Post by Admin on Nov 1, 2008 18:06:58 GMT
Yes, we know, it has been a long time. But like we've said countless times, a skin doesn't make you post here and if it does, well perhaps you should rethink your outlook on life
If you don't like this skin please don't ruin all of our hard work by being awkward about it. Suggest improvements, we're much more likely to want to change things if you're nice about it. Saying something is crap helps no-one.
See any bugs? All bugs should be reported here.
Technical Details
With the boring stuff out of the way I'll go on to the technical details.
The concept was made by Alan, that is one of the banners and backgrounds, the board layout etc. Our coding was done by the wonderful and talented Dregond Rahl who I will be sending baskets of cookies when my next pay check comes through. I made 3 of the random banners and 3 of the random backgrounds, all the buttons, icons, smilies etc. and sliced the poor concept up into tiny pieces so it would work with the codes.
Many thanks go to Kay, Gray, Josh, Saknika and Slip for helping with testing and advice before release.
We have a lot of new features and changes so I will list them all below (I hope I don't miss any out!):
- Main Page/Global
- Random banner - A choice of 4 banners, changing from one to another random choice on each page load.
- Random background - A choice of 4 backgrounds, changing from one to another random choice on each page load.
- Menu button hover images - Self explanatory really. When you hold your cursor over a menu button it will change.
- Category splitter - All categories are separated from the others.
- Category holder - A border around each category which changes colour from one category to the next. On the forum this is a fixed colour per category.
- Hide categories - Clicking the "X" on the top right hand corner of a category will hide it. You will then see the name of the category on the "sex[E] bar" at the bottom of the page. Clicking the name of the category in this bar will restore it to your screen.
- Custom board modification - Post and thread counts as well as the last thread to be posted in is now located below the title of the board.
- Custom Info Center
- Users online tab - The "users online" information is hidden until you click on the tab at the bottom of the info center.
- Users online in the last 24 hours tab - The "users online in the last 24 hours" information is hidden until you click on the tab at the bottom of the info center.
- Birthdays tab - The "birthdays" information is hidden until you click on the tab at the bottom of the info center.
- Users online tab - The "users online" information is hidden until you click on the tab at the bottom of the info center.
- the so called "sex[E]" bar (blame Dreggy for this)
- Quick links - A tab with quick links in it. The links will take you to the databases on our website and will let you mark all boards as read. there are also links to make the board more fluid, or fixed to one size.
- Minimise feature - This minimises the sex[E] bar to the right hand side of your screen.
- Back to top button - Takes you to the top of the forum.
- Time - What time it is according to your profile.
- PM notification - Tells you when you have new private messages. Clicking on this will take you to your inbox.
- Show hidden categories - As mentioned above, any hidden categories will be displayed here. Click on them to restore the category.
- Quick links - A tab with quick links in it. The links will take you to the databases on our website and will let you mark all boards as read. there are also links to make the board more fluid, or fixed to one size.
- Copyright with built in affiliates and links - Nicely tucked away at the bottom of the page; it fits snugly under the sex[E] bar.
- Random banner - A choice of 4 banners, changing from one to another random choice on each page load.
- Boards
- Sub-boards holder - A border around the sub-board to separate it from the threads.
- Sticky splitter - Separates important threads from normal ones.
- Buttons holder - all buttons are now moved into a new table.
- Custom board modification - Replies and views are now situated below the thread title.
- Sub-boards holder - A border around the sub-board to separate it from the threads.
- Threads
- Custom mini-profile modification - The mini-profile is now located above all posts.
- Post splitter - All posts are separated from the others.
- Post holder - A border around each post which changes colour dependent on your gender.
- Quick reply holder - A border around the quick reply.
- Default avatar - If you do not have an avatar selected in your profile, a default one is show instead.
- Custom mini-profile modification - The mini-profile is now located above all posts.
- Miscellaneous
- Member and Search holders - A border around the members list and search form.
- Profile modification - A border around each of the profile sections as well as moving the information around.
- Member and Search holders - A border around the members list and search form.
Board Changes
Amongst these new features we've also moved some boards around and added new ones. Our new boards are:
Our code index has moved to the website. Whilst we have yet to finish moving all the codes over (there are a lot ) we hope to have this done soon.
We have also moved all of the code support threads over to the Forum Help board as this will now be where you can get help with things like this. As a note, we are no longer providing code requests as we simply do not have the staff to help in this area.
Our Photoshop and Paintshop Pro boards are now sub-boards of the Visual Art board, helping to keep things a little neater.
Other Updates
The Herald has also been updated to match the new skin. Articles are now sorted by the category that they are under and navigation is done by tabs along the side.
The website update to v7 will follow soon.
Staff Changes
We have a few promotions to announce with this new skin. Gray will be joining the administration team. His great ideas and enthusiasm will really help. He has already come up with some good competition ideas so we hope to see those being introduced soon. He was also responsible for two of our new boards. I will be dealing with the Intercom board as announcements come and go. As well as I'll be heading up the Art Group and getting it back into tip-top shape. Kay will stay with the Herald and SOTW board, but until we find a proper mod for the new Graphication board, she'll just make sure things run smoothly in there. (She will not be filling requests unless she sees fit.)
Saknika will be our new global moderator. Solid and dependable with a friendly air, we welcome Saknika to the upper staff. She'll also be helping more in-depth with the Herald.
Our new moderator for the moment is Josh as he's been contributing in the Chillout immensely since his arrival. Other moderators will claim new responsibilities as well. Knighty will be now looking after the Arrival/Departure board, along as the Critique. Avtar will still be under Chillout partnering up with Josh, however he'll be keeping an eye over the Programming area.
And now you've finished reading all that you can comment