Various HTML/CSS Questions

[Brendan Laughlin]

Hey everybody--

I am a long-time user of old Invision software through the InvisionFree system, and I have recently opened up a new IPB forum, which I am quite close to making public. I am trying to teach myself HTML and CSS now as well, so that I can well customize and improve the board. I am running into some issues, however, on which I would like some guidance.

The first issue is what I refer to as 'topic density,' I am not sure how else to describe it. Simply look at the 'topic density' here, on an old board I frequented called 21c, as compared to my new board, here. I much prefer the old software version, where the topics are listed as topic, user who started said topic, replies, views, and last activity in said topic. To this end, I am attempting to figure out how to do the following on IPB:

1. Remove the author and date that lies under the topic title 
2. Insert some sort of grid system to make differentiating topics simple
3. Remove the author's avatar
4. Move the last activity date and view count to be in-line with the topic and author
5. Add the time to the last activity date

I cannot find within |Admin CP > Themes > Edit HTML and CSS| where I would alter/add code. Any guidance would be appreciated--as well as tips on code to write, I do wish to figure it out but I'm not against assistance!

I am also unsure where in the same menu I can find the area where I would insert an image as a site header, or where I would insert an image as a global background to the forum.

Thanks for your help!

[Brendan Laughlin]

#bump