Forum Style - Lightweight Style for Small Screen Devices (cell phone, iphone, mobile, android)

A lightweight *forum only style aimed at small screen devices such as Windows Smartphones, Nokias and even iPhones. It has VERY low bandwidth requirements - 15 times less on my site - 20K as opposed to 300K for forumhome.

*forum only - I have done a very small amount of rough work on CMS templates, a simple single column CMS *could* be created to work with this style without too much effort. However I am not sure if you can have a different CMS layout dependent on which style you are using?

This is an update to the mobile style I have previously released.

The changes are predominantly aesthetic to take advantage of larger screens.

It is also much easier to change colour schemes by editing the commented CSS file.

Demo: http://vbdev.org/forum.php?styleid=7

This is a a lightweight style and as such has much reduced functionality/information over the default vBulletin style.

Install instructions:

• Firstly, if upgrading, I recommend installing this as a new style rather than overwriting your previous install. This way you get to test it first without trashing your existing style.
• BACKUP YOUR EXISTING lightweight.css.php FILE IF YOU HAVE CSS CUSTOMISATIONS
• Download ZIP file
• Unzip to a local/temp directory
• Edit lightweight.css.php file to customise colours if required
• Upload contents of the upload directory in the zip file folder to your forum root.
• Install style XML via Style Manager in your ADMINCP
• **Install and configure "LightWeight Style Options"
• See post 2 for a FAQ
• Click "Mark as Installed"
• Test it out
• Leave a rating
• Leave feedback
• Enjoy checking your site from your mobile phone without the need to pinch/zoom/wait etc...

Version Control:

1.0.0 - 25 AUG 2010 - Initial Release on vBulletin.org
1.0.1 - 26 AUG 2010 - Fixed "Mark All Forums Read" link in Search results. Released Lightweight Style Options to customise this
1.0.2 - 21 MAR 2011 - Updated to 4.1.2, removed short tags from CSS, fixed some issues discovered since last release, added some stuff.
1.0.3 - 16 DEC 2011 - Updated to 1.0.3, tried to fix all known issues. Nothing new. If you have updated your site as bugs have been found, probably no need to upgrade. But if you're upgrading your site from to 4.1.9, might be worthwhile.
1.0.3a - 16 DEC 2011 - remove test ad hook code accidently left in postbit_legacy template

Branding Free:

The style is free to use. However I ask that you keep links in the footer. If you want to remove them - send me a donation of an amount you can afford, or that you think is fair/reasonable, it's up to you how much.

[The Rocketeer]

Originally Posted by GaryT

Before I install this I have one question. When someone connects to my site using mobile device, will they be directed to this style? Or, do they need to be given a different url?

I am pretty sure if you install the mobile detection script mod (that comes with this) then the users mobile device gets detected and then they are auto directed to this style.

[The Rocketeer]

Well, There has been so many changes that have undergone between vBulletin 4.1.2 - 4.1.8 that some issues are bound to arise unless this style gets updated. I like many others think 4.1.8 warrants an Update, dartho. When will you be updating this?

[MaXimus]

I installed it but I have a small Glitch

When viewing the mobile site from my BlackBerry smartphone, I see a red x next to each subforum on the left if the image path is wrong (but it's not even supposed to show an image) but when I view the lightweight style from my pc it displays just fine


The way I have setup my forum is, for each subforum there is an image located in a folder, so for example, the first subforum in my Forums is called General Discussion, and the path for its image is /Discuss/ as that Discuss folder contains the same image renamed into:

- forum_link-48
- forum_new_lock-48
- forum_new-48
- forum_old_lock-48
- forum_old-48

This is done to each and every other subforum so maybe that is why it is appearing as an X on the mobile

See how it looks from the PC and mobile below and please advice me what I need to do to not show those Red Xs on the mobile

From PC:





From Mobile:

[dartho]

@MatrixLeader - This style is expecting to find files forum_new_lock-16, forum_old_lock-16, plus any other "16" images from the images/statusicon directory in that directory also

@Filgaa / Rocketeer : one day, one day - the thing is that I don't actually use vb4 so updates can take a while

[MaXimus]

Originally Posted by dartho

@MatrixLeader - This style is expecting to find files forum_new_lock-16, forum_old_lock-16, plus any other "16" images from the images/statusicon directory in that directory also

Thanks a lot man! that solved it!

I copied all the images pertaining to -16 from the statusicon root to each individual imaces folder I have assigned to my custom status images and it worked!!!

PS: I've nominated this tyle as style of the month because it simply looks fantastic on a mobile phone

[Mr Peabody]

Originally Posted by Filgga

I doubt, when someone goes to the page /private.php there's an error (after upgrade to 4.1.8). The sender of the Private Message is not displayed, you end up getting 'Array' as the sender.

Probably this' facing me alone?

We have the same issue.

[Courty]

Originally Posted by thenamesgould

It is great, but I have a few problems. Big row of smileys appears under the edit box when you quote a post, and then when you post that reply, line breaks are removed. The reply box is also wider than the width of the page.

There were solutions to this earlier on in thie thread, but they didn't seem to work as intended for me, so I reverted to the original.

I'd love for those to be fixed, but this is still a great mobile skin, so I still use it.

I have the same issues, and have not been able to find a working solution.

[The Rocketeer]

Originally Posted by dartho

one day, one day - the thing is that I don't actually use vb4 so updates can take a while

We'll be waiting and watching dartho.

Until then, Could you at least add the edits required or links to the edits on your first post? that way many new users wont have to go through nearly 600 Posts to get it fully stable and working with 4.1.8.

[thenamesgould]

Originally Posted by dartho

@Filgaa / Rocketeer : one day, one day - the thing is that I don't actually use vb4 so updates can take a while

Whenever you do, I'll be very grateful, but until then I'm just happy to be using it as is.

[Filgga]

Originally Posted by dartho

@Filgaa / Rocketeer : one day, one day - the thing is that I don't actually use vb4 so updates can take a while

Will appreciate getting in touch with you, I have something personal. Noted and THANKS.

Your inbox is FULL.

Originally Posted by Mr Peabody

We have the same issue.

I thought it was my own fault, dartho gonna fix this hopefully.

Originally Posted by The Rocketeer

We'll be waiting and watching dartho.

Until then, Could you at least add the edits required or links to the edits on your first post? that way many new users wont have to go through nearly 600 Posts to get it fully stable and working with 4.1.8.

Good recommendation, seconded!