Tutorial for installing themes
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Tutorial for installing themes
How to add a theme to your board.
PHPBB VERSION 2
There are a few ways to add a theme to your site. Firstly forumotion has a list of preset themes that you can find in admin>>>styles>>>choose a theme. You can select either the colours of the theme, or the images of the theme or both. It does this all automatically for you.
Secondly you will see when choosing a theme that there is a tab for www.hitskin.com a site in conjunction with forumotion that has a database of phpbb 2 and phpbb 3 themes. You can choose any of these and it will be added automatically to the site.
Thirdly, you can manually add a theme. This is not easy for those with little HTML and CSS knowledge, so i firmly suggest creating a test board to practice on. I normally choose the standard subsilver theme from the choose a theme and install it on my test forum ready to begin.
Step 1.
Find a phpbb 2 theme you like from the many sites out there that offer themes. Google free phpbb themes. Download it to your computer.
Step 2.
Extract all files within the theme and search for the one that says its file type is a Cascading Style Sheet, The examples below are for the girltalk theme i use on my site. Open the Cascading Style Sheet and copy all the code within it.
Girltalk CSS
Step 3.
In admin>>styles>>>colors, you will see the tab for your CSS style sheet at present. Click it. The box for it is most likely empty. Paste your copied CSS code in the empty white box and save. Leave default style sheet to yes.
Step 4.
You now need to host the images that your pasted CSS needs.
body {
background-image: url(images/girTalk2_bg.gif);
background-repeat: repeat;
background-color: #E6F6F9;
margin: 0px;
padding: 0px;
height: 100%;
scrollbar-face-color: #DEE3E7;
scrollbar-highlight-color: #FFFFFF;
scrollbar-shadow-color: #DEE3E7;
scrollbar-3dlight-color: #D1D7DC;
scrollbar-arrow-color: #EF6B6B;
scrollbar-track-color: #EFEFEF;
scrollbar-darkshadow-color: #98AAB1;
as you can see from the snippet of the CCS i am using as an example, the part in bold needs to be changed. It is only half a URL. You need to find the image within the theme folder (it will have the same tite as the end of the code, for example in my case the image would be saved in the theme folder under: girTalk2_bg) and save it to your computer, then upload the image to the likes of servimg, photobucket imageshack etc. You then need to replace the link in bold, with the direct URL to your hosted picture.
body {
background-image: url(https://2img.net/r/ihimg/7878/23/girTalk2_bg.gif);
background-repeat: repeat;
background-color: #E6F6F9;
margin: 0px;
padding: 0px;
height: 100%;
scrollbar-face-color: #DEE3E7;
scrollbar-highlight-color: #FFFFFF;
scrollbar-shadow-color: #DEE3E7;
scrollbar-3dlight-color: #D1D7DC;
scrollbar-arrow-color: #EF6B6B;
scrollbar-track-color: #EFEFEF;
scrollbar-darkshadow-color: #98AAB1;
Step 5.
Work through your style sheet and theme folder saving images, hosting and changing URLs till they are all done. Then save. You can then preview your forum to see the changes. if your default themes headers etc are still present you need to go into modify the pictures and remove the URLS for them and save, as this will leave them empty and your CSS will take over.
Step 6.
You can then continue to use images from the unzipped theme files on your computer and hosting them, for the forum icons, buttons etc in admin>>>styles>>>modify the pictures. Its very time consuming.
One you have uploaded all the new images, that should be your theme installed on your forum.
This is how i install themes anyhow. I dont know if thats particularly correct so input would be good.
PHPBB VERSION 2
There are a few ways to add a theme to your site. Firstly forumotion has a list of preset themes that you can find in admin>>>styles>>>choose a theme. You can select either the colours of the theme, or the images of the theme or both. It does this all automatically for you.
Secondly you will see when choosing a theme that there is a tab for www.hitskin.com a site in conjunction with forumotion that has a database of phpbb 2 and phpbb 3 themes. You can choose any of these and it will be added automatically to the site.
