After years of searching, I finally found a new template for the Rad Community forums. Named midnyte, it's (as you might expect) » dark.
A template consists of set of files that style a bulletin board (aka 'online forum'). All templates include (among other things) a CSS file & an accompanying set of graphics.
Our old template was based on a much older version of YaBB (our forum software) .. so old, in fact, that I don't even recall which version it was based on.
I liked the way the old template looked, but it kept getting increasingly outdated with each additional update to our forum script .. thereby introducing an increasing number of compatibilty problems (which made me jump thru increasingly difficult hoops).
Actually, it was problems encountered following last week's upgrade that sent me scurrying to find a contemporary template (one based on YaBB 2.4).
••• today's entry continues here below •••
After installing the 'midnyte' template, I spent some time tweaking it so it would blend better with the site's pre-existing style (by tweaking the CSS). Actually, I feel my particular design is more 'midnite-ish' than the original midnyte style.
Mr. LoneWebSurfer is the author (designer) of the 'midnyte' template. He's currently working on another design that is also very nice. He does good work. Takes a long time to design a forum-style with that level of detail.
Anyway, I'm pleased with how it turned out. The guys seem to like it, too. Best of all, I no longer have to jump thru hoops in order to administrate the forums with an outdated template, as midnyte is based on YaBB v2.4 (which is the current version). So we are phat. (For a while, anyway.)
The Rad forums contain more than 40,000 posts in some 5,000 separate 'threads'. All good stuff .. from an international group of members.
One of our members (based in northern California) even had his kids stay with another member (living in Australia) .. that he met on our boards. (Both are long-time members, who go way back.) I thought that was so cool when I heard about it. That's like family. Welcome to the digital age.
Having moved many times (~20 times since I was 18), I learned that 'locals' can show you places you'd never find as a tourist.
