looks like the template_c folder was causing the mess. "Deleting all files within except index.html", surely won't work at least for me. However changing permissions to it (777) and to the template folder did the trick. . Dont forget to chmod back after things will sort out

sorry for bringing up again this issue. I have the same problem but a little more specific. Let me explain:
I did a clean install of XOOPS built in the Fantastico scripts of my host. Installed all necessary modules and then cloned the site/db to other 4 sites, that differ only in content. The replication went fine and all the sites are fully functional. However for some reason the changes I do to the template will occur only in the original installation. All the cloned sites wouldn't change a thing even if I tried all the tips given under the FAQs.
I played around with enabling changes in the preferences with site on and offline,
used different browsers witha cleaned cache,
played around with permissions, using both a ftp client or the filemanager on cPanel
and more and more..but the damnt theme.html stays the same.
I don't know what changes on the clone sites that i'm missing. Maybe files in template-c dir are making a mess out of it?!

thx a lot dilbert

your advises are very mucha appreciated. It's always good to have different point of views over a same procedure.

I'll keep updated the post for the results as it can serve to future xoops-noobs

Laters

hmmm tho I consider meself good at searching prior to posting looks like I failed this once
Check the FAQ FAQ FAQ..... I hear in my head. Already a great Tutorialon moving a XOOPS installation to another server. Moving or replicating same tune. cPanel makes it easy
Well I'm off to trial and error. If I'll hanf over somthing I'll pop in here for furhter help.

Laters

First post here so a cheer up to everyone in this forum and specially XOOPS developers.
I've been using a couple of other CMS so far and got my first taste of XOOPS yesterday. Great learning curve, straight forward understanding, just perfect. Very pleased with the tool.

I'm trying to place a number of fairly simple independent XOOPS sites ( 5 in total) and each one on a subdomain. Sites are targeted to completely different usergroups hence the need to have all of them separated. However all of them have everything in commun like same categories for forums, downloads, etc. The only thing distinguishing them visually will be some visual css changes. I'm not worried on doing 5 installations in a row but the thing is that I'll pass a big deal of time customizing and tweaking everysite.
Hence I was wondering if there's a way to duplicate/replicate (or call it whatever) one of the finished sites, do the same procedure with the database and reflect the changes to the proper files. Is this doable? If yes what will be the procedure to follow. I have some understanding of db and php manipulations so even if my nick is BrickTop I think I'll be able to follow your advises without much headache for you ;)

Thx a bunch