Thirdly, you can manually add a theme. This is not easy for those with little HTML and CSS knowledge, so i firmly suggest creating a test board to practice on. I normally choose the standard subsilver theme from the choose a theme and install it on my test forum ready to begin.
Step 1.
Find a phpbb 2 theme you like from the many sites out there that offer themes. Google free phpbb themes. Download it to your computer.
Step 2.
Extract all files within the theme and search for the one that says its file type is a Cascading Style Sheet, The examples below are for the girltalk theme i use on my site. Open the Cascading Style Sheet and copy all the code within it.
Girltalk CSS
- Spoiler:
- /*
girltalk2 by napy8gen from forumtemplates.com
*/
body {
background-image: url(images/girTalk2_bg.gif);
background-repeat: repeat;
background-color: #E6F6F9;
margin: 0px;
padding: 0px;
height: 100%;
scrollbar-face-color: #DEE3E7;
scrollbar-highlight-color: #FFFFFF;
scrollbar-shadow-color: #DEE3E7;
scrollbar-3dlight-color: #D1D7DC;
scrollbar-arrow-color: #EF6B6B;
scrollbar-track-color: #EFEFEF;
scrollbar-darkshadow-color: #98AAB1;
}
.L {
background-image: url(images/girTalk2_bdrL.gif);
background-repeat: repeat-y;
width: 16px;
}
.R {
background-image: url(images/girTalk2_bdrR.gif);
background-repeat: repeat-y;
width: 16px;
}
.headerwrap {
background-image: url(images/girTalk2_headerbg.gif);
background-repeat: repeat-x;
height: 128px;
background-color: #E2F1F2;
}
.navwrap {
background-image: url(images/girTalk2_navbg.gif);
background-repeat: repeat-x;
height: 34px;
background-color: #F8E3FB;
}
.cwrap {
background-image: url(images/girTalk2_cbg.gif);
background-repeat: repeat-x;
height: 200px;
background-color: #FFFFFF;
}
.wrapper {
border-bottom-width: 1px;
border-bottom-style: solid;
border-bottom-color: #B6E0E3;
}
#navstyle{
font-family:Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size: 13px;
color: #FBD9D9;
margin-top:0px;
font-weight: bold;
}
#navstyle a{font-family:Tahoma,Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size: 13px;
color: #EF6B6B;
text-decoration: none;
font-weight: bold;}
#navstyle a:hover{font-family:Tahoma,Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size: 13px;
color: #B54BD8;
text-decoration: underline;
font-weight: bold;}
/* General font families for common tags */
font,th,td,p { font-family: Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica}
a:link,a:active,a:visited { color : #EF6B6B; }
a:hover { text-decoration: underline; color : #B54BD8; }
hr { height: 0px; border: solid #D1D7DC 0px; border-top-width: 1px;}
/* This is the border line & background colour round the entire page */
.bodyline { background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 1px #98AAB1 solid; }
/* This is the outline round the main forum tables */
.forumline { background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 2px #D8F2F4 solid; }
/* Main table cell colours and backgrounds */
td.row1 { background-color: #E2F1F2; }
td.row2 { background-color: #FCF2FE; }
td.row3 { background-color: #FEFBF2; }
/*
This is for the table cell above the Topics, Post & Last posts on the index.php page
By default this is the fading out gradiated silver background.
However, you could replace this with a bitmap specific for each forum
*/
td.rowpic {
background-color: #F4D2F9;
}
/* Header cells - the blue and silver gradient backgrounds */
th {
color: #E2F4F5; font-size: 11px; font-weight : bold;
background-color: #E6B1EE; height: 25px;
}
td.cat,td.catHead,td.catSides,td.catLeft,td.catRight,td.catBottom {
background-color:#F4D2F9; border: #FFFFFF; border-style: solid; height: 28px;
}
/*
Setting additional nice inner borders for the main table cells.
