How to enable Moodle’s maintenance mode

When Moodle’s maintenance mode is enabled, only the site administrator can access the courses, and all other users will be notified that the site is in maintenance mode.

It’s good practice to put Moodle into maintenance mode if you are going to upgrade the site, make big changes to the existing courses or test different themes for the courses. This will ensure that your site users are not using the site while it is upgrading and that they will not see all of the changes on the fly and get confused by them while you are still working on any courses.

Step 1

Log into your Moodle site as an admin user, and navigate to the Maintenance settings option: Site administration > Server > Maintenance mode

moodle-enable-maintenance-mode-edutor-theme-settings-1

Step 2

Click “Enable” from the Maintenance mode drop-down list. You can also write your own maintenance message for users in the text editor as shown on the figure below.

moodle-enable-maintenance-mode-edutor-theme-settings

Step 3

Click the “Save changes” button and your Moodle site is now in maintenance mode, and the maintenance message will be shown when the non-admin users are trying to access the courses.

moodle-enable-maintenance-mode-edutor-theme

Once you’ve finished upgrading the site or making changes to your courses, don’t forget to disable maintenance mode.

Moodle Maker Theme – How to Display Moodle’s Default Login Form After The Social Logins

By default on Moodle’s login page Moodle will display the default login form before all the social login options. If social media logins are your site’s main login methods you might want to give priority to the social login buttons by displaying them before Moodle’s default login form. In this blog post we will share the custom css code snippet you can use to do just that.

Default Login Page View:

moodle-login-page-default-layout

Step1

Copy the following code snippet.

#page-login-index .auth-blocks-wrapper .form-col {order: 12}

Step 2

Go to Maker theme’s Advanced Settings page and paste the code into the “Raw SCSS” input field. Save changes.

moodle-maker-css-code

Now on the login page all the social login buttons should be displayed on the left hand side (on desktop) and above the Moodle login form (on mobile).

moodle-social-login-change-position

How To Copy A Course Across Moodle Sites

Want to copy a Moodle course from one site to another? In this tutorial we will show you how to do that. If your Moodle site is using a Boost-based theme you can copy our demo course to your site by following the steps below.

Moodle Demo Course Download:

You need to unzip the course file before importing to your Moodle site.

Free Download (4645 downloads)

Step 1 – Export A Course

For a Moodle 4.x site

Go to the Moodle course you’d like to copy. Click the “Course reuse” option in the dropdown menu as shown in the figure below and then select the “Backup” option in the next page.

moodle-4-how-to-backup-course-1

moodle-4-how-to-backup-course-2

For a Moodle 3.x site

Go to the Moodle course you’d like to copy. Click the cog icon and select the “Backup” option in the dropdown menu as shown in the figure below.

moodle-course-backup-option

You can configure what you’d like to include in the course backup file by following the 5 on-screen steps. Because we’re going to copy the course over to a different Moodle site with different users, it’s a good idea to untick the “Include enrolled users” option to avoid any import issues.

moodle-course-export-settings

Once a course backup file is successfully created, you can download the file (*.mbz) to your computer.

moodle-course-export-success

moodle-course-backup-download

Step 2 – Import A Course

Go to the Moodle site you’d like to have the course copied in to. Import the course mbz file via the course restore page: Site administration > Courses > Restore course

moodle-course-restore-course-option

moodle-course-restore-file-upload

Click the Restore button to start the importing process.

You have the option to either import the course as a new course or import it into an existing course. You also have the option to decide what to include in the import by following the 7 on-screen steps as shown in the figure below.

moodle-course-restore-form

Click the “Perform Restore” button and the course should be successfully copied over.

moodle-course-import-success-message

Moodle Theme Maker and Edutor – Course Design Ideas And Useful Code Snippets

In our latest Maker and Edutor theme you have the option to position Moodle blocks before or after your Moodle course content. A course teacher can now add custom HTML blocks to create useful course information blocks or forms to enhance the course design. To get you started, we have created a demo course with some course design ideas. You can find all the code snippets used in the demo course below in this post. You can also import our demo course to your Moodle site and use the demo course as a base to build your own course.

Maker Theme Demo Course Edutor Theme Demo Course

Moodle Demo Course Download:

You need to unzip the course file before importing to your Moodle site. Learn how to import a Moodle course.

