Lite skin for dial-ups or to reduce page download size.

[Dave A]

I've created a Lite version of our skin which is designed to produce faster page loads. This feature is only available to members - guests only have the default skin available.

There has been something of a trade-off in producing it, though.

It isn't quite as pretty as the main skin. The header area is a little disjointed but still has all the features. Strips and backgrounds are in flat colours.

The quick-reply and similar threads features have been removed.

I could also take out avatars and signatures but I'd like some feedback on that first.

[duncan drennan]

Avatars, signatures and images can always be turned off using the User Control Panel, under Edit Options.

And for those of you who don't know how to change the skin: scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and look at the bottom left, there is a drop down menu with some cryptic names, "Mod 4" and "Mod 4 lite". Choose "Mod 4 lite" for the "lite" version

[Dave A]

OK. So let's leave those options.... errr... optional.

[Debbiedle]

Are we all skin obsesses now? Help a stupid person please?

[duncan drennan]

Are we all skin obsesses now? Help a stupid person please?

The "skin" that Dave is referring to is the theme of the website. It is made up of all the little pictures, and colours and so on. The "lite skin" is a stripped down theme which means that there will be less to download every time you view a page.

I think the idea is to make it easier and faster for dial up users to access the info (as a forum can be quite bandwidth intensive).

If you do want things to load faster you can also turn off images, avatars and signatures (be warned though, some things may look at bit funny).

[Debbiedle]

Thanks Duncan - Why stop there? Why not design for cell phones (terminology please ) as well then?