Simple format

A modern, minimalist course format for Moodle 5.0+ that presents one unit at a time with smooth transitions and a distraction-free learning experience. Inspired by clean, content-first design principles, Simple format strips away visual clutter so students can focus on what matters.

Features

Content display

• Single-section display with smooth crossfade transitions between units — no page reloads
• Three-zone layout automatically categorises activities into Learning Content, Related Resources, and Related Activities
• Inline content rendering — the primary learning item in each section (Page, Book, H5P, SCORM, YouTube/Vimeo) is embedded directly on the course page with a fullscreen toggle
• Learning outcomes configurable per section, displayed in a collapsible popout panel

Navigation

• Custom navigation panel with SVG-based completion progress indicators — checkmarks, progress rings, and padlock icons for restricted sections (replaces Moodle's built-in course index)
• Cog navigation — a compact tile-grid popover replacing the secondary navigation bar, providing quick access to Participants, Grades, Settings, and 40+ other course tools with Font Awesome icons
• Persistent home button for navigating back to the course from any activity page
• Unread forum badge — displays a count of unread forum posts on the section 0 navigation button

Course info

• Course banner (optional) — hero image with course name on section 0
• Course Info overlay (optional) — displays section 0 content in a floating modal accessible from every page in the course, preserving interactive widget state

Responsive design

• Desktop: side-by-side navigation and content layout
• Tablet and mobile: stacked layout with animated hamburger drawer navigation
• Keyboard and screen reader accessible — full ARIA support, keyboard navigation, and focus management throughout

How it works

Activities are automatically sorted into zones based on their module type:

The first learning content item in each section is rendered inline (embedded) rather than as a link. Completion tracking badges appear on every activity card, supporting both automatic and manual completion.

Requirements

• Moodle 5.0 or later
• Modern browser with CSS Grid and ES6 support

Installation

1. Download or clone this repository into course/format/simple in your Moodle installation.
2. Visit Site administration > Notifications to complete the installation.
3. When creating or editing a course, select Simple format from the course format dropdown.

Configuration

Course-level settings (under Course settings > Course format):

Section-level settings (under Edit section):

Testing

PHPUnit

php vendor/bin/phpunit --testsuite format_simple_testsuite

Behat

php admin/tool/behat/cli/run.php --tags=@format_simple

Privacy

This plugin does not store any personal data.

License

This plugin is licensed under the GNU GPL v3 (or later).

Credits

Developed by the South African Theological Seminary (ICT Department).