The names indicate which sides the border will be on.
Don't worry if you don't understand this, just ignore it :-)
*/
td.cat,td.catHead,td.catBottom {
height: 29px;
border-width: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
th.thHead,th.thSides,th.thTop,th.thLeft,th.thRight,th.thBottom,th.thCornerL,th.thCornerR {
font-weight: bold; border: #FFFFFF; border-style: solid; height: 28px; }
td.row3Right,td.spaceRow {
background-color: #F0D3F5; border: #FFFFFF; border-style: solid; }
th.thHead,td.catHead { font-size: 12px; border-width: 1px 1px 0px 1px; }
th.thSides,td.catSides,td.spaceRow { border-width: 0px 1px 0px 1px; }
th.thRight,td.catRight,td.row3Right { border-width: 0px 1px 0px 0px; }
th.thLeft,td.catLeft { border-width: 0px 0px 0px 1px; }
th.thBottom,td.catBottom { border-width: 0px 1px 1px 1px; }
th.thTop { border-width: 1px 0px 0px 0px; }
th.thCornerL { border-width: 1px 0px 0px 1px; }
th.thCornerR { border-width: 1px 1px 0px 0px; }
/* The largest text used in the index page title and toptic title etc. */
.maintitle,h1,h2 {
font-weight: bold; font-size: 22px; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
text-decoration: none; line-height : 120%; color : #0066CC;
}
/* General text */
.gen { font-size : 14px; }
.genmed { font-size : 12px; }
.gensmall { font-size : 11px; }
.gen,.genmed,.gensmall { color : #336699; }
a.gen,a.genmed,a.gensmall { color: #EF6B6B; text-decoration: none; }
a.gen:hover,a.genmed:hover,a.gensmall:hover { color: #B54BD8; text-decoration: underline; }
/* The register, login, search etc links at the top of the page */
.mainmenu { font-size : 11px; color : #0066CC}
a.mainmenu { text-decoration: none; color : #EF6B6B; }
a.mainmenu:hover{ text-decoration: underline; color : #B54BD8; }
/* Forum category titles */
.cattitle { font-weight: bold; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 1px; color : #EF6B6B}
a.cattitle { text-decoration: none; color : #EF6B6B; }
a.cattitle:hover{ text-decoration: underline; }
/* Forum title: Text and link to the forums used in: index.php */
.forumlink { font-weight: bold; font-size: 12px; color : #EF6B6B; }
a.forumlink { text-decoration: none; color : #EF6B6B; }
a.forumlink:hover{ text-decoration: underline; color : #B54BD8; }
/* Used for the navigation text, (Page 1,2,3 etc) and the navigation bar when in a forum */
.nav { font-weight: bold; font-size: 11px; color : #006699;}
a.nav { text-decoration: none; color : #EF6B6B; }
a.nav:hover { text-decoration: underline; }
/* titles for the topics: could specify viewed link colour too */
.topictitle { font-weight: bold; font-size: 11px; color : #006699; }
a.topictitle:link { text-decoration: none; color : #EF6B6B; }
a.topictitle:visited { text-decoration: none; color : #5493B4; }
a.topictitle:hover { text-decoration: underline; color : #B54BD8; }
/* Name of poster in viewmsg.php and viewtopic.php and other places */
.name { font-size : 11px; color : #0066CC;}
/* Location, number of posts, post date etc */
.postdetails { font-size : 10px; color : #0066CC; }
/* The content of the posts (body of text) */
.postbody { font-size : 12px;}
a.postlink:link { text-decoration: none; color : #EF6B6B }
a.postlink:visited { text-decoration: none; color : #5493B4; }
a.postlink:hover { text-decoration: underline; color : #B54BD8}
/* Quote & Code blocks */
.code {
font-family: Courier, 'Courier New', sans-serif; font-size: 11px; color: #006600;
background-color: #FAFAFA; border: #D1D7DC; border-style: solid;
border-left-width: 1px; border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px
}
.quote {
font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; color: #444444; line-height: 125%;
background-color: #FAFAFA; border: #D1D7DC; border-style: solid;
border-left-width: 1px; border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px
