Boldly going where no hawkdawg.com has gone before

[Gumboots]

Will be doing the move soon.

The version of phpBB needs updating, and updating phpBB is a PITA, so I'll be starting by moving any phpBB mods so they don't get in the way of the upgrade process.

I'll probably drop the forum into maintenance mode while this is going on. In other words, the forum will still be online but you won't be able to log in until things are sorted.

If having the mods removed that means someone is missing a non-standard feature they particularly want, I can look at reinstalling new versions of the mods later.

Once I have the forum version updated the site will be moving to the new host pretty quickly. This will probably involve a bit of disruption for a day or two. A change of nameservers sometimes takes a while to get around the web.

If all goes well, the forum will be comfortably settled into its new home by the end of next week.

[Hawk]

Good luck with the update and move.

I know you probably won't need it, but if you need anything from me just let me know.

[Gumboots]

Yup, should be fine, but thanks for the offer.

[Hawk]

Once you get everything moved to the new server, don't forget to change the nameservers at namecheap.

[Gumboots]

Yeah I thought that might be a good idea.

[Gumboots]

Allllllllllllllllll righty then. First stage is done. I've upgraded the forum to the latest version (phpBB 3.2.8).

I have also upgraded and reinstalled all the extensions that were previously installed, so functionality should be the same as it was.

The only catch is themes (or styles, if you prefer). There aren't many styles available for 3.2.8 at the moment.

At the moment we have the default Prosilver, and an upgraded version of Prosilver Special Edition.
The latter had to be installed from scratch, so anyone who was using it before will have to select it again.

The Aero themes have had to go, as I couldn't find an upgraded version of them. In their place I have installed the WE_Universal theme, which is a more modern style that some people may like. If anyone has any special requests for additional 3.2.8 themes I'm happy to consider them.

---

Now, we are still on the old server. That bit hasn't happened yet, but will in the next day or two, so there will be a little bit more disruption before it's all done. It may happen without much warning, but don't worry. If the site suddenly disappears it will only be for a day or two at most, and it will reappear at the usual url soon enough.

[Hawk]

The Aero themes have had to go, as I couldn't find an upgraded version of them. In their place I have installed the WE_Universal theme, which is a more modern style that some people may like.

Glad you had success with the update.

It's a real shame the Aero themes had to go. I liked them. Not too crazy about the WE Universal. The prosilver Special Edition will have to do I guess.

[Gumboots]

Yeah Aero Black was my favourite, but it's not available at the moment. Might get updated later. I could have a go at it myself, but I have no familiarity with the phpBB codebase and have other things to code right now anyway.

If you want to look around at phpBB and pick a 3.2.8 theme you like I'm fine with it being installed.

WE_Universal isn't really my cup of tea, but I thought I'd put it in the mix as a lot of people these days like that style. Looks better on the board index than it does once you're into a thread, but would probably look better on phones. I might tweak it up a bit. Basic CSS changes to it shouldn't be hard. I've done a few already.

[Gumboots]

I did a bit more digging, and it turns out someone is updating Aero. It's still listed as RC, and doesn't have official approval, but as far as I can tell from the feedback in the thread it should work. I'll grab a copy and install it.

[Hawk]

Cool! Lookin' forward to it.

[Gumboots]

Aero is available now.

Looks like the new custom themes don't pick up the site logo, but I'll sort that over the next few days. I am liking my train banner on We_Universal though. I might see if I can sort out nifty banners for the rest of the themes.

(BTW: I'm used to calling them themes, even though the phpBB convention is to call them styles, but it means the same thing.)

[Hawk]

Movin' right along. Lookin' good.

I guess it's OK to delete the files on my server now, or do you need me to keep them around for a bit?

[Gumboots]

Should be fine to delete them. Liroy has a full backup of everything anyway, and I'll take a backup of this new site myself today. Maybe leave it until tomorrow just to be ultra safe.

One thing is that the old account has a site backup file sitting in the backups directory. I made that just before the move, and it's just shy of 4 gig. Might want to delete that immediately, just to save on disc space.

[Hawk]

Actually, it looks like you did two backups. One on the 10th and one on the 11th. I deleted them both. I'll leave the files on my server for another day or two, just in case.

As for the header stuff, I think what you're looking for is found in the prosilver\template\overall_header.html (other styles inherit from prosilver)file under the site-description class and in the areo\theme\common.css file under the same class, if that helps any.

[Gumboots]

Yup. I have been looking through the templates to start getting my head around them. Seems pretty straightforward. Shouldn't take long to get the important bits figured out.

Can't say I'll ever be a huge fan of their coding style though. Doing PHP conditionals in templates as HTML comment format? That's some seriously weird formatting.

[Hawk]

Can't say I'll ever be a huge fan of their coding style though. Doing PHP conditionals in templates as HTML comment format? That's some seriously weird formatting.

I hear ya'.

Oh yea! If you happen to find a Black Aero style, that would be cool.

[Gumboots]

It's part of the whole thing. There's a tiny paintbrush icon next to the theme selector. Just to the left. Took me a while to find it too. Anyway it lets you pick from half a dozen colour schemes (some of which are pretty appalling).

[Hawk]

Ah!!!!! Cool!

[Gumboots]

I'm thinking I might edit the code to disable the really gruesome ones.

[Hawk]

There's actually only two I like; the blue and black, but that's just my humble opinion.