Hi Mary,
I've been testing and tweaking Aardvark Lite for Moodle 2.0 to suit our site and I've discovered the following problem on IE7. The right side of the screen overflows to more than twice the width of the page as you can see below. IE8 has no issues.
Anyway I added the following two lines in pagelayout.css under #page
position: relative;
overflow: hidden;
and it solved the problem ans you can see in the screenshot below.
You're right about the menu. I tried poring through the css code but I'm not very good at it and only managed to get strange results. Do you think you could explain how to increase the height of the menu bar to be almost equal to the ribbon on the sideblocks? Also, how to set the menu items to be of auto-width instead of the fixed width they have now?
On a separate note, how do we shift the side blocks slightly to the right so that the ribbon juts out slightly (without the white border you see above)?
Any advice greatly appreciated!
Thank Fahmy, for the CSS. I'll try it first to make sure it's not affecting other elements on the page.
Trying to get the block header images to overhang the white border is not easy in Moodle 2.0. And then I am not overly confident I have it right as it is.
The menu height is in aardvarkmenu.css it's set to 30px. If you alter it you will have to make the background image the same height.
Changing menu tabs to auto width is not easy, as you will find if you change the width to auto. The menu goes all over the place.
You could try swapping the CSS for the one in the old Aardvark-Lite 1.9 theme. If you know about php and CSS I am sure it's not too hard to figure it out.
Hope this helps?
Mary
Thanks, I'll see what I can do. I managed to shift the block header so there isn't any white border, but you're right, making is overhang is tough.
Incidentally, I think tabs are broken.
Broken Tabs?
Perhaps it's something to do with the changes you made to the CSS for the page!
Moodle 2.0 layout is very finely tuned.
I'll check my version and get back to you on that.
Thanks
Mary
hi Fahmy how did u make the menus and header images orange plse I really love the theme but need to change the colours to go with our website. Once I know where to change i will find the right colour codes thanks in advance
Hello
Can anyone please tell me from where I can download this theme looking in top snap, if its done from development point of view.
This link provided at second top comment is not working....
Appreciate reply.
Thanks
Rahul,
Further down this thread, Mary does supply an ammended download link having moved files on her server.
You can download the theme from HERE
Richard
(Edited by Mary Evans - original submission Thursday, 6 January 2011, 03:22 PM) Reason: Changed location of download link
Hi Mary
Firstly thank you for a great theme I have been playing around with the colours but I would like to change the font size for the breadcrum area is this possible?
Thanks Paul
If you look in the style folder and open pagelayout.css using Notepad. You will find this section of CSS where you can make your changes to the font...
/*
navbar and breadcrumb
-----------------------*/
.navbar {
clear:both;
font-size: 80%;
height: 3em;
width: 100%;
background-color: #fff;
border-bottom:solid 1px #ddd;
}
Hope this helps?
Mary
Thanks for your help Mary
It worked brilliantly
Paul
when i m trying to download this them follwoing error is displaying.
"Page not found The page you requested was not found on this web server. This could be for a variety of reasons, including: You followed a broken or out-of-date link. You entered the URL for the page incorrectly. The page no longer exists. If you followed a broken link, please inform the owner of the referring page. If you have any queries about this error, please e-mail webmaster@this.domain. Back to visible-expression.co.uk homepage [ Powered by Zeus Web Server ]"
please help me to download this them.
thank you very much.
Balram
I like your theme very much, I have small doubt I want to add new web page in Moodle 2.0, in 1.9 add web page feature was exit but in new version it is not.
I want to make seperate web page like moodle.org has, Like community,forum etc. my website link is http://www.powerenergyindia.com/moodle/
Thanks
Balram
I was working late into the night revising this theme and adding some finishing touches. The new version is now ready for testing, if anyone wishes to take it for a Test Drive it's all yours.
The dropdown menu in this version works using CSS only, that means NO JavaScript! It also uses Moodle 2.0 Custom Menu set up which you can populate in Theme Settings. Inscructions are there to guide you. Other than that the menu works dynamically. It has space for at least 5 toplevel menu items with unlimited submenu links. It shluld work pretty well in all browsers other than IE. Not sure what the outcome will be for that browser. However I need to test it in all, so if you get any strange behaviour please let me know.
And now here's a glimpse of where I am up to with this theme which I am going to call AardvarkLite.
Thanks
Mary
Hi Mary,
Tried out your Aardvark Lite for moodle 2. As always with your themes, looks great!
Had one small problem - the language file in the profile block (as far as I'd got) wasn't being recognised. When I looked at the profileblock.php file, it was referencing 'theme_aardvark'. Editting that to 'theme_aardvark_lite' made everything work fine. Another example of the theme naming being so crucial everywhere
On that theme (no pun intended) do you know is there a way to set the theme name as a global variable of some kind in config.php for example and then refer to the variable throughout the theme rather than finding so many locations where it is needed?
Richard
Great stuff Richard! Thanks for letting me know. I hadn't noticed the Lang menu wasn't displaying as it should. I was probably half asleep by the time I had put the finishing touches on the theme... LOL
I was up late again last night converting Isometric...which just needs tweaking, but it almost finished! I just want them ready before the big roll out of Moodle. Because the more themes there are available the more people will be willing to give Moodle 2.0 a spin.
