The Colors tab of the Appearance Manager allows the board administrator to configure the color and font scheme used throughout a discussion board. The degree to which colors and fonts can be specified depend on the chosen skin recognizing the color directives that are set in this section. All DiscusWare-developed skins will recognize the directives of this section, allowing full customizability through this interface.

This box allows you to set the basic color and font scheme that will be used throughout your discussion board. This scheme will affect all topic and message pages, all user interface utilities, and depending on your settings, all user interface documentation.

Within the "Discussion Board Colors/Font/Background" box, you can set the following colors using hex codes or browser-recognized color names. For assistance, click the "Chart" link, which will cause a color-selector chart to pop up in a new window. The colors you have selected will be used as the background colors for the table cell where you make your color selection.

• Background Color: The background color of all pages. If no background image URL is specified or the background image URL is invalid, the background of all user interface pages will be solidly this color. Most common is "#ffffff" which is a white background.

• Text Color: The color of most text on all pages. This color should contrast well and be readable against your background image or background color. Most common is "#000000" which is black.

• Unvisited Link Color: The color of links that have not yet been visited. Most common is "#0000ff" which is brilliant blue.

• Visited Link Color: The color of links that you have already visited. Most common is "#800080" which is dull purple.

• Active Link Color: The color of links as you click them. In some browsers and in some skins, links will turn this color as you move the mouse over them. Most common is "#ff0000" which is brilliant red.

You can also set a font size and face to be applied on all user interface pages.

• Font Face: The names of fonts, separated by commas, in the order you prefer them to be used. For example, the default is "Verdana, Arial, Helvetica." This means that if Verdana is available on the system, it will be used. If Verdana is not available but Arial is, then Arial will be used. If neither Verdana nor Arial is available, then Helvetica will be used. Because your visitors may be using a variety of operating systems, it is a good idea to stay with standard fonts and to give a list of alternatives in this box.

• Font Size: This is a number from 1 (smallest) to 7 (largest). Most common is size 2 or 3, which are roughly 10-12 point text. Here is an example of the seven font sizes for "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica":

  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  

Finally, if you wish to use a background image rather than a solid color background, you can do so by entering the full URL to the image in the "Background Image URL" box.

• Background Image URL: Enter the full URL to a background image that will be used on all pages on your site. This image should reside on your own server; you should not link images off another server (doing so will slow down the operation of your board, and also may be considered unethical).

  It is very important to specify the full URL to the image in this box. You should not simply give the file name or use a relative URL such as "../myimage.gif". A good test to be sure you entered a valid URL is to copy the URL and paste it into the browser's location bar. If you see the image then, the URL is valid; if you get an error, the URL is not correct.

  If you type something into this box but your board still displays a solid background, it is very likely that the URL you entered is not valid. Following the tip in the previous paragraph to paste the URL into your browser to test it will confirm that this is the case.

To save and apply your new color scheme, click the "Preview/Save Color Scheme" button. Verify in the preview that your text is readable (and that, if you chose a background image, that it shows up properly). When all is correct, click "Yes". You will then be prompted to regenerate your board -- you must regenerate all topics to apply your new color scheme to all existing pages.

Shown here is a screen capture of the default settings for a Discus board's color scheme.

Alternating colors were introduced to allow you to create alternation in the listing of subtopics, topics, and messages (e.g., alternating background colors between light and dark gray when listing topics). Although this technique is still used, alternating colors have also been expanded to a mechanism of giving you the ability to control aspects of the user interface that do not necessarily alternate but that still allow customization of the color scheme.

On the list of alternating colors, there are 20 boxes. Depending on the skin you have selected, anywhere from none to all 20 of these colors will be used. The skin you have chosen will display to you an indication of what the color will be used for.

If the skin indicates that an alternating color is utilized, it is important that you supply a valid color into the box, or you will get unpredictable results (different colors on different browsers). It is also important to note that many Discus interfaces make use of alternating colors #9 and #10, allowing you control over the colors used, for example, on the search page and the contact moderators listing.

To save your alternating colors, click the "Save Alternating Colors" button. You will then be prompted to regenerate your board -- you must regenerate all topics to apply your new alternating colors to all existing pages.

Shown here is a screen capture of the default settings for a Discus board's color scheme in the tables2 skin (#1 and #2 control the background color and text color of table headers, and so on).