Moodle 2.0 Theme Contest Submission

Here is one of the submissions we've received for our Moodle 2.0 Theme Contest. Please take as much time as you can to look it over before providing your rating.

Decaf

by Lei Zhang

About

This theme was created by Lei Zhang, a Moodle developer from the University of Canterbury. Decaf takes a fresh approach at Moodle 2’s dynamic new settings block by including all of the new Moodle settings in dropdown menus that appear at the top of the browser window. To do this, Lei made use of a custom renderer to override the settings block. Hoping to relieve user frustration, this theme is designed with usability in mind. You can read more about Decaf on Lei’s blog.

Features
  • Includes all settings in dynamic dropdown menus at top of screen.
  • Default icons swapped with more attractive Fugue icon set.
  • Has a settings page to change the background color, add a footnote, and include custom CSS.
  • Uses both Base and Canvas as parent themes.
  • Uniquely styles the performance info to display statically at the bottom of the screen.

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Demo Download
Rating period has ended.
Comments
  1. #
    Dan wrote:

    I like the way some of the Developer/Debugger information appears in the static-floating footer.

    I also like the subtle use of borders to give the page depth and clarity.

  2. #
    .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) wrote:

    The menu at the top of the page does not work in IE7. Also, it is missing arrows for the calendar.

  3. #
    Lei wrote:

    @Joe, To use the top menu (“moodle awesome bar”), you have to have the theme designer mode off in moodle for IE7 users(you don’t want to have this option on for production anyway), which I will ask Patrick to turn it off on this demo. For the time being, you may visit my demo hosted on my blog to check it out with IE7.

  4. #
    .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) wrote:

    I tested it locally with theme designer mode off and the problem still occurs. I do not believe that theme designer mode is turned on in the demos here either.

  5. #
    Lei wrote:

    @Joe, thanks for let me know, I’ll test it again tomorrow morning on a window machine. I have updated a new version that fixed the missing arrows for the calendar, you can download it from the theme repository plus some new smiley icons too.

  6. #
    Patrick Malley wrote:

    I just checked and the demo does have Theme Designer Mode turned off. Lei (and any designer in the contest), feel free to email me updated copies of your theme and I’ll gladly update your theme on my demo and the download file.

  7. #
    .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) wrote:

    I like the sleek feel of this theme.  I’m looking forward to seeing the blocks docking to the top bar.  I also love the icon set.  One thing I did notice is the help menu pop up windows don’t seem to match.  Also the Question bank block when creating a quiz doesn’t quite fit either.  Overall, great work!

  8. #
    Lei wrote:

    @lkidder Thanks for your comments/suggestion, I’ll consider creating another version having the dock to the top menu much like my awesome bar. A new help menu icon has been added in my new version. Which browser did you use for viewing the question bank?

  9. #
    .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) wrote:

    As someone else mentioned, the menu bar does not work in IE7. Also, if your screen/window is too small, menu options from the dropdown go off the screen and you cannot get to them and if you try to scroll the menu retracts. Probably would only be a problem for teachers/managers/admins but in the age of smaller mobile devices (laptops, netbooks) it could be an issue.

  10. #
    Lei wrote:

    @amy, Thanks for your comments. Are you looking at this demo? or your own copy of this theme? Patrick has updated this demo with my fix for IE7. This menu is target for 1024*768 screen, if you got a smaller screen, you can still use the traditional settings menu. There is a way to have old menu back, I’ll write a documentation in my code for people who want have them both on the screen, later will add a new theme setting for administrators to easily switch it on and off.

  11. #
    Lei wrote:

    @amy, I have updated a new version in the theme repository to have an option to include the navigation block, which means you can have them both appear on your screen, and you can switch it on/off easily. That should resolve the issue with smaller screens.

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