# For gods sake, make the links different colors



## uv23 (Mar 12, 2002)

If there's one thing that I can't stand about these boards (and there really is only the one thing) its that the style sheets bypass the web standard of making visited links a different color. When I browse through a messageboard, it is essential to be able to quickly scan topics that I have already opened. Consider this an impassioned plea.


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## Morrus (Mar 12, 2002)

Can't, sorry.  vBulletin isn't designed that way.  It used icons to mark visited threads instead.


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## uv23 (Mar 13, 2002)

Does it not come with a standard style sheet? Surely its look and feel can be changed? Oh well..


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## Psionicist (Mar 13, 2002)

It is indeed possible, but only "manually", not trough the CP.


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## uv23 (Mar 14, 2002)

Psionicist said:
			
		

> *It is indeed possible, but only "manually", not trough the CP. *




Then I'd deffinitely recommend that path and save the modified stylesheet as an override if you need to rebuild the boards. As it stands, mono-color links are a real detriment to usability.


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## Darkness (Mar 14, 2002)

uv23 said:
			
		

> *
> 
> ... mono-color links are a real detriment to usability. *



Agreed.

- Darkness


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## Psionicist (Mar 14, 2002)

Hey! It IS possible.

I browsed the CP and found a small box where you can customize the header. Add

a:visited {color:#xxxxxx;}

Edit: http://forum.sweclockers.com/, not your CP morrus.


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## LeeCHeSSS (Mar 16, 2002)

Morrus said:
			
		

> *Can't, sorry.  vBulletin isn't designed that way.  It used icons to mark visited threads instead. *




Open your Forum's Control Panel, scroll the left frame all th eway down and click on 'Modify' under the 'Styles' header.

Click on 'Fonts/Colors/etc' of the 'Default' style (unless you are using a custom style ofcourse).

Scroll down to 'Page Layout' Header and edit the entry in the 'Body Tag' editbox.

Voila.


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## Morrus (Mar 16, 2002)

I added the line Psionicist suggested (using colour #cccccc); no effect.


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## LufiaLillystorm (Mar 16, 2002)

Hi Morrus I didn't know you were the adminstrator  you didn't mention it when I saw you in the chat room.

I have been on a board similar to this and I have neever seen teh thingies change color


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## uv23 (Mar 17, 2002)

There's nothing special about these boards that the color can't be changed.  Its just html, php for the dynamic bits, and style sheets for the look and feel. The A link entries are all (except for mouseovers) just using the same color.

I don't persist to troll. I persist because I know it'll be a hundred fold improvement.


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## Morrus (Mar 17, 2002)

uv23 said:
			
		

> *There's nothing special about these boards that the color can't be changed.  Its just html, php for the dynamic bits, and style sheets for the look and feel. The A link entries are all (except for mouseovers) just using the same color.
> 
> I don't persist to troll. I persist because I know it'll be a hundred fold improvement.  *




I repeat my previous post:



> I added the line Psionicist suggested (using colour #cccccc); no effect.




Therefore, attempts at persuasion are not going to change the situation - the persuasion period is over.  The technical how-to period has begun.


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## uv23 (Mar 17, 2002)

LeeCHeSSS said:
			
		

> *
> 
> Open your Forum's Control Panel, scroll the left frame all th eway down and click on 'Modify' under the 'Styles' header.
> 
> ...


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## Morrus (Mar 17, 2002)

Suprisingly, I did spot that post originally, but thanks for pointing it out. It makes no sense to me, sorry.  Edit what entry in the 'body tag' box? - it contains about 30+ lines of code.

Remember - you're talking to a dummy here. Exact, clear instructions are what are needed if you want this changed.


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## uv23 (Mar 17, 2002)

Hehe ok.  If someone can give Morrus explicit instructions regarding the messageboard "software" please do. If not, I can provide some details on how style sheets work so that you can manually change them.


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## ToddSchumacher (Mar 17, 2002)

Morrus said:
			
		

> *I added the line Psionicist suggested (using colour #cccccc); no effect. *




How about using *color* #cccccc


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## Morrus (Mar 17, 2002)

I did.  The word 'colour', above, was not part of the code, merely part of my sentence.


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## ToddSchumacher (Mar 17, 2002)

oops sorry, should probably keep my mouth shut on things i'm not qualified to answer


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## uv23 (Mar 17, 2002)

Ok, do this Morrus. It will help you understand whats going. Go to any page of the forums (like this one)  and view the source. When you view the source, scroll down a bit and you will see a <STYLE> tag. This is the style sheet definition area of the page. Scroll down a bit more and you'll see:

A:link, A:visited, A:active {
	COLOR: #FFFF99;
}

What this is doing is applying the same color to links regardless of whether they have been previously visited or not.  So what needs to happen is those lines needs to be replaced with something like this:

A:link {
	COLOR: #FFFF99;
}
A:visited {
	COLOR: #CCCCCC;
}
A:active {
	COLOR: #EECCCC;
}

This will change the colors for each state of  the links.

Now, thats the manual way of doing things. So you could go in and edit the pages and make these changes. But I don't know how vBulletin works. It might compile the pages based on settings from some control panel. If thats the case, I'd suggest you call them or email them and ask how its done.

Hope that helps.


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## Psionicist (Mar 18, 2002)

UV32, That is correct.

I assumed Morrus would remove the a:visited from

A:link, A:visited, A:active { 
COLOR: #FFFF99; 
} 

first.

So, the clear instructions are as follows:

1) Go to the page as LeeCHeSSS described
2) Remove this

```
A:link, A:visited, A:active {
	COLOR: #FFFF99;
}
```
3) Add this in the place of the code you just removed:

```
A:link { 
COLOR: #FFFF99; 
} 
A:visited { 
COLOR: #CCCCCC; 
} 
A:active { 
COLOR: #EECCCC; 
}
```

#CCCCCC is a light grey color. You can try some other colors, as #FF7E00 for orange. It might do the trick!


