mgalyen Posted September 23, 2006 Share Posted September 23, 2006 It seems that with every update, the previous skins are trashed and incompatible. It's one of the main reasons I dread updating IPB. It's like telling me that I have a car with some tweaking on the engine, but I can't use the porshe body anymore, I have to use the yugo one.I know for myself I bought IPB intially because it was so easy to add skins, customize then to suit ones particular flavor of a site, and draw members simply from the astetics of the site itself.Skins should always be compatible, and if any new feature is given to the 'engine' that the skin can have the 'option' of calling, well list those add-ins, and small patches could be made in it so members can access those features.I also noted that any skin other than the default locks the board so you can not change out of it back to default. I can see why the new addition that the aCP runs on it's own skin seperate, and one can go in and delete the skin, long enough to get access back to the board and try checking with another skin to see how much or little it crashes the beta.One might note also: Firefox will display a custom skin fine. Explorer 6 and down of course will as well. But testing with the new Explorer 7 using Vista causes all sorts of skewing. Remember Explorer 7 is compliant with 'standards' now and needs to be detected seperately on its own. Sites will have to stop using just is it explorer or not variables... it will have to see if it is explorer 6 or below or 7 and up... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gladiator Posted September 23, 2006 Share Posted September 23, 2006 Unfortunately as much as we moan about the upgrades and skins problem, I cannot see there ever being a solution that "Skins should always be compatible". There is obviously going to be new tables, and new images and new css entries, it's just a part of having this type of software that if you have modified the software in any way, it will need to be re-modified when you upgrade, it's the same with almost any software.I do hate it too, and I actually completely avoid upgrading for as long as possible, my last upgrade was 1.1 to 2.1.5 due to the amount of modifications and skins I had made to the site over the years I simply waited until I have enough time to sit down and make the changes and make the upgrade justified. Of course I update security patches accordingly anyway.The way I look at it is that Matt has dedicated weeks possibly months having his head stuck in code trying constantly create the "better" forum for us, and for us then to have to spend a few hours on re-customizing a few skins isn't that much to ask. I've worked on a couple of big forums before, you know the type which has 500 users on at any given time, they often to stick to the big releases as apposed to the more minor ones because of the disruption is causes in modifications they have.I guess the answer is either keep your forum/skin modifications fairly simple so they can be easily tweaked/replaced when a new release arrives, or if you do decide to heavily change the look of your forum, be prepared to put in the work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark Phantom Posted September 23, 2006 Share Posted September 23, 2006 How do you expect new features to be added, if they don't add skin elements for the new features.I would rather have new features and have to update a skin, then go without new features being added.Would like to add ALL forum software has this so called "problem" it comes with the product. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Management Charles Posted September 23, 2006 Management Share Posted September 23, 2006 There is really no way, short of artificial intelligence, for the upgrader to know what skin changes you made and how to incorporate them into the new skin.We have been braindstorming here lately on some ideas and have a few thoughts on the subject. We are testing some different ways for the skins to semi-upgrade themselves between versions and have the software sort of tag the areas it needs you to look at and help it fix.In the end, and Mr. Phantom pointed out, any web-based software has this limitation. Some more than others depending on how they work but it's just a fact of software. Much like Windows 98 themes need some help to work on Windows XP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UBERHOST.NET Posted September 23, 2006 Share Posted September 23, 2006 It seems that with every update, the previous skins are trashed and incompatible. It's one of the main reasons I dread updating IPB. It's like telling me that I have a car with some tweaking on the engine, but I can't use the porshe body anymore, I have to use the yugo one.More like getting your car modded with a new, longer chassis, and expecting the paint and body not to be affected. I have been using my custom skin for a year now. I'll deal with making changes to it to accommodate the new frame.But testing with the new Explorer 7 using Vista causes all sorts of skewing. Remember Explorer 7 is compliant with 'standards' now...Mixing up too many betas is liable to cause skewing alright. Which version of Vista (I'm on 5728 now)? As for IE7 being compliant, that is only partially true. It's still ages behind Firefox and Opera in terms of compliance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark Phantom Posted September 23, 2006 Share Posted September 23, 2006 There is really no way, short of artificial intelligence, for the upgrader to know what skin changes you made and how to incorporate them into the new skin.We have been braindstorming here lately on some ideas and have a few thoughts on the subject. We are testing some different ways for the skins to semi-upgrade themselves between versions and have the software sort of tag the areas it needs you to look at and help it fix.In the end, and Mr. Phantom pointed out, any web-based software has this limitation. Some more than others depending on how they work but it's just a fact of software. Much like Windows 98 themes need some help to work on Windows XP.This is really offtopic, I the best time to ask something like this is when that person agrees with you. But I was wondering if IPS hires Computer Engineering majors? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mgalyen Posted September 23, 2006 Share Posted September 23, 2006 I like the responses. Yet still I have found a workaround. Load a custom 2.1 skin and then revert the HTML customizations.. and add in all the graphics from the new default skin and it seems to work. For me, when someone says a 'couple of hours' to fix a skin... I laugh. I have been waiting over a year for some of my favorite skins to get updated and realized that most of the people who made them initially are frustrated at it ending up to be a waste of time when they do not work with upgrades.and I see no reason for it to not work if a standard is set... as I said, a simple list of what any custom skin user might add to a present skin is all that is needed.if anyone needs to work with a test version, feel free to email me and I will add them as admin. (yes it is on a seperate server dedicated to just this ;) so if screwed up, I simply re-install) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry - AKA Dumbledore Posted September 23, 2006 Share Posted September 23, 2006 You also have to make several CSS edits as there are bits that are not in the 2.1 skins. You also have to copy the ips_menu_html.js ( default skin) file to the old skin. It want work in the old file. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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