I’ve invented a new method of skinning. Oh yes, me, I am the best. :P
No one else gets the code yet, ’cause it’s one of the new tutorials on tutorialtastic (or it will be, when the site is up). Basically, it’s smaller and tidier than the original method of skinning that seems to be the most popular. It uses the PHP file_exists(); function to actually check the existance of skins (the other one didn’t) and I think that it’s easier to customise.
Of course, I can’t guarantee it’s 100% working/etc despite my testing, so if you guys could thrash the crap out of the skins/themes page that’d rock. Change ’em, refresh ’em, clear your cookies and start again. Then, any errors you come across: e-mail them to me! What do you get out of it? Knowledge that you’re helping me. Yay. :D Did I mention that this new coding will see the rebirth of some of my old layouts?
Oh, and I still can’t decide on the fixed/non-fixed versions of the new layout so they’re both going up. The non-fixed version is default for now (mostly because the fixed hasn’t been uploaded). Talk about pleasing everyone, hoorah.
15 Feb at 8:50 pm
I didn’t like the ‘cookiecheck.php’ skinning version. :x For some odd reason. I actually started using the L-Themes one because it used the word ‘theme’ instead of ‘skin’ I’ve always had an iffy feeling with words with the letters ‘sk’ in. Quite sad, really. I love the new skin name though, it kicksass. :P And I think I’ve changed themes about 100 times and nothing has gone wrong. :P Congratulations on an error-by-Jenny-free script!
15 Feb at 9:02 pm
Ha, I have the code to your skinning script! *Sells it* :P I used the classic script but I changed it around a lot because the original is badly written, in my opinion. Loving the theme – green’s not normally my thing, but it looks good. :) Oh yeah – no errors to report here either, looks like it’s all working fine. :D
15 Feb at 9:17 pm
I’m in school at the moment and skin #5 (sunset) is a bit off in the browser that shall remain nameless. The menu moves way down (as in, lower than the content), and the bar between the content and the menu disappears where the menu starts.
15 Feb at 10:38 pm
I like the default one best :D I hate things that make my browser smaller than what I want it to be. I didn’t like the layout at first in the small image but now I love it! Have to go look at the themes.
15 Feb at 10:39 pm
PS – I LOVE YOU! You brought back the purply flower theme! heart!!
15 Feb at 10:44 pm
I love the new skin. :D Now I just have to find where to change it…(what about leaving the links on the sidebar? I liked them that way. You could still have a link to your main skin page.) I like the new Spring one, too, but I see you took the yellow one off. Other than it being yellow, I liked it best. I love the tagline–“Ultimately better than you.” You’re such an egotist! lol I use the cookiecheck.php method of skinning, and it seems to work just fine for me, the PHP idiot. :D
15 Feb at 10:49 pm
Anne: the setskin.php page is linked at the bottom of the default theme and in the sidebar on all of the others. It’s on the domain page and the sitemap page too :) All of the themes will be coming back, don’t panic!
15 Feb at 11:26 pm
I absolutely love this layout, Jem. It’s fun-looking!
16 Feb at 12:07 am
I love your new layout! The colors are just great, green is in my opinion a hard color to match but this looks just perfect.
16 Feb at 1:46 am
Yesh. My hesitation of when I saw those thumbnails disappeared (like ‘poof,’ or so I say) when I saw this new one. I’m checking out the themes right now. (And I’m going theme-click-crazy :D)
16 Feb at 7:23 am
Woo! A new script to play with! :D Can’t wait! And of course, the new theme is really nice. :)
16 Feb at 3:57 pm
I’m absolutely in love with this new theme.
16 Feb at 7:51 pm
I like the new gren theme quite a bit (how do you make that shadow effect on the margin, background? I’ve seen it so often, bt never could igure out how to make one myself). I don’t particularly like the links’ setup, they get a bit too overshadowed by the title, but not overly, so). Anyway, currenty using “Not Named” (listed at the bottom in the themes page), and can say it’s my absolute favourite. Weird that I haven’t noticed it before. My only complaint here is the light blue color for the links. It blends in a bit too much. Clicked around with the themes a bit, and things look fine… too lazy to clear coockies and stuff =P Anyway, the new gren theme, is a very close 2nd favourite.
16 Feb at 8:07 pm
psst, you have two theme 6s :)
16 Feb at 11:28 pm
My favorite is the not yet titled theme. It’s so bright, pretty and clever- and so organised! I haven’t found any errors yet, but in the green theme, the text is a bit hard to read because of the pattern in the background. I love all the themes on your page.
16 Feb at 11:30 pm
I found a problem in this theme (pink and blue) :). I’m too lazy to check it in other themes. You list the ‘i love my quilt’ and ‘php included’ links twice.
17 Feb at 1:02 am
Everything looks wonderful on my end. :)
17 Feb at 5:52 am
That’s awesome about the new skinning technique – have fun with that! Note from Jem: why do you only ever comment on my blog when you’ve got a new domain name to plug? I’m not going to be your free plugboard so I’ve removed your URL.
17 Feb at 8:53 am
I really, really like Theme 7 (Not Named), its got to be my favourite and it’s one I’ll definitely be using in future visits! (It manages to be understated, yet colourful all at once). Though, I agree with Carina – the Bloggery content in the sidebar is rendered twice, slight glitch, but easily tweaked, no doubt. I like the “Ultimately Better Than You” tagline in the mint green theme – its fantastically hilarious and should become a staple trademark in all your themes methinks – It sums up Jemjabella so well! However, am I the only one who’s eyes can’t cope with the (possibly SquidFingers) background pattern in the green header? I find that as its quite an open pattern, my eyes get drawn away from the text. I think maybe closing the pattern a little by making the repeat smaller (and therefore, more close-knit) would help. (The zoomed-out screenshot obviously shows the pattern smaller and it looks great on there). But then it could be just me…. Either way, I’ve found theme 7 and I’m sticking with it :D
17 Feb at 12:02 pm
I can literally SMELL mint, looking at your pretty new green theme.SMELL it.
17 Feb at 1:06 pm
The new layout looks really pretty. Congratulations in making it fit absolutely perfectly at 800 by 600 (I just checked because I’m like that). Lovely combinations of colours and textures.
17 Feb at 1:44 pm
I noticed one little bug with the minty theme. If I don’t have my browser window maximised (1680×1050), then the dark green line that borders the lighter main part of your blog is cut off on the left up near the header image. I’m using Firefox in Ubuntu Linux if you need to know that.
17 Feb at 3:15 pm
I’m loving the new ‘untitled’ theme! It’s pretty awesome!
17 Feb at 6:17 pm
Your greenish theme doesn’t work for me on the Index page when I open it in Opera. (I haven’t checked with the others.) The white background dissapears.
17 Feb at 6:57 pm
Fixed, thank you Demoness :)
18 Feb at 2:07 am
ohh this new theme is my favorite now!