With regards to variable names, you can do this is Blogger so I dare say it can be done in the theme but where I'm not sure, I suppose config.php might be a likely candidate.
I'll fix the zip file now. Cheers...or should I say...
Hwyl...
Mary
Hi Mary. Tanks for everithing.
I'm not able to change the text of messages on the top block. I created a folder with the abbreviation for the language I use and the changes also had no effect. Looking at Richard's suggestion, I saw that changes were made to the file, but nothing yet.
Hi João,
I see you are from Brazil so I am assuming you have PT (Portuguese) language pack loaded on your Moodle system.
What you need to do next is create a folder inside the lang folder of this theme, and call the new folder pt, this is where you need to add a copy of theme_aardvark_lite.php so the path now looks like this...
lang > pt > theme_aardvark_lite.php
Then open theme_aardvark_lite.php using a Text Editor like Notepad and change the words I have highlighted...
$string['myblog'] = 'My Blog';
$string['usergreeting'] = 'Hi {$a}!';
$string['welcome'] = 'Welcome, {$a}';
$string['loginhere'] = "Login here!";
To something like...
$string['myblog'] = 'Meu Blog';
$string['usergreeting'] = 'Oi {$a}!';
$string['welcome'] = 'Bem-vindo, {$a}';
$string['loginhere'] = "Entrar!";
Save it and then check to see it is working when you switch languages from English to Portugese.
Just to make this clear to you. In the lang folder you should have the following set up...
lang
| en -> theme_aardvark_lite.php (customised English language strings for theme)
| pt -> theme_aardvark_lite.php (customised Portuguese language strings for theme)
See image below.
Hope this helps?
Mary
Excelent!
Mary
Thanks for this, it's really coming in handy!
I'm working with Aardvark-Lite in a new install of Moodle 2 on a unix server and having difficulty getting what I expect of the menu using what I think I'm supposed to be doing at Menu settings.
On the menu settings it suggests that topo menu items should start a fresh line, and subsidiary menus are to be marked by one or more dashes depending on level. I'm not sure if there is to be a space between the dash and text or not.
In any case, please see the images below. Menu items for my first 4 categories work, and then "location" gets elevated. There's a bunch of stuff on the Fourth menu (before this 5th entry) that is not separating into new first level items as I'd suppose. You will see on the left that my text suggested new menu items for "events" and "Get a Library Card" (with misspellings I just caught
The text has been saved on a Mac with BBEdit as 'Unicode UTF-8" with Unix (LF) linebreaks and reopened before inserting text into the Moodle. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated. I love this theme and need the menu to provide topic/hidden-course-topic-text for a good number of pages of the website. Thanks so much to Mary for her efforts on all of our behalf. Steve Iman - sciman@csupomona.edu
Unfortunately Steve, this menu is a fixed width. I copied the idea from the Decaf theme. If you want to have more links then it would be better to go back to the sort of menu which is in the Standard theme. If you change themes just to see how the Standard theme renders your menu. And if you prefer the standard theme's menu, let me know and re-style the Aardvark-lite menu for you.
As for the spaces in the menu. If they work then that's OK, but I must admit I think there shluld be not spaces between.
Hope this helps?
Cheers
Mary
Thanks so much, Mary, for your helpful response. I love your theme, but do need some additional heft to the menu on top. I don't mind a fixed width, though I'm hoping for more than 5 items on the menu (the image of yours has 9!) I hope I didn't create a misunderstanding. In the MenuSettings window I thought I'd asked for eight top level items. Maybe the "fixed width" is in CSS and by reducing that I could get more than 5 top level items on the row?
I don't think so, though I've not looked at the css. I tried out Standard and a variety of other stock and downloadable themes - with the same results, even where the total width of the five menu items seemed about 500 pixels. Almost all of the themes I tried limited the custom menu to five items, I explored the Decaf theme which you had worked with and liked it, though I found the same menu limitations. That theme seems not to be in the repository -- perhaps because of the problem I found wherein the option to alter nav block visibility disappears once one has clicked past "notifications" upon the first install. (I did find one theme called "broad study" which somehow provided six "categories" -- where 8 were defined in the Menu settings.) I loved your "premium series" theme though I didn't see a custom menu there -- perhaps I was in a rush and failed to Development/purge_cache.
It's because I want the website to be primarily about the foundation, but to also incorporate courses (the librarian likes using Moodle to support her computer coaching for seniors) that I'm looking to use bold custom menus. I haven't organized the text or hierarchy yet that I need, though 9 feels about right.
Any suggestions would be deeply appreciated.
Hi Steve,
The top image of this forum discussion is of the old Aardvark theme I first loaded but have since updated this to what you are using. This is my comment when I first changed the theme...
One of the best menus, I have ever seen working, is this one in Isometric, a Moodle 1.9 theme I made a couple of months ago. You can see a demo of it HERE
If you think it's just what you want I can customise it to work in this theme or Premium theme.
Let me know what you think?
Mary
Dear Mary: You're absolutely right. I'd read right past your statement of limitations to five top level menu items. On a totally unrelated issue, I went to sleep last night struggling to remember the name of a small bank I once patronized. It wasn't until I was waking up that I saw the small yellow checks that I used to use.. with the printed name of the bank. I guess I'm more strongly cued by visuals If the isometric menu, which seems thinner in style, could accommodate more top level entries, I would love to see it in a version of Aardvark, or as a version of Isometric for Moodle 2.0.
