Moodle 1.9 theme design beginner's guide. - Description based on print version record. - Includes index

✍ Scribed by Gadsdon, Paul James

• Publisher: Packt Publishing
• Year: 2010
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 308
• Category: Library

✦ Table of Contents

Cover......Page 1
Copyright......Page 3
Credits......Page 4
About the Author......Page 5
About the Reviewer......Page 6
Table of Contents......Page 8
Preface......Page 16
Chapter 1: An Introduction to Moodle......Page 22
What are Virtual Learning Environments?......Page 23
Communication and collaboration between students and educators......Page 24
What types of VLEs are there?......Page 25
What are the advantages of using a VLE?......Page 26
Why should I use Moodle?......Page 27
Community......Page 28
What skills will you need?......Page 29
Software......Page 30
Other web browsers......Page 31
Summary......Page 32
Important preliminary points......Page 34
Browsing and selecting a Moodle theme......Page 35
Time for action – browsing and selecting a Moodle theme......Page 36
Theme types......Page 40
Parent themes......Page 41
Time for action – browsing the 'Standard' theme folder......Page 42
README.html......Page 44
styles_fonts.css......Page 45
Searching for and downloading Moodle themes......Page 46
Time for action – searching for Moodle themes......Page 47
Time for action – downloading a new Moodle theme......Page 48
Time for action – extracting and installing your Moodle theme......Page 51
Time for action – forcing users to use your theme choices......Page 55
Theme settings list......Page 59
Allow category themes......Page 60
Hide activity type navigation......Page 61
Summary......Page 62
Chapter 3: Customizing the Header and Footer......Page 64
Time for action – making a copy of the standard theme......Page 65
Adding your own logo......Page 67
Time for action – copying your logo to your mytheme directory......Page 68
Time for action – adding the logo code to your header.html file......Page 69
header.html file again!......Page 71
Making your own Moodle logo visible......Page 74
Time for action – changing the title text......Page 75
Removing the Moodle logo......Page 77
Time for action – deleting the Moodle logo......Page 78
Removing the login info text and link......Page 79
Time for action – deleting the login info text......Page 80
Time for action – adding your own footer text......Page 82
Time for action – installing Mozilla Firefox......Page 84
Time for action – checking whether your changes have worked......Page 87
Recommendations......Page 90
Summary......Page 92
Important preliminary points......Page 94
Time for action – installing the Firebug extension for Firefox......Page 95
Cascading Style Sheets and Moodle......Page 98
Time for action – creating a new Cascading Style Sheet......Page 99
Time for action – changing the default font by using Firebug......Page 101
Time for action – making our changes permanent......Page 103
Setting the font color and size......Page 104
Time for action – changing the font color......Page 105
Time for action – setting the font size......Page 106
Time for action – changing the link colors......Page 107
Time for action – changing the background color......Page 109
What is web accessibility?......Page 111
What does this mean to us?......Page 112
What can we do to ensure that our themes and Moodle sites are accessible?......Page 113
Summary......Page 116
Full screen versus reduced width theme......Page 118
Time for action – choosing a reduced (fixed) width theme......Page 119
Time for action – changing your theme to a fixed width design......Page 123
to your theme......Page 126
Fixed width designs......Page 128
What type of layout should you use?......Page 129
Changing the block's column widths......Page 131
Time for action – changing the width of the block columns......Page 132
Setting the minimum and maximum width of the blocks......Page 135
Time for action – changing our theme back to a liquid layout......Page 136
maximum block widths......Page 139
Summary......Page 142
Important preliminary points......Page 144
Technology wise......Page 145
Theming for education......Page 146
Time for action – downloading and installing a theme for children......Page 147
above 12 years old......Page 149
higher education......Page 150
Theming for disabilities......Page 151
The pix folder......Page 152
Time for action – looking at other Moodle sites......Page 154
Creating our design on paper......Page 156
Creating a mockup using software......Page 157
Creating a design using graphics software......Page 159
menu in Photoshop......Page 160
Time for action – creating the logo, menu text, and login info text......Page 165
Time for action – creating a block graphic by using Photoshop......Page 167
Summary......Page 172
Chapter 7: First Steps: Creating your First Complete Moodle Theme......Page 174
Creating a new theme......Page 175
Time for action – copying the standard theme......Page 176
Time for action – setting a parent theme......Page 177
Time for action – copying the header.html and footer.html files......Page 179
Time for action – creating our stylesheet......Page 180
Time for action – deleting CSS files that we don't need......Page 181
Time for action – checking our setup......Page 182
Time for action – one more change......Page 184
Another theme setup......Page 186
Time for action – preparing our new theme......Page 187
Summary......Page 189
Chapter 8: Creating your Moodle Theme from your Mockup: Slice and Dice......Page 190
Time for action – setting the header size and background color......Page 191
Time for action – setting the margins and adding a logo......Page 194
Time for action – creating the menu.php file......Page 200
Time for action – creating the menu block......Page 201
Time for action – creating the footer bar......Page 204
Time for action – setting the body font......Page 206
Time for action – changing the link styles......Page 209
Time for action – changing the menu font style......Page 211
Changing the icons......Page 212
Changing icons one at a time......Page 213
Time for action – changing icons one at a time......Page 214
Summary......Page 216
Changing the login splash page......Page 218
Adding a border around the central box......Page 219
Time for action – changing the border around the central box......Page 220
from index.php to config.php......Page 223
Time for action – creating the block header background......Page 226
Time for action – changing the block header background......Page 228
Changing the sideblock footer......Page 230
Time for action – reducing the rounded content corners......Page 231
Creating the content background......Page 232
background graphic......Page 233
Time for action – changing the block content background......Page 236
Time for action – copying a style from another theme......Page 237
Testing your changes......Page 240
Microsoft's Windows Internet Explorer 8.0......Page 241
Microsoft's Windows Internet Explorer 7 (8 in compatibility mode)......Page 242
Apple Safari 4 for Windows......Page 243
Google Chrome......Page 244
Summary......Page 246
Theming the central area of our Moodle site......Page 248
and course to Moodle......Page 250
Time for action – changing the background color......Page 253
Time for action – changing the header fonts......Page 255
Theming the course view......Page 257
Time for action – changing the font color......Page 258
Time for action – changing the background color......Page 259
Time for action – copying the show/hide icons......Page 261
Changing the appearance of the core modules......Page 263
Time for action – changing the forum summary box......Page 264
Time for action – customizing the forum......Page 266
Time for action – customizing the forum posts......Page 268
Glossary module......Page 270
Time for action – creating a glossary......Page 271
Time for action – customizing the glossary resource......Page 272
Summary......Page 273
Changing the buttons......Page 274
Changing the form fields......Page 275
Creating a rollover menu......Page 276
Consolidating your CSS code......Page 277
Creating CSS shorthand......Page 278
Downloading the Moodle features demo......Page 279
Installing the Moodle features demo......Page 280
Creating a separate course theme......Page 281
Checking our theme against W3C validators......Page 282
Where can we find them?......Page 283
How do we use it?......Page 284
How do we do this?......Page 285
Adding a theme screenshot......Page 286
Left, right, and middle......Page 287
Summary......Page 288
Appendix B: Glossary of Useful Terms and Acronyms......Page 290
Customizing the Header and Footer......Page 294
Changing the Layout......Page 295
Index......Page 296