Anyone recognize the theme at coventalk?

ne1up

I've been looking at a lot of themes, and I really want something close to that one at coventalk.com. I swear I've seen a version of this for sale or download, but I might be thinking of a phpbb or other software theme...

Anyway, it's not exactly what I need, but it's a fantastic start to build from and I'm super curious if anyone can point me in a good direction on a theme that looks like that, premium or not!

Thanks all!

ne1up

I tried messaging the owner here, I saw a credit link in the footer of the page that I followed but couldn't find a way to connect with that company... I'd sign up with his forum but I'm not into the niche, feel like it'd be bad taste to sign up and ask, hey, where can I buy this forum theme? Hah. But it's a good start for me if I can find something close.

vrijvlinder

That looks like the Noise theme . If you look at the source code with firebug or any web inspector for you browser you can see what it is. Looking at the code myself confirms it is Noise

http://coventalk.com/themes/Noise/design/custom.css?v=1.1.3

http://vanillaforums.org/addon/noise-theme

ne1up

I literally found it as I got your notification. You're on the ball around here. ;-) Thanks so much.

ne1up

I got another one for ya - what about this image? Supposedly a Vanilla theme. I love what I can see.

vrijvlinder

I don't recognize that as a Vanilla theme, the giveaway is the use of the word threads instead of discussions.

I sugest you download the themes you like and test them out . The layout and functionality are more important that looks. Looks are easy to change.

ne1up

Just looking for one that starts closer than the others, closer to what's in my mind's eye, 'cause I'm so not a coder. ;-)

I'm totally downloading and testing them like a cr*ckfiend at ne1up.com/forums ;-)

vrijvlinder

I hardly would say that css is coding, it is simple instructions to the browser for things such as color font style backgrounds. It is very straight forward and easy to learn.

What you want to avoid is having to add things that are not there already . It is inevitable though that you will have to modify any theme to suit your needs. There is no out of the box theme that can promise perfection under any circ.

That is what it is all about, a do it yourself, learn how to do it yourself or paying someone to do it for you, or find someone to help you. But you will need to learn , eventually. It almost happens spontaneously after so much exposure to it, the day comes when you realize you understand it.

Kasper

@ne1up said:
I got another one for ya - what about this image? Supposedly a Vanilla theme. I love what I can see.

This is the Penny Arcade Vanilla theme. It's probably one of the most customized themes I've ever seen internally, got to do some tweaking of it about a month ago.

ne1up

And thank you!

ne1up

Oh wow I didn't even see that from @kasperisager - still getting used to being on this forum, AND working on my own in the sandbox at my website. ;-)

I really like that theme, because it's a lot like I want to do with my own. I was thinking I could buy this Silicon theme: http://themeforest.net/item/silicon-premium-vanilla-2-theme/full_screen_preview/1641272 which is pretty close (I think), but I really want to drop the sidebar entirely and have it go full-width.

No idea if that's difficult. I'd buy the theme right now to do it but I'm not a coder, and can't afford to waste even $15.

ne1up

Or use Nebula, but again, have that crazy interest in removing sidebars...

whu606

@ne1up

As @vrijvlinder said, changing css really isn't coding, and it isn't that difficult.

If you are going to be changing themes on your own, then get used to using Firebug in Firefox, or a similar tool.

I didn't know any of this when I first started using Vanilla.

If you want a 'primer', I made a theme: http://vanillaforums.org/addon/annotated_css-theme

As the title suggests, each css declaration is annotated to show you what it does.

It won't look anything like what you want, but if you work through it, you'll have a better idea of what to look for and change in a theme you do want.

People on here will help where they can, but please be aware that many of your questions will have been asked and answered already, so please try and search for an answer first.

If you use Firebug (or similar tool) you can find the name of the element you want to change.

For example, knowing that the sidebar is 'Panel' you can search for 'hide panel' or 'remove panel', and will see threads that get you where you want to go.

You can hide it with display:none via css, or remove the reference to it in the custom theme default.master file.

peregrine

@ne1up

generally to drop the sidebar

something like

  #Panel {display:none;}

added to the theme custom.css.

look at http://vanillaforums.org/addon/annotated_css-theme

its not too hard to modify things, although getting a great design is another.

ne1up

Oh shoot I Just bumped a thread after doing a bunch of searching only to find a little insight here. My fault/bad.

I keep hearing Firebug - I'm a Chrome user but really should try to transition back to Firefox.

Thanks @peregrine, you're fantastic. And design was never fun/interesting to me until I started looking at it from a conversion POV. Whole website is just a learning experience for me, that's all. Learning the basic three, html/css/php..

Appreciate the input!

peregrine

chrome has web developer tools, that works too.

whu606

@ne1up

You can stick with Chrome.

It also has an Inspect element feature.

Just hover your mouse over the part of the page you want to examine, then right click and choose...

peregrine

dueling banjos.

on the count of 3 lets post @whu606

I'll leave it up to the superhero from here on in, I'm no theme expert.

Between whu606, kasper, and V - there isn't anything that can't be done with a theme.

with me, there isn't anything that can be done to a theme.

vrijvlinder

@ne1up said:
I keep hearing Firebug - I'm a Chrome user but really should try to transition back to Firefox.

https://developers.google.com/chrome-developer-tools/

hgtonight

While I am a huge proponent of Chrome Dev tools, the Firebug team puts out a chrome extension called Firebug Lite.

ne1up

Thanks so much everyone. Having a lot of fun playing with Vanilla. :-)