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Position of the Admin and User Menu

Last post 11-06-2007 10:06 AM by swissmerlin. 7 replies.
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  • 10-31-2007 5:44 AM

    Position of the Admin and User Menu

     Hi,

    We like to change the vertical and horizontal position of the main menus to fit our design. I couldn't find the right CSS to change this.

     Any idea?

     Thanks 

     

    Merlin Consulting GmbH
    Bahnhofstrasse 27 | CH-8702 Zollikon
    Tel.: +41 44 391 30 00
    www.merlinconsulting.ch


    .:. SmarterTools Reseller in Switzerland .:.
  • 11-02-2007 3:11 PM In reply to

    • ST-JD
    • Top 200 Contributor
    • Joined on 01-19-2007
    • AZ
    • Posts 42

    Re: Position of the Admin and User Menu

    Hi Martin,

    If you are trying to change the location of the main menu (with drop downs) you will need to alter more than simply the CSS.  The CSS styles merely help modify a given table, cell, image etc.  If you want to move a entire section that will take some table (HTML) adjustments.  So instead of looking in the ".css" files go into the ".Master" files.  The ".Master" files contain the structure of SmarterMail, this is what you are trying to change.  Keep in mind there are multiple ".Master" files (Admin, User, Generic User Split Page) and the changes you make will need to be made in all of them, so it will render the same no matter what page you are on or what type of user you are.  My suggestion is to alter one of the ".Master" pages to your liking, and then ripple that through the others. 

    By the way, Jeff Hardy says hello.

    Best regards,

    John Darling
    SmarterTools Inc.
  • 11-02-2007 3:18 PM In reply to

    • ST-JD
    • Top 200 Contributor
    • Joined on 01-19-2007
    • AZ
    • Posts 42

    Re: Position of the Admin and User Menu

    Update:

    Actually you should only need to adjust the Admin and User ".Master" pages, for they handle the outer structure which contains the main menu.  The "Generic User Split" page handles the internal content structure. 

    Best regards,

    John Darling
    SmarterTools Inc.
  • 11-02-2007 7:01 PM In reply to

    Re: Position of the Admin and User Menu

     Hi John,

    Thanks for your information. 

    In meantime i learned how to deal with the master files. To apply our layout, i had to change a lot stuff there. It's not so complicated, but it needs some time.

    Merlin Consulting GmbH
    Bahnhofstrasse 27 | CH-8702 Zollikon
    Tel.: +41 44 391 30 00
    www.merlinconsulting.ch


    .:. SmarterTools Reseller in Switzerland .:.
  • 11-05-2007 8:24 AM In reply to

    • ST-JD
    • Top 200 Contributor
    • Joined on 01-19-2007
    • AZ
    • Posts 42

    Re: Position of the Admin and User Menu

    Your welcome Martin. 

    Just wanted to let you know we also have a SmaterMail Skinning Guide. The link can be found at: http://www.smartertools.com/Products/SmarterMail/Help.aspx  Though the Skinning Guide covers mostly image changes (not structural), it's still has some helpful information that you might need.  

     Good luck with your skin. 

    Best regards,

    John Darling
    SmarterTools Inc.
  • 11-05-2007 2:17 PM In reply to

    Re: Position of the Admin and User Menu

     Hi John,

    Yeah, i studied the skinning guide. Our layout needs a bit more work to fit into SmarterMail, so i had to dive a bit deeper into the master files. Fortunately, I see some light at the end of the tunnel. Actually i'm messing around to get clean icons, which gives tons of work. I would love to have the originals with transparent backgrounds.

    I hope, i'm ready at the end of the week. 

     Thisis the actual status of the work:

    netfusion Layout

    Merlin Consulting GmbH
    Bahnhofstrasse 27 | CH-8702 Zollikon
    Tel.: +41 44 391 30 00
    www.merlinconsulting.ch


    .:. SmarterTools Reseller in Switzerland .:.
  • 11-06-2007 9:15 AM In reply to

    • ST-JD
    • Top 200 Contributor
    • Joined on 01-19-2007
    • AZ
    • Posts 42

    Re: Position of the Admin and User Menu

    Hi Martin,

    Your skin looks like its coming along well.  It has a nice clean feel.  I share your pain on the icon situation, I had to make all new icons for the Atlantis and the new SmarterMail 5.x skin which, yes, can take some time.  We are looking to have a transparent icon file available for SmarterMail 5.x to aid in custom skinning.  In your situation I had two suggestions. 

    The first, if you are quite proficient in Photoshop, you could cut out all the background pixels in each one of the icons.  Then to eliminate the harsh edges, use the blur tool sparingly.  This will be a little tricky and time consuming. 

    My second suggestion is to either create or purchase your own icon set specifically for this skin.  You can find icon sets that are decent both in quality and price.  Have you ever visited templatemonster.com?  They have a large selection of icon sets and chances are you could proabably find one to match your orange color.  Last time I checked, templatemonster.com was selling icon sets for under $100.

    One other quick note, I know your skin is not finished so this is more of a reminder, any custom skin must still have "SmarterMail [Edition] [Version #]" visible with a minimum of 8pt font size.  It can say, "Powered by SmarterMail [Edition] [Version #]."  This requirement can be found in the EULA.

    Best regards,

    John Darling
    SmarterTools Inc.
  • 11-06-2007 10:06 AM In reply to

    Re: Position of the Admin and User Menu

    Hi John,

    I tried to extract the icons with the lasso-function (Fireworks) which works nice. It needs a really patients. I prefer to use Fireworks. I am a programmer and a tekkie guy and not really a designer. So, photoshop has to many buttons for me ;-)

    Thanks for the tip regarding templatemonster.com. After browsing the site, i found some really nice icon sets. I discovered also a few free icons sites. Some guys made really amazing icons. Unbelievable, that all this stuff is for free. Of course, those sites have also tons of ugly stuff there...

    The SmarterMail Logo will be added for sure. I prefer to use a graphics instead of text. In meantime, i received a SmarterMail Enterprise image from the sales department. Only a Pro-version was available at this time. As a SmarterTools partner I'm interested to have a nice SmartMail Advertising in the WebMail. Btw. netfusion is our second company, which offers Hosting Services.

     

    Merlin Consulting GmbH
    Bahnhofstrasse 27 | CH-8702 Zollikon
    Tel.: +41 44 391 30 00
    www.merlinconsulting.ch


    .:. SmarterTools Reseller in Switzerland .:.
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