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robbear7
Junior Member
106 Posts |
 Posted - 06 September 2002 : 15:47:59
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Large Update 9/26/02:
Serevinus and myself have been working very hard to provide the ultamite version of Snitz that will allow you to style your Snitz forum to the Max with the ease of CSS.
At this time, there is no official download. It will be coming soon. But, we would like to officially invite you to test out the new administration area to first hand get an idea on how powerful this CSS version of Snitz will be. But first.. the features.
Features already integrated:
1. The administrative control panel with the ability to set colors to the forum just as you are used to.
2. Added to this admin control panel is the ability to now set background images (via CSS) to the page background, headers, category headers, forum cells, alternating color forum cells, first forum cell, and pop up table cells. Images can be set to no-repeat, repeat across, repeat down, or simply repeat.
3. Ability to set the color of the horizontal rule used through out the forum.
4. Color chooser popup window to select a color with your mouse.
5. A new column has been added to the admin forum color panel that will display your colors you have chosen in real time.
6. With Serevinus's style mod integrated, you can save styles for your members to choose from.
7. The ability to import/export styles that will allow you to create styles for others to use.
8. When exporting styles, you have the ability to identify the style as yours. Using the sha_256.asp file the export identifies the style with a generated key that will protect your theme from being 'theived' by someone else trying to recieve credit.
9. The ability to create a folder for each style for images.
Featues not yet integrated (But will be in the final release):
1. The ability to control how your form elements should look. In the admin forum color panel you will have the option for setting the background color, font size, type and color for all form elements. (Will include browser detection to help Netscape 4 ignore specific properties that might normally render the board unusable).
2. The ability to optionally alternate cell colors in default.asp, forum.asp and topic.asp.
3. The ability to attach your own style sheet for more advanced users of CSS. Will also include ability to load various style sheets depending on what browsers and version are used to view forum.
4. The ability to create a new style based off of any created style already present.
That is all I can think of for the moment.
The demo boards:
Serevinus and I each have a demo board up and running. You can log in as an admin using admin / admin for the username and password. We encourage you to check out the Style Configuration in the admin area.
Also, give the import/export feature a test. Between the two test forums, you can export a style from one and import it to the other. Create styles, set styles for your self etc.
My board:
http://www.robbear7.com/designer/testforum
Serevinus:
http://www.quicksilverwd.com/snitzcss
We will keep you up to date as to when this final release will be available (should be very soon).
Have fun!
Updated 9/22/02:
I have updated a few lines of the CSS. You can download the zip below with the updates. Or just simply make the changes yourself.
To manually update the CSS, change the class .textID to look like this:
/* Defines color of text for portions of topic.asp and other various parts of the board. */
/* IMPORTANT: Needs to be set to same color as .forumcell, .firstforumcell and .altforumcell*/
.textID {
color : #191970
}
and add this to the CSS also:
/* Defines height of horizontal rule used throughout the forum. */
hr {
height : 1px
}
I have completed converting the entire Snitz v3.4.02 forum to CSS. All styles have been moved to an external style sheet, and all <font> tags have been removed. I have picked through every page of forum code and the CSS is smartly applied. The CSS is attached in inc_header.asp and inc_header_short.asp.
At this time I have not taken the time to remove the admin color options. Although, in administration you can change the forum colors and fonts all you want, but it will not be applied to anything. The forum look and feel is entirely powered by the fully commented external style sheet.
I would say the conversion to CSS is still in a beta stage, and you are bound to find odd little bugs and browser incompatibilities. When and if you do, please let me know so I can fix them.
Download here:
http://www.robbear7.com/designer/download/sf2k_v34_02_CSS_v1beta.zip
Update:
I now have a demo site for you to look at. Please feel free to register and browse the board. Also take a gander at the source code to see how the CSS is applied throughout the board if you'd like. 
http://www.robbear7.com/client/
In the near future a partner and I plan to build a very powerful administration panel that will cater to everyone, whether you are CSS savvy or not. Converting the forum to CSS was simply the first (but large) stage in our overall plans.
I would also like to add that the forum code has not been compromised one bit. You will still get 100% of the functionality that comes with Snitz. The current CSS style is made to replicate the original color scheme. You will not even notice a difference.