Free Download (7228 downloads)

Add and position a HTML block

In a Moodle course you can turn editing on and add a HTML block as shown in the figure below.

moodle-course-add-a-html-block

To configure the HTML block you can click the cog icon and then select the “Configure block” option via the dropdown menu.

Moodle-configure-block-dropdown-menu

To copy and paste our demo code snippets you need to make sure your Moodle’s text editor is on the HTML code mode. You can then set your block’s position by defining its “Region” as shown in the figure below.

moodle-course-design-block-config-view



Code Snippet – About This Course

You can use this block to give a brief introduction of your course. The “See Course Modules” button is pointing to the course content (#section-0). The “Ask a question” button is pointing to the Contact Tutor block (#inst2927) on the same page. If you have added a Contact Tutor block in your course the link ID won’t be the same as our demo but you can get the ID number via the block configuration page.

moodle-course-block-about-this-course

<div class="block-theme-widget">
    <div class="theme-media media flex-column flex-md-row">
        <div class="media-body">
            <p>
                Course overview goes here.&nbsp;Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Donec vel tincidunt nisl, vel suscipit orci. Interdum et malesuada fames ac ante ipsum primis in faucibus. Praesent sit amet pulvinar risus.
            </p>
            <div class="media flex-column flex-md-row mt-3 align-items-center">
                <div class="course-tutor-image-holder mr-md-3 mb-3">
                    <img src="https://3rdwavemedia.com/demo-images/teachers/tutor-1.png" alt="image" width="60px">
                </div>
                <div class="media-body mb-3">
                    Teacher: Sarah Doe
                </div>
                <!--//media-body-->
            </div>
            <!--//media-->
            <div class="my-3">
                <a class="btn btn-primary mr-2 mb-3" href="#section-0">See Course Modules</a>
                <a class="btn btn-secondary mb-3" href="#inst2927">Ask a question</a>
            </div>
        </div>
        <!--//media-body-->
        <div class="course-image-thumb-holder ml-md-3">
            <img src="https://3rdwavemedia.com/demo-images/slides/maker-course-1.jpg" alt="image" width="320px">
        </div>
    </div>
    <!--//media-->
</div>
<!--//block-theme-widget-->



Code Snippet – What You Will Learn

You can use this block to list the course objectives.

moodle-course-design-block-objectives

<div class="block-theme-widget">
    <p class="mb-4">List your course learning objectives here. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Integer vitae posuere nibh, at posuere enim. Sed vulputate ante congue, euismod odio a, gravida neque. Maecenas volutpat risus dolor.</p>
    <div class="text-center mb-3">
        <ul class="column-list list-unstyled mx-auto d-inline-block">
            <li><i class="column-list-icon fa fa-check mr-2"></i>Course objective lorem ipsum</li>
            <li><i class="column-list-icon fa fa-check mr-2"></i>Course objective lorem ipsum</li>
            <li><i class="column-list-icon fa fa-check mr-2"></i>Course objective lorem ipsum</li>
            <li><i class="column-list-icon fa fa-check mr-2"></i>Course objective lorem ipsum</li>
            <li><i class="column-list-icon fa fa-check mr-2"></i>Course objective lorem ipsum</li>
            <li><i class="column-list-icon fa fa-check mr-2"></i>Course objective lorem ipsum</li>
        </ul>
    </div>

    <a class="btn btn-primary scrollto" href="#maincontent">Start Learning</a>

</div>



Code Snippet – Course Overview

You can use this block to give useful stats. You can change the icons used in the block to any of the 1000+ free Bootstrap SVG icons available.

