Anthony,
Somehow I expected this to be the response. Note I'm using your same words for me reply to you! I wondered if you might use an external host that will not permit custom certificate code. However, not all is lost. There are still several approaches we can try.
- It might be worth the time to talk with your hosting service and explain what you want to do. I fully understand why a hosting service will not permit custom code. It can really make a mess of things, and creates a host of maintenance issues. However, customizing certificate code is a bit different from customizing Moodle core code. I've had one Moodle Partner and two non-partner Moodle hosting companies install my custom certificate code. In each case however, the hosting company knew me and was familiar with my work. What I usually do is set up my own server (you can do that on your local computer) and then develop and fully debug the custom certificate. I can then go to the hosting company and tell them I have a working certificate type and ask them to install it for me. Send me a personal message or email (fesaner@gmail.com) and let me know who is hosting Moodle for you.
- In recent versions of the Certificate, there is a settings page where you can upload some images (Border, Watermark, Signature, Seal): go to Site administration ... Plugins ... Activity modules ... Certificate ... Upload image. Your Moodle system admin can do this for you. The 'trick' you can use is that the Border image is overlaid on the entire certificate page. What you can do is create a jpeg image that has a border and the elements you want to add. After this is uploaded it will appear an an option in your certificate Border settings. The difficult part is getting all the additional elements to line up properly.
It looks like you selected Fancy1-black.jpg as the border for your certificate. If you want to keep that, you can download that image and add your elements - be certain to rename the image file before you upload it. To get the image download the certificate plugin, unzip the file and go to folder certificate/pix/borders. I would print the current certificate you have, then print the downloaded Fancy1-black.jpg image and be certain the two line up properly. Then add your elements to the Fancy1-black.jpg image - keep comparing that to the current certificate image and be certain everything lines up. When finished, be certain your modified image is renamed, upload that as described in the prior paragraph and select that as your border image in the certificate setup. - The only other option is to see if your hosting service will install the Simple Certificate plugin. Simple Certificate allows you to upload a background image and create the certificate text in the certificate settings page. The main disadvantage is that the certificate image and text are not global settings - you have to copy or insert them into each course. Also, placement of individual certificate text elements is not as finely controlled as with the Certificate plugin.
Keep me posted on how things progress.
Floyd