Noobie Designer Here

[trichobezoar]

Hi, I'm new to the community, obviously. I co-created a website with an anonymous Forumotion graphic designer and it is beautiful... Unfortunatley, it is also glitch-ridden. I have to abandon the site, but I don't want to abandon it's design. Forumotion does not allow us to downloand files. I spent many hours designing that website--tweaking logos and icons, searching for the right icons, coming up with the colour scheme... To make a long story short, I want to recreate this forum on another server and I need help. I just don't know where to start. I'm thinking of switching to either DreamHost.com or SiteGround.com But I really don't know what I'm doing... I'm really new to the world of design.

My site is a Harry Potter site for old fogeys. Please don't let the description fool you... I do have an artistic flair and it shows. (Tooting my own horn.)

FogeyHogwarts.com

Trichobezoar (a.k.a. Zorita)

[Patrick]

Hello and welcome to our community, trichobezoar.

I'm curious about something. If you are not able to download files, how did you upload them in order to create the design?

Thanks,

Patrick
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[trichobezoar]

I started with the Gothic English template Forumotion/HitSkin offers; the URL is: Gothic English. (I hope this doesn't infringe on your rules). A designer helped me with the rosewood background and I did the rest of the tweaking in the admin panel. I used generic photo/graphic design software at first, then Photobucket's FotoFlexer, and finally, Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 to tweak most of the icons and graphics, all the while uploaded the files onto the admin panel.

[Patrick]

Hello trichobezoar,

Thanks for the reply.

Is the Gothic English template an exclusive to Forumotion?

Thanks,

Patrick
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[trichobezoar]

I don't know truthfully. I have to ask them. I believe the initial theme is phpBB2 subsilver; at least, it says so in the admin panel.

I'll post a message on their support forum. It might take awhile to receive a response; they're all volunteering their time...

[Patrick]

Cool, trichobezoar. Yeah, I mean, if it's something unique to them, it might not be possible. In which case you could take the graphics you created and create a new one, etc.

Thanks,

Patrick
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[trichobezoar]

I just posted on Forumotion's help forum. Hopefully, I'll receive an answer soon. I've decided to use SMF to rebuild the forum, however; my members are anxious to get the show on the road and they're familiar with SMF. I do intend on rebuilding the site using phpBB script in the future; I'd love to continue designing... Thank you for your encouragement. I will buy the book, Managing Online Forums, soon!

[Patrick]

My pleasure, trichobezoar. I hope and am sure it'll all work out. Please let us know if we can help further.

As far as the book, I really appreciate that. Thank you.

Patrick
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[trichobezoar]

I haven't received a response from the staff at forumotion... I've decided not to go with SMF 'cause they've monetized their system (once you're locked in, you're locked in financially). And SMF has disabled standard features--the ability to change the background and colours of the forum, the ability to add/upload avatars for usergroups and add/change a logo. If I want to add graphics, I have to pay a price, literally.

PhpBB is open-source and completely free; so, I'm sticking with phpBB.

I'm now learning how to manually perform a phpBB installation for my site following a tutorial on SiteGround. 'Hope I get it right.

[Patrick]

Sorry for the delay. Best of luck, trichobezoar. If you need any help, you know where we are!

Patrick
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