Edwiser RemUI vs. Maker Moodle Theme: A Comparison

Tejas Patil

If you want to take your learning or training business global, starting a Moodle-based eLearning site is the way to go.  And when it comes to designing a good-looking Moodle site, what matters is the theme you utilize to provide an interactive experience. This is where Edwiser RemUI and Maker Moodle themes come into the picture. The layouts, user experience, interactivity, navigation, compatibility, and advanced features of these themes make them a good choice for Moodle sites.

Thinking as to which one is better? That’s what we’re going to figure out in this comparison.  Let us start with a comparison of the layout and UI of both these themes to highlight their abilities and features. 

#1. Layout and UI

Both Edwiser RemUI and Maker are Moodle themes offering incredible layout designs with a unique and modern approach to the user experience. Both of them have smart user-interface, and both of them can appeal to a large section of Moodle users, depending on who prefers a more minimalist design (i.e., Edutor) and who prefers more polished webpages (i.e., Edwiser RemUI).  

However, since we’re making a comparison, we must explain at least some differences between the design approach and UI features of both themes. So here we go:

User Interface

Edwiser RemUI demo

Edwiser RemUI is a remarkable e-learning theme with a cohesive and visually appealing design. From color combinations to fonts to menus to the display of main content, every aspect is quite well-designed and highlighted in the theme. 

On the other hand, the Maker theme is indicative of a minimalist approach toward design. It’s a good design approach, but we personally like Edwiser RemUI’s design more.

Maker theme demo

Edwiser RemUI also has an edge over Maker with features like focus mode, drag and drop form builder, and a disabled-friendly design with voiceover functionality.

Number of Layouts

Creating a web page from scratch can be tedious and time-consuming for any designer or entrepreneur. That’s why both Edwiser RemUI and Maker come with certain pre-designed layouts to help you to create all your pages easily.

However,  both of them are not equal when it comes to their layouts. The Edwiser RemUI has 7 options for the homepage and 6 options for the course page. On the contrary, the Maker theme has a single home page layout and 3 options for the course page. So basically, when it comes to the homepage, you’re stuck with its default design.

This keeps Edwiser RemUI above the Maker theme in terms of the number of layouts too. 

#2. Navigation

Highly mechanized navigation in a website makes it easier for the users to scroll through the required information. In e-learning sites, switching from course to course requires easy navigation. In addition to that, navigation is also necessary for jumping between various lessons and activities included in a course. Therefore, this feature should be an integral part of all themes designed for e-learning websites. Let’s check how  Edwiser RemUI and Maker themes provide this functionality.

Navigation inside courses

The course navigation panel in Edwiser RemUI

The ability to navigate inside courses between different lessons and activities is imperative to help students browse through the various parts of a course. To provide for this, Edwiser RemUI comes with a sidebar that can be used to switch to any part of the course content quickly.

A user must navigate to the main course landing page to switch between various modules

On the other side, the Maker theme does not have any sidebar or a supporting navigation system to help students navigate easily between course content. It has a single course page with all the details. The links to all modules or activities are included on the main course page only. 

So, if you want to open a different module, you need to close a module first and go back to the main course landing page to open the second one. This is one of the biggest disadvantages of the Maker theme and an area where Edwiser RemUI has the upper hand. 

Jumping between courses

All Courses page of Edwiser RemUI

Is navigation inside the courses enough to simplify eLearning? Of course, it’s not. The ability to jump between courses as per their requirements is important for students to study the course of their choice. For this, the Edwiser RemUI theme includes an “All Courses” page with filters and sorting options. There’s also a search form to find the courses of choice quickly. All these features can help your students find their desired courses as per their needs.

These features, on the other hand, are missing from the Maker theme. Its homepage has a list of top courses to check out without any associated filters. Then there’s a Categories section, from where you can browse the courses included in a category, but there’s no dedicated page that shows all courses at a glance. So, if your students want to switch to a different course, they need to go to the homepage and find it either from the top courses section or from the Category. 

Or else, if they opened the course recently, then there’s a section of “Recently accessed courses” in the dashboard, as shown below:

Recently accessed courses in the Maker theme student dashboard

But all of this can be a time-consuming process, and none of these things is as good as an All Courses page with filters. Needless to say, the Edwiser RemUI theme will give your students a better navigation experience on this criteria, too, as compared to the Maker theme. 

#3. Customization Capabilities

Customization Capabilities of a theme are indicative of the possibilities you get to make the necessary changes to your website appearance. So, we’ll compare Edwiser RemUI and Maker theme on the basis of what functions they provide to transform the design of an eLearning site into a remarkable eLearning site. 

Live Customizer

Edwiser RemUI is a brilliant theme with many productive features enabling you to add any of the desired elements to your webpage easily using a Live Customizer. All you have to do is select the desired element from a sidebar, drag it to the desired area of your web page, and drop it. This functionality makes it easier for designers to create pages from scratch with text, images, buttons, and other elements without having to code everything. 

