OK, I have looked around at a lot of different themes and things, but havnt found what I really want.

But on this site:
http://www.365gay.com

I really like the way the things are laid out on the front page.
I highly dount this is a XOOPS site, but I am sure that this could be done.

I need to know how to lay out my blocks so that I have this 4-collumn look: Navigation on the left, "main articles" in the left center, with summeries, then "spotlight" articles or sections on the right center with the three or four blocks with quotes and things below that, then another thin collumn with user menu, search etc on the far right.

I like how this is clean and smooth and very easy to look at and read.

Any help for a poor dumb Tuna like me?

Cheers
ct

short of having someone do this for you, you will need to read XOOPS documentation and faqs.

Quote:

I was afraid of that. I cannot read, and I do not know how to learn.

Having said that, I saw a post where someone else offered some moola to have a theme/template built for them...And they got flamed a little for it.

I was hoping that perhaps someone already had a similar theme (Someone here does a site 'www.gaining.mass.com' or something like that, a muscle-building/health site that had some of the basic elemental features I like) And maybe they could share their files?

Is that sort of thing done here?
Obviously people make themse and share them.

Any volunteers?

Cheers!
illiterate Tuna

The way to accomplish what you and the other poster want is:

a) Read documentation (although it is not complete and step-by-step, the XOOPS FAQ does hold some pointers on how to make a theme) ask around, learn, try things out for yourself, learn some more, ask more questions, learn, do it

b) Pay real money to get it done

Quote:
Perhaps a little roasting
What the poster got the roasting for was not that he offered $25, but that $25 is really not anything.
To some, $25 is something worth noting, but making a custom theme can - speaking from experience - easily take 10 hours. I don't know many people who work for $2.5 an hour. Helping someone to be able to do it himself, however, is something a lot of people do for free - but a real effort is required from the recipient's side.

Thanks for your responses here!

I have begun doing some reading and trying to learn how to do what I want to do, but I am SO lost and confuzled!

The language/definitions used here are really confusing when it comes to what is a "block" and what is a "template", especially for those of us who are kinda dumb in the first place. Especially when we start ALSO talking about "themes". I think I understand the themes a bit better now, and have set about destroying and re-building someone elses theme (The "be_like" theme struck my fancy and I am currently ruining it, probably trying to get it to do things that a theme isnt meant to do)

Maybe what I *REALLY* need is a BLOCK that works with Zmagazine? (Or WF-section etc)

Is it possible to put a block within a block? Is it possible to have an admin module that allows one to edit block in a wysiwyg environment, so we can start making custom blocks to our hearts content?

And how could we do a hack that would allow a few more options in wf-section or Zmagazine that would allow to assign articles "wieght" (importance) AND to different sections/catagories? (And as a side note: It is a bit confusing to have "section" and "catagories" used inter-changably in these modules)

For example: I want 5 or 6 articles to appear in the "Top articles" block on the front page. But I ALSO want thse articles to appear in their own relevent section/catagory.
I COULD just assign those to a catagory/section called "Top articles", and have the block call them from there in whatever order I wieghted them.

But then I ALSO want a column of "spotlight" articles, the top article from each section, with a nifty picture/icon and a summery. And THEN links to each different section.

Perhaps the thing to do would be to build a "Front Page Display" module that basicly creats, edits and controls a front-page block, in a wysisyg environment, that gives a basic table lay-out, with the options to insert this info from that module here, and that info from this module there, and these small blocks over there, click a button and it scrambles to collect the info and inserts it into a block that is then nicely displayed on the front page (Or wherever it is called from)

Now, here is an example I drew up of what I hope to create with a custom block, that uses mostly the zmagazine (or wf-sections) module:
http://www.topekadiy.com/pics/examplezmagblock.jpg

I am also tempted to post this in the "modules requests" forum, but I dont wanna get flamed for cross-posting.

Any thought?

Cheers!
ct

Chometuna, I posted an idea on your other post. Also look at the FAQ about how do I display a block instead of the header banner.https://xoops.org/modules/smartfaq/faq.php?faqid=346

The principle here may demonstrate how to move blocks around your theme design.

Good luck,