You are such a giving person around these forums that I feel uncomfortable asking you to do anything not already in your heart's cue. And I have not a clue what freelancing might involve toward getting this done. Sadly, the work I'm doing as a retired prof is free of charge, so the budget is skimpy.sciman@csupomona.edu http://www.friendsofthedanapointlibrary.org/moodle
As luck would have it Steve, I have already started converting Isometric for Moodle 2.0 you can see it in action HERE although I haven't added the menu as yet but will do it today.
I'll also change the menu in Aardvak and Premium to give you a good selection to choose from. As they all work in a similar way, changing the menu is a doddle...getting it to work in all browsers might prove a little harder.
Mary
Good heavens, what a blessing you are. Your progress on isometric is terrific, and I'm sure that with a little photoshop work on images and css tweaking of colors, that our Friends foundation will have something wonderful to go with. I've taken the opportunity in following your link to learn more about FreeCssTemplates.org. More evidence of an incredibly giving creative spirit.
No rush, please. You inspire me to keep giving in the directions where I have an opportunity to share.
Hi Steve,
I've got the menu working a treat! And strangely enough it has rendered in a very pleasing way. I'm not sure how but it sure looks good!
I'll be uploading it later to my website for you to view.
Mary
Hi Mary, please could you tell me how we can use moodlebar in your new Aardvark Lite theme.
Thanks
Belinda
As far as I know, Belinda, Moodlebar is not yet available for Moodle 2.0 themes.
Mary
Thanks Mary, will keep an eye open for updates.
Hi Mary
Great theme !
Just had one query. Can you please let me know how I can remove or replace the black and grey bar image, which sit above each menu/block ?
I was using the Aardvark Lite theme in Moodle 1.9, and it did not have the black/grey bars above menu/block. For example I want to remove black/grey bar, which contain the heading 'Login' in the Login block.
Many Thanks
Hi,
It's in one of the stylesheets for the theme.
moodle/theme/aardvak)lite/style/block.css
Look for the following and delete the lines I have blockedout in blue below...
#region-pre .block .header {
border-bottom:0px none none;
background: url([[pix:theme|sideblocks/leftrib]]) no-repeat left top;
height: 56px;
width: 100%;
position: relative;
right: 20px;
top: 10px;
}
#region-post .block .header {
border-bottom:0px none none;
background: url([[pix:theme|sideblocks/rtrib]]) no-repeat right top;
height: 56px;
width: 100%;
position: relative;
left: 20px;
top: 10px;
}
Mary
What a pleasure to get so much help. Mary has been terrific, and I thoroughly appreciate her help in getting my "moodle as website" up and running. We'll use courses for only part of the site, and so a good menu system was critical with about 30 links needed from the front page to 'open course pages'.
I've struggled with the new custom menus in Moodle 2.0 and couldn't keep them from collapsing. Mary produced a version of her theme (I call it "Hail Mary" with a great javascript menu that let me exceed the limit of five top level 'categories', and incorporated that nice 'home' logo that you'll see below. I'll not zip up the distribution since Mary will know best where it should be made available. But.. ain't life all the more worthwhile with some great Moodlers around willing to help?
Care and appreciation, Steve Iman
Feel free to visit http://www.friendsofthedanapointlibrary.org
Hi Steve,
Thank you for the kind complements. The menu is actually one which proved to be one of the best in Moodle 1.9 and one which is a favorite of mine. And I was so pleased it work equally well in Moodle 2.0. It actually uses a similar system to the one used in the custom menu in Moodle 2.0, in that it uses a set JavaScript files which are included in the moodle/lib/yui directory.
I am so pleased to see you have adapted this theme so well for Friends of the Dana Point Library. The site looks fantastic!
Mary
Hi Tong,
Steve is using the same menu as is in the Moodle 1.9 theme for Aardvark-Lite
There are a few changes that need to be made in the CSS and the location for the YUI Js scripts, but other than that it works the same. The only problems is you cannot link it to the custom menu.
Mary
Why did you download the 1.9 Version?
No wonder you can't get this to work!
Here is the link to Aardvark-Lite for Moodle 2.0 zip file
Hope this works?
Mary
Hi Tong,
The menu steve is using is one I set up especially for him to trial. You can download it HERE, however it does not use the Custom Menu settings. The menu in this case is manually set in aardvark_menu.php.
If you have any problems let me know, and I will try to help sort it.
PLEASE NOTE - IMPORTANT
Make sure you switch to Standard theme first before you upload this new Aardvak_Lite theme to moodle/theme/ directory.
You will also need to remove the old Aardvark_Lite theme folder before adding the new one.
Cheers
Mary
Hello Mary,
I could not find the file aardvark_menu.php
Thanks
Emanuel
Hi Emanuel,
This is a Moodle 2 theme and so does not ue the aardvark_menu. But if you are refering to the zip file I added in a previous discussing here then that theme, does not call the meu aardvark_menu.php it is called menubar.php
HTH
Mary
Hi Mary,
I had problems with the construction of the menu in custommenuitems.
If the option has not subtitem gets mangled.
I was working on another theme today and fixed this menu problem at the same time, since the new theme uses the same css as this theme, although the colors are different.
By the time you read this I'll hopefully have uploaded a new zip file.
