Quicksilver theme for TAFE NSW. An extensive settings page allows for complete customisation of page layout, graphics and colours. New courses can inherit settings, or continue to customise.

1. Collaborating on a new, more flexible theme for Moodle 2
Theming Moodle

2. • 17 campuses along the North Coast
of New South Wales, Australia
• Diverse age range of learners in
Vocational Education and
Training, 16 yrs - 60+ yrs
• 700 courses in Moodle 1.9
• 1,341 students online
• Moodle 2 ready for delivery to
students, Semester 2 2012
North Coast TAFE Profile

3. Why having so many
themes is a bad idea
• Moodle can assign a theme
per category but on larger
Moodle sites this can slow
down server performance
• Managing multiple themes
requires time
• Manually Synchronising 12
copies of a template will
result in errors and
omissions
Themes by the dozen!

4. Moodle experience
Novice:
“What’s a link?”
Designer:
“Can I apply my
own style sheet?”
One size doesn’t fit all!

5. A Moodle theme is A Moodle theme is not
• Page width • Blocks
• Position and size of • Topic Headings and labels
columns, header and footer • Activities and Resources within a course
• Position of blocks • Course Format e.g. weekly/topic
• Font, styles and colours • Multimedia and word filters
What is a theme?

7. One Moodle consists of: A Moodle theme is tested in
• 12 PHP scripts • 50 Moodle PHP pages
• Around 5 stylesheets • 5 operating systems
• A few dozen images • 5 main browsers
• Thousands of individual CSS • In 3 screen resolutions
styles
• on 3 types of devices .....
And when will it be ready?

8. • The most important part:
Activities and
Resources
• These are placed within
a course format – The
Box
• The Moodle Theme is
like the gift wrapping
• The ‘skin’ is like
cellophane wrapping
over the theme
Your content, gift wrapped

9. Top Level Course:
Establishes Institute
Branding
Course 52: Course 57:
Business IT Faculty
Faculty Branding
Branding
Each new course can inherit settings from a master course AND then
make further adjustments. Cascading inheritances maintains branding
yet allows for unique design aspects…with no coding required.
The benefits of inheritance!

10. To find out more information about North Coast TAFE:
northcoast.tafensw.edu.au
For additional information, please contact:
natalie.denmeade@tafensw.edu.au
@Moodlemuse