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Got skin?

Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2003 5:36 am
by Nay
Okay, I'm not good with titles. Nevermind that.

Anyhow, I'm still wondering why the board is not really skinned at all. There was the topic find a skin, everybody suggested but the board is still naked!

Er, anyhow, the main reason why I bought this up was because I was skinning my own board today. I'm used to IPB boards but I switched to phpbb just a few days ago. It looked kind of fugly on the default skin so I had to change it. I've always created my own graphics so I thought it would be no exception.

Heh, enough of my biography. What mattered was that phpbb was very easy to skin. Take a look at:

http://www.frozenashes.net/forums/index.php

My forums, yeah, ingnore the number of posts. But I did that in a few hours. It's not so heavy on graphics so it loads quite fast.

But what I would like to suggest is that maybe a poll should be run and with the results of it some of the designers here can make up a skin. Post a screenshot or sample place to view it then see how it goes.

Well, it's better than the default skin I guess.

Point me out if I missed anything,

-Nay

Heh, Nay finally talking less crazy? Meh, there's a first for everything ;).

Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2003 2:15 pm
by qads
the reason jason didnt skin the forum last time is cos he would have to skin all of the mods which are being used here....or soemthing like that.

but i still think this is a graet idea..maybe cos i dont have to do anything for it? :P

Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2003 4:43 pm
by Weirdan
Personally, I find it's really annoying when some of the sites I used to use for a while change its design. Just my `contra`.

Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2003 4:55 pm
by Nay
Well, the other thing is most people feel like "forced" to use it O.o eh? Okay, like I ever make sense but I think a skin is for 1) Give the "default" one a better look so people don't turn away on sight and 2) Give more options.

Most of the time you can just choose what skin you want in your profile and walah Wierdan has reversed time for himself 8).

-Nay

Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2003 5:16 pm
by Weirdan
Okay, I have to admit, you're right saying optional skinning is a good thing. Perhaps my irritation is just a consequence of design change on libo.ru. ;(

Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2003 2:43 am
by Nay
qads wrote:the reason jason didnt skin the forum last time is cos he would have to skin all of the mods which are being used here....or soemthing like that.

but i still think this is a graet idea..maybe cos i dont have to do anything for it? :P
I was thinking of this while I was taking my maths exam today o.O. Meh, PHPDN's always on my mind 8) 8O. Anyhow, If Jason or Mac or any other admin can get the list of mods installed (even better if they can provide the URL), maybe I can install them on localhost and make a skin for that so there's less chances of compatibility errors.

Or also I can upload the mod-installed files to my server and those who want to make a skin can download them - or is that too much of a "security issue" maybe?

Yes, me really wants to look at PHPDN in style 8).

-Nay

Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2003 3:01 am
by qads
dont think its much of a security issue, if someone wants to hack phpdn, s/he wouldjust download phpbb and the mods 8O.

but i am willing to help in any way i can, never skined phpbb before but how hard can it be :roll:.

Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2003 3:08 am
by Nay
*hits you*

Ah, download phpbb and just open the file in Winzip or so. Then press "O" and repeat until you find "overall_header.tpl" and "overall_footer.tpl" it's as easy as editing those two files. Even with just that you can change the "shape" of it. Then you go into the admin cp and change the CSS values for the colors. The phpbb buttons looks good with almost any color. Well, not a dark color since it's a little light. But I'm sure most of us prefer a lighter layout.

But you can take it futher from there by editing other various files thus giving it a more "unique" look. But that doesn't mean it's going to be loaded with images. I meant as in you can put the category header at the bottom 8O. I wonder who'd like that? :D.

-Nay

Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2003 2:22 pm
by jason
This is the one I am working on, and will be releasing some time soon, as I am starting to have more free time once again.

http://codereview.devnetwork.net/design ... rtal3.html

Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2003 2:46 pm
by m3mn0n
That's a very cool layout, Jason. :)

Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2003 10:03 pm
by Nay
Ah, finally the Jason popped up 8).

But isn't that the portal. Are you going to fit the forums in that news area or going to make a skin using those colors? 8O

-Nay