I'll reproduce the question and answer below.
The question:
How could the Moodle course design framework be made more modern and user friendly?
At the moment the course page design is really awful. There should be many more ways of navigating, creating less linear sequences and the label system should just die, die, die!And my answer:
I see that some contributors have suggested that you look at other Moodle themes. A Moodle theme will change the layout of the frame that surrounds the course page, but the layout and function of the course page itself is determined by the course format that you select: topics, weekly, social, etc.Until recently, most of us chose the Topics format. And many of us felt the same as you about the aesthetics of that format.
In Moodle 2.4, you can add plugins for many other course formats. Collapsible topics, grid, nested sections, and so on. Check out the documentation at Course formats - MoodleDocs. I think you will be pleased with the expanded choice of course formats.
If you'd like to read the other questions that I've answered on Quora, or just click around the e-learning, Blackboard, and Moodle sections, you can click through to my Quora profile