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.

• 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

• 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 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

• 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

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.

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

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.

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

Section-level settings (under Edit section):

php vendor/bin/phpunit --testsuite format_simple_testsuite

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

This plugin does not store any personal data.

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

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