TheSidewinder Posted July 31, 2008 Posted July 31, 2008 Some you may have already noticed that the default skins have a new header graphic. A few minutes with Photoshop, and there they are. Nothing fancy, but at least it says APC Forum. In addition, there are now 2 new skins. These were free, and compatible with all modules except Blog. Because of the way in which the Blog module now works, it requires a complete rewrite of the way in which skins are created, and NO skin author has yet released any free skins with Blog compatibility. Skin remapping, to the Class Blue Skin, solves that problem. The skins are WWW and Arobase, which some of you may recognize. You can choose them at the bottom left of most pages. Anyone who has an artistic streak is welcome to edit free skins and submit them for consideration. They must contain a suitable header logo, or a blank .PSD file for us to create one, as well as all graphics for the Download and Gallery modules. If they also contain a proper header, CSS, and image for Blog, so much the better. Feedback is welcome!
marks265 Posted July 31, 2008 Posted July 31, 2008 Some you may have already noticed that the default skins have a new header graphic. A few minutes with Photoshop, and there they are. Nothing fancy, but at least it says APC Forum. In addition, there are now 2 new skins. These were free, and compatible with all modules except Blog. Because of the way in which the Blog module now works, it requires a complete rewrite of the way in which skins are created, and NO skin author has yet released any free skins with Blog compatibility. Skin remapping, to the Class Blue Skin, solves that problem. The skins are WWW and Arobase, which some of you may recognize. You can choose them at the bottom left of most pages. Anyone who has an artistic streak is welcome to edit free skins and submit them for consideration. They must contain a suitable header logo, or a blank .PSD file for us to create one, as well as all graphics for the Download and Gallery modules. If they also contain a proper header, CSS, and image for Blog, so much the better. Feedback is welcome! I like the www skin out of the two. The harvest gold color I hate because I get relapses from the 70's but it does point out the controls and tames the white. The white around the red letters kinda kills me because I thought we were tring to tone things down. Over all I may end up favoring IP pro. More choices are still better than no choices! Thanks for working on it TS!
TheSidewinder Posted July 31, 2008 Author Posted July 31, 2008 Yeah, I think the graphics are a bit too bright. Let me work on that. Check back in a few minutes.....
TheSidewinder Posted July 31, 2008 Author Posted July 31, 2008 OK, WWW Skin changed to tone it down. Now to work on the Arobase one....
psyco_1322 Posted July 31, 2008 Posted July 31, 2008 What the hell is with all the blue? Dont they make skins in something other than blue tones? Im sticking with the IP.Board Pro, atleast it doesnt look like an advertisement for the world wide web.
TheSidewinder Posted July 31, 2008 Author Posted July 31, 2008 The Arobase graphic is fixed now, too. And if you have a source of nice-looking free skins, psyco, I'm all ears. EDIT: Let's see if I can do something with that awful WWW post icon......
TheSidewinder Posted July 31, 2008 Author Posted July 31, 2008 OK, made a few more refinements to the Logos. They don't look quite the same inside Photoshop as they do "live". I'll have to spend some more time on those WWW post icons. With luck I can snag the old icons from the Red Skin and see how they look.
ActionTekJackson Posted July 31, 2008 Posted July 31, 2008 I miss the old look. Really made the forum feel different from most of the rest. This new look is too blah, nothing that says, hey, we are different. Here it's REAL Pyro and yes we acknowledge that it is in fact hella cool and we aren't stuck up about it. Now we have this business blue project discussion board, or so it feels. If I had the skills I'd make a new skin for us. :-(
TheSidewinder Posted July 31, 2008 Author Posted July 31, 2008 Well... I hear ya. I, too, miss the old look we had. The two skins I just added are great for anyone with "old eyes" (i.e. me), but I agree they're more "business-like" and bland than I prefer I haven't stopped looking for skins, though. I just haven't seen any that are even CLOSE to the old Red one yet. Or the Bohegeha ones, for that matter. That's why I'm asking users to keep their eyes open and let us know if they find any good ones. I wish I knew how to code a skin, too. Best I know how to do is cut and paste images from one to another.
FrankRizzo Posted July 31, 2008 Posted July 31, 2008 SW, It looks like the old BoHeGeHa Dark blue might be compatible with the new version. Honestly, that was my favorite of the ones we had installed before. I think Mumbles used it too. http://resources.invisionpower.com/index.p...mp;showfile=742
TheSidewinder Posted August 1, 2008 Author Posted August 1, 2008 Thanks, Frank! I just downloaded it and will check it out on my test install. I already know it isn't compatible with the new Blog, but that's no surprise. I've got Blog remapped in order to get it displayed properly with 3rd party skins, so that won't present a problem. If there are missing graphics, I'll try to get them created ASAP.
Mumbles Posted August 1, 2008 Posted August 1, 2008 It doesn't bother me if a skin wont apply to the blog as well. I think you were saying that people could customize the look of them anyway. Or was that more layout than the skin itself? If that works, it will definately feel like home again.
TheSidewinder Posted August 1, 2008 Author Posted August 1, 2008 The way Blog has been re-written prevents ANY existing skin from displaying even half-way right. By remapping, I force it to use the Classic Blue skin (which is written correctly) as a "base" for customization. Yeah, users can choose one of two Themes I quickly wrote (and I'll make more). Swede is using one of them. In my Blog, the entry shows how you can create your own color scheme and (very) simple Theme, too. And you're correct, it's more layout than the skin itself. But it has to be based on the Classic Blue CSS, at least until someone writes a completely new one. This has confused a lot of people. The IPS Forums are buzzing about it, since even the Skin Designers haven't completely figured it out yet. And since IPS didn't release any documentation on the new Blog, that's complicated things a lot, and pissed off more than a few people.
FrankRizzo Posted August 1, 2008 Posted August 1, 2008 (edited) Niice.. Thanks Sidewinder; 10x better!! Edited August 1, 2008 by FrankRizzo
psyco_1322 Posted August 1, 2008 Posted August 1, 2008 (edited) Do we have any pics/links to the old looking forum that maybe someone can go off to make a new one? If so we could have some (pay) make a new one that is similar. Just have the members doante towards the cost of it until we get enough and then they can have there old look back. Not sure if I found the right thing but heres an idea. Click on screen shots in the middle for a look. Its nice looking, dark, its black not a maroon but its easy on the eyes.http://www.gpf-design.com/download/file.php?id=40 Do you have control over what font is used for the main title at the top of the page that says APC? Cause the Be ho me she Dark blue skin have the font of a porn site. Not to critisize but hay, Im not wanting to look at pretty pink glowing letters at the top of the page and Im sure some can agree. Edited August 2, 2008 by psyco_1322
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