Mary
Ok I'm waiting as soon as it is ready.
Dear Mary
I have not yet managed to download the Aardvark theme for Moodle 2.0 as the link seems to be broken. In the mean time, can you tell me if this is fluid or fixed width?
I am looking to implement a fixed/minimum-width site, but there are precious few Themes about for Moodle 2.0.
I used Aardvark on 1.9 as fixed width which was perfect! Obviously, this can't be used in Moodle 2.0 and I'm not sure I have enough time to try and convert it at this stage before our course goes live in January.
Best wishes
Andrew
Hi Andrew,
The fact the link was broken is that I was doing some changes last evening and moved my moodle site, however you shluld be able to download the theme from HERE
This particular version of Aardvark-Lite is a fluid width which means it looks the same in every screen resolution. But it shluld be easy enough to set it to a fixed min-width though if that's what you want.
#page { min-width: 960px; margin: 0 auto;}
Mary
Hi Mary
thank you very much, I've downloaded the theme and installed it - it is going to be the starting theme for my site.
I am having a problem changing the style using the css files - in fact I've tried changing the #page attribute in virtually all of the themes and it has no effect on the page width.
Interestingly, if I change the <div id="page"> tag in the general.php file to <div id="page" style="width: 960px"> then this works to fix the page width. <div id="page" style="min-width: 960px"> doesn't work in this case. It seems that the css file in the Style directory is being overridden by something?
I realise that this forum is not to be a tutorial on theming, but if I am missing something really basic that I could try, I'd be very grateful.
Best wishes
Andrew
Hi Andrew,
I think I have managed to do the same as your asking. I just changed the .../theme/aarvark_lite/style/pagelayout.css code to the following:
Instead of
#page {
width: 100%;
margin: 2% auto;
padding:0;
border: 5px solid #fff;
}
change to:
#page {
min-width: 960px;
max-width: 960px;
margin: 0 auto;
}
Hope this helps!
Hi Mark
it does, that did it, thank you very much!
Best wishes
Andrew
Andrew,
Please read this Moodle Doc and follow the instructions with respect to enabling Designer Mode.
Mary
Hi Mary
I made a change sugested by Mark and it worked, however I think this was also down to the fact that changed the designer mode setting earlier today, hence why I'd not managed to get your suggestion working.
I'm now going to do a bit of background reading on this, thanks very much for your help.
Andrew
Andrew,
The change you made will only make the theme 960px wide in any resolution, which is OK in 1024x768 whereas if you had left page width to my original settings of 95% anyone viewing the site from 800x600 to 2000x1024 would be able to see the theme in proportion to their browser. Whereas, your currecnt setting restrict those who need better visisibility at the lower end of screen resolution, and make for a lot of unused space at the top end of screen resolution. Not a good choice in my book, but if that's what you want...who am I to make you think differently.
Regards
Mary
Hi Mary
yes I know that I am treading in dangerous waters with the whole fluid vs fixed width debate.
I am yet to be convinced completely that fluid is best - although I do know that there is a large community of designers that say categorically "it is"!
I also know that there are many users (like me) who, selfishly, want to ensure the content is displayed as designed no matter what resolution (like a PDF), even if the scaling is higher (I know I know For example, the video content I am displaying won't change scale, so if the browser does, it looks lost flating around in the page with too much whitespace.
I am - for right or wrong - and I can feel the big guns groaning there way to point in my direction while I type - that immitation of some of the best fixed-width sites out there (bbc.co.uk for one) is a safe enough bet for me until I can properly compare my site on the various monitors around.
Also, bear in mind that many end-users (in my case doctors) are working on low-capacity hospital machines, not the 2000x1024 monitors that you and I are spoilt with. Those that do have the massive resolution monitors by now have probably realised that even their Word documents are looking a tad on the squinty side so have adjusted them appropriately (I have!) and that you really don't have to open out your browser to fill the screen, then whine that it doesn't look great )
Oh god, I've done it now, right ? (:-o
Andrew
Hi Andrew,
I can appreciate why you want to have this a fixed width, but Aardvark Lite is not totally a fixed width design. The interior of the layout from header to footer is fluid, the only fixed part is the page which acts like a boundary, thus restricting the width.
I am not spoiled...I don't have a laptop or a fancy widescreen monitor. In fact I bet the NHS have better equiptment than mine! Oh but i do have FireFox and XP which I am assured are the best tools for viewing Moodle! LOL
Take care,
Mary
Hello,
Thank you for making available your work on Aardvark for Moodle 2. I'm new to Moodle and am looking forward to getting a site up and running for the school where I work. Most appealing to me about Aardvark is the menu feature, however, when I choose the theme there are no menus and I can't find where I would edit the content of the menu to make them appear. I went back to Aardvark pro in 1.9 to compare where the menus were present but this didn't help. I'm still at a loss as to how to add menu items. Sorry if this is too obvious of a question. Downloaded/installed theme 12-14-10.
Thank you
Ryan
Hi,
The custom menu in Moodle 2.0 is set in the Theme setting's page.
To get to this page go to Settings, which is on your main Admin page, and then follow the path...
Site Administration > Appearance > Themes > Theme settings
then scroll to the foot of the Theme settings page and you will see the text baox where you enter the information needed to get your menu working.
