Question [Merged topic] K 1.6/1.7 - colouring categories

I wrote how to do this in Kunena 1.6 - "Cats" (not the musical) . If we don't have a Wiki article, you can use what I wrote.

Very quick reply...

After the mentioned operation, it shows the 'moderate' tab.

I have some things to do, some Cats are 'arphan' but that's for tonigt.
I'll take a closer look at your link,and try to get my way in it.
meanwhile, my present solution is to be found at my site

I'll give the details, since there isn't much secret to find



Anyway, thanks so far!!

I noticed somthing I cannot explain.

I create a New Category.
At that momnent, while creating, I see 3 tabs,
- Basic (Du: Basis Informatie)
- Settings (Du: Instellingen)
- Moderation (Du: Moderatie van het forum en forum moderatoren)

The Settings tab now shows the 'Css' color option.
I Type -red (just to pick a colour)
Save everything

When I reopen the newly created Category....
I only have 2 tabs,
- Basic
- Settings

But the 'css' option is No longer present. So no way to change it.

Any suggestions??

Herrie wrote: When I reopen the newly created Category....
I only have 2 tabs,
- Basic
- Settings

That's not a category; that's a section. See Sections, Categories, sub-Categories (Part 1) . You cannot apply colours to sections; you can only apply colours to categories.

Fix up you orphaned categories.

Right, I was mistaken about the name.
However, while creating a NEW Section, I could apply a colour setting.
After saving there is no way to change it.
For the next 'level' (a category?) it is changeable.

Is this first option (Chose a colour for a Section) an 'option' or shouldn't it be possible at all?

BTW: the orphans are corrcted! (Strange that they came up anyway)

Herrie wrote: However, while creating a NEW Section, I could apply a colour setting.
After saving there is no way to change it.

Yes, it is technically possible to enter a value in for Forum CSS Class Suffix when you are adding a new section but, because the Forum CSS Class Suffix attribute has no meaning in the context of a section it doesn't matter what you put in there.

You can only colour categories.

What needs to be done is to write a small piece of documentation that says, in effect, "technically, you can enter any value that you like in the setting Forum CSS Class Suffix but these only have an effect if the Kunena template makes provision for them and, also, the setting only applies to categories and sub-categories." There's your answer.

it is technically possible to enter a value in for Forum CSS Class Suffix when you are adding a new section

So, i.m.h.o. this option should not be there when creating a new section, since it has no meaning there.

Any plans for future use?

Or are you planning to leave that option out when creating a new Section?

So far I'm satisfied with the answers and tips.

The other improvements, such as 'opening' Sections and Categaries to selected usergroups really makes sense.
The 'workaround' I used in 1.5, using JUGA, is no longer needed.

When you add a new category you use the Kunena Category Manager.

When you add a new section you use the Kunena Category Manager.

A section looks (for most purposes) just like a category except that you can't place topics in a section; you can only create topics in a category.

While the Category Manager allows you to add or reorganise categories either as sections, categories or sub-categories (the differences are all explained in the link that I referred to earlier) it's unknown at the time when you're adding this thing whether it's a category or a section. It's all done with the same function.

The alternative, I suppose, is to have a Kunena "Section Manager" but why bother, really, if you understand what are the differences between sections and categories.

So, we have one feature that handles a couple of different needs. For the time being the only thing that you have to keep in mind is "you can enter any value that you like in the setting Forum CSS Class Suffix but what you enter only has an effect if (a) the Kunena template actually uses that value and (b) you're not adding a section." That's basically the gist of what I'm trying to say.

What you could do is this: When you press the "New" button in the Category Manager, ask a question: "Are you creating a section or a category" and then display the input options accordingly. One extra screen, one extra user action. If you're adding 20 new categories at the one time, you'll probably get tired of this hassle and say "Just let me add something and I'll clean things up afterwards." We can't please everyone.

Thanks for your explanation.
Thing are cleare to me now.
I'll experiment on my local site.
Could you give me a hint where to find the option in a template to have the opportunity to change colours in the Category?

Open the forum.css and search for -red or -pink.

You will find entries for all the colors we have defined.

In addition the color coding is just demonstrating a very powerful feature of the forums: Not only can you color code, you could change the look and feel redefining other UI elements.

Very simple example: define a -bold css override and make the font bold, or italic, or with a different font or different sizes (e.g. -small or -big) could change the size of posts from particular categories.

The possibilities are endless. The colors are just the start.

As always: remember that Kunena uses the minified css and js libraries when in normal mode and only loads the clear text versions when in Kunena debug mode.

Hope this helps!