A pitiful plea for help
 

I have a small automotive forum here in West Texas and after making the leap from v3.8.x to v4.x I have been unable to put together a style that even remotely resembles my old one. Aside from what I now think was a grave mistake upgrading, the site is now ugly and bears no resemblance to the beautiful place it was in the older v3 style (a friend did the design work for me then). I have no programming experience at all and my comfort is in managing the forum. I have since resorted to using a generic default style which has ultimately resulted in forum traffic going to a mere nothing. This is only a hobby for me and my interest is only to bring our local import automotive community closer together(call it mid-life crisis). The site generates no revenue as it is ad-free and sponsor free. Heck. Even the site decals for sale are at cost. From time to time we do things for charity (ie. Parkinson's Awareness, and now for the holidays, Toys for Tots).

If anyone thinks they would be interested in tackling this project for our forum, I would love to visit with you.

http://www.westtexasimports.net/forum.php

Here is a sample of what it USED to look like:

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/external/2010/11/7.jpg

Did you at least try using the style generator to create a new skin with the same old colors? And then upload your banner and use it as a background for your header area?

I don't have "Style Generator" listed as one of my options under "Styles & Templates". Presently using v4.0.2 PL1

Ah. I don't think it was introduced until 4.0.4. You should at least be able to change the header image in stylevar "header_background"

Must each patch be installed in order to update?

No. If you decide to update, then just download the version you wish to upgrade to and upload the files and run the install/upgrade.php script. It is always suggested to text this on a test site first.

The site has been upgraded to 4.0.8. The Style Designer might offer us some assistance with coming up with something new.