If you first highlight the Moodle menu, which is printed on the page as an example, copy and paste it into the text box then save settings. This will then trigger the menu.
Once you get to know how the menu works it's easy to create your own, just following the example.
Mary
Hi .. just wondering how I could get the menu items to open in a blank window. TARGET="_blank" does not seem to work??
Thanks!
We have the same problem. We can edit the theme directly but if anyone has an answer it would be good to hear.
Thanks
Simon
Wow, I how did I miss that? Thanks so much for the help. Awesome theme!
Hi Mary,
Love all the Aardvark themes - great! Just wondering if the version shown in the snapshot you posted initially (14th Nov) is available, since the link to download it no longer seems to work?
Thank you, Mark
The download works now Mark. Sorry for that...I have been moving files about on my webserver and forgot to update the link!
As for the version of this theme as seen in the original image at the top of this discussion thread. I have that version on my computer. I'll dig it out and post a link to it, if I can find it!
Mary
If you still have a copy, that would be great thank you!
How do you alter the hyperlink (facebook, etc.) on the bottom of the page. The links supplied just point back to my site. Thanks, Hugh
Hugh,
You will find the links in the footer of default php file for the theme...
moodle/theme/aardvark_lite/layout/default.php
<div class="socioweb-icons">
<ul>
<li><a href="#" title="#"><img src="<?php echo $OUTPUT->pix_url('header/facebook', 'theme') ?>" height="30" width="30" alt="Facebook" title="Facebook" /></a></li>
<li><a href="#" title="#"><img src="<?php echo $OUTPUT->pix_url('header/twitter', 'theme') ?>" height="30" width="30" alt="Twitter" title="Twitter" /></a></li>
<li><a href="#" title="#"><img src="<?php echo $OUTPUT->pix_url('header/flickr', 'theme') ?>" height="30" width="30" alt="Flickr" title="Flickr" /></a></li>
</ul>
</div>
You will need to change # in the part highlighted in red to the URL for your homepage in facebook, twitter etc. or add other images and links.
Mary
Mary... thanks so much for your help... this is such a lovely and easy to use theme... really the best!!! thanks... Hugh
Hi .. I have just started using the Aarvark theme for Moodle 2.0 .. it is one of the best I have found so far!
I have tried to change the logo.png file by replacing the original with a new one. However, this does not seem to work ... am I missing out on something?
Thanks in advance ...
Cheers!
Hi Jasbir
Moodle does seem to cache many things very effectively - too effectively if you are trying to develop the theme - unless you turn on Theme Designer mode in the theme settings section, or you manually clear the caches (Site Administration, Development, Purge all caches).
That should then allow the page to pick up your new logo image
Hope that helps
Richard
Thanks ... works fine now ..
Try enabling Designer Mode
Hi
I'm been looking to change the default font on this theme to Verdana, but can't seem to locate this in any of the stylesheets. Any tips please ?
Thanks
Hi,
You can add font styles to the aardvark.css like so...
#page {
font-family: verdana, san-serif;
font-size: 90%;
}
Hope this helps?
Mary
Hey
I've installed your theme but the menu doesnt appear at all. Any idea why? i'm in IE8
Thanks
Hi Tong,
This previous comment in this same thread explains how...
http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=162247#p721686
Also...regarding the menu question you asked in the other Moodle 1.9 Aardvark-Lite theme discussion. I'm not sure why the divider only shows up when there is a sub-menu. I'll take a look at that and get beck to you.
Thanks
Mary
Mary,
I am using the menu from the Aardvark Lite for Moodle 2.0 theme you have released. However my neat freak characteristics are bugging me at the moment this and a combination of too little sleep due to watching cricket at silly hours of the morning are killing me. I have made the colour changes to the elements that I require but cannot complete the last few. I have attached a screenshot and code if you or anyone else can help with the 4 areas which are bugging me.
Area 1. How can I line up the left border with the left edge of the parent Moodle.com link?
Area 2. Why is there no border above the Moodle Development link?
Area 3. No border shows on the left of the child menu.
Area 4. Why do the bottom of each menu section not line up?
Any help as always greatly appreciated.
Cheers Wheelie.
Hi Mary very nice theme. I have tried uploading several of the aardvark themes and dont seem to get any of the nice graphics or colours. Am I doing something wrong please am I supposed to upload a basic theme for this package first or something please? Thanks in advance
First of all Jill. Which version of Moodle are you using at present? Moodle 1.9 or Moodle 2.0.
Something you must be aware of also is that Moodle 1.9 themes do not work in Moodle 2.0 and visa versa (meaning Moodle 2.0 theme do not work in Moodle 1.9).
So it all depends on which version of Moodle you are using and which Aardvark theme you can use. At present there is only one Aardvark theme available for Moodle 2.0. All the other Aardvark themes were made for Moodle 1.9
Hope this helps?
Hi Mary am using version 1.9. So I am sure i used the right ones but I even tried one for version 2 just to make sure I wasnt in the wrong place. thanks
Hi Mary!
Ive been reading these posts for a while and I must say thank you in advance because you re so consistent in answering all of the questions you receive... Good work! ;)
So to bring you to my question.. i just installed Aardvark - New Moodle 2.0 Theme but i cant figure out how to create or move the menu above the breadcrumbs... all i have is the navigation to the left and right..
could you please help me..
thx
jure
Thanks Jure, I enjoy the time I spend here helping people.
