ProBoards

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Duis consectetuer porta sem. Suspendisse quam. Aenean ultricies. Curabitur fringilla. Praesent libero erat, pulvinar id, feugiat quis, pharetra in, justo. Praesent dui felis, hendrerit egestas, tristique vitae, tempus quis, lectus. Nunc vehicula malesuada metus. Praesent nisi nulla, laoreet et, luctus et, pharetra vitae, sem. Aliquam eu arcu in magna suscipit condimentum. Suspendisse potenti. Duis risus quam, egestas ac, dapibus ut, euismod sit amet, nisl. Sed luctus. Maecenas ac pede. Morbi lacus. Suspendisse potenti. In nisi nisl, accumsan eu, ultrices id, nonummy eu, metus. Duis varius lectus ut nisi. Nam nisl tortor, hendrerit.

Walk Throughs and Guides

How to Apply a ProBoards Skin

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How to Apply a ProBoards® Skin (PBv4)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This tutorial will cover basic application of premade PBv4 skins. This will prove useful for those who are new to PB skinning or those who are entirely clueless about everything.

Enjoy!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Introduction
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Usually, you can download premade templates in one ZIP file. You will need an archiver to extract its contents.

After extracting the ZIP file, it is most likely that you will see GIF or JPEG images and a readme file that contains copyright(s) of the creator(s), header and footer codes, and forum colors (not everytime though).

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
STEP 1: Forum Colors
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
admin --> Skins / Forum Colors --> Create Skin or Modify Skin

Key in the new HEX codes in the approriate fields. A "hexadecimal color code" is a 6-character value in alpha-numeric structure that determines a color in HTML. By entering them in the fields, your board will display other colors other than the blue and white default scheme.

Recommended:

* www.december.com/html/spec/color.html (The Hex Hub)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
STEP 2: Host Images
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To host an image means to upload it to a file host so that it goes online.

When all images have been hosted, your file host will provide a URL or link to each of your images.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
STEP 3: Customize Images
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
admin --> Skins / Forum Colors --> Customize Images

In the "Board Images" page, you will see different tables for the image types of your board like "Folders", "Menu Icons", "Post Page Icons", etc. These images are often provided in the template download, but not all of them everytime. In the textarea where you see the http://, put in the URL of your hosted images.

Sometimes, you will encounter rollover or "off" and "on" images in your ZIP file. These are the images responsible for the changing of colors of the menu icons (typically) when you point your mouse over them. Make sure that you put the "off" buttons in the "Menu Icons" table.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
STEP 4: Edit Codes
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Open the readme file provided in the template download. Often, the codes are already labeled "Global Header", "Main Footer", etc. Rarely, some creators have already done the editing of the codes, but almost everytime, you have to do the editing yourself.

In various parts of the codes, you will see "URL OF _____" or "LINK TO _____". They mean the same thing. All you have to do is place the URL of the appropriate image between the quotes, apostrophes, or whatever is in the code. Do not remove any punctuation marks used. They are significant parts of the codes.

The URL of the images are oftentimes the editing you have to deal with. For the others, just follow the comments in the codes.

Keep all copyrights intact. Otherwise, your board may risk cessation.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
STEP 5: Headers and Footers
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
admin --> Headers and Footers

Simply copy and paste the codes in the appropriate fields. Misplaced codes will never work.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Author's Note
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I hope that gave you an idea of how things work with PBv4. I may update this tutorial in case something changes with the PB skinning system.

Thank you for reading!

ProBoards Template Guide

I've crossed over several threads where people are asking for a ProBoard template tutorial and the only respons is that there is none! I couldn't just stand there and listen to that! I had to do something! So I made this tutorial. It is only a BETA version but it will do for now. I might make a more copious version but this will do for now.

How to make a template for a forum (ProBoards).
Foreword

For a template to be good you need to make it unique. Not just the name and the banner etc but also the theme and codes of course.

Questions
Q: What is codes?
A: Codes is what you put in your Admin->Headers and Footers. They often start with "<script>" and ends with "</script>" or "<style>" and "</style>" or "<Script="JavaScript">" and "</script>". But all that depends on what the codes does. Between those starts/endings there is many funny and less funny signs and text. You'll learn with time...
Q: What is a template?
A: This you must know, if not then this is useless!
Q: What is "a banner, etc"?
A: That is the image that is the first thing you look at when you come to a new forum/site/whatever. The banner is an image where you (most do that) type your forums name on, and subname if you like. It is where your forum starts. "Etc" is all the other images you use on a forum. Like navigation buttons or gradients.
Q: What is the most common theme on PB, what should I choose instead?
A: There are many design forums out there, most of them with highly skilled designers so don't choose that if you know nothing about designing, graphics and such. Instead choose something you are interrested in. Let's say soccer or football, these are good, I don't think I have seen any like them before. Only once or twice, anyways.

Template
Colours:
Always start with the colours of your forum. Search around on different PB's and look what colours they have and then DON'T use them. Use unique colours, not common ones.
Codes:
Now, when you have found some delightful colours (THAT NO ONE ELSE HAS) go to some code forums like http://sangodesigns.proboards26.com, http://ssdesigns.proboards17.com, http://zdesign.proboards3.com or a 4th one. These are really, really good coding forums/designing forums. Find some cool, useful codes and put them in "Admin"->"Headers and Footers". (Be aware of this: Some codes goes only in the Header part and some others only in the Footers. Others are so big they go in Headers AND Footers but this is nothing to worry about. On the forums they usually tell you where the code goes so always read the whole post where the code is!)
Gradients:
Gradients is the bars (images) that is as a background under the text: "Forum Name", "Last Post", "Topics", "Posts". Under that there is another gradient. On it it has the forum name. These you need to make in a program. A graphic program. Like MS Paint (really bad) or Photoshop (REALLY GREAT!). There are several tutorials on how to make them so look on http://www.google.com or http://ssdesigns.proboards17.com. To place them where they are suposed to go to http://support.proboards.com and into there FAQ and look for "Images Instead Of Colours (Gradients)".
Other Images:
Well, these are all the other images of course. Go to "Admin" -> "Customize Board Images" and look at the images there and replace the urls with your uploaded images url.