Since I'm having problems with CSS Zen over at Dragonfayth ( http://seventh-star.net/drfa), I decided to see which of the included skins would make a good alternative. My first choice was Elegance, but upon selecting it from the skin change menu for the first time, I got this error:
Notice: Undefined index: recentblock in /home/**/public_html/drfa/includes/class.TemplatePower.inc.php on line 702
Notice: Undefined index: recentblock in /home/**/public_html/drfa/includes/class.TemplatePower.inc.php on line 702
Notice: Undefined index: in /home/**/public_html/drfa/includes/class.TemplatePower.inc.php on line 702
Notice: Undefined index: recentblock in /home/**/public_html/drfa/includes/class.TemplatePower.inc.php on line 707
Notice: Undefined index: recentblock in /home/*****/public_html/drfa/includes/class.TemplatePower.inc.php on line 714
Also, perhaps it's something specifically CSS-related, but the same problem I'm having with CSS Zen (with my category columns) appears to be happening in Elegance, too. The categories are listed outside the actual block. I've checked this with both Firefox and Safari.
The only skin where no errors seem to come up is Zenlike, but rather than have categories outside their box, they're just lopsided; 4 in one column, 6 in another, with wide spacing to make the table look sort of even on both sides. Is there any way to tweak the CSS in Elegance so I can have two columns that are EVEN (5 on each side)?
Archive: Dragonfayth
eFiction: 3.5.5/6
Latest Patch(es): Yes
bridged?: No
modified?: Yes
PHP: 7.4.25
MySQL: 5.7.32-35-log
The errors are because debug is on. Normally they won't appear.
The categories are appearing this way because of the way it's coded in the script. I'm not really sure why it was done that way but each category is assigned a row and column div and they both have to clear any other divs in the categories block. If you'll notice, your categories are lining up with the start of the one after it finishes which is what's creating such a big space.
I almost feel like this might qualify as a bug, but it's really doing what it's supposed to do. It's just perhaps not the best thing for it to do, if that makes any sense...
BTW, in all your skins, in my browser (Firefox in Windows), the categories are appearing in the right blocks. It may be acting oddly because you're using a mac.
The errors at the top are because you have blocks turned on that aren't in the skin (or blocks in the skin that aren't turned on).
Okay, so turning off debug made the errors go away, but I'm wondering if there's ANY skin that I could use that works regardless of browser and/or platform. I find it very strange that something would appear correctly in Firefox for Windows, but not Firefox for Mac, when they're the same version, just a different OS. I like the skins like CSS Zen and Elegance, but having them be platform and browser-specific makes it hard for me (even if the majority of users are probably on Windows machines running either IE or Firefox, I don't want to exclude people who use other browsers or other platforms. It seems unfair).
Archive: Dragonfayth
eFiction: 3.5.5/6
Latest Patch(es): Yes
bridged?: No
modified?: Yes
PHP: 7.4.25
MySQL: 5.7.32-35-log
Firefox for Mac is different than Firefox for Windows because Macs are different from PCs. But the problem, like I said, isn't with either skin--it's the way the categories block is hard coded into the script. View your source and you'll see what I'm talking about. If you put your categories in one column, it should work, even though that might not be the ideal solution.
I designed Elegance so I know it works in both IE and Firefox on my computers at home and work. I can't test on a Mac because I don't have access to one. I understand your frustration, and I'm sorry to have to say that inconsistent browser and platform support is a web designer's biggest foe.
I can't see what's happening for you but if you take a screencap and post it, I might be able to help find a solution.
Looking at the source, the way the categories block seems hard-coded is just a matter of DIV ids and classes, which relate to how they're defined in the CSS, right? Or am I looking at the wrong source?
In any case, here's a screenshot of what I see: 
and 
(I was also trying to use 2 columns -the left index and the middleindex- rather than 3, but I couldn't get it to work. I wanted to solve the categories issue before tackling the rightindex issue)
Archive: Dragonfayth
eFiction: 3.5.5/6
Latest Patch(es): Yes
bridged?: No
modified?: Yes
PHP: 7.4.25
MySQL: 5.7.32-35-log
Making the elegance 2 column instead of 3 is actually very simple. Remove #rightindex from your css and html completely (including all the content in the div) and change middle index to:
#middleindex {margin: 3px 3px 3px 26%}
That will move the margin from 26% on both sides of the middle column to 26% only on the left side. (If you want a mini-tutorial, the numbers mean margin: top right bottom left. They go around the monitor clockwise. If there are only two, they mean margin: top-bottom left-right.)
I'll keep looking into your other problem, but despite your skepticism, it is because of the way the categories are hard-coded, I just don't see what you can change, if anything, in your style.css to fix it.
Thanks for that CSS fix and mini-tutorial, that got the rightindex to disappear completely. 🙂
Truth is, I know very little about CSS outside of what carried over from HTML. I'm not skeptical about what could be causing the errors, just confused. ^^;
Edit: I also noticed that the Recent Block isn't appearing in the elegance skin, even though I have it turned on in the Admin Panel, and I edited the skin to include it (using the {recent_content} variable). I was wondering, why doesn't elegance have a variables.php?
Archive: Dragonfayth
eFiction: 3.5.5/6
Latest Patch(es): Yes
bridged?: No
modified?: Yes
PHP: 7.4.25
MySQL: 5.7.32-35-log
Could you please change your category block to one column and let me know if it still escapes out of the block? You can change it back right after, I just need to know where to pinpoint the problem.
EDIT to reply to your EDIT: There is no need for any skin to have a variables.php. That is for custom settings for individual skins, and I just wanted people to be able to use it with their default blocks settings. Make sure that in your block panel, you have the recent block turned on, and set appropriately.
When I set it to one column, everything looks fine. I don't mean to cause so much trouble over something so superficial, so if findng a solution as to why multiple columns makes all my skins (when using a Mac-based browser) go haywire is too difficult/time-consuming, then I'll stick to single columns. The only thing I'd like to be able to do then is align the category text to the top of the image, but I don't know how I'd do that with the variables (and TinyMCE stripping out tags).
^^; Also, the recent block was set to "use .tpl". Does that setting change depending on which skin you have set? I swore I had it set to "Default" before.
Archive: Dragonfayth
eFiction: 3.5.5/6
Latest Patch(es): Yes
bridged?: No
modified?: Yes
PHP: 7.4.25
MySQL: 5.7.32-35-log
It shouldn't change on it's own.
I don't have time to look into your other problem right now, but I'll try later.
This is discussed in further detail in the CSSZen thread because they really are having the same problem: https://efiction.org/forums/index.php?topic=4132.0
Marking this as solved.
