Building my first community freeware site

[guyfriendly]

Hello everyone, I am glad to be here!

I am thinking about getting this SM theme to create discussion-based community. I have read some great reviews about it. This will be community website for discussion and downloads/sharing files for a specific niche. That said, I'd like to know if I can customize the default theme? And can I change the footer name to my own domain name? So instead of say "Simple Machines" it'll be my domain name. I searched google and found a very nice demo of how I'd like my forum to look like. I'd like to have a section for gallery and some space for banners. Please take a look at this image and tell me which theme do I need. Or is this a custom theme? Your comments are most welcomed!

[Kindred]

You can remove the copyright... Although doing so means that your will likely not receive support.

You are, however, not allowed to ALTER the copyright.  Either have it displayed as is, or remove it, those are your options.

HS, that is a custom theme...   You can search through the theme site here or several other them producers to find something that you like.

And galleries and banners can be added via mods.

[guyfriendly]

Thank you Kindred!

I am fine keeping the way it is without altering the original once I customize them to my own liking.

Going to search the forum more. Thanks alot!

[guyfriendly]

Got my forum up and running! I have added more category to the list.

I have a question. I downloaded a few MODS that came with the rar file. How do I upload those to make the changes?

[Kindred]

http://wiki.simplemachines.org/smf/SMF2.0:Package_manager

[guyfriendly]

Thank you! Works great. 

[guyfriendly]

I have one question. I search the forum many times and couldn't find what I was looking for. I want to upload my own logo. What is the most convenient way to do this? Should I use the Admin cpanel or an external source? And which path of directory do I need to point it to exactly? I could log in FTP but not sure which folder to drag the logo image file. Sorry I'm a noob at this. Most of my experience are in Wordpress only.

I also like to upload my avatar and allow members to upload their own pic to their profile. What's the most efficient way to do this?

Again thanks for the all the help.

[Kindred]

avatars can be done through the profile section....

the logo can be uploaded -- usually to your forum/Themes/YourTheme/images directory

depending on your theme, there may be an option to define the logo in the current theme section of the admin tool...

otherwise, just replace the existing logo with yours, using the same file name (make sure it's the same dimensions!)

[guyfriendly]

avatars can be done through the profile section....

the logo can be uploaded -- usually to your forum/Themes/YourTheme/images directory

depending on your theme, there may be an option to define the logo in the current theme section of the admin tool...

otherwise, just replace the existing logo with yours, using the same file name (make sure it's the same dimensions!)

Alright. I figured out it's in my public_html folder under my default theme/images folder (normally where the smflogo.png is located).

I assume I have to delete the default smflogo.png first?

Once I drag in my logo in there, how do I know my Logo image URL? Think I need to paste that  under Theme Options and Preferences.

[Kindred]

The URL would be your site, plus the path to the image

No, you do not need to delete the existing file

[guyfriendly]

The URL would be your site, plus the path to the image

No, you do not need to delete the existing file

Thank you!

[guyfriendly]

I spent the whole day searching for mods and googling other themes. What I find with SMF  is that the forum looks very tacky. I like Simple Portal and what it could do to the  home page but I am still bother by the looks of the forum boards. lol. Is it possible to modify the forum board to look more legit?

[Kindred]

what do you mean by "tacky" and "legit"?

Almost anything is possible, if you know how to code it...
I mean... it can look like this
http://test.turtleshellprod.com/index.php
or this
http://www.fx-sabers.com/forum/index.php
or this
http://www.40konline.com/index.php
or this
http://www.askawitchcommunity.org/

all fairly different looks...