Putting spaces between messages (pm's)

[Pudders]

I have had a search but cannot see anywhere saying how to put spaces between pm's in your inbox.  I have spaces between normal forum posts but pm's are still hard to read as I have tons all under each other and hard to see where they each stop and start - is this something that can be sorted?

Also is there a way to make the newest message appear at the top of the list or even better move the read messages to a different folder?  Unfortunately I have to keep many of the messages for a minimum amount of time and cannot delete them all once read or replied to.

Thanks

[MrPhil]

The PMs should have alternating background colors: class "windowbg" and "windowbg2". Did someone fool with the CSS and give them all the same background color (same background color for the two classes)? Check your theme's CSS and compare it to the default theme.

[sAce]

are you using custom theme?

[Pudders]

No its colors theme.
I will check css though to see if there are different colours

ADDED - cannot see two different colours but I know the background for normal forum posts was changed to white instead of cream shade to go better with the background colour being used (spaces were put between posts so all being the same colour was ok in main forum).  Is there a way to put spaces in the main messages too (like on forum) or can I move the read messages into a different folder instead of the inbox?

Thanks again

[MrPhil]

When you look at the page HTML (browser View > Page source), do you see something like <div class="windowbg"> (or similar) surrounding one PM, alternating with windowbg2? If so, check your CSS file(s) for the background color definitions for .windowbg and .windowbg2 (or the actual names). The background color for those classes would be background-color: #nnnnnn or background: xxx x xx x #nnnnnn xxx x x xxx. If you can find that, are the colors sufficiently different to tell apart? If not, modify one of the colors to get something more pleasing.

[Pudders]

Hi, found the windowbg parts in the source file and from css get this:

Code Select Expand

/* Alternating backgrounds for posts, and several other sections of the forum. */
.windowbg, #preview_body
{
   color: #000000;
   background-color: #F2F2F2;
}
.windowbg2
{
   color: #000000;
   background-color: #F6F6F6;
}
.windowbg3
{
   color: #000000;
   background-color: #E0E1E8;
}


My issue is if I change these colours to be different (i.e. one white and next one pale yellow) then they will change in main forum too by the looks of it. Is there therefore a way to move old messages to a different folder or to put spaces between them?  If not I can live with it as it is, just its a pain trying to read them clearly.

Thanks again for all the help

[MrPhil]

Colors #F2F2F2 and #F6F6F6 are indistinguishable to the eye (two very close shades of light gray), so you will have to do something. If you don't like the side effect of what it does to your main forum's appearance (how do you tell posts apart there?), probably the easiest code change would be to give these new class names, say windowbg4 and windowbg5. This would mean copying the .windowbg and .windowbg2 entries to 4 and 5 and changing the colors, and finding the place in the PHP code (the PM routine) that gives class="windowbg" and changing it (the windowbg2 entry, too). That would be

Code Select Expand

<tr class="', $message['alternate'] == 0 ? 'windowbg4' : 'windowbg5', '">
in Themes/<your theme>/PersonalMessage.template.php.

An alternative would be to add a horizontal rule <hr> after the </div> for the end of the message.

[Pudders]

Hello, I will try to add the horizontal rule <hr> after the </div> at the end of each message as you suggest as this should make them easier to read.  The posts are easy to read in the main forum as I have added a space between each post so theres a border round each post and like a line of background between each one (created via a mod).  I will let you know if I can get the <hr> to work in private messages, just gotta talk to my husband to try and work out where to add it in.

Have to say SMF is great and easy to modify for most things, only heard of it in November and now have a budding little forum so big thanks to those who created it and help out by offering support on these forums.

[greyknight17]

Pudders, is there any update on this issue? Has it been resolved now?