[Feature Checklist] How to Choose a Good Theme for Moodle

Kiran

What’s the dream of every moodler? It’s easy to guess! Making Moodle look good, modern and professional. (at least 90% of the time)

It’s not hard to understand why. Because it’s a stark fact that Moodle needs a bit of work on the design and usability fronts.

But you know that you can actually make Moodle attractive with a good theme! And that’s when choosing the right one becomes important.

Every moodler is well aware of the importance of a good theme for their Moodle website.

And anyone with a basic understanding of Moodle knows that the right theme for Moodle can instantly elevate your user experience. Apart from that, it helps you keep the cost and hassle of management and overall maintenance on the lower side.

But how do you pick your go-to theme for Moodle?

With Moodle 3.8 making its way into the e-learning space, and with so many themes out there, finding the best theme with perfect compatibility can be tricky. 

So, let’s help you make your Moodle look nicer and easier to interact with for your learners. Make sure to look for the following points as a head start to a great-looking Moodle site.

Elements of a Good Theme for Moodle

There are a plethora of themes for Moodle out there. However, there are some key factors to consider while picking a theme for your Moodle site. 

An e-learning website with bad navigation is clearly a No-No. Yes, colors on your website elements do look nice and help with reinforcing your brand. But it should never come in the way of navigation and usability. Your students are eventually going to head out

Appearance and functionality go hand in hand. 

Simply put, enhanced design, functionality, navigation, customization options, compatibility cost, and support work together to improve user experience and keep your learners engaged.

So what should you look for when picking the most suitable theme? Let’s look at them one by one:

In a hurry? Grab the hot-to-trot 10-point checklist that outlines the steps and go through it whenever you get time.

#1 Layouts

Layouts are crucial as course content is the most important component of your site. A good e-learning theme never distracts the reader. A theme with uniform, easy layout, and simple blocks causes minimal complications. In essence, minimum confusion = maximum learner engagement.

Things to look out for:

• Distraction-free layouts
• Uncluttered
• Customizable
• Responsive design

Themes for Moodle with Best Layouts:

• Edwiser RemUI
• Lambda
• Fordson

#2 Responsiveness

Having your e-learning content adaptable to multiple devices and screens of different sizes is crucial for the modern student community of the 21st century to access courses on-the-go. Convenience is more likely to improve retention.

Things to look out for:

• No device barrier
• No location barrier
• No time barrier

Responsive themes for Moodle:

• Edwiser RemUI
• Academic

#3 Color Palette

Having the option to pick colors for your e-learning site is important. It helps with effective branding. A good theme offers an exhaustive color palette to work with.

Things to look out for:

• Flexibility to choose any color as per the brand
• Exhaustive palette

Themes with good color palettes:

• Adaptable
• New Learning
• Edwiser RemUI

#4 Navigation

What’s the point of having great course content but a confusing way of finding it! A good theme for Moodle is expected to have a sleek layout with clean, easy and no-frills navigation. 

Things to look out for:

• Easy navigation
• Sleek layout

 Themes with easy navigation:

• Edwiser RemUI
• Fordson

#5 Customization 

A wide variety of customization alternatives is another feature to look out for. Be it a little tweaking or a major change to your Moodle website or course structure. 

A good theme for Moodle should offer options such as login page customization, dashboard customization, etc. 

Things to look out for:

• Login Page Customization
• Dashboard Customization

Good customizable themes:

• Adaptable
• Edwiser RemUI
• Klassroom

#6 Compatibility, Cost and Support

Ensure that the theme you choose to implement is compatible with the latest versions of Moodle. Also, it makes sense to figure out how much you are willing to spend on it. 

Last but not least, a dedicated support service post-purchase always comes in handy. A good theme offers personalized customer support via email, live chat, call, and forums. Customers when stuck should easily be able to reach you for their queries.

Things to look out for:

• Compatibility with latest Moodle versions
• Cost-effectiveness
• Post-purchase support

#7 Language Support

A good theme is the one with support for multiple languages. This widens the scope and accessibility, as it can cater to people from different countries.

Things to look out for:

• Translation-ready
• Multiple language support

Conclusion

So, there you have it! Go ahead and pick the right theme for your Moodle LMS with the help of the features we just gave you. It will definitely be a bit easier for you now. Keep upgrading your Moodle site with changing times 🙂

We have even compared the leading themes for Moodle for you. Check out our comparison articles!

• New Learning vs. Edwiser RemUI
• Edwiser RemUI vs. Lambda

And since we’re talking about themes here, you probably should know a few top ones that have made it to our best themes list.

So do check them out to find your ideal theme for Moodle! Also, we’ve highlighted a few good themes to get you started in the right direction.

• Edwiser RemUI (Paid)
• Edumy (Paid)
• Lambda (Paid)
• Fordson (Free)
• Moove (Free)

Hope you found this article useful. Have we missed out on anything? Let us know in the comments below.