Modern CV structure question

Question

I'm using Modern CV to create my cv : http://www.latextemplates.com/template/moderncv-cv-and-cover-letter

As you can see from the example of this page (John Smith) , each section (like "Education") is preceded by a line in bold. I would like to :

• reduce or increase the length / size of this line
• highlight each section such as underlining "Education" or adding a local font

Is that possible to do that ? Any example would be welcome !

Edit : an example would be :

\documentclass[11pt,a4paper,sans]{moderncv} 

\moderncvstyle{casual} 
\moderncvcolor{blue} 

\usepackage[scale=0.75]{geometry} 

%----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
%   NAME AND CONTACT INFORMATION SECTION
%----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

\firstname{John} % Your first name
\familyname{Smith} % Your last name

% All information in this block is optional, comment out any lines you don't need
\title{Curriculum Vitae}
\address{123 Broadway}{City, State 12345}
\mobile{(000) 111 1111}
\phone{(000) 111 1112}
\fax{(000) 111 1113}
\email{[email protected]}
\homepage{staff.org.edu/~jsmith}{staff.org.edu/$\sim$jsmith}

%----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

\begin{document}

\makecvtitle % Print the CV title

%----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
%   EDUCATION SECTION
%----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

\section{Education}

\end{document}

So I would like to underline "Education" in the same color than text and to reduce bold line size / length on the left

Answer 1

Add the following lines in your preamble:

\makeatletter
\renewcommand*{\sectionstyle}[1]{{\sectionfont\textcolor{color1}{\underline{#1}}}}
\RenewDocumentCommand{\section}{sm}{%
  \par\addvspace{2.5ex}%
  \phantomsection{}% reset the anchor for hyperrefs
  \addcontentsline{toc}{section}{#2}%
  \parbox[t]{3em}{\strut\raggedleft\raisebox{\baseletterheight}{\color{color1}\rule{3em}{0.55ex}}}%
  \hspace{\separatorcolumnwidth}%
  \parbox[t]{\maincolumnwidth}{\strut\sectionstyle{#2}}%
  \par\nobreak\addvspace{1ex}\@afterheading}% to avoid a pagebreak after the heading
\makeatother

This re-defines the way the section title is typeset as you've requested:

Complete code:

\documentclass[11pt,a4paper,sans]{moderncv}

\moderncvstyle{casual}
\moderncvcolor{blue}

\makeatletter
\renewcommand*{\sectionstyle}[1]{{\sectionfont\textcolor{color1}{\underline{#1}}}}
\RenewDocumentCommand{\section}{sm}{%
  \par\addvspace{2.5ex}%
  \phantomsection{}% reset the anchor for hyperrefs
  \addcontentsline{toc}{section}{#2}%
  \parbox[t]{3em}{\strut\raggedleft\raisebox{\baseletterheight}{\color{color1}\rule{3em}{0.55ex}}}%
  \hspace{\separatorcolumnwidth}%
  \parbox[t]{\maincolumnwidth}{\strut\sectionstyle{#2}}%
  \par\nobreak\addvspace{1ex}\@afterheading}% to avoid a pagebreak after the heading
\makeatother

\usepackage[scale=0.75]{geometry}

%----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
%   NAME AND CONTACT INFORMATION SECTION
%----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

\firstname{John} % Your first name
\familyname{Smith} % Your last name

% All information in this block is optional, comment out any lines you don't need
\title{Curriculum Vitae}
\address{123 Broadway}{City, State 12345}
\mobile{(000) 111 1111}
\phone{(000) 111 1112}
\fax{(000) 111 1113}
\email{[email protected]}
%\homepage{staff.org.edu/~jsmith}{staff.org.edu/$\sim$jsmith}

%----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

\begin{document}

\makecvtitle % Print the CV title

%----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
%   EDUCATION SECTION
%----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

\section{Education}

\end{document} 

---

EDIT

If, instead of underlining the section title, you want it boxed, substitute the line

\renewcommand*{\sectionstyle}[1]{{\sectionfont\textcolor{color1}{\underline{#1}}}}

with

\renewcommand*{\sectionstyle}[1]{{\sectionfont\textcolor{color1}{\fbox{#1}}}}

and the result will be

---

EDIT #2

If you want to completely remove the line before the section title, delete the lines

  \parbox[t]{3em}{\strut\raggedleft\raisebox{\baseletterheight}{\color{color1}\rule{3em}{0.55ex}}}%
  \hspace{\separatorcolumnwidth}%

and you'll get

P.S. I wouldn't increase the width of the box, otherwise it is too heavy looking...