[STYLESDB] CA Black (phpBB 3.0.5)

[Arty]

Update

I've updated this style to phpBB 3.0.5

[MaLeKo]

Is the download for 3.0.4 one still available?

[Arty]

Is the download for 3.0.4 one still available?

No. Why would you want old version?

[MaLeKo]

My board is still using 304 and I cant upgrade to 304 for now due to compatibility issue with some mods

[Arty]

Then update those mods. There wasn't anything new in 3.0.5 that could cause compatibility problems with any mods.

[Hercanic]

I love your style! Great visuals and base color scheme. I'm just not a fan of the yellow, but using ColorizeIt! is pure genius. Now we can customize our own color scheme without hand-editing every image.

Many of your coding additions are very slick and useful, such as the dropdown options when you mouseover a person's name in viewtopic, the collapsable categories (larger multi-category forums especially), and the side profile quick hide.

Display Bugs
I'm using IE 8, which has a Compatibility View. When on, the word "Code:" in a codebox is bumped down a line. When off, the Select All and Expand View icons are scooted to the left and a duplicate Select All icon colored gray and non-interactable is present.

When Compatibility View is turned off, the Reply Field when making a new post/replying has a tiny (300-400px) width. The BBcode buttons are also much smaller.


Suggestions
The UCP category links and sublinks mixed into one menu is unintuitive. It feels confusing and messy. Personally, I really like how proSilver had tabs on top and only the sublinks on the left. If you're adamant about an all-in-one list, then the sublinks should be indented. The subtle bolding and icons are not enough.

This may be beyond what a template can do, but if you wanted to add any more nifty features, one thing that could be very helpful is, like the Memberlist, if you could sort posts in ViewForum by clicking on any column category title. Then, you could sort by posts, views, or topic title. Topic title would be especially useful for any forum that has its members add a prefix on their topics, like [Beta], [RC], [Dev] in the Mod Development forum here.


How to?

1. Category Underline - How would I set the category titles to no longer be underlined?
2. Move Quote Icon to Left - Instead of hugging the right corner and being overlooked, how would I put the " Quote icon back on the left before "[name] wrote:"?
3. Move the Date and Post Buttons (Edit, Report, Quote) Back - I'd like the post buttons to be at the top right corner of posts instead of the bottom right corner. I would also like to move the date back to the left corner. I really like how when you hide the profile/avatar sidepanel, the corner date then displays the author's name instead of always displaying. But by being in the far right corner, you don't see it as easily. By having the date back on the left, when you collapse the avatar sidepanel, you'll preserve the author's name in roughly the same location. Much better synergy I think.
4. Hide Subject in Posts - Is it just me, or is having stuff like "Re: [Release] CA Black (phpBB 3.0.5)" on every post repetitive, unnecessary, and a waste of vertical space? How would I snip that bit out of ViewTopic and make better use of that space?

[ivantoar]

Great! I like this theme, especially when I know it is based on prosilver

[Undead46]

Theme is great :].

1 Question: How do I change the logo to use site_logo.png instead of .gif?

[Arty]

Change filename in imageset.cfg then in admin control panel refresh imageset.

Display Bugs
I'm using IE 8, which has a Compatibility View. When on, the word "Code:" in a codebox is bumped down a line. When off, the Select All and Expand View icons are scooted to the left and a duplicate Select All icon colored gray and non-interactable is present.

Thanks for noticing, I'll fix that.

When Compatibility View is turned off, the Reply Field when making a new post/replying has a tiny (300-400px) width. The BBcode buttons are also much smaller.

Its a workaround for IE8 bug. I've removed width from textarea because when you assign width to textarea in IE8 and try to type long message, IE8 randomly scrolls text up/down as it wants and you can't see what you are editing.

This may be beyond what a template can do, but if you wanted to add any more nifty features, one thing that could be very helpful is, like the Memberlist, if you could sort posts in ViewForum by clicking on any column category title. Then, you could sort by posts, views, or topic title. Topic title would be especially useful for any forum that has its members add a prefix on their topics, like [Beta], [RC], [Dev] in the Mod Development forum here.

That's a very interesting idea and I think it can be done without mods.

How to?

1. Category Underline - How would I set the category titles to no longer be underlined?

add in content.css:

Code: Select all

li.header a { text-decoration: none; }

[*]Move Quote Icon to Left - Instead of hugging the right corner and being overlooked, how would I put the " Quote icon back on the left before "[name] wrote:"?

[*]Move the Date and Post Buttons (Edit, Report, Quote) Back - I'd like the post buttons to be at the top right corner of posts instead of the bottom right corner. I would also like to move the date back to the left corner. I really like how when you hide the profile/avatar sidepanel, the corner date then displays the author's name instead of always displaying. But by being in the far right corner, you don't see it as easily. By having the date back on the left, when you collapse the avatar sidepanel, you'll preserve the author's name in roughly the same location. Much better synergy I think.

[*]Hide Subject in Posts - Is it just me, or is having stuff like "Re: [Release] CA Black (phpBB 3.0.5)" on every post repetitive, unnecessary, and a waste of vertical space? How would I snip that bit out of ViewTopic and make better use of that space?[/list]

Icons: that would require rebuilding whole post view and its pointless. Quote icon is best at the bottom because users finish reading at the end of post, not at the beginning, so they don't have to scroll up to beginning of long post to reply to it.

Buttons are on rights side so it won't be too intrusive. There is already a lot of content on left side, adding buttons there would only increase post's height and distract visitor from what's important - post's content.

