Moodle 2.0 Theme Contest

Moodle 2.0 Theme Contest

by Patrick Malley -
Number of replies: 13
I’m pleased to announce that NewSchool Learning is taking submissions for a Moodle 2.0 Theme Contest that starts today. Since full contest rules and selection criteria can be found on the contest page, I won’t bother repeating that information here. I will say, though, that we’re giving away a new 16GB Wi-Fi iPad to the contest winner, which will be announced on July 16, 2010.

The goals of this competition are to:

  • encourage community members to learn the new Moodle 2.0 theme engine. A lot (everything) has changed in the way themes are rendered from 1.x to 2.0. Every theme created for Moodle 1.x will have to be recoded for 2.0. We need an active and knowledgeable community of theme developers to ensure the successful use of this new and powerful theme engine.
  • highlight how great Moodle 2.0 can look by selecting 20 themes to be included inside every Moodle 2.0 download. The new theme engine provides developers with a lot more flexibility than they had with Moodle 1.x.
  • spark innovation through competition. I think the 2.0 release represents a great opportunity to increase the appeal of Moodle by allowing developers to create a more diverse collection of themes. Let’s make Moodle beautiful together!


If you have any questions about the contest, please feel free to post them here.

I look forward to seeing what the community can create. Good luck!
Average of ratings: Useful (4)
In reply to Patrick Malley

Re: Moodle 2.0 Theme Contest

by Patrick Malley -
For those of you just now getting started on your Moodle 2.0 themes, you might want to have a look at two new themes I committed this morning.

Nonzero is a port of the theme by the same name I created for 1.9. This theme uses a middle-left-right column format like a blog. Might work as a great parent theme for some of your projects.

Leatherbound (another port) is a very simple theme built on Canvas and Base. The idea here was to create a new theme with very little code to change the look and feel.

I can't wait to see what all of you are creating. Happy theming.

Patrick
Average of ratings: -
In reply to Patrick Malley

Re: Moodle 2.0 Theme Contest

by Mary Evans -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Peer reviewers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers
Just as a point of interest Patrick, are we supposed to post the themes here in this thread, or on the New School Learning site? or both? The site I'm working on is falling into place now I've fixed the problem of the floats!

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Mary Evans

Re: Moodle 2.0 Theme Contest

by Patrick Malley -
You can certainly share your theme with the community. But, I'd like the theme emailed also. For full submission guidelines, see:

http://newschoollearning.com/theme/contest/#enter
Average of ratings: -
In reply to Patrick Malley

Re: Moodle 2.0 Theme Contest

by Patrick Malley -
I'd just like to update this post by saying that you only have two days left to submit your theme to our Moodle Theme Contest. So far, I'm seeing some nice themes being submitted, but I want more!

If you need inspiration or parent themes for your last minute project, I've just this week committed two new themes to the core:

Binarius is a native two-column theme that makes liberal use of CSS3 for your webkit and gecko browser users. The effect is really quite nice, I think.

Arialist is a very simple and clean two-column theme that has a settings page allowing users to change the anchor color, upload a logo, add a tagline, etc.

The idea here is to get a broad spectrum of themes together for the Moodle core that really showcase what the new theme engine is capable of achieving.

Let me know if you have any questions.
Average of ratings: -
In reply to Patrick Malley

Re: Moodle 2.0 Theme Contest

by Joseph Rézeau -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers Picture of Translators

Hi Patrick,

May I suggest that the delay for voting is much too short (July 12 - July 15, 2010). It is quite impossible to download and take all of those 12 themes through a thorough testing routine. It is possible to just judge their appearance, if that is the aim of the competition.

What about extending the voting deadline at least until the end of July?

EDIT.- I also find it a pity that the current average score is visible to visitors, as this might influencing the voting process.

Joseph

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Joseph Rézeau

Re: Moodle 2.0 Theme Contest

by Dan Humpherson -
I think its a shame the average vote for each theme is displayed, I wonder how many visitors read the Rubrick and vote based on that rather than how much they personally like the theme.

However the rules do state that:

Moodle community members will be invited to view the themes on our server and download the source files for review before voting for the theme that they think should win the Grand Prize. During this time, they'll also be able to make comments and ask questions about your submission. You're encouraged to answer their questions and comment on your theme.

Throughout the week of community review, we'll also look at your theme for compliance with the rules, cleanliness of code, and creative use of the new Moodle 2.0 theme engine. The Grand Prize winning theme will be the one with the most community votes, the cleanest code, and the most creative use of the 2.0 theme engine

So my understanding of this is that its more than just how many votes a theme recieves.
Average of ratings: -
In reply to Dan Humpherson

Re: Moodle 2.0 Theme Contest

by Lei Zhang -
As Patrick said in the email he sent to all the contenders, this is not a popularity contest. If we all get our family/friends who never seen/used Moodle before to vote too, then this is no difference from American idolsbig grin
Average of ratings: -
In reply to Joseph Rézeau

Re: Moodle 2.0 Theme Contest

by Patrick Malley -
Hello Joseph,

Thank you for your feedback. I appreciate the fact that I haven't left much time for review. The truth is I should have started the contest much sooner. I was waiting to start until I felt comfortable enough to judge them based on the 2.0 theme engine myself and then felt rushed to have it wrapped up before the Goshen MoodleMoot here in Indiana.

With that said, I don't think it's wise to extend the rating period. As you can see, the rating rubric I've setup is not doing the job I intended. The important criteria for selection are a.) cleanliness of code, and b.) creative use of the the 2.0 theme engine.

The contest winner will be announced tomorrow.
Average of ratings: -
In reply to Patrick Malley

Re: Moodle 2.0 Theme Contest

by Joseph Rézeau -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers Picture of Translators

Hello Patrick,

Thanks for explaining the situation. I expect you have all the necessary elements in your possession to make an informed decision on the winner. That contest certainly produced a number of quite interesting themes, and I plan to test them as thoroughly as I can, even after the winner is announced.

I hope the Goshen MoodleMoot goes well. We've just had a very successful French MoodleMoot at the end of June. Those are great occasions to meet.

Joseph

Average of ratings: -