[vB4] All default CSS files are missing. Where can I get the default files?

[jannis]

Hi there,

I am running through my first ever vBulletin installation today and am having some issues setting things up.

I downloaded the latest release 4.1.12 last night and have this up and running on my local machine with a suitable lamp stack. The forum itself runs okay, however all CSS styles associated with the "Default Theme" are missing.

Toggling the AdminCP > Style & Language Settings > Store CSS Stylesheets as Files? option to "No" brings back the styles however I want these styles as files so that I can add my own refinements. Surely this is possible?

Anyway, the deal is simple:
If "Store CSS Stylesheets as Files?" is set to Yes, all front-end links are pointing to resources that are not actually there (eg: clientscript/vbulletin_css/style00001l/main-rollup.css?d=1334828536 ).
If "Store CSS Stylesheets as Files?" is set to No, then everything works fine with the default styles.

The required clientscript/vbulletin_css folder is in the directory and is fully writeable (chmod 777) so on that front there shouldn't be anything causing this.

Any ideas on how I might get these CSS default styles as files to base my refinements off of would be much appreciated.

Thanks for reading,
Jannis

[Loco.M]

It should be working correctly
Do you have other mods installed?
sometimes the "store css as files" option does this depending on the server

do you have a link to your site?

[Lynne]

Your vbulletin_css directory must be chmod to 777 in order to store them as files.

You will not be able to edit them directory. If you do that, and then anybody happens to do a save your your style via the Style Manager, you will lose all your edits.

[Loco.M]

Your vbulletin_css directory must be chmod to 777 in order to store them as files.

You will not be able to edit them directory. If you do that, and then anybody happens to do a save your your style via the Style Manager, you will lose all your edits.

ahem..

The required clientscript/vbulletin_css folder is in the directory and is fully writeable (chmod 777) so on that front there shouldn't be anything causing this.

[jannis]

Thanks Loco and Lynne for your replies!

To address them quickly:

I do not have a link to this site simply because it's running on my localhost only at this stage while I'm trying to suss out things like this. The server info though is PHP 5.3.6 and MySQL 5.5.9 running on the default MAMP Pro (a self contained LAMP stack inside a Mac app wrapper) settings.
If it would help I'd be happy to post my php_info() output though I should mention that I have used this product (which is just a normal LAMP stack at the end of the day) for a long time and never had any issues. There are also ample system resources (I'm running a 8 core 16GB Ram Mac Pro).

I also have 0 mods installed. I literally only ran through the default vB4 installer and after setup tried to get my own CSS to load which is when I encountered this issue. So everything is still the stock/default that vB4 comes with.

Oh and Lynne, as Loco has already pointed out, the folder is set to 777 already, so that's not the cause of this particular issue.


By the way, if there is a simple download for the default style that I can just extract to this directory I'd be happy to do it that way too if that would fix things… I just can't seem to find the default theme as a downloadable fileset anywhere.

Lastly, Lynne, could you please elaborate on the 'me loosing all edits' part, I'm not entirely sure what you mean, is chmod 777 not what I want and should this be changed to 755?

Thanks again for the comments, much appreciated.

Jannis

[Zachery]

they don't work that way, there is no reason to store the css as files on your local installation, becauuse if you make editso to them, and then make any changes to the template system, it will REBUILD those css files. The feature is(was) intended to allow users in vB3 to store the css in files, instead of having to load the css inline. Now in vB4 we always deliver the CSS as an external file. The advantage to the option now is mostly for CDN related stuff.

Edit the css templates: AdminCP > Styles & TEmplates > Style Manager > CSS templates group.

[jannis]

Hi Zachery,

thanks for your explanation.

Is there maybe some documentation that you could link me to where I can find out how I can override/extend the default css styles using my own .css file somewhere? I'd rather not work within the admincp to make css changes.

Thanks,
Jannis

[Zachery]

Edit the headinclude template, and add your own css call, or add custom rules to additional.css.

[jannis]

Where do I find the additional.css file? I have done a search through the vb directory files and don't seem to have this file anywhere.

[Zachery]

Its not a file, its a template

AdminCP > Styles & Templates > Style Manager > Click on << >> Find the CSS template group and expand it, edit the additional.css template.

[jannis]

Thanks Zachery, I found the additional.css template section.

Is there any difference between adding things here versus adding a local file reference <link> tag into the headinclude template and using this to add styles?
I only ask because I prefer working in a filesystem with a proper css file over working in this little editor textarea so if it's all the same I'd prefer doing it via the headinclude template change.

Thanks again.
J

[Zachery]

Nope, you could do all of your work in an editor and just copy what you want into that space after.

[jannis]

Great! I will use a local file referenced in the head then, and once finished copy the code of my CSS into additional.css section and remove the head reference. That way I can preview changes while developing quicker.

Thanks!