moodle-course-design-block-stats-overview

<div class="block-theme-widget container">
    <div class="row theme-stats">
        <div class="item col-6 col-lg-3 mb-3 mb-lg-0">
            <div class="icon-holder"><svg width="1em" height="1em" viewBox="0 0 16 16" class="bi bi-grid-3x3" fill="currentColor" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
  <path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M0 1.5A1.5 1.5 0 0 1 1.5 0h13A1.5 1.5 0 0 1 16 1.5v13a1.5 1.5 0 0 1-1.5 1.5h-13A1.5 1.5 0 0 1 0 14.5v-13zM1.5 1a.5.5 0 0 0-.5.5V5h4V1H1.5zM5 6H1v4h4V6zm1 4V6h4v4H6zm-1 1H1v3.5a.5.5 0 0 0 .5.5H5v-4zm1 0h4v4H6v-4zm5 0v4h3.5a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V11h-4zm0-1h4V6h-4v4zm0-5h4V1.5a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H11v4zm-1 0H6V1h4v4z"></path>
</svg></div>
            <div class="data">8 Modules</div>
        </div>
        <!--//item-->
        <div class="item col-6 col-lg-3 mb-3 mb-lg-0">
            <div class="icon-holder">
                <svg width="1em" height="1em" viewBox="0 0 16 16" class="bi bi-camera-reels" fill="currentColor" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
  <path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M0 8a2 2 0 0 1 2-2h7.5a2 2 0 0 1 1.983 1.738l3.11-1.382A1 1 0 0 1 16 7.269v7.462a1 1 0 0 1-1.406.913l-3.111-1.382A2 2 0 0 1 9.5 16H2a2 2 0 0 1-2-2V8zm11.5 5.175l3.5 1.556V7.269l-3.5 1.556v4.35zM2 7a1 1 0 0 0-1 1v6a1 1 0 0 0 1 1h7.5a1 1 0 0 0 1-1V8a1 1 0 0 0-1-1H2z"></path>
  <path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M3 5a2 2 0 1 0 0-4 2 2 0 0 0 0 4zm0 1a3 3 0 1 0 0-6 3 3 0 0 0 0 6z"></path>
  <path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M9 5a2 2 0 1 0 0-4 2 2 0 0 0 0 4zm0 1a3 3 0 1 0 0-6 3 3 0 0 0 0 6z"></path>
</svg>
            </div>
            <div class="data">30 Video Lessons</div>
        </div>
        <!--//item-->
        <div class="item col-6 col-lg-3 mb-3 mb-lg-0">
            <div class="icon-holder">
                <svg width="1em" height="1em" viewBox="0 0 16 16" class="bi bi-download" fill="currentColor" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
  <path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M.5 9.9a.5.5 0 0 1 .5.5v2.5a1 1 0 0 0 1 1h12a1 1 0 0 0 1-1v-2.5a.5.5 0 0 1 1 0v2.5a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H2a2 2 0 0 1-2-2v-2.5a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5z"></path>
  <path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M7.646 11.854a.5.5 0 0 0 .708 0l3-3a.5.5 0 0 0-.708-.708L8.5 10.293V1.5a.5.5 0 0 0-1 0v8.793L5.354 8.146a.5.5 0 1 0-.708.708l3 3z"></path>
</svg>
            </div>
            <div class="data">40 Resources</div>
        </div>
        <!--//item-->
        <div class="item col-6 col-lg-3 mb-3 mb-lg-0">
            <div class="icon-holder">
                <svg width="1em" height="1em" viewBox="0 0 16 16" class="bi bi-hourglass-split" fill="currentColor" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
  <path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M2.5 15a.5.5 0 1 1 0-1h1v-1a4.5 4.5 0 0 1 2.557-4.06c.29-.139.443-.377.443-.59v-.7c0-.213-.154-.451-.443-.59A4.5 4.5 0 0 1 3.5 3V2h-1a.5.5 0 0 1 0-1h11a.5.5 0 0 1 0 1h-1v1a4.5 4.5 0 0 1-2.557 4.06c-.29.139-.443.377-.443.59v.7c0 .213.154.451.443.59A4.5 4.5 0 0 1 12.5 13v1h1a.5.5 0 0 1 0 1h-11zm2-13v1c0 .537.12 1.045.337 1.5h6.326c.216-.455.337-.963.337-1.5V2h-7zm3 6.35c0 .701-.478 1.236-1.011 1.492A3.5 3.5 0 0 0 4.5 13s.866-1.299 3-1.48V8.35zm1 0c0 .701.478 1.236 1.011 1.492A3.5 3.5 0 0 1 11.5 13s-.866-1.299-3-1.48V8.35z"></path>
</svg>
            </div>
            <div class="data">72 Hours</div>
        </div>
        <!--//item-->
    </div>
    <!--//row-->
</div>
<!--//block-theme-widget-->



