Thank you--I believe it will!
=============================
UPDATE: Kudos to Tripmon for this tutorial on style sheets. It's not like I really know what I'm doing yet, but this brought me up another notch or two on the learning curve. My header isn't perfect, but it is almost presentable. Thanks again!

Thanks for the tip! Pardon me for asking, but I'm a total newbie when it comes to style sheets and templates and such. Does the "id=" go in the <table ...> description? Does it also need to be included in elements within the table [like <tr> or <td>]?

Thank again!

That's a good question--here's an update on what I've done:

UPDATE: Adding these lines fix part of the problem, but the arrangement is still distorted:

<!--standard formatting info-->
<link rel="stylesheet" href="http://my.domain.com/img/main.css" type="text/css">

<SCRIPT src="http://classifieds.theadsection.com/img/lib.js" language="javascript" type="text/javascript">
</SCRIPT>
<!--/standard formatting info-->

Deactivating this line (below), from the XOOPS default/theme.html, fixes the header problem, but then all the theme colors and some of the formatting is gone--just the naked content remains:

<!--link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="screen" href="<{$xoops_themecss}>" /-->

I think that "$xoops_themecss" is referring to the default/styles.css.

Does anyone know a way to keep that style sheet from effecting the header code that I've pasted into the default/theme.html file? That is the key to fixing the problem. XOOPS needs the styles.css, but my header won't work with it.

UPDATE: Adding these lines fix part of the problem, but the arrangement is still distorted:

<!--standard formatting info-->
<link rel="stylesheet" href="http://my.domain.com/img/main.css" type="text/css">

<SCRIPT src="http://classifieds.theadsection.com/img/lib.js" language="javascript" type="text/javascript">
</SCRIPT>
<!--/standard formatting info-->

Deactivating this line (below), from the XOOPS default/theme.html, fixes the header problem, but then all the theme colors and some of the formatting is gone--just the naked content remains:

<!--link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="screen" href="<{$xoops_themecss}>" /-->

I think that "$xoops_themecss" is referring to the default/styles.css.

Does anyone know a way to keep that style sheet from effecting the header code that I've pasted into the default/theme.html file? That is the key to fixing the problem. XOOPS needs the styles.css, but my header won't work with it.

Yeah--this is similar to what I was trying at first. But the default/styles.css has a "valign=top" formatting that repositions my logo and distorts a text-box in the header table. Also, my header requires some elements from another style sheet and a java-script to put in the date. The problem is to get the header to display correctly without messing up the XOOPS page which is controled (in part) by the default/styles.css .

I was hoping there was some way to pull the header into the page without it being effected by the default/styles.css (probably wishful thinking).

The XOOPS script is installed, a number of modules are installed, everything is working great--but I can't really use it until I can get this header to work. Thanks for you reply!

I've been trying unsucessfully to replace the XOOPS header with my own:
https://xoops.org/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?viewmode=flat&topic_id=17278&forum=5

As indicated in that thread, I solved a similar problem with a cgi script by using the following code:

<!--#include virtual="/custom/default_header.shtml"-->
<!--#include virtual="/custom/default_footer.shtml"-->

However, putting this code in the default/theme.html (in place of the XOOPS header), doesn't do a thing. The front page loads fine, but with no header at all.

A couple of times, during this and the similar issue with the other script, people have mentioned integrating the style sheets. In other words, there must be a way (in the styles.css file) to specify the particular formatting needed for just the new header (but without effecting the other formatting necessary to the XOOPS pages)!? If so, perhaps I could try pasting the default_header.html coding directly in the themes.html file again. Before, when I tried that, it was all messed up by the XOOPS style sheet(s).

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Does anyone know a very basic CSS tutorial? Could anyone suggest some very basic CSS parameters that would limit the areas effected by it? Or, could somebody suggest a different way entirely to approach this problem. Any suggestions would be appreciated! Cheers!

I'm still stuggling with this header problem. I solved a similar problem with another script by pasting this line in an index.shtml file:

<!--#include virtual="/custom/default_header.shtml"-->
<!--#include virtual="/custom/default_footer.shtml"-->

However, this formatting doesn't seem to work with the XOOPS default/theme.html file. Can anyone suggest something similar that would include my headerfile without bringing it under the influence of the XOOPS style sheet(s)?

Update: One of my problems is this line in styles.css:

table td {padding: 0; border-width: 0; vertical-align: top; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;}

the "vertical-align: top" is pulling my image to the top of the header table. And I think it was messing up a text box on the right cell of that same table. However, if I change it to "vertical-align: middle" that messes up the rest of the page--the poll, the news or headlines in the center column--all that goes to the middle.

A while back, I had intended to buy a directory script and begin to run into the question of "register_globals" being turned "off" or "on" and the security risks posed by having them on. Searching the forum, here, I find that some modules require them to be on, but no-one mentioned which ones. Does anyone know what functionality is lost in XOOPS by having register_globals off?

Also, in general, I'm wondering how I might take advantage of scripts that require them to be on without compromising my entire site. For example, my hosing service says they can turn them on in one directory and leave them off in another. I was wondering if that would kind of quaranteen the risk--and also if perhaps having them use their own mySQL database would be advisable. Any ideas?

Thank you.

I have been attempting to replace the standard header in 2.0.6 with the header from the rest of my site.

In themes/default/theme.html, I remove these lines:

<table cellspacing="0">
<tr id="header">
<td id="headerlogo"><a href="<{$xoops_url}>/"><img src="<{$xoops_imageurl}>logo.gif" width="150" height="80" alt="" /></a></td>
<td id="headerbanner"><{$xoops_banner}></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td id="headerbar" colspan="2">&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
</table>

So far, so good--the header's simply gone. Then, I paste in additional lines intended to display my site header, but everything comes out malaligned. Part of this is due to another style sheet that my new header depends on, but even if I delete that part of it and paste relatively simple HTML in place of the code above, it still won't display the tables correctly.

OK, as a work around, maybe I can use the standard header--just change the image, the color, add a spacer bar, and then put a frame at the top for my site menu to appear in (controlled by it's own style sheet). But even that seems to be taxing my abilities (and or my understanding of Xoops).

So, take a step back--no good trying to rush things (bound to hit what Robert Persig calls a "gumption trap"). I simply need to take my time and try to understand all the variable effecting this header. Then, I can choose which way to attack the problem.

Question: What file or files control what appears in place of these "place holders" or whatever you call them?

$xoops_banner
$xoops_url
$xoops_imageurl

Is it possible for me put my header file somewhere else and have the themes.html pull it in?

Also, is my new header's style sheet conflicting with the two style sheets in the theme.htm file?

<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="screen" href="<{$xoops_url}>/xoops.css" />
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="screen" href="<{$xoops_themecss}>" />
<!-- RMV: added module header -->

If so, is it possible to combine them?

I have given up on a quick fix and want simply to putz around with it until I understand it better. Any insights and/or suggestions are greatly appreciated!