Themes/Skins

[Buster's Uncle]

Eadee's Master list of his winners, combined with mine -bad news for the theme if we disagree, I think.  Members are urged to have a look at these before I get trigger-happy.

* Core Theme: Bright and comfortable to read. Very similar to the default theme. (maybe unneccessary)
+ Core Theme (Could be.  I'm going to need to make some hard choices, so doesn't look great for this one.)

* Enterprise: Dark theme but also easy to read and not depressing dark.
+Enterprise (Fond of this one, and two members use it.  Definite keep.)

* Blue Eyes: Light Blue theme with black writing. It seems to have all buttons, even Shop.The Header Image says Bryan Deakin.com. To my suprise it looks usable AND different to the default.
+Blue Eyes (Even the pull-downs work on the page-top buttons [better than Core and Enterprise, there] and the theme shows on the Front Page [if with the SMACX news column too narrow]!  Have to investigate the possible keepers more thoroughly, since I believe Eadee found much more than 10, so reporting now to check the Reply stuff.  Eh - the page width is borked, which makes this a maybe.  Pity, when it was doing so well.  -I've been fiddling with this one, and am going to keep [Name changed to Dark Blue Eyes] to work on.)

* Gone Fishin: Wooden planks and a lake in the background. Light blue. Seems to be working, though some Graphics seem to be a bit displaced.
+GoneFishin (Best pass of testing yet - Front Page looks great, buttons, pull-downs, everything but Icons I can/will upload to the theme showing right.  It even has the thread lable icons [taken from the default upload, I reckon] showing.  -Definite keeper, and in fact, this one is SO Rusty Edge that I'm gonna surprise him with it as soon as I've done that uploading.)

The fishing one doesn't work for me. Random bits of the board just disappear (literally; all I see is the background), my items that were gifted to me appear as text, not images, and I had problems getting into my profile to change the theme back to Enterprise.

* Astronomy: Seems to be working fine. Violett-blue theme but less aggressive than Stormfront v1. Even "home"-page works fine.
+Astronomy (Full marks, if only the Shop items inventory & € showed in the postbit - which COULD recommend it to some.  Good-looking.  Keeper.)

* The Killing: dark blue (or maybe dark cyan) theme. Seems to be working fine
+The Killing (Absolutely everything seems to work in this one, and work well - I just checked some things I hadn't been looking for in previous use.  Since only dark themes are currently in use, this is the one I'm using for this DL, to easily check things in a dark theme.  Not the absolute prettiest -some very pretty themes are marked for death over Moby Dick issues- but very legible and the best-functioning I've found so far beside the default and Gone Fishin'.)

Cadence-MultiColor: Darky Cyan theme, Buttons are there comfortable to read. Icons and images a little bit displaced  (probably a problem of screen-resolution). Sadly "Home" is broken completely. Comes in Variants Red and Purple as well.
+Cadence-Multicolor (No pull-downs.  Not really legible enough.  Front Page completely broke.  Everything else works, but weak endorsement.  Probably first one up against the wall when I get it down to 18 or so and need to cull more.  Eadee's thumbs-down removes all doubt.)

* Catalysm: WoW-Theme, dark theme with light Scrolls as background for posts. Looks good, seems to be working.
-Catalysm  (This was looking like a true winner, albeit garish and  a W.O.W. logo up top, and then I came to report, and Blue Eyes page width problem + nearly invisible post text. NEXT.)

* Minecraft: bright theme with minecraft-graphics here and there. Works fine.
+minecraft (Full marks except the 'Lurkers' line is pretty invisible in front of a bush - but MEMBERS don't need to be able to see that, do they?)

* Black Ops: Dark Theme. Easy to read. Works fine.
+Black Ops  (Full Marks.  Valka, you should check this one out.)

* Happy new Year: Bright Theme with Orange and Blue. Works fine.
+Happy New Year (Too much orange borders, but everything works fine.)

* Adk Halloween: Dark theme, Oranga Accents, easy to read. Works fine.
+Adk Hallowen (A winner if you can stand the orange.)

* Halloween I: it works, but navigation misses Icons and Quotes hurt the eyes.
+Halloween I (Kinda similar to the last, but weaker layout, background too dark for black text, and no pull-downs - life expectancy not great.)

* Ostara: Light Blue, cloudy Theme. works, but quotes just don't fit the theme.
+Ostara (Darker blue than the default.  Keeper)

* Thanksgiving: Warmly colored Theme, some brownish yellow (man Its hard to know colors outside of a 16color scheme). Works fine
+Thanksgiving (Relatively subdued autumnal colors, Valka.  Keeper.)

* Christmas Carol: WInter-themed. with light blue and snowflakes. Icons and images displaced badly, but it works.
-Christmas Carol (Bit of an odd-layout turkey with the page-top buttons in sidebars, but pull-downs work and colorful alternative to others so far, and perhaps unfairly might stay.  Would need some border size adjustment, if I can figure that out, though.)

* SMF Pokemon: Pokemon theme, it really hurts the eyes with Green and red in contrast. Some Icons are missing, but the buttons exist. Its easy to read, but the background-colors kill me.
+SMF Pokémon (Day-glow loud keeper, and just knocked Christmas Carol out, having the same basic colors.)

* Mayals: working, but every second post is almost impossible to read because its box is transparent and the theme uses a background with symbols on it. Light Brownish theme. "home" doesn't fit the theme but has all required links. Has two other variants that change the symbols in the background.
-MayaIs (Every second post IS almost impossible to read.  )

* Music: Bright theme with dark Background. Works fine and is easy to read.
+Music (Full marks.)