Code Snippet – Course Modules Overview

You can divide your course content into modules (using Moodle’s Topic format) and then use this block to link to each module with a quick overview.

moodle-course-design-block-modules-overview

<div class="block-theme-widget container">
    <div class="theme-cards row">
        <div class="col-6 col-lg-4 mb-4">
            <div class="card card-bg-light">
                <img src="https://3rdwavemedia.com/demo-images/slides/maker-module-1.jpg" class="card-img-top" alt="image">
                <div class="card-body">
                    <h5 class="card-title">Module One Heading</h5>
                    <p class="card-text">Module 1 intro goes here. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Integer pellentesque mi id vulputate rhoncus. </p>

                </div>
                <div class="card-footer">
                    <a href="#section-1" class="btn btn-secondary btn-block rounded">View Module</a>
                </div>
            </div>
            <!--//card-->
        </div>
        <!--//col-->
        <div class="col-6 col-lg-4 mb-4">
            <div class="card card-bg-light">
                <img src="https://3rdwavemedia.com/demo-images/slides/maker-module-2.jpg" class="card-img-top" alt="image">
                <div class="card-body">
                    <h5 class="card-title">Module Two Heading</h5>
                    <p class="card-text">Module 2 intro goes here. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Integer pellentesque mi id vulputate rhoncus. </p>

                </div>
                <div class="card-footer">
                    <a href="#section-2" class="btn btn-secondary btn-block rounded">View Module</a>
                </div>
            </div>
            <!--//card-->
        </div>
        <!--//col-->
        <div class="col-6 col-lg-4 mb-4">
            <div class="card card-bg-light">
                <img src="https://3rdwavemedia.com/demo-images/slides/maker-module-3.jpg" class="card-img-top" alt="image">
                <div class="card-body">
                    <h5 class="card-title">Module Three Heading</h5>
                    <p class="card-text">Module 3 intro goes here. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Integer pellentesque mi id vulputate rhoncus. </p>

                </div>
                <div class="card-footer">
                    <a href="#section-3" class="btn btn-secondary btn-block rounded">View Module</a>
                </div>
            </div>
            <!--//card-->
        </div>
        <!--//col-->
        <div class="col-6 col-lg-4 mb-4">
            <div class="card card-bg-light">
                <img src="https://3rdwavemedia.com/demo-images/slides/maker-module-4.jpg" class="card-img-top" alt="image">
                <div class="card-body">
                    <h5 class="card-title">Module Four Heading</h5>
                    <p class="card-text">Module 4 intro goes here. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Integer pellentesque mi id vulputate rhoncus. </p>

                </div>
                <div class="card-footer">
                    <a href="#section-4" class="btn btn-secondary btn-block rounded">View Module</a>
                </div>
            </div>
            <!--//card-->
        </div>
        <!--//col-->
        <div class="col-6 col-lg-4 mb-4">
            <div class="card card-bg-light">
                <img src="https://3rdwavemedia.com/demo-images/slides/maker-module-5.jpg" class="card-img-top" alt="image">
                <div class="card-body">
                    <h5 class="card-title">Module Five Heading</h5>
                    <p class="card-text">Module 5 intro goes here. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Integer pellentesque mi id vulputate rhoncus. </p>

                </div>
                <div class="card-footer">
                    <a href="#section-5" class="btn btn-secondary btn-block rounded">View Module</a>
                </div>
            </div>
            <!--//card-->
        </div>
        <!--//col-->
        <div class="col-6 col-lg-4 mb-4">
            <div class="card card-bg-light">
                <img src="https://3rdwavemedia.com/demo-images/slides/maker-module-6.jpg" class="card-img-top" alt="image">
                <div class="card-body">
                    <h5 class="card-title">Module Six Heading</h5>
                    <p class="card-text">Module 6 intro goes here. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Integer pellentesque mi id vulputate rhoncus. </p>

                </div>
                <div class="card-footer">
                    <a href="#section-6" class="btn btn-secondary btn-block rounded">View Module</a>
                </div>
            </div>
            <!--//card-->
        </div>
        <!--//col-->
    </div>
    <!--//block-theme-widget-->
</div>



