New plugin
Introducing Compose: beautiful Moodle pages, composed rather than coded
Build landing pages, dashboards and course front pages from Dash blocks – on brand, legible and accessible, without writing HTML.
- Released
- 29 October 2026
- Plugin
- Compose
Moodle pages are where learners arrive: the front page, the dashboard, the start of a course. Making them look good usually means HTML, theme overrides or a developer. Compose changes that. It adds a set of page-building widgets to the free Dash block, so you build landing pages, dashboards and course front pages right on the page – and every widget shares one colour palette, one design style and the same legibility checks. The result looks consistent and stays readable, without a line of code.
Five widgets for every page
Each widget is a Dash block layout, configured directly on the page.
Hero
A banner with headline, description, up to two buttons and up to four key figures, on a gradient or an image.
Slider
One slide shows as a hero, two or more as a carousel. Each slide has its own image, overlay, buttons and entrance animation.
Tiles and accordion
Tiles: a responsive grid of linked tiles, edited on the page – a tile can lead with an icon, a key figure, a banner image or the site’s branding pattern. Accordion: a list beside a changing illustration, a classic stacked accordion, or a row of vertical panels.
Footer
A complete site footer from one Dash block: logo and tagline, address, up to three menu columns, social icons, partner logos and copyright, in five layouts. Menus can come from Moodle’s custom menu, the learner’s recent or starred courses, or Boost Union smart menus and static pages.
Pages and C4L Author
- Pages
- Content pages for help, policies, a programme overview or an “About us”: each page has its own URL, a header in two styles (a solid band with an optional pattern, or a header image the content overlaps), a built-in editor for the text and two block regions for Dash and Compose blocks. A table of contents is generated from the headings, above the content or in the side drawer. Pages can be nested, with clean URLs like /p/about/team and breadcrumbs, and a page can add itself to a Boost Union smart menu.
- C4L Author
- Content made with C4L Author gets the Compose look, plus three ready templates: course presentation, syllabus and corporate training.
One design language
Your brand, everywhere
Enter your brand colours once – they appear beside every colour picker in every widget. The design style **Modern clean** sets colours, surfaces, corner radii and typography for all widgets, and a **branding pattern** (Squared, Rounded bars or None) gives them a recognisable shape. The typefaces Outfit, Space Grotesk and Space Mono ship with Compose, so pages look the same whatever your theme provides. If you like, the style extends to Moodle’s own pages, cards, buttons and forms.
Accessible by default
Contrast you can see
Wherever text sits on a colour, editors see a live WCAG contrast rating – AA by default, AAA if you prefer – and can switch to the most readable text colour in one click. For text on images, the overlay control suggests a strength that keeps text readable. Sliders work with the keyboard, use ARIA roles and respect reduced motion. The checks advise; they never block saving.
The right content for the right people
Slides, tiles and accordion items can be shown to selected roles or cohorts – a welcome tile for new learners, a shortcut for teachers. This tailors what people see; it is not access control, so keep confidential content elsewhere.
Three pages you can build in an afternoon
- A landing page
- Hero, tiles to the key areas and an accordion with the most common questions.
- A dashboard or course front page
- A slider with current news, tiles in the brand colours, the learner's courses.
- A branded site footer
- Logo, address, menus and partner logos on every page, without touching the theme.
Get started in three steps
- Install the free Dash block (2.7 or later).
- Install Compose and run the Moodle upgrade – all seven add-ons come with it.
- Choose your colours, style and branding pattern, then add your first Compose block.
Under Manage add-ons, each add-on can be switched off on its own.
Plans and requirements
- Compose · €299 / year
- Runs on the free Dash block; no Dash plan needed. Existing Dash subscriptions stay as they are.
- Requirements
- Moodle 4.5 LTS or Moodle 5.1 to 5.3, including Moodle Workplace (Moodle 5.0 has reached its end of life); Dash block 2.7 or later. Optional: Boost Union (smart menus and static pages in the footer, pages in smart menus), C4L Author.
- Your data stays in your Moodle
- No licence checks, no telemetry, no usage tracking. Released under GPLv3.
FAQ
- Do I need a Dash plan?
- No. Compose needs only the free Dash block.
- I use Pages from Dash – what happens?
- Pages is now part of Compose. When you install Compose, your existing pages, their settings, permissions and header images are carried over; blocks on the pages stay where they are.
- Does it replace my theme?
- No. Compose styles its own widgets; styling Moodle's own pages is optional and off by default.
- Does it work on Moodle Workplace?
- Yes. Compose is tested on Moodle Workplace – it is the same Compose, there is no separate Workplace edition.
- Can I switch parts off?
- Yes – every add-on has its own switch under Manage add-ons.