}
/* Copyright and bottom info */
.copyright { font-size: 10px; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #444444; letter-spacing: -1px;}
a.copyright { color: #444444; text-decoration: none;}
a.copyright:hover { color: #0066CC; text-decoration: underline;}
/* Form elements */
input,textarea, select {
color : #0066CC;
font: normal 11px Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
border-color : #0066CC;
}
/* The text input fields background colour */
input.post, textarea.post, select {
background-color : #FFFFFF;
}
input { text-indent : 2px; }
/* The buttons used for bbCode styling in message post */
input.button {
background-color : #EFEFEF;
color : #0066CC;
font-size: 11px; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
}
/* The main submit button option */
input.mainoption {
background-color : #FAFAFA;
font-weight : bold;
}
/* None-bold submit button */
input.liteoption {
background-color : #FAFAFA;
font-weight : normal;
}
/* This is the line in the posting page which shows the rollover
help line. This is actually a text box, but if set to be the same
colour as the background no one will know
*/
.helpline { background-color: #DEE3E7; border-style: none; }
/* Import the fancy styles for IE only (NS4.x doesn't use the @import function) */
@import url("formIE.css");
Step 3.
In admin>>styles>>>colors, you will see the tab for your CSS style sheet at present. Click it. The box for it is most likely empty. Paste your copied CSS code in the empty white box and save. Leave default style sheet to yes.
Step 4.
You now need to host the images that your pasted CSS needs.
body {
background-image: url(images/girTalk2_bg.gif);
background-repeat: repeat;
background-color: #E6F6F9;
margin: 0px;
padding: 0px;
height: 100%;
scrollbar-face-color: #DEE3E7;
scrollbar-highlight-color: #FFFFFF;
scrollbar-shadow-color: #DEE3E7;
scrollbar-3dlight-color: #D1D7DC;
scrollbar-arrow-color: #EF6B6B;
scrollbar-track-color: #EFEFEF;
scrollbar-darkshadow-color: #98AAB1;
as you can see from the snippet of the CCS i am using as an example, the part in bold needs to be changed. It is only half a URL. You need to find the image within the theme folder (it will have the same tite as the end of the code, for example in my case the image would be saved in the theme folder under: girTalk2_bg) and save it to your computer, then upload the image to the likes of servimg, photobucket imageshack etc. You then need to replace the link in bold, with the direct URL to your hosted picture.
body {
background-image: url(https://2img.net/r/ihimg/7878/23/girTalk2_bg.gif);
background-repeat: repeat;
background-color: #E6F6F9;
margin: 0px;
padding: 0px;
height: 100%;
scrollbar-face-color: #DEE3E7;
scrollbar-highlight-color: #FFFFFF;
scrollbar-shadow-color: #DEE3E7;
scrollbar-3dlight-color: #D1D7DC;
scrollbar-arrow-color: #EF6B6B;
scrollbar-track-color: #EFEFEF;
scrollbar-darkshadow-color: #98AAB1;
Step 5.
Work through your style sheet and theme folder saving images, hosting and changing URLs till they are all done. Then save. You can then preview your forum to see the changes. if your default themes headers etc are still present you need to go into modify the pictures and remove the URLS for them and save, as this will leave them empty and your CSS will take over.
Step 6.
You can then continue to use images from the unzipped theme files on your computer and hosting them, for the forum icons, buttons etc in admin>>>styles>>>modify the pictures. Its very time consuming.
One you have uploaded all the new images, that should be your theme installed on your forum.
This is how i install themes anyhow. I dont know if thats particularly correct so input would be good.
Last edited by on February 13th 2008, 5:40 pm; edited 2 times in total
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