mahara <https://launchpad.net/mahara/>`_ for yourself to play with.

But Mahara is much more than just a place to store files. Mahara also includes blogging, a résumé builder, and `Moodle <http://moodle.org/>`_ integration.

**Settings**: This link gives you access to your :ref:`account settings and notifications <settings>`.

The `Mahara 1.4 Cookbook <http://www.packtpub.com/mahara-1-4-cookbook-for-training-education/book>`_ by Ellen Marie Murphy was published in September 2011. It has over 50 ideas of how to use Mahara in different settings. The book can be purchased in PDF and paper formats.

In particular, while Mahara's APIs are open to all, Mahara can integrate with Moodle natively to provide a streamlined user experience. Since Moodle 2.0 this is not only limited to SSO via MNet, but students are able to export assignments, blogs and much more straight into Mahara to use as artefacts -- which can then, of course, be placed into pages.

But Mahara is much more than just a place to store files. Mahara also includes blogging, a résumé builder, and `Moodle <http://moodle.org/>`_ integration.

At the simplest level, Mahara is two things: an `ePortfolio <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eportfolio>`_ and a `social networking <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network>`_ system combined. An ePortfolio is a system in which students can record "evidence of lifelong learning" -- such as essays, artwork or other such things they produce that can be stored digitally. Such things are known as *artefacts* in Mahara. Social networking systems need little introduction -- think `Bebo <http://bebo.com/>`_, `Facebook <http://facebook.com/>`_ or `MySpace <http://www.myspace.com/>`_. Basically, they give a way for people to interact with their friends and create their own online communities.

The `Mahara E-Portfolios: Beginner's Guide <http://www.packtpub.com/mahara-e-portfolios-beginners-guide/book>`_ by Derrin Kent and Richard Hand is the updated edition of the `Mahara 1.2 E-Portfolios: Beginner's Guide <http://www.packtpub.com/mahara-12-e-portfolios-beginners-guide/book>`_ and a great reference for step-by-step instructions on how to create a portfolio and perform other tasks.

The `Mahara 1.4 Cookbook <http://www.packtpub.com/mahara-1-4-cookbook-for-training-education/book>`_ by Ellen Marie Murphy was published in September 2011. It has over 50 ideas of how to use Mahara in different settings. The book can be purchased in PDF and paper formats.

If you think of `LMSs <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_Management_System>`_ such as Moodle, Sakai and Blackboard as the formal, structured side of e-learning, then Mahara is the social, reflective side. An LMS and an ePortfolio complement one another in an online learning environment.

In particular, while Mahara's APIs are open to all, Mahara can integrate with Moodle natively to provide a streamlined user experience. Since Moodle 2.0 this is not only limited to SSO via MNet, but students are able to export assignments, blogs and much more straight into Mahara to use as artefacts -- which can then, of course, be placed into pages.

`Explore the demo <http://demo.mahara.org/>`_ or `download Mahara <https://launchpad.net/mahara/>`_ for yourself to play with.

But Mahara is much more than just a place to store files. Mahara also includes blogging, a résumé builder, and `Moodle <http://moodle.org/>`_ integration.

At the simplest level, Mahara is two things: an `ePortfolio <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eportfolio>`_ and a `social networking <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network>`_ system combined. An ePortfolio is a system in which students can record "evidence of lifelong learning" -- such as essays, artwork or other such things they produce that can be stored digitally. Such things are known as *artefacts* in Mahara. Social networking systems need little introduction -- think `Bebo <http://bebo.com/>`_, `Facebook <http://facebook.com/>`_ or `MySpace <http://www.myspace.com/>`_. Basically, they give a way for people to interact with their friends and create their own online communities.

**Settings**: This link gives you access to your :ref:`account settings and notifications <settings>`.

Dashboard

Login

You always need a login to authenticate yourself and access your personal information, portfolio pages and groups that you belong to. You can log in on the Mahara homepage.

**Password**: Provide your password. If you enter your password incorrectly 5 times in a row during one session, access is locked for 5 minutes before you can try again.

Click the *Login* button to access your account.

**Lost username / password**: If you do not remember your username or password to your account, click this link to be taken to a page where you can request an email with your details. It will contain your username and a link to change your password.

**Register**: If you do not have an account, and your institution allows self-registration for an account, use this link and follow the instructions on the next page.

**SSO login**: If you log in via your institution's SSO (single sign-on) account, please use this button to be taken to the SSO login.

The regular login form is only available for internal and LDAP accounts. Internal accounts are accounts for which you registered through your Mahara site or that were created by administrators either :ref:`manually <add_user>`, or :ref:`by a CSV file upload <add_users_csv>`.

The "Lost username / password" link only works for internal accounts where you use the regular login form.

After you successfully logged in to Mahara, you see your *Dashboard*. This is your homepage where you can see the latest activity of you and other users on Mahara. You can customise the dashboard so that you always see the items that are most important to you.

Only you can see your dashboard. Nobody else has access to it.

Overview

You can change certain aspects of your dashboard, namely the :ref:`user-specific information <user_specific_information>`, but a lot of what you see is static to allow you to quickly access other parts of Mahara.

**Search**: :index:`Search <single: Fulltext search>` for users who have an account to view their profile page and check which pages they have made accessible to you. If your site has fulltext search available, you can search for anything on the site using this search box.

In the *User search* box you can most often search for users' :ref:`display name <about_me>`. Depending on the settings that the site administrator made, you may also be able to search for users' :ref:`real name and username <user_settings>`. If the site administrator allowed users to hide their real name, you can do so in your :ref:`general account options <general_account_options>`.

If the site administrator turned on :ref:`exact user search <plugin_search>`, you need to provide the correct display name or real name in order to find another user.

**User-specific information**: You can customise :ref:`this area <user_specific_information>` on your dashboard to put blocks there that you want to see every time you log in.

**Personal information**: This sidebar block contains static and dynamic information:

Your name is linked to your profile page.