Destiny wrote:

Thirdly, is there a way to add emoticons or other gif images to the blog editor much like what can be done for phpbb message boards? I will be using an emoticon-like image in a lot of my posts and like having them handy.

Thanks in advance to those who are willing to help a newbie out.

If time permits me I will have a look at it this week.
For your third question: put a smilie in ../blogs/rsc/smilies/ and configure the plugin at backoffice -> App settings -> Plugins -> (hit smilies or the pen -edit- symbol on the far right of the smilies line) -> Smiley list: Add your image in the list and do not start with a space, the blabla.gif you enter must start at the line of the textbox. Your smilie should now show in the smilie bar.

Good luck

Hi Afwas, thank you SO much for your response. I now have the images I need handy!

Any time expended in the IE6 vs 7/Firefox issue, as well as the "auto fill" request would be fantastic, and is certainly appreciated. I'm sure newbie questions get annoying, so again, thank you VERY much for your response and willingness to investigate my issues.

Try in your skin's css file (../blogs/skins/purple_beauty/stylesheet.css):

.bSideItem input[type="text"] {
	width: 96%;
	height: 1.2em;
	border-top: 2px solid #FFC0FF;
	border-right: 2px solid #C138C1;
	border-bottom: 2px solid #C138C1;
	border-left: 2px solid #FFC0FF;
}

and change .bSideItem input[type="text"] in .SearchField

Good luck

*edit*
Installed 1.10 so I could do some testing and found the right answer.

I made changes to the purple_beauty skin to have continuous sidebar backgrounds.
First the original purple beauty. You can find the skin files [url=http://www.blog.hemminga.net/purple_beauty.zip]here[/url]. This is a complete skin based on the original purple beauty I found in the skins collection.
You find a working example of the improved 'Purple_Beauty' skin [url=http://www.blog.hemminga.net/1102/index.php?blog=2]here[/url].
Those who want to spot the differences: [url=http://skindemo.b2evolution.net/a.php?skin=purple_beauty]this[/url] is the original.

You have a blue-ish version of Purlple Skin and I don't know whether you made the changes yourself or whether you found the skin somewhere else B) . Anyway, I prepared for you a zipfile with the four files you want to add / replace in your blue version. You'll find it [url=http://www.blog.hemminga.net/purple_beauty_changed.zip]here[/url]. The two images are new, I made some changes in both other files. You should compare these files with yours and add the code you added to yours previuosly. You can also start with your files and find the differences: in both files added #innerwrapper and in css file I changed the background image for body.

Do ask if you have questions left.

Good luck

WOW, thank you SO MUCH for taking the time to look at this. Seriously, I appreciate it!

I applied the changes to one of my blogs (Dance/Stars) and tested it in both Firefox and IE7 (I have IE6 at work and will check it in that on Monday). I noticed the following:

Firefox:

On multipage posts where some pages are shorter in length, the right sidebar ends before the left and is uneven. This did not happen on some of the longer pages. For an example, open [url=http://mysterylost.com/index.php?blog=5&p=26&more=1&page=6] this[/url] page in Firefox.

However, overall the look seemed better than in IE7 which has the following issues:

1. Not all images are loading properly within the posts for some reason. For an example, open [url=http://mysterylost.com/index.php?blog=5&p=26&more=1&page=2] this[/url] page in IE7 and notice that Jennie's image loads only halfway. This can also be seen on the main page where the blog links are listed just under the site main image. In Firefox, Dance/Stars - Lost - Forum all appear in white boxes, whereas in IE7 the bottom of the box is cut off.

But the larger issue is...

2. Also note on the page referenced in #1 that the poll on the left side, and the Misc category on the right side are no longer there. This happens randomly within a multi-page post as it appears correctly on some pages if you scroll thru them.

I seriously like the auto fill feature, and it may be that I just need to place my sidebar items differently so that the fill starts below those? I'm quite sure I missed something here.

Again, thanks so much for your help!

Thanks for the compliments.
I will answer your questions in some hours from now, but in the meantime I ask you this:
I am particular worried about [url=http://mysterylost.com/index.php?blog=5&p=26&more=1&page=6]this post[/url] in IE7. Pleasy try this: add a <div> before and a </div> after the image and text (paragraph) combination like so (when editing the post in your blog):

<div><img src="http://mysterylost.com/media/melb.jpg" alt="Mel B" class="leftmargin">Next up is <b>Mel B</b> and her partner <b>Maksim Chmerkovskiy</b>.  
[...]
The two of them, and their egos, practice for the Cha cha.</div>

I wonder if it makes any difference.

Await a longer answer from me in a few hours time.

