I need a new way to HIGHLIGHT a certain topic

[TheDragon]

situation = >
one of my boards has 5 sticky
(works ok )
but as we all know - people gloss over them
(ie not read them any more)
normally - this is not an issue
BUT
the top level sticky - we update the info a few times a week
(ie add new replies - and yes = the little 'new' icon appears
but = still gets lost in the 'laziness; of the members

One solution  might be to add a NEW type of topic label
sticky, locked, IMPORTANT
but only if an easy mod

I CAN already add html to a board
eg
<font color="red">
that works well
but can not add html to topic's subject line

OR

as this is only permitted by me as ADMIN
to make some formatting mods
and I know the topic #
can I hand edit just this one topic?
eg to change its background color?  or font color? or font size?

[MrPhil]

Have you looked along the lines of, where it adds a "New" icon, to check if it's also stickied/pinned topic, and use some variation, such as "New_blink.gif" and an animated blinking icon? Annoying, but it should get their attention.

[TheDragon]

good idea - now to to scour the files looking for new.gif

found a mod that change back ground color of new posts (vs just add the new gif)

[TheDragon]

ok - made the new icon blink
BUT
as expected
ALL the new icons blink
need to make a new icon called newBlink.gif
and have it hard coded into just sticky

anyone can help point the wAy for where.how ??

thanks !

[SwedishMarch1964]

I don't think you can do that. What version of SMF are you using?

[Shambles]

The latest browser versions don't seem to support blinking. Certainly my firefox doesn't.

[MrPhil]

<blink> is certainly discouraged, and may not work any more in most browsers. An animated GIF could give you a blinking effect. Just keep it fairly subtle and slow -- enough to draw the eye, but not enough to trigger seizures in epileptics.

Somewhere in the handling of the board's topic listings, it would determine whether or not the topic is pinned (sticky). At that point you could set a $new_name to 'new_blink.gif' instead of 'new.gif', and use $new_name instead of a hard coded 'new.gif'. Something like that.

[TheDragon]

sorry = when I said BLINK = I use an animated Gif
I took the existing NEW.gif
and ran it through photshop and made several copies by playing with brightness
-100, -80, -60, 040, -20, 0, +20, +40, +60, +80, +100
then stuck in gif animator program
works great - look like flashing neon sign
BUT
now ALL new gifs are 'blinking'

Somewhere in the handling of the board's topic listings, it would determine whether or not the topic is pinned (sticky). At that point you could set a $new_name to 'new_blink.gif' instead of 'new.gif', and use $new_name instead of a hard coded 'new.gif'. Something like that.

yes = that would be great = will work on it
(any hint on what file to edit ??)

[Kindred]

Messageindex.template.php

[TheDragon]

ty / might be over my head
to have a sticky with new posts have different color
will stick to my animated 'new'
seem to work (to get users to look up into the sticky section

thanks