Forum width & some other questions..

[bian]

Hello! My name is Bianca. I have used SMF for many years for my domains, but I haven't really had much experience with making a SMF my own. Simply put, I want to learn how to make themes for other people. Anyway, on to the point of the post!

I have some questions.

1. How do I change the width of the forum? This encompasses the entire forum. I want the whole thing to be thinner--I don't like wide web pages. Some sites can pull them off (like SMF's page), but some sites cannot. My site won't look right with a wide forum because my site that links to the forum is thin. So, for simplicity's sake, I want the forum to be thinner.

2. I have hugely modified the color scheme of the default SMF forum's look. I really rather like it. Is this how people make themes for other people to download from this site? Or do other people do it all on their own? Anyway, I seem to have one problem! Just one. When you click on a forum to go inside the forum (where the threads are), mine still has the blue buttons (they read "Mark Read," "Notify," "New Topic," and "Post New Poll"). I can't figure out how to get rid of the blue gradients/graphics behind the actual text. I don't want to mess up the CSS by deleting stuff that shouldn't be deleted. Somehow, I managed to get rid of the gradients behind the Home/Help/etc etc buttons, but I can't manage to fix these.

Thanks for reading!

[flapjack]

hello again. for future reference: always provide as much info as possible. in this case that includes SMF version and the theme that you use. as for your second question - please post a screenshot - it will be easier for whoever is going to help you

[bian]

Hello! Thank you for helping me again. My version is 1.1.11. Attached is an image of the blue gradients that I wish to get rid of. I am using the default theme, called SMF Default Theme - Core, though I have changed the colors.

[flapjack]

1) edit the very same code that displays the background, add:

margins:0;
width:1000px;

2) upload attached files to your /tabs-purple/images/ folder

3) start using FireBug: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=firebug+tutorial&aq=f

[bian]

1) edit the very same code that displays the background, add:

margins:0;
width:1000px;

2) upload attached files to your /tabs-purple/images/ folder

3) start using FireBug: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=firebug+tutorial&aq=f [nofollow]

1. I added that! I can change the width!! Hooray! Is it possible to now center the entire forum? I just... want.. it to kind of do what yours does. I clicked on the links in your signature to check them out, and I love how your page looks the exact same as your forum. It looks like your forum is inside the web page! I want mine to do that, but I don't think it can, so I'm doing the next best thing, which is trying to make them look exactly alike! Heehee.

2. Thank you! I am trying to do so. It is essential to keep the file names the same, else the paths will be broken, correct? For some reason, every time I delete the old ones (the blue ones), they return.

3. Looking into it as we speak!

[flapjack]

1) what do you mean a forum within a webpage? maybe its a portal solution you need? try: www.simpleportal.net then, you'll love it. as with to make the page centered, you need to loose all margins and padding within your body {}. try adding another line:

Code Select Expand

padding:0; to the same {} as previous modifications
2) every time you update your files, you need to clear the cache of your browser. with FireFox you can use CTRL+F5 combo

[bian]

1) what do you mean a forum within a webpage? maybe its a portal solution you need? try: www.simpleportal.net [nofollow] then, you'll love it. as with to make the page centered, you need to loose all margins and padding within your body {}. try adding another line:

Code Select Expand

padding:0; to the same {} as previous modifications
2) every time you update your files, you need to clear the cache of your browser. with FireFox you can use CTRL+F5 combo

1. Yes! Precisely like that. Only yours is better (naturally). I added the code, and everything is still aligned to the left. I am 100% sure that I added it in the correct place.

2. Um.. I don't know how to describe it. I use CPanel because that's what my webhost provided, but I have tried to delete the files in a multitude of ways (from CPanel, from Dreamweaver, from my DiskImage), and the files continue to magically reappear. I have tried deleting them from the site using Safari and FireFox, and they still came back. I have also tried simply writing over them, which also failed.

[flapjack]

1) I will look into it, if not today, then remind me tommorow ok?
2) just go to your page IN YOUR BROWSER and then press CTRL and F5 simultaneously. this will force firefox to redownload .css and .jpg/gif/png graphics and you should see purple tabs instead of blue ones

[bian]

1) I will look into it, if not today, then remind me tommorow ok?
2) just go to your page IN YOUR BROWSER and then press CTRL and F5 simultaneously. this will force firefox to redownload .css and .jpg/gif/png graphics and you should see purple tabs instead of blue ones

1. I shall. Thank you.

2. I tried. It's.. the purple ones won't upload. The blue ones that are already uploaded won't delete, no matter how I try to get rid of them. So the purple ones are stuck on my hard drive and are unable to be uploaded. If I name them something else, upload them, and change the file paths in the CSS, will it work then?

[flapjack]

ok. seems you have problem with permissions. in CPanel filemanager, go to those files and try to CHMOD them to 777, then you should be able to delete them

[bian]

ok. seems you have problem with permissions. in CPanel filemanager, go to those files and try to CHMOD them to 777, then you should be able to delete them

I agree. I attempted to change the permissions, and it states that the "Operation is not permitted." Um, excuse me? I run this page. If I want to do something, I should be able to. There must be a way around it... I can't even upload anything to the folder. The whole folder is set to the incorrect permission.

I should major in something else...

[flapjack]

did you try use any FTP software?
How do I use FTP? / What is FTP?

[bian]

did you try use any FTP software?
How do I use FTP? / What is FTP?

Yes.  Dreamweaver has it built in. Is there any other way to change the permissions?

[flapjack]

I am not familiar with dreamweaver, maybe try Filezilla (it's free)
(I'm heading to bed now, so don't count for next reply soon)

[bian]

I am not familiar with dreamweaver, maybe try Filezilla (it's free)
(I'm heading to bed now, so don't count for next reply soon)

Tried it. I have a simple mind, and FileZilla is for people with more... intelligence than me, ahah. Good night, Pancake! Hopefully we can resume working toward a solution tomorrow, as I am also going to bed. Thanks for helping me today. It was really nice of you.

[flapjack]

browse around and try different ftp clients, some are more simple to use than others.
you can start here: http://www.xmarks.com/topic/ftp_clients