esoBB Cutting Edge

Hey Simon, congrats on getting eso installed!

Cool! Your forum is now good-to-go, but you might want to customize it with your own logo, design, and configuration settings - so here's how. Remember, some of this stuff can be a bit complex, especially if you don't have much experience with this sorta stuff, so feel free to ask for help at geteso.org.

Adding your logo

1. Get your custom logo graphic file and use an image editor to cut it down to size. If you're not interested in making more advanced design changes then make sure the logo isn't higher than ~30px.
2. Upload the logo to your webserver. If you're not sure where to put it, just stick it in the same place you put the eso files.
3. Edit the file config/config.php.
4. Somewhere after $config = array( and before );, add the following line: "forumLogo" => "http://your.server.com/logo.jpg", (make sure the your.server.com path points to the place were you uploaded your logo).
5. If your logo graphic already contains your forum name, you can hide the text title by editing config/custom.css and adding the following code: #forumTitle {display:none}
6. Refresh your forum index and check it out!

Choosing your skin

1. Log into your forum and click Skins.
2. In the Add a new skin section, click Browse to select the skin archive you previously downloaded, then click Add skin.
3. Click on the picture of the newly-added skin to activate it.

Plugins

Plugins are these nifty little things that add extra functionality to your forum. There are a few installed by default, such as emoticons. You can download new plugins and install them by logging in to your forum, clicking Plugins, browsing for the new plugin archive, then clicking Add plugin.

Tick the checkbox near a plugin name to enable it. Some plugins have settings which you can change by clicking settings to the right of the plugin name.

Advanced configuration settings

See all the configuration variables in config.default.php? If you find one you want to change, copy the line into config/config.php and modify the value.

Languages

Your forum is available in a number of languages. You can download language packs and install them by uploading them into the languages of your forum's installation.

Each user can select from any of the language packs you have installed, but you can set a default by editing language entry in your advanced configuration settings. See the Advanced configuration settings section above for details of how to do this.

If you'd like to make a custom change to the language of your forum (ex. changing the footer text), find the appropriate language entry in the language file and override it in config/custom.php.

We hope you enjoy using your forum!

There are a whole bunch of other things you can do to customize your forum, but that sorta stuff is getting a bit too advanced for this tutorial. You can check out geteso.org for further information and/or assistance. Or just drop by and say "Hi"! (We love to hear feedback!)

Good luck with your forum, Simon!