Question about adding widgets.

[Mijin]

So I'm pretty much a noob, but I'm starting to pick up on how to mod CSS a little bit. I've pretty much removed all the unnecessary stuff from the front page of my SMF forums, including the Info Center. I was thinking about adding a widget to my forums front page, but I'm not really sure how.

I have the Java Script for the widget, and I know I probably have to make a separate JS file and then link it somehow to the CSS. The problem is I don't know what file to modify or even what CSS code to put in. I'm probably not even using the right terminology to ask this question, and I most likely sound like an idiot, but if anyone can offer some advice you'd make my day.

[The Wizard]

Hello:

Don't worry about being a noob everybody has been there. I would suggest you post what version of SMF your using and the theme as there are differences on the versions. Also let people know what kind of widget you want to install. There is a good chance it has been done before and a mod has been created. In that case you just plug it in and have a nice day.

That's all the free advice I can give.

Wiz

[Mijin]

Sorry for not mentioning before, but I'm using SMF 2.0.2. I was thinking about either a slideshow type widget with pictures or a news type widget. I'm really just looking for something to fill the space. I would like to put it below the forum links where the info center usually is. The name of the template I'm using is minimal_20rc4, but I've modified it a lot.

[MovedGoalPosts]

css, usually stored in the theme's index.css file, simply controls how things are being displayed by the browser, such as the colours of text and backgrounds and often where it is positioned on the page.  Index.css is called upon by styelsheet references in the files that determine what content will be displayed.  Your widget can't be placed in the index.css file

Your page content is determined by the various .php files of your theme, and often also in your forum's sources folder.  The main layout of your forum's page is often determined by index.template.php.  You could try adding your widget into this and see what happens?

An alternative to trying to recode the webpage to include your stuff can be to add a portal - simpleportal, tinyportal, dreamportal - there are quite a few.  Many of these have ways of you easily adding blocks to a page layout into which your widget code might be pasted.

[Mijin]

thanks, I'm looking into simple portal and the others. That may be the solution I'm looking for.