Now to answer your question, it's simple!
1. navigate your way to Settings > Site Administration > Appearance > Themes > Theme Setting
2. in the Theme settings' page scroll right to the foot of this page and you will see a box where you need to add your menu links in the same way the example is written underneath this box. As a quick guide...just highlight the example text and copy and paste it into the Menu box.
3. Click on Save settings and once the page has finished loading you will find the menu apears in the menu bar.
That's it...simples...
Mary
hey! thanks a lot!
youve been very helpful!
youre beautiful! thanks again!
cheers!
you're welcome!
Hi All
I just want to say how great this forum is as I have learnt a lot about Moodle 2 just from this area!
I am using the Moodle 2 Ardvark theme and have a couple of questions.
Does anyone know if you can change the default profile picture used by Moodle by adding the picture you would like to your theme like you could with Moodle 1.9. I know you can do this within the moodle source itself but would rather adapt the theme if possible.
If so does anyone know what and where you place the profile pics within the theme as this isnt working for me?
Also on the Ardvark theme I would like to change the + and - gif images used to show and hide the theme blocks is this possible?
Thanks in advance
Paul
Hi Paul,
I'm not that familiar with the new settings for Moodle 2.0 as there is so much to learn. However, I have a feeling you need to put your default profile image in the pix_core/g/ folder of this theme. There isn't one so you will need to create one. To test it add two profile images f1.png (100px X 100px) and f2.png (35px X 35px) they can be .jpg or .gif but there can only be 1 set of images in the folder at any one time. Then Moodle image engine would look first in the theme and then in the default pix area of your Moodle site.
Mary
Hi Mary
Thanks for the reply I had already tried that but it made no difference I cant find any information that this is possible in Moodle 2 never mind I will update the moodle source itself.
Thanks again
Paul
Paul:
Read this...
Overriding images in your theme
The folder you need to add your custom profile images to is 'u' not 'g' as I was first lead to believe.
You need to add pix_core to your theme (which you said you had done but this is just to clarify the path)...
path: moodle/theme/yourthemename/pix_core - this folder should contain all the subfolder which you will find in the moodle/pix/ folder
in the folder named u add the following named profile images...
f1.png (100 x 100 px), f2.png (35x35 px), user 35.png(same as f2), user 100.png (same as f1)
I replaced these with my own images and tested it just now and it works.
Let me know if you get stuck. You might need to purge cache to see the changes.
Hope it works...one job less to worry about if it does!
Mary
Hi MAry, Love your theme it's nice and clean, I am using a dark blue background and wondered how I go about adding a specific style to the welcome and login here text as I need this to be white instead of the standard H1 it is currently using, I have tried messing with the profileblock.php but just get errors.
Please could you tell me where and what to do it would be greatly appreciated.
I am using latest moodle 2.0
Also when using the custom menu version with the home logo I have a problem in as the forum post on my home page gives me the following see attached image, seems to have scroll bars when there are none to show.
Hi Tom,
The colours and styles are not set in profileblock.php but in the css files. In this case if you add the option below to aardvark.css in the styles folder that should do the trick. For neatness sake, I included it in the section titled profileblock
div#pro-opt h1 {
color:white
}
Hope that helps
Richard
Thank Richard,
To change the welcome befor you are logged in you also need to add the #post-log { color: white; } so adding theme to gether you get the following...
div#pro-opt h1,
div#post-log h1 {
color:white
}
Thanks to Richard and Mary, after being pointed in the right direction I took it a step further and it seems to work ok here is my code...
/*
Profileblock welcome and login
-----------------------*/
div#post-log a{
color: #fff;
}
div#post-log a:hover {
color: #f12711;
}
div#post-log h1{
color: #fff;
}
div#pro-opt h1 {
color:#fff;
}
Looks much better now
Hi Mary
where do i put the code to show no menu on frontpage unless logged in? as I have read it is theme specific, I am using your custom menu version
Look at this discussion thread, it shows exactly where you would add this code.
For the aardvark-lite theme it's the default.php you would be making the changes in only.
HTH
Mary
Hi Mary, I tried that nothing changes to the frontpage the menu is still there, but if it is calling the menubarjs.php after that is that not why?
here is the code I entered
if ($hascustommenu) {
$bodyclasses[] = 'has_custom_menu';
}
if (isloggedin()) {
$custommenu=$OUTPUT->custom_menu();
}else{
$custommenu="";
}
echo $OUTPUT->doctype() ?>
<?php include('menubarjs.php')?>
Tom,
I don't have this version with the menubarjs.php, but if that is what is calling the menu then you could try wrapping the line which calls the menu inside the conditional statement
if (islogged()) {
<?php include('menubarjs.php')?>
}
Richard
Tom,
Sorry to say that menubarjs.php and menubar.php DO NOT USE custom menu. Custom menu is seperate to this. You either use one or the other but not both.
Also the reason the custom menu is not working is that, from memory, it is not declared in the layout anyway in the version of Aardvark-Lite you are using.
If you want the custom menu to work you need to download aardvark-lite for Moodle 2.0.
The problem with the forum post scrolling is due to the css. If you open aardvark.css using Notepad you will see down the page the following class selector for the forumpost content posting...
.forumpost .content .posting { overflow: scroll;} which adds the scroll.
