[gregmlb]

I am slowly getting there, but not quite just yet. Here?s what I've got. I ***really appreciate*** your input.

First of all, I implemented what you showed me above - and got it working as in your example. Now I've been experimenting a bit in search of the final solution.

OVERALL GOAL
Just to restate where I'm ultimately going is - I need to achieve something identical to what you see on my working 3.8.6 forum, shown here: http://www.midlifebachelor.com/forum...isplay.php?f=2 ... which is

1) a top which contains a fixed-width graphic, then underneath a bunch of fixed-width "buttons", composed of HTML and javascript (which are links to other portions of the site, plus ads).

and then UNDERNEATH what item 1) above describes:

2) a fixed-width left-side column that contains a bunch of HTML and javascript (ads, addthis.com widget, RSS, etc.)
3) no right column
4) forum grows automatically ("fluid" in your language) to the right
5) identical user experience whether inside the forum, or at the top level forum/index.php page.

WHERE I'M AT RIGHT NOW
Now I mentioned I've been experimenting, and here is what I've done and what I see:

at the index.php level ...


inside the forum itself ...


I set the doc_margin Left to 0, and doc_margin Right to Auto, and then changed the header_background color from #2f4456 to white so that it matches the right-side of the top graphic. I also changed the header background image from "url(images/gradients/gradient-grey-down.png)" to "" because I don't want the gradient grey image (gradient image doesn't match the white right side of the top graphic).

Here are the mods, as I have them now ...

In the header template:

I modified Beermonster's mod, and replaced,

<div><a name="top" href="{vb:raw vboptions.forumhome}.php{vb:raw session.sessionurl_q}" class="logo-image"><img src="{vb:stylevar titleimage}" alt="{vb:rawphrase x_powered_by_vbulletin, {vb:raw vboptions.bbtitle}}" /></a></div>

with this

<div id="headerFill"><div id="headerL"></div></div>

instead of his suggested,

<div id="headerFill"><div id="headerL"></div><div id="headerR"></div></div>

with my logic in NOT including the <div id="headerR"></div> being that I don't want a right-hand column in the top header (nor the forum).

In the vbulletin.css template,

I changed your suggested mods to:

#headerL{
background-image: url(http://www.missioninland.com/images/MLB_Header2.png);
height: 70px;
background-repeat: no-repeat;
width: 1017px;
float: left;
}

with my logic being that I don't need a headerFill nor a headerR because I'm using the left-placed graphic as everything (otherwise I have the visual problem when the window is made narrow by the user ... shown two posts above - post #7 (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....57&postcount=7

In the additional.css template,

I changed your suggested mods to:

#forumFill{
background-image: none;
background-repeat: repeat-x;
width: 100%;
margin-right: auto;
margin-left: auto;
}

#forumL{
background-image: none;
background-repeat: no-repeat;
width: 165px;
float: left;
}

#forumC {
background-image: none;
background-repeat: no-repeat;
width: auto;
float: left;
}

and my logic for each of the above additional.css changes is:

forumL width 165px is identical to my 3.8.6 left-column width.
forumC width auto; the goal is to have the forum expand automatically to the right as the user widens the browser. [This seems to work fine when inside the actual forum, but does not work when viewing at the forum/index.php level.]

In the navbar template, I left that as you suggested:

<div id="forumFill">
<div id="forumL">Testing 123</div>
<div id="forumC">

In the footer template, the first several lines are:

</div>
</div>
{vb:raw ad_location.ad_footer_start}
.
.
.

with my logic being to close the div from forumC. The second </div> - I think that was part of the original footer template??? Cannot remember.

Conclusions thus far
I think I'm on my way to "getting it" but not quite there yet

1) When viewing the top-level index.php page,
- the left-hand column looks great (this is where my 160x600 ads and other stuff will ultimately go)
- there is still a right-hand column, for some reason???
- ideally, at the index.php level the display should grow to the right automatically (as it does when inside the forum), but it does not.


2) When viewing the forums/forumdisplay.php?2-Midlife-Forum page,
- the left-side column has disappeared, and the HTML (actually the "Testing 123" text) shows up at the top, above the "Post New Thread" link?
- right-side of the forum itself grows to the right as the user widens the window ... which is exactly what I want. [I don't want a right column on any page, forum or index.php level]


So what would you suggest I do to get past the issues identified in these "Conclusions thus far"? I know I'm still missing the boat, but I do have one foot in the boat with my ass still on the dock. ha ha Thank you very much for your input, Sir ... !!!