The Styles Submission Policy (How to Submit a Style)

All 3.0.x styles released in our Styles Database can be found here. All discussion or support regarding an individual style should take place in that style's own area in the Customisations Database.
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READ: phpBB.com Board-Wide Rules and Regulations

NOTICE: This forum is only for the announcement of releases and/or updates for styles. Any style support should be obtained through the Customisations Database in the support area designated for each style.

A direct link to support for each Style is in the first post of the respective topic.
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Erisar
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The Styles Submission Policy (How to Submit a Style)

Post by Erisar »

STYLES SUBMISSION POLICY
For phpBB 3.0.x Styles

Below are the procedures and guidelines that need to be followed by anyone submitting a style to the phpBB Styles Database.

Overview of this document:
STYLES DATABASE OVERVIEW
  • All styles that have been approved can be found in our Styles Database. Within the database, visitors can filter styles by phpBB version, by author, by color, and more.

    If you create a style and want to submit it to our database, it will first be automatically sent to the Styles Team for review. The Styles Team is responsible for ensuring that your submission follows the guidelines below. If two members of the Styles Team inspect your submission and find no obvious errors, it will be approved for release. Please note the Styles Team has full discretion on what it approves or denies. This process can sometimes take a considerable amount of time, so it's in your best interest to follow all of the guidelines from the start. If your style is denied and then resubmitted, it is placed at the end of the queue.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
  • For All Submissions:
    • All submissions must be your own work. Submissions cannot contain any copyrighted material (code, images, or otherwise) without express (and provided) permission from the original source.
    • Submissions must inherit phpBB's general public license. No additional or alternative licenses for your style are permitted.
    • Submissions must not have an offensive name or contain any offensive content. The Styles Team has full discretion on this, and also reserves the right to deny any submission that it feels does not conform to a certain level of aesthetic quality.
    • Submissions must be stand-alone and not require:
      • Altering phpBB's PHP code in any way.
      • Installation of any MODifications.
      • Files from other styles or from an external website (i.e. linking to images in another style's directory, or linking to an image on your personal website). The only exception to this is for submissions that do not have their own template set included (these can then reference prosilver's template files).
    • Submissions should be submitted as a single .zip file.
      • The .zip file should not contain additional directories and should extract directly (i.e. "ABCstyle" should extract to /ABCstyle/, not /XYZ/ABCstyle/). The only exception to this is for board style variants in the package (see below).
      • The .zip file should not contain any extraneous files (such as Thumbs.db files or images not directly related to the style, such as advertisements).
        • All .psd (Photoshop) files (i.e. logos or buttons) or extra images should be placed in a single directory of your submission named contrib/ (i.e. /ABCStyle/contrib/). Extra .html files (relating to MODs, for example) are not allowed in your submission.
        • Any links to your website, donation requests, general information, etc should be placed in a single readme.txt file inside the contrib/ directory. Keep in mind that advertisement is not allowed on the readme.txt, if there is any advertisement on your readme.txt the Styles Team are free to remove it.
      • The .zip file should be named StylenameVersion.zip. Stylename is the name of your style, and Version is the version number of YOUR style (not the phpBB version it is compatible with).
  • For Ranks, Avatars, Smilies, and Topic Icons:
    • The rank images, avatar images, smilie images, or topic icon images should be placed within a single folder named after your style. You may place recursive child folders inside this parent for organization at your discretion.
  • For Board Styles:
    • All submissions need to be compatible with the latest version of phpBB 3.0. See the Template Changes topic for more information.
    • Submissions must be compatible with Internet Explorer 6 (and above) and Firefox.
      • If there are minor display issues with your style in a specific browser (i.e. Internet Explorer 6), it may still be submitted as long as it does not interfere with any phpBB functionality. Please detail any known display issues with your style upon submission.
    • Files should not have any hard-coded (static) text in them. All text should come from the phpBB language files (to allow for localization).
    • The phpBB copyright in the footer of the board style must be kept completely intact and immediately visible on all pages.
      • In addition to this, one link to your personal site may also be included as an author credit in the footer if you choose. Please note that the Styles Team has complete discretion on what is acceptable as an author credit link.
    • phpBB 3.0's styling system is broken into three components:
      • 1. Templates (.html and .js files that determine the page structure, layout, and functions).
        2. Themes (.css files that determine color schemes, fonts, etc).
        3. Imagesets (.gif, .jpg, or .png image files that are used throughout a style).

        Collectively these three are referred to as a Board Style. You may submit all three components in one package as long as each component is modified from the vanilla phpBB 3.0 version. Do not submit each component individually in this case.