Code Snippet – About The Tutor

You can use this section to add the course teacher’s bio.

moodle-course-design-block-teacher-bio

<div class="block-theme-widget container">
    <div class="theme-tutor media flex-column flex-md-row">
        <div class="course-tutor-image-holder mr-md-3 mb-3">
            <img src="https://3rdwavemedia.com/demo-images/teachers/tutor-1.png" alt="image" width="150px">
        </div>
        <div class="media-body">
            <div class="tutor-name">Sarah Doe</div>
            <div class="tutor-meta">Senior Lecture or XYZ University</div>
            <p class="mt-2">Tutor bio goes here. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Curabitur pharetra posuere tincidunt. Sed sed dui feugiat, bibendum enim quis, hendrerit velit. Ut sodales lacinia augue pharetra vestibulum. Maecenas volutpat consequat
                dui eget molestie. Vivamus varius dui ante, non pellentesque purus semper faucibus. </p>
            <div class="text-center text-md-left mt-3">
                <ul class="social-list list-unstyled mb-0">
                    <li class="list-inline-item"><a href="#link"><i class="fa-brands fa-linkedin-in"> </i></a></li>
                    <li class="list-inline-item"><a href="#link"><i class="fa-brands fa-x-twitter"> </i></a></li>
                    <li class="list-inline-item"><a href="#link"><i class="fa-solid fa-globe"> </i></a></li>
                </ul>
                <!--//social-list-->
            </div>
        </div>
        <!--//media-body-->
    </div>
    <!--//tutor-block-->
</div>
<!--//block-theme-widget-->



Code Snippet – Contact Tutor

You can add a simple contact form for your learners to ask the course tutor questions without leaving the course. Learn how to set up the contact form here.

Moodle Contact Tutor Block

<div class="block-theme-widget container">
    <form class="contact-form" action="../local/contact/index.php" method="post">
        <p class="mb-3">Have any questions about the course? Use the form below to ask your tutor.</p>

        <div class="form-group">
            <label class="sr-only" for="subject">Subject</label>
            <input type="text" class="form-control" id="subject" name="subject" placeholder="Subject" required="required">
        </div>

        <div class="form-group">
            <label class="sr-only" for="message">Your message</label>
            <textarea class="form-control" id="message" name="message" placeholder="Enter your message" rows="5" required="required"></textarea>
        </div>
        <input type="hidden" id="sesskey" name="sesskey" value="">
        <input type="hidden" id="referrer" name="referrer" value="">
        <input type="hidden" name="recipient" id="recipient" value="teacher">
        <script>
            document.getElementById('sesskey').value = M.cfg.sesskey;
            document.getElementById('referrer').value = document.location.href;
        </script>

        <div class="form-group">
            <input type="submit" name="submit" id="submit" value="Send" class="btn btn-primary py-2">

        </div>

    </form>
    <!--//contact-form-->
    <div class="alert alert-info mt-4"><strong>Note:</strong> This contact form only works for logged in users (not guests).</div>
</div>

Moodle Blocks – How to Find Out The Block ID

Each block in a Moodle course has its own unique ID and the link to the block is always #inst[ID]. If you know the ID number then you can provide a link to the particular block inside of the Moodle course. You can follow the simple steps below to get the ID number.

Step 1

Turn editing on and go to the desired block’s configuration page.

moodle-block-config-menu

Step 2

Go to your browser’s address bar and the number at the end is the ID number of the block.

moodle-course-block-ID-number

Following the syntax #inst[ID], the above block’s link is #inst2927

How To Add A Simple Contact Tutor Form In A Moodle Course

In our previous post we talked about how to add a contact form in a Moodle page. Do you know you can also add a contact form in a Moodle course? This is great for allowing your course students to easily send a quick question to their course teacher or tutor from inside a course. In this post we will show you how to add a Contact Tutor form in a specific Moodle course. There are two ways to do this and we will show you a simple way (with limitations) and an advanced way (requires basic HTML knowledge but gives you more control).

First things first, you need to download Moodle’s contact form plugin and install it by placing the downloaded plugin folders inside your Moodle site directory’s “local” folder.

install-moodle-contact-form-plugin

1) The Simple Method

Pros:

  • Quick and easy.
  • Anyone can do it.

