You see I'm doing skins for minibb only when I have nothing to do. So you can imagine how hard the last quarter of 2008 was for me: the last skin was made in August. Also I have noticed that I'm doing skins for nobody, because I don't know any forum using my skins :) But now I really have nothing to do and I'm "dying" of laziness (Yeh, I know, I'm a happy man :)
So meet my next skin - destiny. How destiny is connected with the graveyard? Just because it's everybody's final destination station. Ofcourse you can replace all the pictures, however in my view this graveyard is rather pretty :)
I was thinking why nobody is using my skins and made a conclusion that they are really bad. So I tried to make this skin much better. I have completely changed header and navigation menu. Moreover I added a sticker where you can put some small, may be hot news; if you don't like this idea' just remove it.
I hope that you will like it.

destiny skin

P.S. I have forgotten, you need to have nothing set as separator in setup options.
$l_sepr='<span class="sepr"></span>';
or you will have a "collection" of them in a navigation menu

Like in any other free will project, you never know will it be useful for somebody else, but that's not important... important it the fact that you are doing something for yourself ;-)

However this time you need to work more closely on the skin. We liked the "header" theme (very desperate ;-), however this $l_sepr thing definitely should be avoided. Additionally, don't forget that miniBB could contain a lot of menu items, you may see them all on minibb demo forums. It is unacceptable that menu is shortened on the right side.

Here are also some fonts issues I have noticed:



The font is too white and is not readable. Doesn't fit the layout.
IF you apply the modern layout, forum descriptions are invisible:



On the thread page, admin information is invisible:



User profile's font color - even on my bad colors taste - is too bad.



So you need to test it thoroughly before submission ;-) In one year miniBB grew up to something more...

Also, it would be very good if your skin would contain just a CSS file, ok + background image in header file - but nothing more... I mean no modified templates.

https://www.minibb.com/forums/storage/mods/destinyv2_1.zip

I've solved this this problem. Now there is no need in removing $l_sepr. Some solutions come after some time...:)

Yeah, I'm not using description as it is suggested in default minibb package, I have forgotten to replace my template with default one, in my template description is situated as a title of forum's link, so I didn't know about black color.

Also I solved all the problems you have listed, except menu problem, I don't like this idea of replacing it with default one. At the first, there are much more forums with default quantity of menu links then with a lot of them. Secondly, you can change width of it in css file (#topnav -> width:620px;), so width of it could be even 100% if you need it.

Speaking about modifying templates, there was need in modifying main_posts_cell just because post raw is using the same background color as first raw of forums and topics list. By the way it's very unflexible. As I know, the best colors for reading for eyesight are black on white. But I couldn't use them for forums and topics list, it was too bright.
Also I can't understand, why it's forbidden to modify header template. It seems that I now need to keep myself within the bounds... hm...

Still, I can't accept it.

Enter the admin panel and you will see the tables are broken and/or aligned improperly. Additionally, it seems the header does not contain W3C-valid HTML.

All in all, I don't like the colors. If you follow the "dark" theme, all colors should follow it. In some places, fonts are very difficult to read.

You don't like, but this is the main concept. This menu doesn't contain only 3 items like by default. When you are logged in, there appear 4 items on the main page. If you are under Topics listing, there are 6 items appears. If you have Private Messages installed, they require a completely new line with more items, because there will appear "New" and "Reminding" indicators. Forums Checker, Polls and many other add-ons require additional menu items.

Don't you think for 8 years we have not thought it carefully? ;-) Everything you see in miniBB, comes not just because it appears so. Every element has its meaning.

Why, in general, should the software have many skins available? Because users could then easily install it, or allow forum members to choose the skin on their own taste. Everything should be simple, without adjusting additional graphics, HTML or other things. Header belongs to the website owners themselves, everything they want to download, is the layout which suits their website best.

How your own images could be involved in that? You need only to create a CSS schema, choosing proper colors and fonts. Then it could be adjusted to many sites. If you have your own graphics, it could be used only for one website, which already has similar graphics. A rare case, no?

It appears that your skin is limited with the basic package only. This is bad. Check the variation of extra-mini skin on demo forums. It uses different fonts, different tables width, different backgrounds - but this is enough for a custom skin, because then you could switch from the one skin to another easily, and it gives a completely new look to the board. Nor header nor any other template should be affected in that process, the idea around CSS is exactly that.

Your knowledge doesn't comply with mine :-) Black on white comes from the "natural" paper books or newspapers. Sure, when the paper has a white color, the only acceptable color for reading is black.

But monitors, specially LCD monitors, are completely different story. Monitor colors and papers colors are strictly different even if they are printed with the top technology.

On monitor, as more white you will have on the screen, as more it's unpleasant for eyes, because it means the white light lamp will damage your eyes directly. It's the same effect like when you are looking directly into a regular lamp.

As milder background color you will use, as better it is for the eyes, and as it is better for reading...

it's just a little unix style