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How to create a new theme for your forum [message #158046]

Wed, 21 January 2009 15:58

naudefj

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Follow these easy steps to create a unique custom theme for your forum:

1. Change to your forum's /data/thm directory.

cd forum/data/thm

2. Create a new folder for your theme, say "myskin".

mkdir myskin

3. Copy the files you want to change from the default theme directory (please do not copy everything!). For example, if we only need a different CSS file:

mkdir myskin/tmpl
cp default/tmpl/forum.css.tmpl myskin/tmpl/

4. Edit the copied files, and apply your changes. Also, remove all sections ({SECTION:...}) that you haven't changed for your theme.

5. Navigate to your forum's "Admin Control Panel" -> "Theme Manager". Enter your theme's name, say "myskin", select "myskin" as the "Template Set" and select both "Default" and "Enabled". When done, click "Create".

6. Click "Rebuild all Themes" and return to your forum to see the changes.

Good luck!

Frank

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Re: How to create a new theme for your forum [message #158170 is a reply to message #158164]

Fri, 06 February 2009 01:05

naudefj

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Yes, copy the entire PATH_INFO (it is based on DEFAULT) + the files you need to change from DEFAULT.

Typical installations should only have to change forum.css.tmpl, header.tmpl and footer.tmpl.

PS: If you create a fancy new theme, please remember to show it off in the "Forum Styles" and/or "Forum Showcase" forums.

Happy theming!

Frank

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Re: How to create a new theme for your forum [message #163708 is a reply to message #163439]

Wed, 24 November 2010 16:31

Ernesto

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PATH_INFO just contains template_name_lnk templates - so you can merge it just fine. Remember to touch ./path_info in the theme dir also before you rebuild the theme to ensure that the database etc is updated correctly to understand it is a path_info theme.

Ginnunga Gaming

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Re: How to create a new theme for your forum [message #186560 is a reply to message #166504]

Wed, 01 October 2014 17:54

cpreston

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I'm a bit confused on this. I have a developer that is going to make my own theme, which, as I've mentioned before, I plan to contribute back to the community to be used as the default theme for FUDforum, assuming everyone likes it. I plan on using the PATH_INFO style, but I know you don't use that for the default theme. What should I do to maximize usability of this once it's done?

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Re: How to create a new theme for your forum [message #186562 is a reply to message #186560]

Thu, 02 October 2014 06:00

naudefj

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DEFAULT is a full/complete theme, while PATH_INFO is a minimalistic theme that is just overriding the URL portions. A new theme can be any of the above, but minimalistic themes are definitely preferred.

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Re: How to create a new theme for your forum [message #186569 is a reply to message #186562]

Thu, 02 October 2014 15:05

cpreston

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This is my understanding and please correct me where I'm wrong:
- If he copies and mods the entire DEFAULT theme, then the minimalistic changes that the path_info and path_info_seo themes (which are based off the default theme) would just work.
- If his mod is based on the path_info_seo template/theme, then it will require work to work those changes back into the default theme if we want to use it.

The important thing is that this theme is going to be a major overhaul. I'm asking for a table-less, W3C-compliant, responsive layout. FF would be only one of two major forums that I can find that have a fully responsive layout. (The other is vbulletin. Go to vbulletin.com/forum and shrink your browser's width as small as you can, and you'll see what I mean. It's totally usable on phones. Do the same with phpbb.com, http://community.invisionpower.com, http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php, or phorum.org and you will see they can't do that. My goal is to have FF be able to be fully responsive and mobile-ready.)

If the dream is to make this the new default template for FF, it seems to me that copying and modifying the DEFAULT theme would be the most appropriate thing to do. Or am I looking at this all wrong?

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