Post titles: good idea, I'll see if it can be done.


edit: implemented the following ideas:
- topics can now be sorted in viewforum
- topic titles that look like ("Re: " + topic title) are no longer shown inside posts, unless its a first post

All of that is implemented on my dev style. I'll add it to this style's next major version too, but it won't be soon because that version is not a simple modification of this version, but a complete rebuild.

[Arty]

Display Bugs
I'm using IE 8, which has a Compatibility View. When on, the word "Code:" in a codebox is bumped down a line. When off, the Select All and Expand View icons are scooted to the left and a duplicate Select All icon colored gray and non-interactable is present.

Add this to tweaks_ie.css:

Code: Select all

/* BBCode fix for IE7 */
.code-links, #ignore#ie8 {
    width: 100px;
}

[Undead46]

I can't seem to get my Sub-Forums to show up in a the Forum Legend.

Issue with the style?

[Arty]

Nope, its a problem with your permissions.

[Undead46]

Mind redirecting me to an FAQ or tell me how to get my Sub-Forum to show in the legend? :/

[Arty]

Edit that forum in admin control panel, check option "List subforums in legend".

[Hercanic]

Theme is great :].

1 Question: How do I change the logo to use site_logo.png instead of .gif?

It's very simple. Go here.




Dear CyberAlien:
One other display bug I've encountered while on IE7 or IE8 in Compatibility View is the Online icons will sometimes not render completely or at all (such as under your own name).

When Compatibility View is turned off, the Reply Field when making a new post/replying has a tiny (300-400px) width. The BBcode buttons are also much smaller.

Its a workaround for IE8 bug. I've removed width from textarea because when you assign width to textarea in IE8 and try to type long message, IE8 randomly scrolls text up/down as it wants and you can't see what you are editing.

Ah. It still does something similar when the text area develops a scrollbar and you try to go down a line. I have to keep IE on Compatibility View for that reason alone.

[*]Move Quote Icon to Left - Instead of hugging the right corner and being overlooked, how would I put the " Quote icon back on the left before "[name] wrote:"?

Icons: that would require rebuilding whole post view and its pointless. Quote icon is best at the bottom because users finish reading at the end of post, not at the beginning, so they don't have to scroll up to beginning of long post to reply to it.

That is a very good reason for the Quote button. Moving it and the other buttons was part of my second suggestion. However, this particular suggestion here deals with the quotation mark icon that normally precedes "Hercanic wrote:" or "CyberAlien wrote:" like it is here. That icon. Maybe it's just IE and not intentional? In Compatibility and normal mode both, the icon is in the top far right corner of the quote box. If it is intentional, then my critique on that is by being out of the way, the icon loses its impact and goes unnoticed, giving it very little purpose. The quote box doesn't feel as different from any other box (like Code, or if you add any custom BBcode that use boxes).

Buttons are on rights side so it won't be too intrusive. There is already a lot of content on left side, adding buttons there would only increase post's height and distract visitor from what's important - post's content.

Oh, no, I never meant to move the buttons on the right side. Sorry, I was trying to describe moving two different things. The buttons would have gone from the bottom right to the top right. At the top right already, however, is the date and, if you minimize the profile sidepanel, the author. I meant to move the date/author from the top right to the top left.

Now, you present an excellent argument for keeping the buttons on the bottom. The date could probably stay in the top right corner, too. However:

I really like how when you hide the profile/avatar sidepanel, the corner date then displays the author's name instead of always displaying. But by being in the far right corner, you don't see it as easily. By having the date back on the left, when you collapse the avatar sidepanel, you'll preserve the author's name in roughly the same location. Much better synergy I think

What about just moving the author to the right? When the profile sidepanel (can't think of a better term for it) is open, the secondary author display is normally hidden. When the profile sidebar is closed, the hidden secondary display for the author is shown. However, being over with the date on the top far right corner it goes unnoticed. What about moving that to the left top corner where the subject title used to be? That way, when you hide the profile sidepanel, you still have the author's name on the left, where you're used to seeing it. Then, sidepanel hiding would be more practical, as you keep the author name but get to remove avatars, post count, location, all that frivolous stuff, and gain more horizontal space.

edit: implemented the following ideas:
- topics can now be sorted in viewforum
- topic titles that look like ("Re: " + topic title) are no longer shown inside posts, unless its a first post

All of that is implemented on my dev style. I'll add it to this style's next major version too, but it won't be soon because that version is not a simple modification of this version, but a complete rebuild.

That is very awesome. Thank you so very much! I really like that you are receptive to suggestions. Some authors aren't. You've been extremely helpful and have answered all my questions. What more could I ask for? =o)

I browsed through literally hundreds of skins. I needed a clean, dark template that was easy on the eyes. There are a number of nice light templates, but all dark templates I came across had something wrong, such as being gaudy, sloppy, having a harsh or muddied palette, ugly icons, or some very weird design decisions. All would have required some hefty remodeling to suit my needs. Then I came across your template.

Aside from the yellow, the palette was perfect. The icon design was great, too. You had the author sidepanel on the left yet were still prosilver-based, which was another thing I was looking for (I do not care at all for the new route phpBB3 has tried with the righthand sidepanel). Once I stumbled across the extra *features*, like the author popup or collapsing categories and sidebar, I was sold. I thought I would still have a little heavy lifting to do with the yellow, though, but then I saw the ColorizeIt link. Then and there, I knew I was in love. This skin, this template, this style, it is a work of smartly-designed, eye-pleasing, feature-rich, professionally-crafted art. You've done an excellent job, you continue to support and update it, and you have offered this all for free to the world.

Thank you.

You've earned my gushing endorsement. Anyone, absolutely anyone I meet who is in need of a designer for a commercial endeavor, I shall definitely refer them to your website.