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## Omegium (Mar 20, 2002)

atm that stylesheet is at the wrong place: it's in black on black bg, just beneath the enworld logo. You can see it if you use select.


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## Morrus (Mar 20, 2002)

I still don't know where I'm supposed to put this code.  Ineed more specific info than "Go to the page".  The page?  What page?

So - 

1) I go to the Control Panel.
2) What exactly do I do then?


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## LeeCHeSSS (Mar 21, 2002)

You go to the page that I described in my earlier post..., then follow the instructions Psionicist gave. Really, it isn't that hard.


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## Darkness (Mar 21, 2002)

LeeCHeSSS said:
			
		

> *You go to the page that I described in my earlier post...*




You mean _this_ post, I presume?



> Open your Forum's Control Panel, scroll the left frame all th eway down and click on 'Modify' under the 'Styles' header.
> 
> Click on 'Fonts/Colors/etc' of the 'Default' style (unless you are using a custom style ofcourse).
> 
> ...


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## Psionicist (Mar 22, 2002)

I can do it for you if you wish.


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## Morrus (Mar 22, 2002)

LeeCHeSSS said:
			
		

> *You go to the page that I described in my earlier post..., then follow the instructions Psionicist gave. Really, it isn't that hard. *




That's exactly what I tried to do.  The sarcasm isn't necessary.  I'm attempting to do something here that you guys are asking for.


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## CRGreathouse (Mar 22, 2002)

In the described location, find the following lines:

A:link, A:visited, A:active {
            COLOR: #FFFF99;
}

(or lines very similar)

and replace them with:

A:link { 
COLOR: #FFFF99; 
} 
A:visited { 
COLOR: #CCCCCC; 
} 
A:active { 
COLOR: #EECCCC; 
} 

See if this works.


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## Morrus (Mar 22, 2002)

Thanks, Charles!  That's exactly what I needed!


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## Sir Osis of Liver (Mar 22, 2002)

Hmmm? seems to be working, that was quite a surprise, just poping up like that and all. Thanks for the heart attack BTW.


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## Psychotic Dreamer (Mar 22, 2002)

I must say this is a nice change.  A freaky one, but a nice one.


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## uv23 (Mar 22, 2002)

Excellent!!


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## uv23 (Mar 22, 2002)

CRGreathouse said:
			
		

> *In the described location, find the following lines:
> 
> A:link, A:visited, A:active {
> COLOR: #FFFF99;
> ...




Hmm those directions look familiar.  Perhaps Morrus missed my post?


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## Morrus (Mar 22, 2002)

It wasn't the code that was the problem, it was the location of it.  I got it to work, but not by putting it anywhere I've been told to put it.


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## uv23 (Mar 22, 2002)

Now you just have to replace the nasty greyish pink with something more pleasant.   FYI, when dealing with hex colors, you have 6 digits. The first two are red, second two are green and last two are blue. Each digit can be 0 to 9 or A to F, with the higher values indicating more color. You can also use named colors such as "red" but hey tend to be overly bright and primary.


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## CRGreathouse (Mar 22, 2002)

Bad suggestion, uv23.  Why don't we find Morrus a color-picking utility instead?

Edit: Here's one; I can't vouch for it's usefulness, but it should get the job done.
http://www.jwa.co.uk/software/huey/huey12.exe


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## Plane Sailing (Mar 22, 2002)

Huzzah, huzzah! Visited links a different colour at last!

Thanks to all for perseverance and Morrus for keeping at it!

Huzzah!


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## Phoenix8008 (Mar 22, 2002)

Three cheers for Morrus! Hurrah! Hurrah!! Hurrah!!!


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## uv23 (Mar 22, 2002)

CRGreathouse said:
			
		

> *Bad suggestion, uv23.  Why don't we find Morrus a color-picking utility instead?
> 
> Edit: Here's one; I can't vouch for it's usefulness, but it should get the job done.
> http://www.jwa.co.uk/software/huey/huey12.exe *




Bad suggestion? Its important that he understands why things work. Sure he can use a color picker but thats no excuse to keep everything black box.


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## CRGreathouse (Mar 22, 2002)

uv23 said:
			
		

> *Bad suggestion? Its important that he understands why things work. Sure he can use a color picker but thats no excuse to keep everything black box. *




I'm just trying to keep things simple.  He likes to see results without figuring out the mechanics beneth.

That said, my comment wasn't a criticism so much as a light ribbing.  I was actually hoping that you could find a better color picker than I could... I don't use them, myself.


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## Psionicist (Mar 22, 2002)

CRGreathouse said:
			
		

> *In the described location, find the following lines:
> 
> A:link, A:visited, A:active {
> COLOR: #FFFF99;
> ...




That was pretty much EXACTLY what I wrote in my post.


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## Tom Cashel (Mar 22, 2002)

Fantastic!

I can read it all!

(I had no idea this thread had been going on for a while, but I just had to drop in to say THANKS!)


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## Darkness (Mar 22, 2002)

Morrus = god. 



- Darkness


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## Pielorinho (Mar 22, 2002)

Thanks, Morrus (and all who helped him)!  This is a very nice improvement.

Daniel


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## Eosin the Red (Mar 23, 2002)

wwwhheeeeeee! Thank you!


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## Omegium (Mar 23, 2002)

Thank you morrus: I have been hoping for this since the start of these new boards


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## LeeCHeSSS (Mar 23, 2002)

Morrus said:
			
		

> *
> The sarcasm isn't necessary.*




Huh? What sarcasm?! I merely tried to help out...


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