Koha Customization Without Coding: What Is Actually Possible?
A practical, jargon-free guide to what a librarian without coding skills can change in Koha — and where you'll need help or a tool like Theme Builder to go further.
A librarian without coding experience can make some meaningful changes to Koha’s OPAC through the system preferences interface — but honest answer: anything beyond the basics requires at least some HTML. This guide maps exactly what’s possible at each skill level so you can make a realistic plan for what you can do yourself and where it makes sense to get help.
For a full overview of options, see the Koha Customization Guide.
Level 0: What You Can Do Without Any Coding
If you’re comfortable clicking through Koha’s administration menus but have never written a line of HTML, you can still make some useful changes.
Toggle OPAC features on or off: Koha has hundreds of system preferences. Many of them are simple checkboxes or dropdowns that control whether features appear in the OPAC — things like enabling the star ratings widget, showing the tag cloud, enabling patron reviews, or turning on the reading history feature.
Create custom pages with plain text: The Pages tool (under Tools → Pages) lets you create pages and add content. If you use plain, unformatted text, you don’t need HTML — but the result will look like a plain text document with no formatting.
Add simple navigation links:
OpacNav and OpacNavBottom accept HTML, but if all you want to add is a simple link — for example, a link to your library’s main website — a basic anchor tag is about as simple as HTML gets: <a href="https://yourlibrary.org">Library Website</a>. If you’re comfortable copying and pasting that and swapping in your own URL, you can manage basic navigation links.
Change your OPAC logo and library name:
The OpacMainUserBlock preference has a textarea where you can paste a logo image tag or update your library’s display name. This is paste-and-edit territory — you don’t need to write code from scratch.
Level 1: What Requires Basic HTML
“Basic HTML” means understanding tags like <h2>, <p>, <ul>, <li>, <a>, and <img>. This is learnable in an afternoon and what most librarians pick up if they work with Koha long enough.
With basic HTML, you can:
- Format custom pages properly — headings, bullet lists, links, contact info blocks
- Build out
OpacMainUserBlockwith announcements, image banners, or a styled welcome message - Customize
opacheaderto add a navigation bar or site header above the OPAC content - Add content to
OpacNavRight— this sidebar panel accepts HTML and is a common place for featured titles, event announcements, or subject guide links
See How to Customize the Koha OPAC Homepage for practical examples using these preferences.
Level 2: What Requires CSS Knowledge
CSS is the language that controls visual design — colors, fonts, spacing, layout. If you want to meaningfully change how the OPAC looks (not just what it says), you’ll need at least basic CSS.
With CSS, via the OPACUserCSS preference, you can:
- Override brand colors sitewide
- Change fonts and font sizes
- Hide elements you don’t want patrons to see (e.g.,
display: noneon unwanted sidebar items) - Adjust padding, margins, and spacing
- Make the header taller or give it a background color
What you cannot do with CSS alone: change the structure of the page. CSS can restyle elements, but it can’t move them, add new ones, or remove them from the page flow entirely.
For a full guide to this preference, see OPACUserCSS and OPACUserJS Guide.
Level 3: What Requires Developer Skill
Some Koha customization is genuinely complex and requires technical knowledge to do safely.
- Template Toolkit (TT) template editing — Koha’s OPAC pages are rendered from
.tttemplate files. Editing these gives you full control over page structure, but it requires understanding Koha’s template inheritance, TT2 syntax, and the upgrade implications of modifying core files. - XSLT customization —
OPACXSLTResultsDisplayand related preferences let you provide custom XSLT stylesheets that transform MARC records into styled search results. This requires XSLT knowledge and an understanding of MARC. - JavaScript via
OPACUserJS— Simple JS snippets (hiding an element on load, adding a click event) are manageable with intermediate skill. Complex features using Koha’s internal API or modifying search behavior require real JavaScript experience.
Skill Map: Task vs. Required Level
| Task | Skill Required |
|---|---|
| Toggle OPAC features on/off | None |
| Add a plain text custom page | None |
| Add a navigation link | Basic HTML |
| Format custom pages with headings and lists | Basic HTML |
| Add a banner or announcement to the homepage | Basic HTML |
| Change brand colors | CSS |
| Change fonts sitewide | CSS |
| Hide unwanted OPAC elements | CSS |
| Restructure page layout | CSS + HTML |
| Edit page templates (header, search results) | Developer (TT2) |
| Customize MARC display in search results | Developer (XSLT) |
| Build interactive features | Developer (JavaScript) |
The Non-Developer’s Best Path
If you’re working without a developer, the most practical approach is:
- Start with system preferences — explore the OPAC section and toggle features that don’t require code
- Use the Pages tool for content — create branch info, policy pages, subject guides using basic HTML formatting
- Add navigation links in
OpacNavandOpacNavBottomusing simple anchor tags - Add a welcome block in
OpacMainUserBlock— this has the highest visibility impact for modest effort - Stop before OPACUserCSS unless you’re ready to learn basic CSS or copy from a trusted source — unsupported CSS snippets from forums can break your OPAC after upgrades
When you hit the limit of what’s comfortable to do yourself, the decision is: hire a Koha developer for a one-time project, or use a tool that does the heavy lifting for you.
What Theme Builder Makes Possible Without Deep Coding
KohaSupport’s Theme Builder is designed specifically for libraries that want a professionally designed OPAC without commissioning custom development.
With Theme Builder, a non-developer can:
- Apply a complete visual theme (typography, colors, layout) without writing CSS
- Choose from multiple preset designs and switch between them
- Configure their library’s name, logo, and color scheme through a settings interface
- Get consistent design across every OPAC page including search results and patron account pages
Theme Builder doesn’t require you to edit OPACUserCSS or touch template files. The design is applied through the plugin, and it’s maintained to be upgrade-safe. It’s not fully “no-code” in the sense that you configure it through the plugin settings, but it requires no HTML or CSS knowledge to use.
If you’re deciding where to start, use the Theme Builder Documentation Hub and the Getting Started guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to know HTML to use Koha at all? No — you can run Koha without knowing any HTML. But to make the OPAC look the way you want it, some HTML knowledge is valuable. The good news is the basics (headings, paragraphs, links) are not hard to learn.
Can I hire someone to customize our Koha OPAC? Yes. Koha has an active community of consultants and developers. You can also contact KohaSupport — we offer consultation and implementation services for OPAC customization projects.
Is there a drag-and-drop or WYSIWYG editor for the Koha OPAC?
Not natively. Some system preference textareas (like OpacMainUserBlock) may show a basic text editor depending on your Koha version, but there’s no visual page builder built into Koha.
Is Theme Builder a no-code tool? Theme Builder is very low-code — you configure settings rather than writing CSS or HTML. Most library staff can set it up without technical assistance after a brief onboarding call.
What if I make a CSS change and break my OPAC?
The OPACUserCSS and OPACUserJS preferences can always be cleared — pasting in a blank value removes your changes immediately. Nothing you add through system preferences is permanent or irreversible. Keep a backup copy of anything you add before modifying it.
Start With What Works for Your Team
You don’t have to do everything yourself — and there’s no shame in using a tool that handles complexity for you.
Explore Koha Theme Builder™ → See what Theme Builder makes possible for libraries without in-house developers.
Book a Consultation → Tell us what you’re trying to achieve and we’ll help you figure out the right approach for your library’s skills and budget.
Related reading: Koha Themes vs OPACUserCSS Hacks · OPACUserCSS and OPACUserJS Guide · Getting Started with Theme Builder · Theme Builder Documentation Hub · Koha Customization Guide
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