Note that the Page Top container should typically be at the very top of the page.

And the menu container farther down.

hi folks
I tried this skin Simple Zen on my test site, and i got zillions of error messages as following
Please help
.....
...

/home/vietscom/public_html/blogs/skins/simple_zen/replacement-screen.css
[Mon Feb 25 05:12:53 2008] [error] [client 121.219.34.84] File does not exist: /home/vietscom/public_html/404.shtml
[Mon Feb 25 05:12:53 2008] [error] [client 121.219.34.84] File does not exist: /home/vietscom/public_html/blogs/skins/simple_zen/replacement-print.css
[Mon Feb 25 05:12:52 2008] [error] [client 121.219.34.84] File does not exist: /home/vietscom/public_html/404.shtml
[Mon Feb 25 05:12:52 2008] [error] [client 121.219.34.84] File does not exist: /home/vietscom/public_html/blogs/skins/simple_zen/replacement-screen.css
[Mon Feb 25 05:11:51 2008] [error] [client 121.219.34.84] File does not exist: /home/vietscom/public_html/404.shtml

A link to your site is a good idea here yah?

Great skin. I'm going to make my other theme a three column layout too now that I have your tutorial on how to go about it. :D

thanh wrote:

hi folks
I tried this skin Simple Zen on my test site, and i got zillions of error messages as following
Please help
.....
...

/home/vietscom/public_html/blogs/skins/simple_zen/replacement-screen.css
[Mon Feb 25 05:12:53 2008] [error] [client 121.219.34.84] File does not exist: /home/vietscom/public_html/404.shtml
[Mon Feb 25 05:12:53 2008] [error] [client 121.219.34.84] File does not exist: /home/vietscom/public_html/blogs/skins/simple_zen/replacement-print.css
[Mon Feb 25 05:12:52 2008] [error] [client 121.219.34.84] File does not exist: /home/vietscom/public_html/404.shtml
[Mon Feb 25 05:12:52 2008] [error] [client 121.219.34.84] File does not exist: /home/vietscom/public_html/blogs/skins/simple_zen/replacement-screen.css
[Mon Feb 25 05:11:51 2008] [error] [client 121.219.34.84] File does not exist: /home/vietscom/public_html/404.shtml

Download the skin again or remove two lines mentioning replacement.css from _html_header.inc.php.

Good luck

Thanks Afwas
Removed those 2 lines - hoping OK.

My users have some comments on 2viets.com look and feel

1. normal text size is small - many users are old people.
2. Text on RHS sidebar is not alighed.
3. RHS sidebar also look crammed, not balanced with too much white space on LHS of screen.
4. Capital letters do not look normal - some legs look thickers than others.
How can i choose a different font, large size ?

Otherwise it looks great.

Thanh

2viets.com

2 / 3)
Change in the file stylesheet.css the portion that look like this to:

#sidebar ul ul ul, #sidebar ul ol,
#sidebar_2 ul ul ul, #sidebar_2 ul ol  {
	margin: 0 0 0 0px;
}

You only change the value "10" in margin to "0"

1) Same file stylesheet.css look for this portion:

.bText p {
	line-height: 150%;
	padding: 0px 0px 7px 0px;
	text-align: justify;
	font-size: 13px;
}

and change font-size: 13px; to font-size: 15px;

4) The font that is used by this skin cannot display all special characters of your language. What is does is fall back to a font that can display those characters. But because it is another font, the letters will show a little different.
You can change this in the stylesheet.css file. The declaration for the font looks like:

font-family: 'trebuchet MS', 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Sans-Serif;

This line means it will use the font "trebuchet MS" and if it cannot find this font it will use "Lucida Grande" etc.
You can change this font declaration, simply by putting the font you want before "trebuchet MS". Your options include but are not limited to "Garamond" and "Arial".

Good luck

I did a test on my blog with files downloaded today. The installation went smoothly. But after applying to the site, there is only one item, "Powered by B2E", shown on the right-most column. Not sure if it is because of lack of contents or otherwise.

Afwas, Here is the URL for you to take a look. I will remove the URL after your response. Thanks.

