yeah one of the complaints was that it was too "busy" too many things going on that folks wouldn't use or didn't like..I for one don't mind how the forum looks currently. It's simple easy to get around, no wasted space.

There's two parts to a skin: a template and a theme.

Templates tell the forum what HTML to produce -- this modifies how pages are laid out, what is displayed, and so on. They're written in a weird PHP/HTML hybrid.
Themes tell your browser how to display the HTML produced by the template. The most obvious changes are color schemes. They're written in CSS.

Right now we have three skins (dark grey, papyrus, and original subsilver2); they all use the same template but have different themes.

The template used by our skins right now has a fair number of custom modifications, so using a new template isn't just a matter of download-and-install, unfortunately. It would be great if we could support a variety of different skins to make everybody happy, but in the end NGA is basically a labor-of-love volunteer project, and we just can't dedicate the time and effort to create and support more skins in addition to our other duties.

That said, please do keep making suggestions. Everything posted here is considered!

Hm, as long as one part of it is controlled by the CSS, it should be pretty easy for folks to write their own Themes for new skins that, as the existing ones do, use the same Templates.

Does the CSS specify what posts should look like? If so it might be possible to create space between posts simply by dropping in 10px of padding on top and bottom... That would mean we could do some layout stuff without actually screwing around with the Templates.

Yep.

Actually there are already "spacer" elements between posts so you could also do

That's convenient!

Is the CSS available anywhere? Maybe some of the folks who want new skins want to take a crack at it themselves! I mean, I always figure that if people want a code thing done they can always take a stab at it themselves!

Yes I could get you the CSS for the current themes when I had a moment. During the creation of both Papyrus and the Dark Grey theme the CSS for each was hosted in the front post of the thread here in the metaboard about Forum Skins. That way users could beta test them out via addons like Stylish and give feedback before we actually implemented the final copy onto the site software.

I'll have to see if I have a version of the currently in use code here somewhere. ((I know I have it on my desktop but I'm out of country currently.)) If not Welder can snag it for sure.

Tomorrow is my day off, so I'll work on starting up a new Theme/Layout discussion thread and have the three CSS scripts in the into posts so that people can tinker and such. If nothing else I could give users like Neqtan pointers on things like Stylish so if padding between posts is something they want they can simply change one number in the chrome addon to suit their tastes regardless of what the board themes themselves are set to.

Glad somebody asked the question for the use of css to make alterations without having to alter the main template. Also as far as mods it should not be difficult to implement them as long as the mods can be referenced like a .css file.

Would take me some time but I could take a crack at a theme or two. If a .css theme could simply be referenced and altered via one script it would make altering the look of the whole site fast and painless.

Is there a way you could make scripts and code less visible to users? Also is it needed to reference css files that are on another site server? I have not looked heavily at anything but XSS should always be a concern.

Sapper I prefer firefox

What exactly are your goals?

I like the site layout / template the way it is. Utilizes the page nicely. But if given the chance I would change the background image, add a little padding so the image would show through, round the edges of boxes. Just some small tweaks honestly.

How would it look if you kept the boxes tight but added a little transparency around the borders. Then an interesting background could show through but space would be conserved.

Getting the CSS? No problem!

Actually it is probably easiest to just link to the stylesheets than to copy/paste their contents, so here you go:

• subsilver2
• dark grey
• papyrus

Enjoy!

Ah, so like a lot of the free guild/clan hosting sites default themes. Gotcha.

Edit : Like this Minecraft server freesite http://www.mcthewalls.com/forum except having the background between posts too.

No at all. Closer to this http://vbsocial.com/forum/showthread.php/1714 but not exactly. Obviously not a background with such hot spots that make text obscure to read as you scroll over it. In fact the post area should not be transparent at all to remove this problem entirely. Like i said previously I envision only the borders having a slight transparency for a subtle reveal of the background. Possibly lighter shaded boxes on dark background to make the reading more pleasurable. As I dont think many people enjoy reading white text.

If you can picture this exact layout no alterations to positioning, but with a theme similar to the link and to my specifications. Then thats a little closer to my vision. But if im the only one who would enjoy that, I would not spend the time.

Thanks for the feedback Sapper. Welder thanks for the links to the themes.

Even if nobody is interested in my theme idea, I would still offer to help where and how I can.

Is there any way to make pictures able to be clicked and dragged to increase / decrease their size? For instance how Reddit Enhancement Suite makes you able to grab an image and then expand it.

Not currently, since you insert them into the post as text. There is a width/height parameter in the IMG tag that let's you scale it though.

Obviously not currently, I'm speaking of getting a phpbb addon or implementing something onto the site.

It's probably doable, but it's a little awkward, as such things fit better in WYSIWYG editors.

Hrrm. Thanks for feedback.

If at all possible I want to be able to copy someone on a pm.

Or I want someone to explain how to do this if it is already a feature.

When composing a PM, on the left side there should be a text box labeled "Usernames". Put the usernames to PM in that box, one per line. Then look a bit lower down for buttons labeled "Add [To]" and "Add [BCC]". Click the appropriate button and those people will be added to your PM.

By the way, I moved the "Search this thread" box up to a more visible location. It also has a more descriptive label. Yay!