New Moodle 2 Theme - Decaf
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Blocks in Moodle are caffeine, ever-growing settings block is hundred-shots long black (consider 1 shot per setting), they get you addict to them. It’s time to have some “decaf” now. Before I forget, I create this theme to join Moodle 2 theme contest hold by NewSchool learning.
Decaf is simple, plain, and “caffeine-free” theme based on both Base and Canvas as parent themes. Borders around blocks have been removed to reduce some visual impacts, they’re less attractive to users compare to the course content in the middle of the web page. For more detailed screen shots, you can view theme from my gallery.
Settings block in Moodle 2 has been changed significantly. The setting block used to be site/course administration block depends on which page you’re looking at. Now they’ve been merged into one single giant block, it makes sense that all settings are in this block, but it can be frustrated to click on a setting, page gets to expand and click on another setting. To resolve this issue, Decaf takes advantage of Moodle 2 new theme engine override the setting block, and place it on top of the page as drop down menus. Now you’re just one click away to your destination. This should improves Moodle’s usability as a whole, as it so awesome, I call it “Moodle awesome bar”.
In Decaf theme, icons have been carefully replaced by a beautiful icon set from a Japanese artist, it took me a lot of time to decide which one to use as if I have never used Moodle before, only the one that make the most sense was chosen.
Like most recent Moodle 2 theme, I have added a theme setting page with some careful selected options, this hopefully provide some flexibility for the user.
Last but not least, the old plain performance information for developers/administrators is replaced by a colorful floated bar at the bottom of the page. You’re no longer need to scroll down to the bottom to view how fast a page is loaded. To turn this feature on, go to development->debugging in site administration, tick performance info box and click on save. Its feature is limited so far, I’m planning to extend it include more information later when Moodle 2 is officially released.
Tested browsers
Firefox, Safari, Chrome, IE7+.
Future Plans (To-Dos)
- Convert Navigation block into vertical drop down menus.
- Add an option for users to turn on standard setting block.
- Expand performance Info bar to include more debugging information, such as string info, page content type etc.
Credits
Drop down menu: http://www.lwis.net/free-css-drop-down-menu/
Fugue icon set: http://p.yusukekamiyamane.com/
Performance Info bar ideas from: http://particletree.com/features/php-quick-profiler/
