Just.. be patient.

I don't have even a month as a Webmaster on my forum and I've installed some hacks, plugs and templates succesfully. Af first I didn't even knew how to place a header.

I must say I'm a lawyer and a few years ago I didn't even had an idea on how a forum worked at all. What I'm trying to say is that I'm still a rookie and I've been learning step by step. Let me say you made the best choice with v.bulletin, just be patient with yourself. Not all rookies get to the probowl on their first season right?

Just keep trying and try to post your questions when you download a hack/plug before installing them.

Good Luck ;)

Set up a test forum (you are allowed to by your licence) and mess about with it, use it to learn without fear of breaking the live forum. Make sure you have a backup of it - so you can restore it if you completely screw it up.

Paul, I would like to get some of these questions answered first before I do that, but I will take both yours and Michael's advise.

Tacama ~ thank you very much for your input, I am very happy with vBulletin, but I was unaware of some obvious issues that I'm very cognizant of now ~ I wish you continued success with your Board ;)

I am very anxious to hear what some of the coders have to say about the questions I'm listing (one of which I asked already) and I hope that someone (even Infantryman) will address. It seems that you are all extremely knowledgeable and I thank you in advance for your time~

I do have some working knowledge of HTML, CSS, but PHP is a whole different ballgame with me ~ I, for some reason have PHP BLOCK ~ lol ~

I haven't had the chance to put up the mirror site, but then again, I would really like to see if someone could please take a look at these questions. I hate to bug anyone, but it'll help make things more clear to me.

• Would the parent skin be the one that the hacks get installed to and then once the hack is installed, it's automatically performed to the child skins? My administrator never mentioned anything about the order of skins etc ~ I can see that I truly had no business messing around, but he told me to "go for it" ~ He seemed to think I wouldn't run into any problems I suppose.
  
• When I install a skin, I notice that I have to designate a number by it, but I don't understand what that means ~ most of them have the number "1" next to it.
  
• When I install a hack, do I install it to the default forum first? I haven't been doing that (which is Skills Club) cause it always has problems after I install something. *Note* all except for the two products I installed; which were Moods (great hack) and Firaun Skin"
  
• Should I just delete Skill Club? It's such a pretty skin, I hate to lose it, but it's a troublemaker I suppose :(

Thanks ~
yum

HEHEHEHE ... sorry but this thread is hilarious LOL

OK ... now I posted my drivel ... here`s my opinion...

I started out like most, not having the slightest clue about php (or even what it was for that matter) and had very little knowledge of HTML .... I`m now building my knowledge, whether right or wrong through breaking my forums ..... Ya can see this as a bad thing, but to be honest if you spend the time to look at fix the problems for yourself, then you`ll learn from it.

OK OK, so now for the bits I`m likely to get back from that comment:-

I know nothing about it - Nope ... neither did I, but it gives one helluva piece of satisfaction when you manage to sort stuff out for yourself... Most of the time it`s simply a case of looking at the default template and the differences between your own.... Just for example all the dropdown menu`s on my forum use a <dd> tag not even seen in the original skin, and it`s only a slight change from what the hack authors post, but it don`t half cock up the skin if I do it wrong LOL

Dont know where to start? - As I`m sure will have been said to you many times in life ... start at the begining and work your way to the end :) ... Look first at the template edits you`ve made yourself, then look for templates named the same as your hack that have been added by the product/plugin.



If all else fails ------ I ain`t got hours to spend on helping to run another board (I already run 3), but if you want a hand in fixing the few problems you have, and if your willing to give the access then pm me an account and I`ll have a look for you by all means....

PS:- This doesn`t mean you shouldn`t take a look for yourself sometime :)

Wow. I run on pure adrenaline alone. :classic:

If you're planning to tinker with the live forum I would first create a Parent Style and call it something like "Test1". All of your experiments can be made to that Style only. That way you can always go back to the current or Default Style (in vB Options or individual forum settings) if you're not satisfied on the changes or run into problems. Now to your questions:

1. I do know that there is an inheritance factor with Parent to Child Styles but since I've only been creating Parent Styles I can't answer your question with confidence.

2. I think the numbers are there only for order preferences.

3. If you're testing out a hack I suggest doing it on your testing Style (e.g., Test1 Style). To minimize potential problems, install the hacks on an un-modified Style. For example, if your "Test1" Style is for style changes only then create a "Test2" Style for testing hacks.

So to answer your question directly concerning whether to trial the hacks on the Skill Club Style, I wouldn't. Already it has been given you problems so that Style is not a good testing platform.

4. If you like the Skill Club skin and so do your members, keep it. Just keep in mind that you may need to modify the hack steps to make it work, however. Because I've changed my templates around quite a bit - I'm not using the Header ($header) template - there are times when I need to adjust the hack steps to make it work.

*When you see an instruction that says "Find", always take it as find that OR something similar to that code. A lot of template troubleshooting has to do with being able to find the right code bit.

I hope this helps. :)

Child styles inherit template edits from parent styles, this comes in handy when you have one design with multiple color schemes. Although it can also be used for things like swapping header/foot info, as long as most of the templates between the parent and child styles are the same, it's the way to go about doing things.

For example say we have a few styles in the admin cp, listed like so:

- Parent style
|
| - Child style
|
| - Second Child style

If the parent style in this example has customized header, footer, and postbit templates. Both child styles would inherit these changes by default, such templates are listed in the color orange (IIRC) in the template manager.

Why is this useful? Well once you start using a bunch of styles, it gets real old having to edit each style every time you add a minor modification. If you use child styles, most of the time you will only have to edit one template (in the parent style). Unless it's customized further in child styles of course.

Thanks, Brad. :) I was curious right after I posted my message so I read through the vB manual. Now I just need to do some trialing.

I'm currently running 4 Parent Styles because for each one there are unique edits, from the Header to Footer to CSS. So at least for my site I'll keep it as is. For my other projects I can definitely see the advantages of doing Parent to Child Styles so the information helps. I have a few ideas that I would like to try. :)

Child styles can have their own css, so if that is all that is holding you back it may be worth it to you. CSS additions are rare with most modifications anyway, unless I do something radical I rarely have to change the css. :)

Was this due to a hack on this site - if so should this be posted in the support thread?

I only understand what I am doing just a bit. But I do know:

1. How to revert back to the default.

2. Know how to copy the hacked coded template to wordpad when adding additional hacked code (this way I do not lose the working hacked code when adding another feature. ie start from scratch).

Because of this, I have learned tons and tons in only five days of setting up my board.