Cons:

  • You need to install Moodle’s plugin FilterCodes.
  • Your contact form’s recipient is fixed to be your Moodle site’s support contact.
  • After submitting the contact form your user will land on your site’s front page instead of the course page.

Step 1

Install and enable the FilterCodes plugin on your Moodle site.

You can install the plugin by placing the downloaded plugin folder inside of your Moodle directory’s “filters” folder.

install-moodle-filtercodes-plugin

After installing you need to go to the filters management page and enable the plugin there: Site administration > Plugins > Filters > Manage filters

enable-filtercodes-plugin-moodle

Step 2

Go to your desired course and add a HTML block to your course. To add a block to your course you need to turn on editing first then find the “Add a block” option in the Moodle’s nav drawer.

moodle-course-add-HTML-block

Step 3

After adding the HTML block you can start configuring the block content by clicking the cog icon and selecting the “Configure block” option in the dropdown menu.

To add the contact form you just need to enter code {formquickquestion} into the content input field as shown in the figure below.

moodle-course-add-tutor-form-content-field-code

Save your changes and you have added a simple contact form to your Moodle course.

moodle-course-contact-tutor-form-sidebar



Advanced Method

Pros:

  • You can define your contact form’s recipient.
  • After submitting the contact form you can keep your users on the course page.
  • You can customize the form based on your specific needs. For example, you can easily add/remove fields in the contact form.

Cons:

  • Basic knowledge of HTML is required.

Step 1

Add a HTML block to your desired course.

moodle-course-add-HTML-block

Step 2

Enter your custom form HTML code into the block content input field as shown in the figure below.

moodle-custom-contact-tutor-form-code-view

Below is the form HTML code snippet we used for our demo. You can copy and paste the code to create a simple contact form in your Moodle course. The code below sets the form recipient as teacher and you need to define teacher’s email in step 3.

<div class="block-theme-widget container">
    <form class="contact-form" action="../local/contact/index.php" method="post">
        <p class="mb-3">Have any questions about the course? Use the form below to ask your tutor.</p>

        <div class="form-group">
            <label class="sr-only" for="subject">Subject</label>
            <input type="text" class="form-control" id="subject" name="subject" placeholder="Subject" required="required">
        </div>

        <div class="form-group">
            <label class="sr-only" for="message">Your message</label>
            <textarea class="form-control" id="message" name="message" placeholder="Enter your message" rows="5" required="required"></textarea>
        </div>
        <input type="hidden" id="sesskey" name="sesskey" value="">
        <input type="hidden" id="referrer" name="referrer" value="">
        <input type="hidden" name="recipient" id="recipient" value="teacher">
        <script>
            document.getElementById('sesskey').value = M.cfg.sesskey;
            document.getElementById('referrer').value = document.location.href;
        </script>

        <div class="form-group">
            <input type="submit" name="submit" id="submit" value="Send" class="btn btn-primary py-2">

        </div>

    </form>
    <!--//contact-form-->
</div>

Step 3

Now you should see a simple contact form appearing in your Moodle course but the contact form is not working yet. To make the form work you need to define the recipient’s email address. To do so you need to go to the Contact Form plugin settings page: Site administration > Plugins > Local plugins > Contact Form and set up your recipient as shown in the figure below.

moodle-contact-form-define-recipient-email

That’s it. You have successfully added a custom contact tutor form in your course.One last thing to point out though is that the contact tutor form you just added only works for logged in users (not guests). If your course allows guests access you will need to add name and email input fields to your custom form so guests can send messages to the course teacher too.

How To Add A Call-To-Action Section To Your Moodle’s Front Page (For Boost or Boost Based Themes)

Are you using Boost or a Boost-based theme for your Moodle site? If so, you can take advantage of Moodle’s built-in front page topic block to add a Call-To-Action (CTA) section on your Moodle site’s front page. A typical CTA section contains an information block and a prominent CTA button for your users to take action. It’s useful for important site announcements or information. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to add a simple CTA section to your Moodle site.