Good luck

Equal heights when the main (center) column is small:

Add to your stylesheet.css file (doesn't matter where, but easy to find back if you place it before /* footer */ #pageFooter {):

/* Hack to equalize the three colums
 * add <div class="clear">&nbsp;</div>
 * in your skin right before </div> <!-- class="innerwrapper" -->.
 */
.clear {
    clear: both;
    display: block;
    height: 1px;
    overflow: hidden;
    margin: 0;
    padding: 0;
}

and add:

<div class="clear">&nbsp;</div>

right before </div> <!-- class="innerwrapper" --> in your skins _main.php,

Hope this works, please report back.

Good luck

I'm here to report you are a frickin' genious. GENIOUS!

Okay, before I read your reply I was messing with things because I felt like what you had done was totally right, and that it HAD to be something I had done.

And....it was. When I edited the posts and corrected code errors (I got way too <p> happy), Jennie's picture showed up fully and all the other pages corrected in IE7 as well. It looks beautimous!!

Firefox still had the uneven sidebar issue, so I added your code and VOI LA! Problem gone in Firefox, and now it looks good in both!

I know I'm biased because I picked that skin to begin with, but I gotta say it really should be hugely popular with the fantastic corrections you made. And I also think it was above and beyond (well, it ALL was) that you provided me images in the color scheme I had modified it to.

Thank you. If I had points to give you I'd give them all to you. So sadly, all I have for you on this sunny Saturday is a big smile and a THANK YOU!

If you wanna see how it turned out, visit
[url=http://mysterylost.com/index.php?blog=5] Here[/url]

Hi Destiny,

Thanks again for the kind words.

Equalizing columns is regarded 'The Holy Grale of CSS'. It is not officially implemented in CSS2. I was extremely lucky, I had the sizes of the image and the styling correct in one go.

Still there is an issue in IE6, but only on the pages with small centre content. This will require a special IE6 only hack. (I will come back to this).

You made a beautiful site out of it.
You can vote for the Purple Beauty skin [url=http://skins.b2evolution.net/index.php?s=purple&sentence=AND&submit=Search]here[/url].

Happy blogging

You're welcome for the kind words, they are deserved!

I noticed that on the last page of the Dance/Stars blog, the center section bleeds into the left sidebar slightly. I've checked the code for the post there, and I don't get why that page looks different than the others. I applied all the changes to the "Lost" blog too, and it's the same.

**cue Twighlight Zone Music**

I converted this skin to 2.4.1. See [url=http://forums.b2evolution.net/viewtopic.php?p=79765]this forumpost[/url].

Have fun

Afwas wrote:

Equal heights when the main (center) column is small:

Add to your stylesheet.css file (doesn't matter where, but easy to find back if you place it before /* footer */ #pageFooter {):

/* Hack to equalize the three colums
 * add <div class="clear">&nbsp;</div>
 * in your skin right before </div> <!-- class="innerwrapper" -->.
 */
.clear {
    clear: both;
    display: block;
    height: 1px;
    overflow: hidden;
    margin: 0;
    padding: 0;
}

and add:

<div class="clear">&nbsp;</div>

right before </div> <!-- class="innerwrapper" --> in your skins _main.php,

Hope this works, please report back.

Good luck

Hello.

I just downloaded this skin about an hour ago to test.

ITEM#1 (for b2evo v.2.4.5) - SOLUTION:
I applied this skin to demo 'Blog A' to test. I had to apply this 'patch' for FF 2.0.x. The only difference between this older version revision instructions and the 8/18/08 version was, instead of applying it to the skin's '_main.php,' it is to be applied to the 'index.main.php' file.

ITEM#2 - QUESTION:
So far, the only other outstanding question is for IE 7 -- whether using the bloglist menu or the sorted bloglist menu, neither menu shows the bottom line of each blog listed.

What would be the solution for this? :?:

Thanks.

Hello.

MISSING </div>: :!:
===========

I noticed there's no closing tag to:

<!-- =================================== START OF MAIN AREA =================================== -->
<div class="bPosts">

which I think it would come somewhere before:

</div><!-- class="innerwrapper" -->
</div><!-- class="wrapper" -->

When I add it, there are strange results. Am I overlooking something?

Thanks.

EDIT: The version I'm using is v.2.4.5, but two issues found here, including the use of the 'clear' css code, applies to v.2.4.5 as well as v.1.0.x. For v.2.x specifically for the issue in this post, see forum thread http://forums.b2evolution.net/viewtopic.php?t=17286.

Hello again.

See the latest update here:

http://forums.b2evolution.net/viewtopic.php?t=17286