I'm working on creating my first custom theme based on the default and have run up against a number of things I can't figure out. First, How can I want to get rid of the border lines around all the blocks? I tried fiddling with the style.css with no success. Also, how do I place the login and search blocks in a separate table between the banner and the main part of the site?

Thanks.

Bob

Have you
a) Searched the forum?
b) Read the theme development wiki?
c) Looked into theme.html?

And please! One post per topic. Don't double-post

First: Sorry about the double post. I wasn't sure which category.

As to you questions:
Yes
Yes
Yes

Add to that hours of slogging through trial and error. I was able to figure out SOME of what I'm trying to accomplish.

I figured out how to lay out the login block as I want--more or less. Part of my problem was that I use Adobe GoLive for generating my HTML. It was mangling the code in the templates. When I switched to Programmer's Editor, things got saner. I also got rid of the the fieldset boxes with the proper css settings.

But, there are still lines around the left, right, and bottom of all the blocks. I've spent hours experimenting with the the various styles to no avail. The only thing I can think is that they're set individually with each modules' css, which is insane.

Last, I need to place the login block, the logout command and the search block in a separate table between the header and the main body.

Please bear with me. I'm a designer, not a programmer. It's taken me hours using XOOPS to accomplish what usually takes minutes with GoLive. In fact, were I not working on a personal project, I would've abandoned Xoops.

No doubt, a programmer who knows XOOPS inside and out could've done it equally as quickly, but I'm not and am struggling with the pressure of having produce something workable within a reasonable amount of time.

I'm willing to learn but help from the cognoscenti will keep the wind in my sails during those all too frequent calms as I navigate my way along the learning path.

So . . . how do I accomplish what I need to do?

Bob

Hello Bob,

I dont know if you got this border problem sorted or not. Anyway IF you mean the outer border, like a grey frame around the blocks, this is a function of the <fieldset> attribute.(see THIS LINK!) Its in all three blocks in the default template set ie. centerCcolumn, centerLcolumn, centerRcolumn html templates in the default theme.

If you delete the fieldset attribute in any template file here, the border will go. HOWEVER, update your "Update module template .html files from themes/your theme/templates directory? " setting in your system admin>preferences>general settings. Refresh your page and see the change. You could also set a class in your css to modify the fieldset by adding this line at the end of the css file

.fieldset {border: 1px solid #FFFFFF; color: #FFFFFF;}

I have not tried this method, but it should work. Just remember, this will effect all three files!


Richard

hey there bobby,

you will also find the mjority of the block settings in the css file.

For instance look at you block templates html files...see what "CLASS" they are calling from the CSS file.

Find that classs in the css file and try, temporarily some drastic changes just to see what happens...(make a back-up first of course)

This is one of the best things about XOOPS themes IMO. you can see the changes from the css file rather wuickly once uploading to the appropiate directory.

In your case I would like at classes' defined as such:
<div style="padding: 5px;">
<fieldset>
<legend class="blockTitle"><{$block.title}></legend>
<div class="blockContent"><{$block.content}></div>
etc.
as well as .TABLE properties too...
etc.

Hope that pints you in the right direction.

Th culprit for this problem is in the style.css file. Look for this:



You can delete them or change them. Also look for the same parameters in the centerRcolumn and centerLcolumn.

Hi Bob

You've probably seen this already, but just in case you haven't, the annotated guide to the default css is invaluable for locating which style does what.

I'm not a programmer (or designer) either...but with XOOPs I can build sites in hours that I could *never* build by hand If you need to deal with lots of content its well worth the learning curve.

Regards

Simon

Yup I did get it sorted out, more or less using the second method you suggested. Actually what I did was set the border to 0px. That seemed to do the job nicely.

I'm not in love with the fieldset, however. There's no control over placement on the horizonatal axis. For example, you can't line up the headings on the left margin.

I guess the thing to do is delete the fieldset attribute. Haven't gotten around to it yet but will.

Thanks for your suggestions!!!

Bob