I can tell without looking at the site.
Go to Blog settings -> Widgets. There will be two or more sidebars mentioned.
For the Simple Zen you have the Sidebar named 'Sidebar' for the widgets that go in the left sidebar and "Sidebar 2" for widgets that go in the right sidebar. Any other sidebar mentioned is not used in the Simple Zen skin.
So in your case you want to fill the Sidebar 2 with widgets.

Good luck

Thanks Afwas for your help! Too bad the system won't allow me to give you more reputation point since I don't have any yet.

So what you mean is, the skin only provides two containers. And it is our own job to arrange to add more widgets or plugins into those contents. Right? I will check this out later.

A different question. I just notice that some other skin (integral) is coming with the view statistics or alike. Can this be added to the skin you provided? Maybe near the lower left area of each item?

Hi guizi6,

There are more containers then the sidebars I mentioned, but there are only two sidebar containers.
For the rest you seem to grasp the idea.

I will look into that other skin later.

Good luck

I added it to the skin directory:
http://skins.b2evolution.net/two.php/2008/02/26/simple_zen

Hi guizi6,

The version that is now up for download has the "number of views" as you requested.
[url=http://www.blog.hemminga.net/media/blogs/lunar/simple_zen.zip]Download now![/url]

@ Personman,
Please replace the version in the repositories by this one. It has some improvements.

@ guizi6:
I changed the naming for the second sidebar, which is now complient with the naming convention. This means that you may need to move some widgets if you are going to use this second version.

Good luck

afwas
i think you introduced bug in your new skin !
i uploaded the new version and my stuff in linkblog disappeared from sidebar 2 !!

Look at 2viets.com again

Hi thanh,

I needed to rename the second sidebar from 'sidebar 2' to 'Sidebar 2'. Unfortunately that means that the widgets are now in the wrong container. Please fill the new container 'Sidebar 2' with the widgets that are in the existng 'sidebar 2' container. Afterwards you can empty the 'sidebar 2' container and it will disappear.

If you need help with the fonts in the skin please let me know.

Good luck

Thanks Afwas. It works! I simply removed the previous version and re-upload the new version. Now I need to figure out how to remove those extra help information you added there at the third column. ;)

Could I ask a question that may not be related here? What's differences between a widget and a plugin?

guizi6 wrote:

Now I need to figure out how to remove those extra help information you added there at the third column. ;)

What do you mean? Did i leave something unintended?

A widget is a plugin for the sidebar. o be mode precise: a widget is a placeholder for a plugin. To complicate things: a container is a placeholder for widgets.
So what you are looking at is a plugin in a frame (widget) in a frame (container).
Does this make sense?

Hi, Afwas,

There is a new "widget" labeled as "SIDEBAR 2", with the following content,

'This is the "Sidebar 2" container. You can place any widget you like in here. In the evo toolbar at the top of this page, select "Customize", then "Blog Widgets".

I didn't have a chance to review the option of updating those widgets yet.

guizi6 wrote:

Hi, Afwas,

There is a new "widget" labeled as "SIDEBAR 2", with the following content,

'This is the "Sidebar 2" container. You can place any widget you like in here. In the evo toolbar at the top of this page, select "Customize", then "Blog Widgets".

I didn't have a chance to review the option of updating those widgets yet.

Yes, that is the renamed container. Any widgets you place in there appear in the right most sidebar.

Good luck

Hi Afwas;

Very nice skin....thank you

Is there an easy way to make this a two column skin? It would be kind of cool if it converted to two columns automatically...no widget in SB 2 and it was just two columns.

Again, thanks for the skin

jtruchon wrote:

Hi Afwas;

Very nice skin....thank you

Is there an easy way to make this a two column skin? It would be kind of cool if it converted to two columns automatically...no widget in SB 2 and it was just two columns.

Again, thanks for the skin

Siimple Zen two columns:
download [url=http://www.blog.hemminga.net/media/simple_zen_2c.zip]simple_zen_2c.zip[/url]

Have fun

Afwas
my users are still not pleased with look & feel.

1. look like 4 different fonts/sizes in 4 columns - main font size is 15 as you advised
2. LHS column 1 - please remove "posted in", the icon is enough to tell.
3. Main column 2 - blog heading is too big (already bold)
4. in columns 3,4 - side bars - why are headings forced to be capitalised.
I'd rather have Categories than CATEGORIES (too harsh for eyes !)
5. what are the width of side bars ?

that's feedback from our viewers.