A CTA section in our Boost-based Moodle theme Maker:

moodle-boost-add-site-cta-block-maker-theme

A CTA section in Moodle’s default theme Boost:

moodle-boost-theme-add-site-cta-block

Step 1

Log in to your Moodle site as an admin user and go to your site’s front page. Turn editing on as shown in the figure below.

moodle-boost-add-site-cta-block-turn-editing-on

Step 2

Once editing is on you should find a small cog icon for editing the topic section summary. Hover over the cog icon and you can see a small label which says “Edit summary”. Click the cog icon to configure the “Summary of Site” block.

moodle-boost-add-site-cta-block-editing-on-config

moodle-boost-theme-add-site-cta-block-html-editor

Step 3

In the “Summary” input field you can enable Moodle editor’s HTML code mode and copy and paste the following code into the HTML editor. Edit the content, CTA button text and link to suit your own needs. Save your changes.

<p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. 
Pellentesque finibus nunc felis, ac sollicitudin dui imperdiet a. Mauris mattis tincidunt leo, vel sollicitudin ex dignissim ut. In tortor elit, suscipit nec velit ut, feugiat facilisis orci. Aliquamet lorem in orci pulvinar consectetur. Phasellus orci risus, cursus et velit quis, euismod varius leo. </p>

<p>Aenean efficitur <a href="#link">link example</a> justo ut velit dapibus laoreet. Nullam volutpat magna euismod mauris viverra, eu vulputate arcu tempus. Vestibulum ac lectus ut velit hendrerit elementum et ac ipsum. Ut semper, ipsum vitae feugiat consequat, libero sapien porttitor ligula, non commodo arcu ex at eros. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed eget faucibus tortor. Mauris blandit libero efficitur, dignissim velit in, vestibulum erat.</p>

<div><a class="btn btn-primary" href="#link">Contact Us</a></div>

There you have it. You have successfully added a CTA section to your Moodle’s front page.Want to add a static page to your Moodle site to hold site information? Check out our blog post here.

How To Limit The Number of Moodle Courses Displayed On Your Front Page

If you have configured your Moodle’s front page to display a list of available courses, Moodle will display up to 200 courses by default. This is not a problem if your site only has a few courses but if you have hundreds of courses you might want to limit the number of courses displayed on the front page. You can follow the steps below to limit the front page course numbers.

Step 1

Log in to your Moodle site as an admin user, and navigate to the “Front page settings” page: Site administration > Front page > Front page settings

moodle-front-page-settings

Step 2

Find the “Maximum number of courses” option on the settings page and set your desired number.

moodle-front-page-limit-number-of-courses

That’s it. Now you should have a course list with a limited number of courses. Moodle displays the newest available courses first in the course list. Want to manually pick some courses to display on your front page as featured courses? Check out our premium Moodle theme Maker. In the Maker theme you can manually add up to 20 featured courses and 6 promo blocks with video links.

Moodle Maker theme – featured courses section

moodle-maker-theme-front-page-featured-courses

Moodle Maker theme – promo blocks section

moodle-maker-theme-front-page-promo-blocks

How To Add A Contact Form Page To Your Moodle Site

Want to add a working contact form page to your Moodle site so users can send you messages via the form while they are on your site? We have set up an example page on our Moodle theme demo site (the demo is using our Maker theme). In this tutorial we will show you the simple steps you can take to create the same contact form page on your Moodle site. You can download the example source code at Step 3.

moodle-add-contact-form-page-page-view

Step 1

Download and install two Moodle third party plugins – Static Pages and Contact Form. You can install the plugins by placing the downloaded plugin folders inside of your Moodle site directory’s “local” folder.

moodle-add-contact-form-page-install-plugins

Step 2

Set up your contact form recipient email address in Moodle. This is the default email address for receiving information sent by the contact form. Go to: Site administration > Server > Support contact and enter your preferred recipient email address in the “Support email” input field.

moodle-add-contact-form-page-setup-recipient-email

Step 3

Create a basic contact form HTML file based on the documentation of Static Pages and Contact Form. To save you the work, you can simply download the HTML file we created for our Moodle demo site and use the file for your own Moodle site.

Free Download (8836 downloads)

Below is our contact form HTML file source code. Feel free to use it as a template base to build your own bespoke contact form. You can create a more complicated form if you follow the docs for the Contact Form plugin here.

