Check out the phpBB forums , specifically the Styles development forum. Alot of the posts with helpful info for people starting out making their own styles are sticky'd to the top, and the search function helps. There is a ton of information, and all the answers are there. And the people are great !
I'm just beginning to experiment with phpBB so that I can set it up for clients in the future, and custom themes/styles/templates is giving me the most trouble. Is it just me, or is phpBB nearly impossible to make look good, easily? I mean, the "Create a Style" page is incredibly confusing. They name things by "Row 1, 2, 3", "Color 1, 2, 3" - it seems like it's basically a game of guess and check!
I've been reading through the userguide and it doesn't help at all. I don't understand how there's a template and then styles that go with it. When I open the default template "subSilver", there's a CSS file with things like links, fonts, and colors already set. And then I go and create a style with links, fonts, and colors? OMG, it's so confusing. And then there's templates .TPL files - what!? How in the world am I supposed to create these?!
Yes, I've only been playing for a few hours, but I thought I would've caught on to how everything works by now.
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SPF Mentor/Advisor 2001-2003 SPF Designer of the Year 2002 SPF Graphic Designer of the Year 2003 AdamPolselli.com
.tpl files show you how a page is to be laid out, open one in dreamweaver (or something of that nature) with code editing off and you'll see, they are the easy part.
The more difficult part is coloring. The colors are in the .css and in the Edit theme in the Admin Panel. Guess and check. Actually, there are little descriptions that give some information and have been slightly helpful (at least to me).
However, I do feel that subSilver was too complex of a template to make the default.
I have heard that this template is simpler, although I haven't actually looked (harkening back to the 1.4.4 days):
Originally posted by iFroggy .tpl files show you how a page is to be laid out, open one in dreamweaver (or something of that nature) with code editing off and you'll see, they are the easy part.
The more difficult part is coloring. The colors are in the .css and in the Edit theme in the Admin Panel. Guess and check. Actually, there are little descriptions that give some information and have been slightly helpful (at least to me).
However, I do feel that subSilver was too complex of a template to make the default.
I have heard that this template is simpler, although I haven't actually looked (harkening back to the 1.4.4 days):
I've been opening up the .tpl files with NotePad. Someone at the phpBB forums said that it's fine to edit them like that. Would I be better off checking them out in Dreamweaver? I mean, would it make it easier to customize the forums to my own site?
"The colors are in the .css and in the Edit theme in the Admin Panel." That's exactly what's so weird and confusing to me. I don't get it. The descriptions would help, but when I go to create a new one, the description boxes are blank. I basically have to go back and forth between subSilver and the one new and plug them in.
I agree that subSilver is too complex. I hate how they use images for some of the forum headers. Not to mention that those images are in the stylesheet - OMG, I don't get the stylesheets!
Anyways, thanks for the links. I'll check them out and see if I can get something to work.
SPF Mentor/Advisor 2001-2003 SPF Designer of the Year 2002 SPF Graphic Designer of the Year 2003 AdamPolselli.com
Nicky, is that because you are not turning off code editing in Dreamweaver?
Adam,
The least you could do is give it a try, like I said in my first post "open one in dreamweaver (or something of that nature) with code editing off." You can do it with Notepad or course, I only use Notepad for installing hacks though (actually Wordpad is what I use).
Look in the style sheets for .gifs and simpky remove them. (In reference to the graphic headers). Overall, I haven't had to spend THAT much time to get my forums in shape.
phpBB
Actually, there are little descriptions that give some information and have been slightly helpful (at least to me).
The descriptions would help, but when I go to create a new one, the description boxes are blank. I basically have to go back and forth between subSilver and the one new and plug them in.
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