OJS Themes

Author

Radek Gomola 

Version / Date

 V1 / 2025-06-24

Introduction

Discover how to customize and enhance your journal’s appearance in Open Journal Systems (OJS). This workshop guides editors, publishers, and system managers through navigation setup, custom localization, CSS/LESS modifications, and theme and block plugins. Learn to adapt existing themes or create new ones to reflect your journal’s identity and improve the reader experience.
The material provides practical guidance for customizing OJS themes. It covers configuring navigation, using custom localization, managing block and theme plugins, and modifying backend and frontend styles through CSS/LESS. Participants learn both simple adjustments to existing themes and the steps to create a new theme, gaining skills to improve journal design, usability, and branding while maintaining system updates.

Learning target(s)

 By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to:

• Customize journal navigation and page structure in OJS.

• Apply custom localization for multilingual interfaces.

• Modify frontend and backend styles using CSS/LESS.

• Install, configure, and manage block and theme plugins.

• Adapt existing themes or create new themes to match journal branding and improve usability.

Description

This training material is designed to help editors, publishers, and system managers customize and enhance the appearance and functionality of journals in Open Journal Systems (OJS). It provides step-by-step guidance for both minor adjustments to existing themes and the creation of new themes, enabling participants to improve usability, design, and branding.

How to use the material

• Step 1: Navigation setup – Learn to configure menus, custom pages, and remote URLs, ensuring clear and user-friendly navigation for readers.

• Step 2: Custom localization – Apply multilingual adjustments using the Custom Locale Plugin, allowing journals to communicate effectively with diverse audiences.

• Step 3: Block plugins – Use the Custom Block Plugin to add content such as links, sponsors, or announcements, enhancing the frontend experience.

• Step 4: CSS/LESS modifications – Modify backend and frontend styles safely to reflect your journal’s identity, without affecting system updates.

• Step 5: Theme plugins – Install, enable, and configure theme plugins to extend functionality and improve visual presentation.

• Step 6: Theme adaptation – Decide whether to make minor changes to an existing theme or create a new one from scratch, following best practices for testing and version control.

Participants are encouraged to practice directly in their OJS installations or test environments. The material includes real-life examples from Masaryk University Press, illustrating practical solutions for common design and customization challenges.