On the other hand, the Maker theme is not powered with any sort of page builder or live customizer feature with drag-and-drop functionality. This leaves you to work with whatever little editing functionality is provided by the theme. Clearly, the Edwiser RemUI is a winner here. 

Edwiser RemUI Visual Personalizer 

Customization blocks

The customization blocks included in a theme allow designers to personalize their web pages as per their needs. Whether you want to add images, texts, headings, carousels, or accordions, the Edwiser RemUI theme has numerous customization blocks for you. They can be utilized in Visual Personalizer for creating your web pages.

On the other hand, the Maker theme is devoid of specified building blocks because of the absence of a live customizer. So, you will have to be content with the heading, images, or text set in the default designs unless you know coding yourself. This gives Edwiser RemUI an upper hand once again. 

Custom CSS and JS support

To help you further customize the design or any functional aspect of your Moodle site, Edwiser RemUI is loaded with custom CSS and JS support. This allows you to make custom CSS or custom JS-based design changes through the internal settings of the theme without opening the code files. 

On the other side, the Maker theme is powered with just custom CSS support. It allows the designer to apply their visual changes to the website design but not any other part of the functionality. So just Like other factors, Edwiser RemUI seems to surpass the Maker theme in this area too. 

Custom color schemes and fonts

Customizing color schemes and fonts as per requirement is the best way to enhance the overall appeal of your website. Fortunately, both Edwiser RemUI and Maker support custom fonts and color themes for lending a fresh look to your e-learning site. 

Login page customization 

The customizable login page of Edwiser RemUI

Customization of the login page is also a necessary aspect of any eLearning theme, as many website owners feel the need to customize their login page as per their preferences. Edwiser RemUI allows you to change the position of the login form, the page layout, or even the background image of the login page to achieve the desired appeal.

Login page of Maker theme 

On the other hand, the customizable login page of the Maker theme allows you to change the background image and logo only. It cannot change the placement and location of the login form or the layout of the login page.

#4. Responsiveness

Responsive eLearning websites have become more of a need than a nice-to-have functionality, thanks to the increasing use of smartphones. This makes it important for Moodle themes to come with responsive design functionality. Both Edwiser RemUI and Maker themes come with the functionality of creating responsive or mobile-friendly websites. 

#5. Stability, Compatibility, and Support

Smooth and error-free functioning with regular updates to fix bugs and functional problems are also important for a theme. In addition to that, a good theme also offers strong customer support and compatibility with older Moodle versions. Let’s check how Edwiser RemUI and Maker fare in this area:

Updates

Regular updates released for both Edwiser RemUI and Maker theme help the keep bug-free and up-to-date with the latest features. Their updates are usually released on a monthly basis, so basically, both themes stand equal on this criteria.

Moodle versions supported

Considering the Moodle versions supported, Edwiser RemUI supports all Moodle versions between Moodle 3.0 and the modern version such as Moodle 4.0. On the contrary, the Maker theme is compatible with Moodle 4.2 and 4.1 LTS only. 

Multilingual support

Both Edwiser RemUI and the Maker theme support multilingual content. It allows you to publish your courses and other information in various languages to cater to a global audience. Along with this, both themes also support RTL (Right-to-left) languages allowing you to publish course content in Persian, Arabic, Hebrew, and other similar languages. 

Customer support quality and response time

Robust customer support is also imperative for any theme if you want to set up your site without wasting a lot of time. In the absence of customer support, you may get stuck with a bug or anything else, which may waste a lot of your time. Fortunately, Edwiser RemUI offers proper customer support with queries resolved in a maximum of two business days to avoid such a scenario. 

However, the Maker theme doesn’t provide comprehensive customer support to its customers. This can land you in trouble if you experience some sort of functional glitches with the theme. 

#6. Pricing

Last but not least is the pricing factor that should be considered in buying the themes. Edwiser RemUI offers a lifetime license for $299 with brilliant customer support for 3 years. Besides this, it also provides licenses on a yearly basis for just $99. Each license is valid for installation on two sites. 

On the other side, the Maker theme’s single application license (i.e., installation on one domain or subdomain only) is available for $269, and the multiple application license is priced at $1600. Needless to say that Edwiser RemUI emerges as a more budget-friendly choice here while Maker slips to a costlier side. 

Final Verdict

After considering all the above-mentioned factors, it seems that both Edwiser RemUI and Maker themes are effective and efficient enough to develop dynamic eLearning websites. But, it cannot be ignored that Edwiser RemUI wins over Maker in many w aspects.  This is what their comparison looks like at a glance:

It is advisable to check out both Edwiser RemUI and the Maker themes before you choose one of them for your site. You can check out Edwiser RemUI Demo here and Maker Theme Demo here for a better understanding. 

Also Read: Edwiser RemUI vs. Moove Moodle Theme: Which Moodle Theme To Choose in 2023