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[visiblesoul]

Tips for using fixed-width MKPortal skins

There are a few MKPortal and forum issues to be aware of when using fixed width MKPortal templates. Anything that stretches the forum or portal is not your friend when using fixed-width Portal templates...

If you want to use any fixed template smaller than 800px wide I recommend the following modifications...

1) Globally: Unload one side column. This will make the modules fit much better in the allotted space.


2) TopSite: The TopSite List should have both columns collapsed by default. Edit the "printpage" function in /mkportal/modules/topsite/index.php to achieve this...
FIND in /mkportal/modules/topsite/index.php (function topsite_show):

$mklib->printpage("1", "1", "{$mklib->lang['to_title']}", $output);

REPLACE WITH:

$mklib->printpage("0", "0", "{$mklib->lang['to_title']}", $output);

3) Blog: The Blog Chart should have both columns collapsed by default. Edit the "printpage" function in mkportal/modules/blog/index.php to achieve this...
FIND in /mkportal/modules/blog/index.php (function chart):

$mklib->printpage_blog("1", "1", "{$mklib->lang['b_charttitle']}", $output, "");

REPLACE WITH:

$mklib->printpage_blog("0", "0", "{$mklib->lang['b_charttitle']}", $output, "");

4) Board Skins You may need to edit your forum template to fit in the allotted space. Every skin is different so I cannot be specific about what may need editing. Look to see if the forum skin has a fixed width that you can change. Usually a forum skin width of 100% will work. Some forum skins may be adversely affected by the way that MKPortal cuts off the forum header when the forum is displayed inside the portal. If this is the case you can find the problem by looking in the html source in your browser and see if the table structure or width is not correct.

Board skins also usually look better in the portal if they do not have margin or padding between the skin and the portal center block border. Remove outer padding and margin in your board skin.
If it is a feature in your board you should also set a maximum width for all user-posted images so they do not stretch the forum. In IPB the "Code" tags will also stretch the forum. Long usernames can cause stretching issues in side blocks.

5) Portal CP: The Portal CP has multiple screens that will stretch the template. I recommend this simple hack to use the "default" portal skin in the Admin CP.
FIND in mkportal/admin.php

require "$mklib->template/tpl_main.php";

ADD ABOVE:

// Admin 100% width hack by visiblesoul
$mklib->template = "../mkportal/templates/default";
$mklib->images = "../mkportal/templates/default/images";
// end Admin 100% width hack

6) HTML Editor: The HTML Editor used in MKPortal (TinyMCE) will stretch some fixed width templates. The TinyMCE editor's minimum width is 650px so keep that in mind when choosing portal layout such as portal width and column width. For example, if you have a MKPortal template fixed at 780px, you will have 130px remaining after subtracting the width of the editor. This 130px must include all column widths with padding and margin. That isn't much space. Note that the minimum width is determined by the width of the TinyMCE editor toolbar images. It is not something that can be easily changed.


So these tips should help with any MKPortal skin when using fixed width.

-=DKC=-