[eJM]

...But it might be necessary to create and enable symlinks, as subdomain1/images for example most likely does not exist.

You're referring to the graphics that make up the style, correct? And those would all be in the images folder of the forums. I do, or will have and image folder in each sub-domain and I did set up an images/global on "my_domain.com" in anticipation of copying all the style and navigation graphics to that folder for the root domain and all sub-domains except forums.my_domain.

Would it make a difference if I didn't care about logins and cookies on any part of the site except the forums and portal (using vBadvanced, also in the forum directory)? I am mainly interested in having the same look and feel as the forums (I use a custom style), but having special content between the header and footer graphics.