Impulse2: bright theme with greenish accents. works fine, but "home" misses some Icons for the buttons.
+impulse2  (Some sloppy layout, but attractive autumnal colors that could use some darkening to make Valka theme.)

I count 15 we agree on, but also agreed that Core is probably superfluous, which makes it 14.  Too many blue themes, too many autumn, is what I'm thinking in term of cutting a further 4 or more soon.  More member input might be seriously helpful.

I reckon I'll go ahead and cull everything that hasn't made the cut already, not least for user convenience in checking out the ones on this list...

[Valka]

I use Enterprise, like Astronomy, tried Gone Fishin' (and had problems). I'll try the others later today, if that's okay.

I confess: I chose the autumn colors and astronomy/star-types because those appeal to me. There were so many more themes available, but it would have taken weeks to properly go through all of them.

I tried to choose themes that seemed more masculine, since there are very few women here (that I know of) and in my experience, guys don't tend to go much for pinks and purples.

A very long time ago on the first forum I ever co-admin'd, we had an "apple green" theme that was quite cheerful.

We even had a "My Little Pony" theme, but I'm not seriously suggesting that here! (might over at CFC, just to see the apoplectic posts that would follow...  )

[Buster's Uncle]

...Pokémon is never going to be exactly popular with this crowd, by the nature of the thing.  I would definitely consider a girly pink Restoration/Regency, or Barbie, or whatever, sort of theme, if you can find one that works...

[Valka]

Something doll-themed?

Restoration/Regency... that's a lot of goofy wigs and lace, right? (shudder)

How hard is it to test themes before installing them? If this were an Invision forum, I'd just make a test forum and try things out to see how they look (would obviously leave all the codes governing function alone and just be concerned with colors, background images, etc.).

[BU Admin]

Lady and Gentlemen:  There's been a heartless slaughter, and we are down to 20 themes that work, now - plus Mayals, which doesn't (but IF I can figure out how to make color changes I make show, I can probably fix that).

I still have the .zips, so nothing I just did actually has to be permanent. 

Does anyone care to express an opinion of the Blue Eyes mod pic I attached yesterday?  I might give up on that -in which case, byebye Blue Eyes- and try a straight color mod of the default.



We can try a few things, whatever strikes your fancy, Val - I'll be ruthless about functionality, though, and quick to delete.  Myolchka would LOVE a lot of goofy wigs and lace in subdued colors.  Girly-tastes stuff, is all.  We wants us more cool girlz...

I haven't the foggiest about a way to test other than install and look.

[Valka]

Well, since it's unlikely that the SMF has a Regency-era skin already done, how can we make one? I can search out appropriate images and wallpapers that can be adapted for backgrounds. Then would it just be a matter of substituting colors and images in place of what's in the default theme?

Hmm. I just found an old forum I'd started to develop before I got outvoted by the others on the Fighting Fantasy group on Yahoo (they have a nice green-themed forum now).

I didn't get it remotely finished, but you can have a look at what's been done so far - I decided on wood and stone, to give an atmosphere of being in a castle (since many of those gamebooks take place in castles!).

http://z15.invisionfree.com/FFA_testboard1/index.php?

[Buster's Uncle]

Nice.  Brickwork and stuff, but no fancy in the post displays to mess with legibility.

The themes interface is just a nightmare, and I'm having trouble just modding colors.  Nowhere near ready for lace borders or anything.  Mylochka has expressed serious interest in the past, and she could do Regency like no one else if she could figure out how - but I don't think it's likely to happen, frankly.  We'd like to make a SMACX theme, of course, but there's one heck of a learning curve to conquer first.  I'm going to poke at Mayals and see if I can at least fix the alternating backgrounds before anything else...

[Unorthodox]

Hm?  Whatya need? 

I'm not emotionally tied to The Killing.  Can't remember what I didn't like about Enterprise.  Any of the Halloween ones are atrocious IMO.  Kill them quick.

I just read about Thanksgiving and will likely try it out. 

[Unorthodox]

Cadence was awful

Thanksgiving's not up my alley.

Halloween anything is horrible. 

Enterprise is nice looking by and large as a dark theme, I just don't particularly care for the header (which I just noticed is customizeable) putting in it's own pics instead of the AC2 graphic. 

[Unorthodox]

hEt would probably LOVE astronomy.  But again the header replaced with a big Astronomy logo that's kinda confusing. 

[Buster's Uncle]

I'm not wild about that part, either.

-I'll look into changing that for most of the ones we keep - if there's a logo, I ought to be able to change the link to ours.

[Unorthodox]

Cataclysm and Black ops would be great dark themes other than the butt ugly permanent advertisements in the header/background image as well. 

Back to the Killing for now.   

I'm not a huge fan of the red for the links, but otherwise it's still the most functional of the dark themes. 

[Unorthodox]

I REALLY like Black ops other than the stupid CoD icons and background pic. 

If that background could be switched to a plain black, and just the default icons, it would be the one I used. 

The header pic is there but in the wrong place as well.  Don't know if that can be fixed.  I could play with the CSS if that's what it's using, had to do similar for my website...

[Buster's Uncle]

I believe these are the two that need altering - be my guest.

[Unorthodox]

I can't save/upload right now. 

Pretty sure I can delete the background pic, no problem.  (this is Black Ops?)

The header is there, just getting covered by the top menu.  I can MAYBE move the menu down, but it would be trial and error to get the right location, and since it's a fixed position, that would look ugly on some browsers/mobile.  Options MIGHT let you move the header down without fiddling.

I'd need to look find the file name for the offending icons.  And honestly, it would be easier to just copy them from the default and paste them into the appropriate folder, making sure to name them the same as the existing ones.