Can you use older themes/skins?

[monet1]

Completely newbie question:

I have a licensed 4.1.5 vBulletin Suite, can I use older skins? I see plenty of skins for 3.0.x or 4.0.x and wonder if I can use those or do I HAVE to stick to skins/styles exclusively for 4.1.5?

Thanks!

[TheLastSuperman]

4.1.4 and 4.1.5 styles should work fine for 4.1.5 however some older styles for 4.1.2 and below COULD POSSIBLY work w/ some adjustments however this is no guarantee and many will not function properly.

3.x styles will not work on 4.x, they require updating or honestly it's best to re-create them from scratch imo .

[monet1]

Originally Posted by TheLastSuperman

4.1.4 and 4.1.5 styles should work fine for 4.1.5 however some older styles for 4.1.2 and below COULD POSSIBLY work w/ some adjustments however this is no guarantee and many will not function properly.

3.x styles will not work on 4.x, they require updating or honestly it's best to re-create them from scratch imo .

Thanks, S-Man! Good to know! I actually thought as long as it's version 4 it will work. So what about if a 4.1.6 or higher style is available? Or is it really smartest to just stick with 4.1.5?

Hm...well, I guess then I would just update to 4.1.6 or whatever and then use the style?

[TheLastSuperman]

Originally Posted by monet1

Thanks, S-Man! Good to know! I actually thought as long as it's version 4 it will work. So what about if a 4.1.6 or higher style is available? Or is it really smartest to just stick with 4.1.5?

Hm...well, I guess then I would just update to 4.1.6 or whatever and then use the style?

Dependent upon the changes made in regards to the style... for example the CK Editor came out in 4.1.4, if you install a 4.1.4 style on a 4.1.3 board you will need to adjust a few things including reverting templates etc as 4.1.3 had the vBulletin editor and there were changes... sometimes it's simple though for example the current few who post on vbulletin.com about the editor buttons being blank... this takes place in custom styles because some are not aware there are new images to upload, not only in the main /images/ folder but also within the /myskinfolder/ as well otherwise their all blank .

Best practice to follow imo is, install styles for your version only, if your browsing a style for another version check the description and posts to see if anyone mentions that it "Works fine w/ 4.1.2" or "Works fine after this and that change" etc and if so see for yourself including any listed changes required, it's only a style install and you can delete afterwards if it's acting finicky and if not you now have a new style .

*vBulletin 4 does attempt merging new code into your templates if it exist when upgrading, if your using a pretty basic style it's generally very successful at merging, if your using a heavily customized style it may fail at merging some templates and you'll be required to compare them using the built in tools and update the style yourself. If your not that experienced at updating styles then it's advised to check for a update to your style and have it handy before running the upgrade script however imo if it's a security release you should upgrade immediately... that's where the compromise comes into play where if you don't have a updated version handy and you can't update it yourself... do you hope it merges correctly or not? Will it work afterwards? Do I upgrade? That's where a test site can come in handy so if you don't have a /testvb/ installation it's about time you made one, yes all of you and make a backup of the style, filesystem, and database before upgrading at that!

[monet1]

Wow, what a great resource you are! Thanks again. I will definitely take your advice and not stray from the styles made exclusively for my version. Thanks again and have a nice weekend, bro!

Thanks for taking the time to explain all that! Much appreciated.