?

[sarea]

I'd like to customize my layout a bit more, but the S2 layers/styles documentation on LJ goes a bit (a bit, a lot, who's counting?) over my head. Does anyone know of a good tutorial I could use?

It doesn't seem to matter that the DT is what brought on my D/G love ... I kind of want to see it end Ginny/Tom. Is that wrong? I have my reasons.

It's never pretty when I go to Overstock.com, but this time, I walked away with Sports Night (complete series!), Roswell S2 (I didn't even know it was out -- I'm such a bad fan), and Friday Night Lights, as well as some other books.

Comments

[annibug.livejournal.com]

Have you checked out component_help? There is a listing in the memories of all different ways to customize your journal and create layers. I swiped the coding for my sidebar from someone (they said it was fine) and then changed it up to my own preferences. I knew NOTHING about layers before poking around that community.

[sarea-okelani.livejournal.com]

Thank you muchly. I shall check that out and see if I can make heads or tails out of any of it. <g>

[annibug.livejournal.com]

Your journal looks so cool! My sidebar information was repeating too when I first began messing with the format. I wish I could remember what I did to make it stop. I think it had something to do with going into "edit customization" in the Customize S2 Setting (http://www.livejournal.com/customize/) and then checking or unchecking a box. That could be completely wrong though, which is why I mentioned it here and not at your quest for information over on componet_help. I didn't want someone with knowledge not answering your question because I rambled on about something that may or may not be correct. *grin*

Who is the girl on your layout?

[sarea-okelani.livejournal.com]

Why thank you! It all looks so deceptively simple, doesn't it. :p I don't know where all these people get their programming skills.

I really appreciate the help! I'll try and play around some more with it. It was just that I was starting to get a headache looking at all the rows of code, and I don't understand it enough to really be able to go, "Aha! That's where the problem is!"

The girl is Kristin Kreuk, who plays Lana Lang on Smallville. Once I've got this other technical stuff nailed, I'd like to do other themes, but she's my initial guinea pig. :D

[ropo.livejournal.com]

Ooh, dood! I have "Sports Night" too! If you can wait a few days, we should wait 'til Jade gets home and watch it together!

[sydney-lynne.livejournal.com]

I should probably just speak for myself, but I do believe a large contingent of D/G shippers who post at the Schnoogle review board are also oddly fascinated by Tom/Ginny, yours truly included.

As for ordering things online. You don't want to know how many pieces of jewelry I've been bidding for on Ebay just in the last two days. :P

[sarea-okelani.livejournal.com]

Speaking for myself: The thing with Tom/Ginny in DV is ... I don't think it's betraying my D/G love. In fact, if anything, I sort of think it's preserving it, in my own twisted viewpoint.

You'll be sorry you egged me on w/ this. <g> See, imho -- DV Draco doesn't deserve Ginny. He's off having his feelings for this guy or that girl and having adventures and dying dramatically and Ginny's simply not important to him. I understand that he supposedly cares for her in his own way, but it's not the same way he cares for Harry or even for Hermione. (You might be able to argue that it remains to be seen wrt Hermione, but for sure, the person he loves above all others is Harry.) So I feel kind of :| about the idea that it's Ginny who has to prove herself worthy of him, when, imho, if he really wants her, he ought to be the one giving her something back. DV Ginny just gives and gives and gives. All this time, she's been there for him -- and if it's just unrequited love on her part, then fine, whatever -- I'd like to see her get over it, because I like her and don't like to see her being so pathetic -- thus my preference for Tom.

But if Draco and Ginny are supposed to end up together in any small way, then I need to see him earn her. What has he done for her lately? Why does she continue to love him? I can't see Draco making any sudden romantic gestures toward her; nor do I get the sense that CC believes any need to be made. So, this line of thought, too, leads me to Tom, who has shown that he does love Ginny, even if it's in his own twisted way. It might not be healthy, it might not be right, but they've got an undeniable mutual connection, and that's what I like to see, what makes me root for a ship. It's what makes a relationship interesting.

As it is now, it's simply Ginny trying again and again to get into Draco's good graces, to earn him (this latest fantasy sequence with her realizing that she wants the real Draco, no matter his faults, being a prime example), with Draco not caring in the slightest. For the entire duration of their relationship, Ginny has been at a disadvantage, and I can see how this Tom thing might help turn that around -- or, most likely, not. That might be giving D/G more importance than CC really wants. If that's the case, again, then I'd rather see Ginny with someone who truly wants her, than with someone who will see her as a consolation prize (in third place, at that!).

Tom, in DV, takes on the role Draco inhabits in many D/G-oriented fics, including DS. No matter what other complications there were in DS (Hermione, Harry), there was something undeniably there between Draco and Ginny. That was even true at the beginning of DV. Now it no longer seems to be the case.