If you change scroll to auto, the scroll bars will only apear when you need them.
Mary
Thanks Mary that has sorted it
Hi All
I have been using the Ardvark Theme and I have customised the top logo as a banner and it now completly fills the header, is it possible to have around five images and rotate them so the banner is different everytime the page is seen?
Dont know if this makes any sense
Thanks in advance
Paul
Hi Mary,
Can you please advise what I am doing wrong????
Change theme in moodle 2.0 to standard > download Aardvark Lite for moodle 2.0 > extract in theme folder on server > open moodle > go to Site Administration > Appearance > Themes > Themes selector.
The theme is not appearing in my list???? Can you please advise what I am doing wrong????
Sharon
Sharon.
Most common reason for this is your host uses cPanel and you will need to upload the zip and extract it using cPanel rather than any other ftp method.
Other than that, make sure the permissions on the folder are correct and that moodle has access to the folder - I have noticed that sometimes using some ftp programmes to upload, settings can get changed to owner only (700) preventing moodle from accessing the folder.
Richard
Hi All,
I am only a novice user of Moodle so please bear with me. Our IT guy updated our Moodle last night from 1.9 to 2.0.
I came in this morning to find out that the old theme will not work & all the menus etc are not working.
I found this 2.0 theme that looks great which I have installed. I should be able to find my way around most of the settings but I am struggling to find how to add menus to the page & also how to change the header image.
I have atatched a picture of the site.
Any advice would be great.
Many Thanks
Hi Michael,
As you have found out Moodle 1.9 themes do not work in Moodle2 (A less than subtle hint dropped to your IT guy about consulting users might be worthwhile!)
But the good side of this is that Moodle 2 is a fantastic upgrade if you're ready for it and you've picked a really good theme.
Firstly, Moodle2 has a custom menu built in to the general themes setting page, so rebuilding your menu from there should be fairly straightforward.
Second, to replace the logo, recreate the logo you need in something like Gimp/Paintshop etc and save it to the theme pix/header folder as logo.png (png can be jpg etc, moodle copes automatically with most different image formats) The current image is 299x100px and has a transparetn background - it is a good idea to try to stick to something similar for your logo.
One other thing with moodle2 - you will need to clear the caches to show any changes. If you are making quite a few changes to your theme its worth turning theme designer mode on (in the theme settings) but if not, just go to theme selector and purge theme caches, or Site Administrator->Development->Purge all caches. This is because Moodle2 makes extensive use of cahces to maximise page speed, but that prevents changes showing immediately when css and other changes are made.
Hope that helps
Richard
Hi Richard,
Thank you for your quick reply. I have got the menu system working thanks. I have also uploaded a test picture for the header & renamed it logo.png but it does not appear. When I replace the original logo it does appear.
Do you know what i'm doing wrong?
Thanks
Michael
Hi Michael,
Assuming you have created a logo.png of the same size as the original (shouldn't matter too much - but may affect some of the sizing of surrounding items if it isn't - depending on how the css is written) and copied it into the same location, replacing the original (having renamed/copied the original somewhere safe), and you have made sure you have cleared the cache - including your browser, it should all work.
The only other thing I can think of right now, which shouldn't normally be necessary, would be to change theme back to something like formal white, then purge all caches, before switching back to the aardvark theme. For example, if the theme has the header on the 'purge' page it may not be being completely cleared . But if you have changed the name of the original logo or copied it out of the folder somewhere safe when you put your new one in and it is still being shown, then it can only be related to the cache.
Richard
Hi Michael,
Sorry for not having replied earlier to your original post.
Theme Designer Mode
First whenever making changes to the theme you need to be in Theme Designer Mode. You enable this by selecting the following from the settings block...
Settings > Site Administration > Appearance > Themes > Theme Settings ... Theme Designer Mode is 2nd box from top of page - Click in the 'Check Box' then Save settings.
Once designer mode is enabled all the changes you make to your theme will show up with each browser refresh (Ctrl + F5)
Custom Menu:
You will find information about the 'Custom Menu', and how to configure it, in the Themes Setting's page. The same settings page where you enable Theme Designer Mode. This page contains various other settings which is worth your while taking a look at as there may be other things you want to enable.
HTH
Mary
Hi Mary/Richard,
Thank you for your help. The menu is now up & running & I have enabled the theme designer mode.
I am still struggling to change the logo at the top of the screen. I have tried a few different images of different sizes & they are still not working. I remaned them logo.png & renamed the original so it didn't conflict. When I do this the standard logo disaperars but the new one doesn't show. If I put the standard logo back in as logo.png that shows up.
Any ideas?
Many Thanks
Michael
Just to clarify Michael, the new images are actually saved as .png files from your gaphics software, not just renamed as .png having been saved as jpgs first?
Hi Richard,
I have tried various images, some were jpegs that I converted to png & some were cereated as png.
Thanks
OK Michael,
Have tested this again and here's what i did step by step which works as expected on my localhost, with theme designer mode turned on - but other than that, no special tweaks or anything in my set up. Even though it's on a local host I have used ftp to upload/download from another computer on my network in this case to check everything.
1. uploaded aardvark_lite theme and switched to it in theme selector.
2. opened /pix/header/logo.png from the aardvark_lite theme folder and edited it. Saved the new image to my desktop as logo2.png
3. renamed the original logo in /pix/header as logoold.png.