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http://www.r7designer.com
Free Dreamweaver Templates and loads of help for CSS, XHTML and Web Standards. |
Edited by - robbear7 on 26 September 2002 09:02:05 |
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Podge
Support Moderator
Ireland
3775 Posts |
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Serevinus
Junior Member
United Kingdom
124 Posts |
Posted - 06 September 2002 : 20:13:02
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Currently you have to edit the CSS by hand, however I will be helping Rob to build a new administrative interface similar to the current interface, for non savvy users
There will also be an option for admins with advanced CSS knowlege to create their own stylesheets, so you will be able to choose which option is best for your needs |
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Podge
Support Moderator
Ireland
3775 Posts |
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Serevinus
Junior Member
United Kingdom
124 Posts |
Posted - 06 September 2002 : 20:37:29
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One step ahead of you there, I was discussing that with Rob last night
There may be a variation of the folowing- The current edit page, with a save to file function (if FSO is enabled)
- The current edit page, will show code in a textbox for the admin to save to file (for non-FSO systems)
- The current edit page, will save the code to database and generate the CSS file on the fly
- An option for an admin to create and upload his own CSS files and add a link to it via a new admin page
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Edited by - Serevinus on 06 September 2002 20:38:59 |
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RichardKinser
Snitz Forums Admin
USA
16655 Posts |
Posted - 06 September 2002 : 20:40:53
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It looks like they have v2.7:
http://www23.brinkster.com/richsnitz/testver.asp
Serevinus, Podge has had a CSS version of this forum for over a year. Currently he uses FSO to output the style.css file each time a change is made (using the same interface as there is now). Podge runs this site: http://www.forumco.com |
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Podge
Support Moderator
Ireland
3775 Posts |
Posted - 06 September 2002 : 20:45:40
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Very good. A lot of users don't have FSO but there is another way (if I may be so bold).
This is how to write to a text file using ADO (2.5 or above).
<!--METADATA TYPE="typelib"
UUID="00000205-0000-0010-8000-00AA006D2EA4"
NAME="ADODB Type Library"
-->
<%
'Create a Stream instance
Dim objStream
Set objStream = Server.CreateObject("ADODB.Stream")
'Open the stream
objStream.Open
objStream.Type = adTypeText
objStream.Charset = "ascii"
objStream.WriteText "Buy a copy of Designing Active Server Pages!!!"
objStream.SaveToFile "D:\InetPub\wwwroot\demos\StreamDemo.txt", adSaveCreateOverwrite
'Close the stream and set it to nothing...
objStream.Close
Set objStream = Nothing
%>
Nice work by the way. How did you do it so fast? |
Podge.
The Hunger Site - Click to donate free food | My Blog | Snitz 3.4.05 AutoInstall (Beta!)
My Mods: CAPTCHA Mod | GateKeeper Mod
Tutorial: Enable subscriptions on your board
Warning: The post above or below may contain nuts. |
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Podge
Support Moderator
Ireland
3775 Posts |
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robbear7
Junior Member
106 Posts |
Posted - 06 September 2002 : 20:47:56
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We also discussed the option of loading stylesheets depending on browser. This would allow for the advanced CSS writers to upload their own styelsheets for various browsers. In the administration panel they would simply enter in the path of the style sheet, or select from a list of style sheets in realation to which browser and version should load it.
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http://www.r7designer.com
Free Dreamweaver Templates and loads of help for CSS, XHTML and Web Standards. |
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mot
New Member
United Kingdom
70 Posts |
Posted - 06 September 2002 : 20:48:39
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quote:
Originally posted by robbear7
I have completed converting the entire Snitz v3.4.02 forum to CSS.
Fantastic work, more power to you.
http://UKDivers.com |
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RichardKinser
Snitz Forums Admin
USA
16655 Posts |
Posted - 06 September 2002 : 20:51:11
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| Podge, I tested the code you posted above, on Brinkster. It works, but only in the db directory. I think the db directory is the only one with write access. |
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Serevinus
Junior Member
United Kingdom
124 Posts |
Posted - 06 September 2002 : 20:51:19
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Thanks for the sample, I have never thought of using ADO streaming for output, I will read up on it a little before I commit myself to using it, maybe I will give the admin an option of using FSO or ADO, we will see
You have Rob to thank for the convertion so far, my job has just started with the interface etc |
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Serevinus
Junior Member
United Kingdom
124 Posts |
Posted - 06 September 2002 : 20:53:49
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Yes it is Richard
I dont think I can use it on my account at all, I am a premium member of brinkster so my database dir is below the website root, so I would be able to save the file but it wouldnt be available for reading |
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Podge
Support Moderator
Ireland
3775 Posts |
Posted - 06 September 2002 : 20:55:00
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quote:
Originally posted by robbear7
We also discussed the option of loading stylesheets depending on browser. This would allow for the advanced CSS writers to upload their own styelsheets for various browsers. In the administration panel they would simply enter in the path of the style sheet, or select from a list of style sheets in realation to which browser and version should load it.
Looks like a lot of thought went into it.
How about allowing the admin to create a few stylesheets and allowing the user to select one to use in their profile?
Or include a few default styles for those admins who don't want to spend the time customising the colors or need to reset them?
Loads of possibilities...... |
Podge.
The Hunger Site - Click to donate free food | My Blog | Snitz 3.4.05 AutoInstall (Beta!)
My Mods: CAPTCHA Mod | GateKeeper Mod
Tutorial: Enable subscriptions on your board
Warning: The post above or below may contain nuts. |
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Serevinus
Junior Member
United Kingdom
124 Posts |
Posted - 06 September 2002 : 20:59:16
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quote:
How about allowing the admin to create a few stylesheets and allowing the user to select one to use in their profile?
I was thinking maybe I could make a version of my MOD which could do somthing like that, that would be Robs decision not mine though |
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Podge
Support Moderator
Ireland
3775 Posts |
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Topic |
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Topic Locked
