Essential

Themes ::: theme_essential
Maintained by Gareth J BarnardGareth J Barnard
Essential is a clean and customizable theme. Essential is tested and tried by thousands of users, and ranks number one by site usage for all available third party themes.
Latest release:
2435 sites
481 downloads
357 fans
Current versions available: 12

This plugin is up for adoption, please see 'Plugins adoption programme'.

The "Essential" Moodle Theme
=========================

Please note: Essential has reached 'End of life' at Moodle 3.6 - last version for.  Please read moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=385903.

Do not attempt to install the theme beyond Moodle 3.6, you will break your site!

With 2.5 now released Julian thought it time to take the opportunity to build a new theme that would push the new theme engine to it's limits a bit.  With that in mind he introduced the new "Essential" theme.  Now Julian has left us for Canvassian adventures, David and Gareth took over development and maintenance.  And now David has left for pastures new, Gareth continues to maintain and make improvements.

The idea of this theme is to make the site look as little like Moodle as possible. In this specific instance, it would be used on sites where Moodle would potentially serve as a company homepage rather than just a course list.

Cool things to know about the theme.

  • It attempts to load as many as possible icons from a font.
  • Most of what you think are "graphics" are actually the Font Awesome font (fontawesome.io).
  • The slider on the front page is completely customisable through theme settings.
  • I am really trying to push what Bootstrap (twitter.github.io/bootstrap/) Grids can do.  As such the theme is fully responsive.
  • The footer is all custom Moodle regions.  This means blocks can be added.
  • The theme can use Google web fonts (fonts.google.com) to give it that extra bit of shazam!
  • Social network icons appear at the top of the page dynamically based on theme settings.
  • The entire colour scheme can be modified with theme settings.

Support:

The theme comes with NO support.  Please see the 'Support' section in 'README.md' file that comes with the theme.  This is because the theme is complex and I regret that I don't have the time / resources to freely assist with questions pertaining to specific enhancements / changes / knowledge improvement.

I will investigate genuine bugs and issue fixes in a timescale set by myself.  I will only explain / report my findings at my own discretion.  You MUST state the Essential and Moodle versions as I'll only ask for them and that delays time - in software bug fixing there is no 'latest' version as your 'latest' could be different to my 'latest', so please don't use that word or similar like 'current'.

Reporting issues:

Please read the 'Reporting issues' section in 'README.md' file that comes with the theme before posting / contacting me.  If there is any missing information then I'll only ask for it which will delay you getting a solution to your problem.

Video Promo:


Properties:


In versions 2.9.1.22, 3.0.1.15, 3.1.1.7 and above.


Versions:

Please note that previously the version for Moodle 2.6 was 2.7.x as well, but since these versions are now separated we also lowered the displayed version number.
 

Moodle Version

Essential Version

Status

2.5 2.5.8 Last release for M2.5
2.6 2.6.11 Last release for M2.6
2.7 2.7.9.5.3 Last release for M2.7
2.8 2.8.1.11 Last release for M2.8
2.9 2.9.1.24
Last release for M2.9
3.0 3.0.1.17 Last release for M3.0
3.1 3.1.1.12 Last release for M3.1
3.2 3.2.1.5 Last release for M3.2
3.3 3.3.1.5 Last release for M3.3
3.4 3.4.1.5 Last release for M3.4
3.5 3.5.1.5 Last release for M3.5
3.6 3.6.1.0 Last release for M3.6
3.7+ End of life Please see: moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=385903
 

Potential privacy issues

Google CDN fonts can be set to be used.

Screenshots

Screenshot #0
Screenshot #1

Contributors

Gareth J Barnard
Gareth J Barnard (Lead maintainer)
Julian Ridden
Julian Ridden: Original author
David
David Bezemer: Contributor
Please login to view contributors details and/or to contact them

Comments RSS

Comments

  • Moodle Admin
    Mon, 8 July 2013, 3:37 AM
    when i click to the repositories in the course administration menu it says
    "Coding error detected, it must be fixed by a programmer: Trying to reference an unknown block region side-post "
  • Julian Ridden
    Mon, 8 July 2013, 12:48 PM
    Best place for Support Mesut is the forums. Can you post there.
  • Armando Oliveira
    Tue, 9 July 2013, 12:42 AM
    I will hopefully have a 2 column version available in the next update.
  • Seth Mengal
    Tue, 9 July 2013, 1:55 PM
    2 coulmn would be amazing.
  • agung imannuel
    Tue, 9 July 2013, 11:18 PM
    hi, julian. i like your theme, but can i add more slide in Frontpage Slideshow? thanks before
  • Julian Ridden
    Wed, 10 July 2013, 9:34 AM
    In 2.5.1 this theme now works with three and two column options. Enjoy!
  • Julian Ridden
    Wed, 10 July 2013, 9:35 AM
    At the moment the number of slides is limited. I can't sadly account for infinite amounts of slides sad
  • Ankit Roy
    Thu, 11 July 2013, 7:06 PM
    Hello Julian

    I was testing your theme, but there is some issue in internet explore, kindly check and fix this issues so that we can use your theme in every browser.

  • Colin Wheelhouse
    Fri, 12 July 2013, 3:21 AM
    How can this theme be used in the 'traditional' three column format with the blocks on the left and right of a page? I am struggling with this.
  • Frank Vanden Bosch
    Fri, 12 July 2013, 3:24 AM
    I get this message everyone now and then, but only form the essentials theme. Coding error detected, it must be fixed by a programmer: Trying to reference an unknown block region side-post
  • Just wondering . . .
    Fri, 12 July 2013, 10:52 AM
    Julian. How easy is this to combine with Awesome bar?
    I realise anything is possible . .

    -Derek
  • Julian Ridden
    Fri, 12 July 2013, 1:55 PM
    This theme is not designed to be used in "traditional 3 column width". To do that grab a traditional themesmile This theme puts both block columns on the right so that the focus for the student is the content.
  • Julian Ridden
    Fri, 12 July 2013, 1:57 PM
    Essential and the awesomebar? Sure..anything is possible. I won't be adding it however. But if you want to..go for your life smile
  • Aender Almeida
    Fri, 12 July 2013, 8:06 PM
    Hello Guys. According to the second figure of Screenshots. Does anyone know how to change the position of the two columns to the right of the site? Would you like to leave a left-hand column, another column on the right side and put the tab in the middle of the course website. Thank you.
  • italo enio
    Fri, 12 July 2013, 9:43 PM
    Good day.
    The subject had an error I discovered ... When we as Admin on the homepage ... By clicking on Edit Sumary, has an error .. as the pictures below ... Did manage to fix it? Thank you and congratulations for the beautiful template ..
    Already tested on multiple browsers ... the error continues.
    When I use another theme, then it displays the error.
    Here the image of the error:
    http://prntscr.com/1ezpxq

    http://prntscr.com/1ezq7z
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