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2.2 version - how to customize

hyawcuohhyawcuoh New
edited February 2016 in Vanilla 2.0 - 2.8

I installed 2.2 version and I am attempting to customize appearance, but I am hitting problems.
1. Documentation says that in Dashboard "Appearance" area I should see "Customize Theme" link - but I do not see such link - I just see links "Banner", "Homepage","Themes","Mobile Themes" and "Messages". So there is nowhere I can edit html/css.
2. So I am trying to customize by copying "default" theme in "themes" folder and following readme.txt instructions in themes/default folder. Again, I cannot do so as file says:

Master Views - these represent everything that wraps the main content of the page. If all you want to do is add a menu or banner above Vanilla, this is all you need to alter. To do so, copy the default master view from /applications/dashboard/views/default.master.php to /themes/yourtheme/views/default.master.php and edit it there.

Problem is that this file default.master.php does not exists in that specified folder. I see there file "default.master.tpl", but not "php".

So I am stuck - how can I customize my Vanilla forum? I simply need to add header and footer and change some css.

TIA!

Comments

  • vrijvlindervrijvlinder Papillon-Sauvage MVP

    Please download the theme Bootstrap and then add cssedit plugin

  • R_JR_J Ex-Fanboy Munich Admin

    The part in the documentation that refers to the dashboard belongs to the hosted plan of vanillaforums.com. The CSSEdit plugin vrijvlinder mentioned is a great alternative.

    The default master file is now a Smarty template file, so you've stumbled upon old documentation. But if you only want to make some small changes, I'd recommend HTMLEdit, another plugin by Bleistivt. It allows you to make small changes to the default.master.tpl

    With both plugins you are able to make small changes to the current theme without the need to create a new theme on your own.

  • noncenonce Necro-on Forensics

    you said: The part in the documentation that refers to the dashboard belongs to the hosted plan of vanillaforums.com.

    yes it is very confusing to have hosted documentation that serves as documentation for the open source version.

    you said: The default master file is now a Smarty template file, so you've stumbled upon old documentation.

    yes, eventually I figured this out as well. But it was confusing to me as well. themes/default/README.txt.

    hyaw stumbled on "current documentation" that has a typo or has not been updated. It is new documentation that is based on old information, but it is the last iteration that I see in the folder. nevertheless it is incorrect.

  • R_JR_J Ex-Fanboy Munich Admin

    I do not know where this old information can be found (and I haven't searched). If it is in the official documentation, it could be changed by anyone because it is a repo on GitHub. If it could be found in the unofficial wiki, it could also be changed (it is a wiki!)

    Would you mind either updating the info or at least informing someone that would be able where the outdated information can be found? That would be great! =)

  • noncenonce Necro-on Forensics
    edited February 2016

    in 2.2 newer versions of vanilla

    I inform you....

    please look in your theme folder, then go to the default theme. then proofread the README.txt

    please load README.txt into text editor and search for default.master.php

    you probably search your github as well for file in that folder and for term in other documentation.

    authors need do better proofreading if idea to provide better user happiness.

    same as info in top post announcement above by hyaw

  • R_JR_J Ex-Fanboy Munich Admin

    You're absolutely correct! I could have seen where he has found the wrong information if I had taken more time for reading his complete post. I must admit I only scanned it and was focusing on giving a helpful answer.

    Changing the reason for his confusion is certainly also important. That's why I filed a pull request on GitHub.

    I do believe that pointing out errors is very important, but helping resolving them should always accompany the talk about errors. That's why I wanted to guide you in the direction of changing the wrong information source. Shouldn't be offensive, though...

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