Themes in Totara : Creating and cloning

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to give the reader an insight into the graphical interface of a Learning Management system, the theme, how it functions and its importance. The main point is how the creation of new themes can be done, and two different approaches are examined and compared.The use of learning management systems have been growing rapidly over the past years. Modern learning, be it basic school, higher education or professional training, is almost always supported by some learning management system where both instructors and participators share learning material, assignments, discussion, among other things.The theme of a learning management system is of great importance and can have a substantial impact on the efficiency of the actual learning process. Themes might also differ in their purpose, thus depending on the target audience, creating a specific theme might be desirable.The work done in this paper examines the structure and function of themes in the web based Totara learning management system, and looks at two different approaches to creating new themes. These approaches involve creating something from scratch, and cloning an already existing theme.The conclusion drawn from the work done in this paper is that the most efficient way of creating a new theme, is through cloning an already existing theme. Only when time and experience is plentiful, and a full control over the theme structure is desirable, is creating a theme from scratch a viable option.