Chapter 8. Creating a New Skin

In previous chapters, we have concerned ourselves with functionality. Now it is time to focus on the user experience and how this is affected by aesthetics. The look of a learning platform and "the effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction with which users can achieve specified learning (or learning related) goals in a particular environment" are "intrinsically linked", according to Cooper, Colwell, and Jelfs in their paper, Embedding accessibility and usability. Fortunately, the Moodle framework provides us with great flexibility--not only in how the look of a Moodle page can be changed but also in the mechanisms through which a page can be altered. The look-and-feel of a Moodle installation is managed through a specific plugin type called theme. Note that this chapter only covers the essentials of theme development, specifically in the context of plugin development. Specifically, we will be showing you how to ensure your plugins are structured ready for...