This article gives an overview of course design templates. A course design template changes the look and layout of the course overview page, which is the first page students see when they access a course. This article demonstrates how to preview and switch between different templates, reviews the layout of each template, and provides guidance on updating colors, images, and text.
Overview
When a student accesses a course they are enrolled in, the first page they see is a course overview page. This page provides an outline of the course curriculum and indicates the current course progress of the student. It also lists some basic course details, including:
- The course author and bio
- Included courses (only applicable if the course is part of a bundle)
- A Course Certificate tab (only applicable if a student has fully completed a course with an active certificate)
- Course access duration (only applicable if the course has a set time limit on course access)
There are three available options for course design templates: Teachable Classic, Colossal, or Simple. All templates are supported in web and mobile browsers. Primary owners, owners, and course authors are able to edit course design templates.
Teachable Classic is best for creators who want to dive right into lecture creation. The course curriculum is focused as the main feature on the page, with a left-side menu containing tabs for an author bio, bundled courses, and a course certificate.
NOTE: The Teachable Classic template is only available for schools created before June 6, 2022.
The Simple template, best suited for shorter curriculums, provides a clean, simplified viewing experience. Curriculum, author, and bundle information is tabbed along the top of the page, allowing students to easily navigate course details.
The Colossal template, best suited for longer curriculums, includes a robust view that showcases your curriculum, course information and the author bio all on the same page. Your course image is featured at the top of the page, along with a button allowing students to jump right back into the curriculum from where they left off.
Preview and activate templates
Course design templates are available from the Design Templates tab of the course menu.
At the top of the page, your current Active template is displayed. This is the design template that enrolled students will see when viewing the course.
Beneath the active template, all three available design templates are listed: Teachable Classic, Colossal, and Simple. The current active template will have an Active icon.
To preview any of the design templates, click the Preview link beneath the listed template. This will open up a new tab to display the preview of the course overview page, complete with your course details and current curriculum outline, in that design. You can also click the Mobile icon at the top of the page to see what the template will look like in a mobile web browser.
To activate a template, click the Activate link beneath the listed template. This will open up a popup window asking you to confirm the change. Click Activate to confirm the change, or Nevermind to return to the Design Templates page.
Course design templates can be changed at any time. Once a template is activated, it will be viewable by all enrolled students. Each course in your school can have its own template.
Update text, colors, and images
The text, color scheme, and images included on the course overview page can be updated in different places across your school admin.
Text
The text for different buttons and sections across your course overview page can be edited in your Site > Custom Text menu.
To edit a specific piece of text, filter and find the corresponding text in the Courses section of your Site > Custom Text menu. Replace the text as desired, and click Save at the top right.
Colors
Colors can be updated from your school’s Site > Theme menu.
Some key categories from the Color Palette menu that affect your course design template include:
- Buttons & Links - will update the various start buttons and curriculum menu icons
- Nav Bar & Footer Background - will update the color of the navigation bar at the top of the page
NOTE: The Body Text or Headings sections from Site > Theme > Colors will not impact the color of text on the Simple and Colossal design templates. On these templates, all body text and heading text is black at this time.
Images
The main image on each course design template is the Course Image. You can update the course image from the course Information page in the Branding section.
We recommend the following image specifications for the course image:
- Format: JPG, PNG
- Aspect ratio: 16:9
Please note that if using the Simple template, the height of the course image is shorter than in other templates. Therefore, we recommend using an image without a specific focal point (i.e., images without text or subjects) for best results.
An author bio image is also included in the author bio section, or tab, of the course design template. The author bio image can be updated from the Author tab of the specific author’s User profile. Alternatively, you can update the image for the bio from the Site > Bios page.
We recommend the following image specifications for the author bio image:
- Format: JPG, PNG
- Size: 250x250 px