        You may instead submit only one of the three components in a package if you do not intend to modify the other two. For example, you may submit an imageset without also submitting an associated theme and template.
      • Each component has a respective folder and that structure should be kept intact.
        • For a board style submission, the folders for all three components should be included.
          • The structure for your board style submission should be as follows (using example "ABCstyle"):
            • /ABCstyle/
              • contrib/ (optional)
                imageset/
                template/
                theme/
                style.cfg
                (Leave this named as is; only edit the contents with your style's information. Note that the version number in this file should be the version of YOUR style, not necessarily the phpBB version.)
        • If submitting only one component, omit the folders of the irrelevant components.
          • The structure for just an imageset submission should be as follows (using example "ABCstyle"):
            • /ABCstyle/
              • contrib/ (optional)
                imageset/
      • There should be no other files outside of this structure.
      • There should be no additional files that are outside of a vanilla phpBB 3.0 installation (with the exception of those in the optional contrib/ folder, or any relevant additional .html template files). Likewise, there should be no files or images missing.
    • No separate clone submissions (variants of a style, such as color or slight design variants) are allowed for phpBB 3.0. The Template/Theme/Imageset structure allows you to include several variations (i.e. different themes to achieve different color schemes) all in one package.
      • Example scenario (using example "ABCStyle"):
        • /ABCStyle/
          • contrib/ (optional)
            imageset/
            template/
            theme/
            style.cfg
          /ABCStyleBlue/
          • imageset/
            theme/

          /ABCStyleGreen/
          • imageset/
            theme/

          /ABCStyleRed/
          • imageset/
            theme/
      • Once the user installs the primary style ("ABCStyle" in this example), the supplemental variations ("ABCStyleBlue", "ABCStyleGreen", etc) can be selected in the Administration Control Panel.
SUBMITTING YOUR STYLE
  • After checking to ensure your style complies with all of the above guidelines, you can submit your style. Failure to comply with the following instructions could lead to an instant denial of your submission.

    To submit a NEW style:
    (One that is not an update to a previously submitted style)
    1. Visit the phpBB Styles Database and click Submit a style on the right-hand side.
    2. Fill in the Required Information box as follows:
      • Style name: Enter the name of your style. Note that it must be a unique name, and cannot already exist in our database.
      • Style version: The version of YOUR style, not the phpBB version. If this is the first time you are submitting this style, then a good version number could be 1.0.0, for example.
      • Style description: A few brief words about your style. This will be shown to everyone once the style is released. It should be concise and informative. Note that this description can not be changed in future updates to your style.
      • Style upload: Click the Browse button and locate the .ZIP file of your style on your computer.
      • I have read the Style submission policy and agreed with this: You must check this box in order for your style to be submitted.
      • phpBB Version for this style: Select the appropriate phpBB version from those listed.
      • Allow the phpBB Styles Team to fix small errors in your Style? If you uncheck this box, any errors we find will lead to denial of your submission. Otherwise, we will do our best to fix minor errors we notice during the validation process.
      • Component: Select the appropriate classification for your submission.
        • Board Style -- For board styles (where template, theme, and imageset are all included in the package)
        • Smilies -- For packages containing only smilies.
        • Ranks -- For packages containing only rank images.
        • Avatars -- For packages containing only avatars.
        • Imageset -- For packages containing only imagesets.
        • Theme -- For packages containing only theme files.
        • Template -- For packages containing only template files.
        • Topic icons -- For packages containing only topic icons.
    3. You may fill in the boxes under Optional Information if you wish. Note that the Category and Color boxes will better allow people to find your style. Please select them as accurately as possible.
    4. Click Submit! Your style will be submitted to the Styles Team's private queue and you will later be notified of approval or denial via private message.

      You can see your submitted style in the My styles page of the Styles Database.
    To submit an UPDATED style:
    (One that has been submitted at least once in the past)
    1. Visit the phpBB Styles Database and click My styles on the right-hand side.
    2. You will be presented with a list of every style you have ever submitted to the phpBB Styles Database. Find the style you wish to update, and click the pink Manage icon to the right of it.
    3. Then, click the Update tab and fill in the information boxes as follows:
      • Style version: The version of YOUR style, not the phpBB version. You should increment the version number for every update you submit. Usual numbering convention is:
        • For small updates (for example, code updates to match an updated phpBB release) increment the third number (1.0.0 to 1.0.1).
        • For more significant updates (for example, updated images, updated color schemes, layout modifications, etc.) increment the second number (1.0.0 to 1.1.0).
        • For substantial updates (for example, major layout changes, total revisions, new versions, etc.) increment the first number (1.0.0 to 2.0.0).
      • Style upload: Click the Browse button and locate the .ZIP file of your style on your computer.
      • I have read the Style submission policy and agreed with this: You must check this box in order for your updated style to be submitted.
      • Allow the phpBB Styles Team to fix small errors in your Style? If you uncheck this box, any errors we find will lead to denial of your submission. Otherwise, we will do our best to fix minor errors we notice during the validation process.
    4. Click Submit! Your style will be submitted to the Styles Team's private queue and you will later be notified of approval or denial via private message.

      You can see your submitted style in the My styles page of the Styles Database.
Latest Revision: 2 July 2009
Last edited by Erisar on Wed Aug 20, 2008 9:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Raimon
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Re: The Styles Submission Policy (How to Submit a Style)

Post by Raimon »

Currently we have reviewed and revised our Style Submission Policy, feel free to post your input on our Changes in Style Submission Policy Topic.

The phpBB Styles Team
Need phpBB installation, extenstions, Styles or integrate phpBB with you website?
Contact me @ www.raimon.nl for fair prices and good service!
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