4. uploaded logo2.png to /pix/header and renamed as logo.png (all lower case as the original)
5. clicked back to 'home' page of moodle
6. new logo is present on page
It really should be as simple and straightforward as that - If that still isn't working for you, I would back up any changes you have already made to the theme and reinstall it and try with a fresh install.
Hope you can get to teh bottom of this
Richard
Richard,
I've been in contact with Michael in a private message, and waiting for him to get back to me on this, as there is a problem with the image itself.
Mary
Thanks Mary - that's why it wouldn't work then
I can't be certain, but it certainly is pointing to this being the problem.
Hi Mary
Lovely theme. I am trying to set up my site. Just a quick question - on the front page I am listing the courses. Instead of it being one block it seems to be listing them as two columns. The title in one block and the description in another, alongside it. I would like it to display as one block. http://school.obygrace.org/
How is that possible. Thanks
Hi Will,
Do you mean only the titles of your courses, or a combination or course title and description, but in a single block?
Mary
EDIT:
Make the following changes in aardvark_lite.css
.coursebox .info {
float: left;
text-align: left;
width: 100%;
}
.coursebox .summary {
float: right;
text-align: left;
width: 100%;
}
Hi Mary
Truly appreciate the quick reply - I mean having the course title and description in a single block together. As there will be a number of courses.
I looked at aadvark.css and at the moment I have:
Course - Topic
-----------------------*/
.course-content ul.topics li.section .content {
border:1px solid #DDDDDD;
margin:0 40px;
}
Are you asking me to add the info you have given here, or are you asking me to delete this infomation and add the new info here.
Thanks
Hi Will,
So sorry I could not get to a computer to answer your frantic efforts to get some clarification on the issue!
OK...first you need to add the code I posted into the aardvark.css does not matter where, but add it at the end of the page and save it.
Providing of course that the file is save and on the server, and that there are no errors in the copy text, if you copied it from the forum and did not use a text editor like Notepad, chances are it might be wrong so please check it for errors.
You will also need to enable Theme Designer Mode in Theme settings' page...
site Administration > Appearance > Themes > Theme Settings -> CLICK check box to enable Theme Designer Mode. Save settings and return to Home page. Hopefully the Course title and Course description should be displayed as you want them.
I intend to be here now for a few hours...so hope you get to see this comment soon!
Cheers
Mary
Hi Will,
Try this download of a new theme which has the CSS settings for the course listing. Let me know if it works as you want it to.
Mary
Hi Mary
I took a quick break for a day, as I couldn't figure out what to do. I did a reinstall today and did everything you adviced me to do - and it worked out really good. I think I've finally got it like I want. Couldn't have done it without you.
I just wanted to add that it was really GENEROUS of you to put together this download for me. I was speechless when I saw it. Thanks so much.
Your're welcome! It's what i love doing best...and your 'O by Grace' site has such a peaceful/restful look about it, I just wanted to capture that and the colors too into a Moodle theme. It was quite easy to do.
I'm glad you managed to get the code to do what it was supposed to do.
Please help me. I have just started using moodle and your excellent them. I want to modify the theme and am enjoying reading the help you have been to others. While I am able to reply to a message on here I cannot find a way to add a new item for discussion (an entry I guess)?
Thanks
I'd also love to know how to add the lines around the blocks in the course shown. Other themes I have seen have a box separating the weeks.
Hi Grant,
To add a new discussion follow the instructions on the image below.
Dear Mary.
First of all I would like to thank you for the great work you've done with the Aardvark theme. You can check our installation at http://webcursos.uai.cl
Now, I'd like to report that we're experiencing problems in the grade report where the layout is broken. I just checked the last version you uploaded and the problem is still there (see attached screenshot).
I tried to debug but I'm not an expert on CSS so I couldn't see the problem.
I don't think this theme has a report setting in the config.php. I'll take a look at my copy of this and upload a file for you to replace the one you have.
Mary
Hi Jorge,
Here is the config.php for the aardvark_lite theme. you need to place it in the following location on your server...
../theme/aardvark_lite/config.php
This should solve the problem.
Mary
Hi Mary.
Thanks heaps, the problem is solved.
Cheers,
Jorge
Hi there,
I would love to change the font size (Make it larger) of the Sub-Categories. They look like little lost orphans on a huge white page.
Any help would be appreciated. I feel like I've looked everywhere.
~Colleen
Try changing your browser settings...it can work wonders.
Mary, not sure if this reply was for me, but if so, we have 2000 users. I can't change the browser settings for everyone, besides, I don't want the font to change everywhere on the site.
Thanks,
Colleen
Window goes on forever to the right in IE. Looks fine in Firefox and Chrome. Picture attached. What do I need to do ?
Mary- That did it, thanks so much!
Thanks for letting me know!
Mary
Hi Mary,
I'd love to try your aardvark lite theme but when I click on the download, I go to a "Page Not Found" url. It looks like the link is broken. Does this mean the theme is no longer available?
Not able to download Aardvark Lite for Moodle 2.0 theme, please if you can share download link.
Please read this post...
Hi!
I am trying to download Aardvark Lite theme for Moodle 2.0, but the link is corrupted.
How could I get it?
Thanks in advanced.
Best regards,
Eneko
Thanks!