<html>
<head>
	<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> 
    <title>Contact Us</title>   
</head> 

<body>   

<div class="staticpage-wrapper container">
	<h1 class="staticpage-title">Contact Form</h1>
    <div class="staticpage-content">
	    <div class="contact-wrapper">
		    <div class="contact-intro mb-5">
			    <p>This is an example of a Moodle contact form page.</p>
			 
		    </div>
	        <div class="contact-form-box rounded p-lg-5 mb-5">
				<form id="contact-form" class="contact-form" action="../contact/index.php" method="post">
					<h2 class="text-center mb-3">How Can We Help?</h2>
					<div class="text-center mb-4">Want to get in touch with us or have a question?  Fill out this form or contact <a href="#">elearning@3rdwavemedia.com</a></div>
					<div class="form-row">                                                           
						<div class="form-group col-12 col-xl-6">
							<label class="sr-only" for="name">Name</label>
							<input type="text" class="form-control" id="name" name="name" placeholder="Name" minlength="2" maxlength="45" required="required" pattern="[A-zÀ-ž]([A-zÀ-ž\s]){2,}">
						</div>                    
						<div class="form-group col-12 col-xl-6">
							<label class="sr-only" for="email">Email</label>
							<input type="email" class="form-control" id="email" name="email" placeholder="Email" required="required">
						</div>
						
						<div class="form-group col-12">
							<label class="sr-only" for="cmessage">Your message</label>
							<textarea class="form-control" id="cmessage" name="message" placeholder="Enter your message" rows="10" required="required"></textarea>
						</div>
						<input type="hidden" id="sesskey" name="sesskey" value="">
                        <script>document.getElementById('sesskey').value = M.cfg.sesskey;</script>
						<div class="form-group col-12">
							<input type="submit" name="submit" id="submit" value="Send" class="btn btn-block btn-primary py-2">
							
						</div>                           
					</div>
				</form>
			</div>
	    </div> 
	</div>
</div>
              
</body>
</html> 

Step 4

Follow our previous tutorial here to upload the contact form HTML file to your Moodle site via the Static Pages plugin.

You can access the Contact Form plugin settings page via: Site administration > Plugins > Local plugins > Contact Form

If you have followed all of the steps above correctly you should have created a working contact form page on your Moodle site. To make the contact page visible to your users you can add the page link to Moodle’s built-in horizontal custom menu. If you’re using our Maker theme for Moodle 3.8+ you can also add the page link to the header dropdown menu for easy access on mobile devices.

Moodle Theme Maker – New Header Dropdown Menu

In the latest Maker theme (for Moodle 3.8+) we have added a mobile-friendly dropdown menu in the header area. You can use this dropdown menu to add up to 40 menu items and a Call-To-Action button at the end of the menu. You can easily configure this dropdown menu to provide your users with quick access to courses, course categories and any internal or external pages.

You can check our Maker theme’s live demo to see the dropdown menu in action:

moodle-maker-theme-header-dropdown-menu-gif

To configure the dropdown menu you need to log in as a site administrator and head to Maker theme’s settings page: Site administration > Appearance > Themes > Maker Settings

On the theme settings page you need to select the “Dropdown Menu” tab and configure the menu items based on your requirements.

moodle-maker-theme-header-dropdown-menu-settings-1

moodle-maker-theme-header-dropdown-menu-settings-3

By default the dropdown menu will display all menu items in a single column. If you have lots of menu items it’s a good idea to display them in multiple columns for desktop view.


Configure column number:

moodle-theme-maker-dropdown-menu-columns-setting

Example of displaying menu items in one, two and three columns:

moodle-theme-maker-dropdown-menu-cols

Want to see what other useful features our Maker theme can offer? Click here to learn more.

Moodle Theme Maker – New Frontpage Data Box Widget Area

In the latest Moodle theme Maker (for Moodle 3.8+) we have added a data box widget area in the frontpage Call-To-Action section. It’s located just below the CTA section content and above the section CTA button. It’s the perfect place to showcase useful site statistical data to your site audience. You can add up to 4 items in the data box.

You can check our Maker theme’s live demo to see the data box design:

moodle-theme-maker-frontpage-data-box-view

You can find all the data box configuration settings just under the frontpage CTA section tab.

moodle-theme-maker-databox-settings

Want to see what other useful features our Maker theme can offer? Click here to learn more.