“Could you design a new Moodle theme for me?” I asked plaintively of Tonya Mills (email: tmills0220@yahoo.com), a colleague who is an expert at Cascading Style Sheets and designs themes for Joomla and Moodle with an ease that never ceases to amaze me. The Texas Junction theme–appearing at the top of this blog entry–captured the attention of the teachers participating in the program. Tonya’s past designs also enthrall. That said, “What happens if Tonya isn’t available to do the design?” For organizations who are one person deep on theme design, it can be a tough question.

In Moodle Mayhem email list, for example, the question came up and Lewis Carr’s Moodle theme was suggested. In recent podcast interviews, Julian “MoodleMan” Ridden has suggested watching these videos he created. In spite of the best work out there, a need for awesome themes is ever-present. But how do you get started? A new book out from Packt Publishing may set you on the road to success, provided you have some background knowledge–or are willing to develop it.

First, a bit on what a Moodle theme is:

A Moodle theme is a template that controls the way Moodle looks. A theme can be changed by the Moodle Administrator and can have its settings altered through the Moodle Administrative interface. . .Moodle.org has a large library of free downloadable themes, and there are many other third-party Moodle theme providers.

Source: Moodle 1.9 Theme Design: Beginner’s Guide

Note: You can find a list of some Moodle themes I’ve located and shared in the past as a Moodle Tip online.

http://bit.ly/cqvb9j

Sure, you could go out and hire one of the many providers of themes to put one together for you. The operative word is “hire.” Other, more do-it-yourself types might prefer to design their own. In that instance, Packt Publishing’s Moodle 1.9 Theme Design: Beginner’s Guide by Paul James Gadsdon might come in handy.

Since theme design lies just beyond the horizon–or so I tell myself–of my own skills, and is an area I have little interest in learning, I thought I’d lend my recently provided copy of Gadsdon’s book, graciously shared by Packt Publishing, with Tonya Mills for a sardonic, albeit positive, review. That review is shared as a short 10 minute podcast linked below.

Listen to Tonya Mills on Moodle 1.9 Theme Design: Beginner’s Guide

Tonya (left) and Martin D (right)

That said, some of my own take-aways from the book included the following:

• Theme Priority – In the early chapters of the book, Gadsdon shares theme priority, the order in which Moodle loads and applies the different themes. In that section, Gadsdon shares a tip on ordering themes for the primary device it’s going to be loaded on, such as for a mobile device. This is a neat tip I didn’t have a clue about!
• Defining types of files in a Theme – The author explains the different types of files–and their purpose–in the a Moodle theme. If you don’t know what to look for, this sections helps you get a better grasp.
• Code Downloads – Working with code can be daunting for folks (myself included), so I was grateful to see that code Gadsdon shares in the book is available for download from the Packt web site, although no specific address is shared in the book. That address would have been helpful but it’s gotten quite easy to google what you are looking for.
• Beginner’s Guide – As you will hear in Tonya’s podcast, though this book casts itself as one for beginner’s, it does require some experience/familiarity with Cascading Style Sheets and HTML. You also have to know about how a web site is organized on the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) side.
• Theming Moodle – Of course, Chapter 6 of the book gives you the option of adding freely available themes from the web to your Moodle…and walks you step by step in how to include it. This portion of the book is helpful, and should probably been located a little further closer after the introduction of the book!
• Wireframes – I’ve been creating wireframes all my life but didn’t know that word. A wireframe “is simply a graphic or sketch of the main areas, minus any text or detail, of the page that you are planning. It is similar to a paper sketch but would contain no details at all. Planning out a wireframe also helps develop a hierarchy and gives an insight into the best positions for key elements of the theme.” Gadsdon then introduces us to Balsamiq web application for accomplishing wireframes using software–as opposed to paper and pencil.

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure