FluxBB.org Forums - Announcements

Style competition entries

2010-03-12T13:32:49Z

As promised, below are the style competition entries which we received. We are posting these to get feedback from the community, and also so the styles are available for anyone wishing to use them. Within the coming week we will aim to announce a winner. Please note that the downloads provided are as we received the entries. We have not done any tidying up of them or checked the validity of the code. The entries are ordered in that which they were received.

1.4 - Localized admin?

2010-02-08T08:51:22Z

As some of you are probably aware, the 1.2 branch (and hence 1.4 branch) currently do not support admin panel localization. There have been numerous discussions about including it into 1.4, but so far it hasn't made it. The original argument against it was because 1.4 is meant to be a quick and easy upgrade from 1.2, and changing the whole admin panel would require extra work for end users, however like normal it has got a bit carried away and has had far more work done than originally planned, making updating using hdiff not really viable anyway. It can also be argued that mods would require extra work updating them to support the changed admin panel, but at most this will be a couple of strings moved into language files and worst case, the mod uses hard coded strings as before. Since we have had quite a few requests to include this, we are opening this up for discussion. We are now leaning towards including this, especially since all the work has [url=http://fluxbb.org/forums/topic/3567/fluxbb-14rc1-administration-localisation/]already been done[/url], but would like to get the communities input before doing so. PS. Yes I'm aware 1.4 is in feature freeze technically, but since this has been strongly requested it may be worth breaking the rules... UPDATE: The response being almost entirely in favour, the admin panel now supports localization (as of FluxBB 1.4RC1 r.1362).

New styles for FluxBB-1.4 - A competition

2010-01-12T13:19:24Z

FluxBB 1.4 is now nearing completion. Soon we will be transferring fluxbb.org to its new server, and the new website will go live, with the forums running FluxBB 1.4 RC1. However we have one last feature we wish to add before the final release of FluxBB 1.4; a new skin. The old skin from FluxBB 1.2 is now looking rather old and out-dated, and could do with being updated and given a more modern look. We would like to get the community involved in this, and make a competition! If the competition proves to be successful (i.e. we get more than just 1 or 2 entries) then [b]we will ship the best entries with FluxBB 1.4[/b]. There will also be a [b]cash prize[/b] of €50 (~$70) for the best entry (payable via Paypal only). [h]Rules[/h] [list=*] [*]The entries will be judged by the FluxBB Development team. While we will take the communities view into account, the final decision is ours.[/*] [*]Members of the development team can enter if they wish, but they are not eligible for the cash prize.[/*] [*]We may tidy up some of the code before a skin is released as part of FluxBB.[/*] [*]Obviously the skin must be released under the GPL. Any artwork you use it in must either be your own, or released under a compatible license.[/*] [*]The skin should not include any extra copyright notices or advertisements.[/*] [*]Users may submit multiple entries if they wish, within reason.[/*] [*]Joint entries are allowed/encouraged (for example one person doing the CSS and one doing the graphics work)[/*] [*]Obviously you may not edit the core files (i.e. anything outside the style folder). If you need markup in the core altered to be able to do anything we may be able to do this for you, so let us know.[/*] [*]The skin will be judged using the latest SVN version of FluxBB 1.4. While there will only be bug fixes and small tweaks after RC1, sometimes these may affect markup (though shouldn't break backwards compatibility). We will list any changes to the markup at the bottom of this post. [/*] [/list] [h]Suggestions & Hints[/h] [list=*] [*]Keep in mind FluxBB's philosophy. We are much more likely to be impressed by skins which are lightweight and clean.[/*] [*]Your code should be valid (though the use of things such as -moz-border-radius is allowed as long as it degrades gracefully) and tidy.[/*] [*]The skin must work in all major browsers (the latest versions of Firefox, Chrome, Opera and Safari, as well as IE6, 7 and 8).[/*] [*]The skin should be flexible enough to work with any language. Remember items of text will vary in length between languages (especially ones with a non latin character set).[/*] [*]1.4 now supports overwriting the template files, so if you need you can include modified copies of the templates in style//.[/*] [/list] If you have any questions about whether or not something is possible, feel free to ask! [h]Judging[/h] The skins will be judged on the following points: [list=*] [*][b]Design[/b]: Does it look good?[/*] [*][b]Performance[/b]: Is the skin lightweight or does it use lots of images etc? Does it load quickly? This can be tested with tools such as [url=https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1843]Firebug[/url]/[url=https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5369]YSlow[/url][/*] [*][b]Usability[/b]: Is it intuitive to use? Can all important aspects be easily reached without scrolling? How does it work on different screen sizes (such as 1024x768)? The [url=https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/60]web developer toolbar[/url] for Firefox may be useful.[/*] [*][b]Compatibility[/b]: Does it work properly in all browsers? If it degrades in older ones (such as IE6), does it still look acceptable? Does it use web safe fonts?[/*] [*][b]Originality[/b]: Does it look original or like a modified existing skin? For example don't just take Oxygen and change blue to green.[/*] [*][b]Completeness[/b]: Is it totally finished? Obviously we want skins to be finished, but a 90% finished skin wont necessarily be [i]disqualified[/i].[/*] [/list] Obviously some of these are fairly subjective so I'm sure not everyone will agree, ultimately the choice lies with the developer team. [h]How to Enter[/h] If you wish to enter then you can either email your skin to [email]competition@fluxbb.org[/email], or post it here - it's up to you if you want to keep your design hidden until the closing date or not. If you have already got a skin made that you wish to enter then feel free, but please first check it works fully on the latest release of FluxBB 1.4. It should be common sense, but please note that submitting a skin which you did not make is not allowed. Anyone found submitting work that they don't have the appropriate permission to use will automatically be disqualified. [b]The closing date will be the last day in February[/b], giving anyone wishing to enter just over 6 weeks to prepare their entries. ------------------------------------------------------ [h] Relevant changes to FluxBB since RC1:[/h] [list=*] [*]2010-01-08 - [url=http://fluxbb.org/trac/changeset/1236]r1236[/url]: Added a

wrapping the board description, this should make it easier to style the description without affecting the title.[/*] [*]2010-01-10 - [url=http://fluxbb.org/trac/changeset/1246]r1246[/url]: Added a

FluxBB.org Forums - Announcements

Style competition entries

1.4 - Localized admin?

New styles for FluxBB-1.4 - A competition

FluxBB-1.4-RC1 released

Possible downtime

The new user guide

The all-new modification repository

Changes, updates and on-going progress...

FluxBB-1.2.22 released

FluxBB 1.4-beta2 released

Discussion on 1.4

FluxBB 1.4-beta released

FluxBB 1.3-legacy released

Wiki reorganization

SVN Changes