Thanks for great skin.

Afwas wrote:

jtruchon wrote:

Hi Afwas;

Very nice skin....thank you

Is there an easy way to make this a two column skin? It would be kind of cool if it converted to two columns automatically...no widget in SB 2 and it was just two columns.

Again, thanks for the skin

Siimple Zen two columns:
download [url=http://www.blog.hemminga.net/media/simple_zen_2c.zip]simple_zen_2c.zip[/url]

Have fun

Fantastic...

Thank you...just what I was looking for.

Hello Afwas,

This is a great skin; I really like it. I have a couple of issues though. Hopefully you can help me.

1. The "previous post", "next post" labels that appear when viewing a full post display a rollover that reads "Permanent Link to Full Entry". Should that text be something else? Can you tell me where I can edit that text?

2. There is no pemalinks for my posts any longer. Is this by design? I'd like to have them. Can you tell me where I might return them?

Thanks very much.

I love it, its very nice, and it's hard to find a good 3 column skin these days.

I do have one question (maybe because I'm sleep deprived atm) how can I moved one of the side bars over to the left of the main posting area? small ones on the sides big one in the middle type thing.

Today I'm going to answer all your questions ;)

@thanh,

I made a variation of the skin in which I incorporated all suggestions you made. Please download [url=http://www.blog.hemminga.net/media/simple_zen_thanh.zip]simple_zen_thanh.zip[/url] and use that skin for your site.
Please review these changes very carefully and let me know if there is anything else I can do for you.

I saw you found the width for both sidebars. You wanted that value or the Random Image Widget. The first sidebar is 170px wide, the second sidebar is 140px wide.

Happy blogging

@MrOrph,

The title of the post s it's permalnk. But you can also get the permalink back in the post desfription.
Open the file /skins/simple_skn/posts.main.php and search for this piece of code (approx line 119):

			<?php
				/*
				$Item->permanent_link( array(
					'before'     		=> '<li>',
					'after'       		=> '</li>',
					'text'        		=> T_( 'Permalink' ),	// possible special values: '#', '#icon#', '#text#', '#title#'
					'title'       		=> '#',
					'class'       		=> '',
				//	'format'      		=> 'htmlbody',
				) );
				*/
			?>

Remove /* and */ to activate this code again (/* and */ actually make t a comment) and the permalnk will show up. You probably want to change

'title'       		=> '#',

to

'title'       		=> '#icon#',

I don't know the answer to your other question. It has nothing to do with the skin. I know there is another bug with these links, so I will notify the developers.

Good luck

@nina,

For your question I needed to make one change too many to explain in this post. It wasn't hard, simply moving code from one place to another. I hereby attach the skin with a central main column with sidebars on either side.
[url=http://www.blog.hemminga.net/media/simple_zen_nina.zip]simple_zen_nina.zp[/url]

Good luck

I believe this is the most perfect skin ever now, thank you for being awesome!~

Nina wrote:

I believe this is the most perfect skin ever now, thank you for being awesome!~

Thanks Nina,

It's a beautiful skin indeed.
You can vote for it here: http://skins.b2evolution.net/two.php

Alwas
my users and us here we're thanking for your good works and patience with us.
i tried Nina's and we like it as you know Buddhists and Taoists like the Middleway - things should balance !

For my (not yellow!) skin simple_zen_thanh could you please do the same - move sidebar 1 to the left and widen sidebar2 so that sidebars have the same 170px width.

One more thing - i dont know whether it's related to skin or Related Posts plugin. The "Read More" leads to Comment page, that's crammed on left with white space on right. How to make it look normal with sidebars ?
Also, Related Posts should appear below/after Read More.

Your advice is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Thanh http://www.2viets.com

*edit*
URL

Hi thanh,

Have a look at [url=http://www.blog.hemminga.net/media/simple_zen_thanh.zip]simple_zen_thanh.zip[/url] . I incorporated all your wishes.

Have fun

Afwas
Again thanks for your works.

in general 3 columns are fine. Only when you hit "send feedback" then
it looks awkward !
i bebieve it is something to do with the layout/skin.

please advise. thanks.

Thanh 2viets.com