The relationships in DV are complex -- I enjoy that about the story (although lately I've been feeling that everything is rather disappointingly transparent, especially w/ the Harry/Draco wuv), but being a D/G shipper, I feel strongly that if they are going to be together, they ought to love one another intensely and single mindedly, and it ought to be reciprocal. If it's not, then I'd rather they not be together at all. The very last thing D/G should be is lukewarm. If that's where it's headed, give me Ginny/Tom and the heat of that relationship, and Draco can go off with his precious Harry and Hermione.

[sydney-lynne.livejournal.com]

Yeah, for some time now I've disliked DV!Draco; in a way I kind of hope that he dies. I am yet to forgive him for this:

"At least he knows how to treat people he loves," Ginny said harshly. "All you do is hurt them and cause them pain."

"I'm not exactly sure how you'd know that," Draco said in the same soft voice, "seeing as how you aren't one of them."

He has a long way to go to redeemed himself to be worthy for Ginny IMO. Ginny is my girl in DV and DV Draco doesn't deserve her. I hoped for a long time that he distanced himself from her because he cared about her too much to put her in danger, but that theory is hanging on by a thread these days at best. And word on your thoughts about Harry/Draco. What? They kiss? Yawn. They're just so very boring to me together. Tom, on the other hand, is cool, and also my favorite character in canon. And hot, in my imagination. :)

[sarea-okelani.livejournal.com]

Auuuuugggh, that exchange.

You don't know how many times/ways I've tried to explain it away:

1) He didn't really mean it, he only said it so as to keep her away from him. Except Draco supposedly never lies. Maybe he would lie to protect Ginny? But that's the hopeful shipper in me speaking. And Draco loves Harry and Hermione too -- but he never pushes them away, not really. And I can't imagine that CC is trying to say Draco loves Ginny above all others, which is why he's different with her -- he's different with her because he doesn't care about her like he does the others. :-l

2) Could it have been a matter of semantics? That the "one of them" Draco's talking about is actually people Seamus loves, not himself? But yeah, that excuse is so thin as to be see-through. :p

I hoped for a long time that he distanced himself from her because he cared about her too much to put her in danger

I do believe that that's true. Where it's starting to bother me is that since that act, he has done nothing to show that that's where his heart/intentions lie. It's almost as if, by deliberately distancing himself from her, he is now distanced from her. The last thing I cling to is his reaction (subtle, to be sure, but I'm used to having to take little things and hang on by my fingernails) when he initially thought that it was Ginny who had died in the Polyjuice brothel. Of course, that could have simply been out of guilt, not love.

What it comes down to is that Draco has to earn Ginny's love in some way (if, in fact, he wants to be with her at all), not just decide to love her back. At the moment, it seems that that's all he would have to do, and he would have her. And she deserves more. (And yes, Tom is hot.)

I have always loved the Harry/Draco dynamic in DV ... right up until a few chapters ago when it stopped being subtext and just started being them getting all sappy together. Maybe that's also why I have trouble imagining Draco being attractive anymore -- if he's homosexual there's nothing there for me. <g> He likes guys, so he and Harry should get it on. But now Ginny needs someone, and Tom is all there and hot for her, and that in itself is pretty sexy.

[lallie.livejournal.com]

No you're not wrong to want DT to turn out G/T. It's a little secret of mine that I want it to turn out that way too. Shhh.

[sssexygirl.livejournal.com]

ok i seen your entry in component_help and i do know the answers to your questions however its extremly huge to place in comments. the tuts you are looking for are on this comment.

this is for fixing the hugeness of the friends page:
http://www.livejournal.com/community/component_help/312423.html

to remove the nav bar you go into edit customizations and where it says to pick the order of your components, you just dont pick the nav bar you leave it empty.

as of right now i dont see any repeating components.

and right now looking at your journal i dont see any link buttons or edit entry buttons so i cant answer that question.

i will leave you with this s2layers
this is a community that was made for this reason. people go there to share thier s2 layers with each other. so incase you dont understand what they mean on the tutorials you can go there and actually view whats in thier layer to help you understand.
i hope this helps you, if not feel free to keep asking someone will always help.. good luck!

[sarea-okelani.livejournal.com]

Hi, thanks so much for your suggestions.

Unfortunately, any time I go to "edit customizations" and change anything there, it overwrites everything I've done in my user layer, so I'm unable to "deselect" the navbar there. Is there a code I can use to turn it off?

That's also why you didn't see the repeating components when you came, I was trying to reset it to my customized code. You can probably see it now if you have the inclination.

I appreciate the help.

[sssexygirl.livejournal.com]

yes there is a part in the user layer you just do this

set comp_navbar = false;

anytime you go to make changes with edit cust make sure to copy your user layer before you do it. you compair the old one and the new one with your changes, and you add the old stuff back on it :D

[sssexygirl.livejournal.com]

ok upon thinking about this i still dont see repeat free text boxes but. if you do this it will remove the nav component and the one at the top if you didnt want it there.

ok this sets the free text to work it sets it to make a nav component. BUT it also sets it to remove the nav component from view. and stop the free text from repeating.

so what this shows on the journal is profile calendar and free text. anything that you want out you just put "none" in there instead of the wording i have



set second_position = "calendar_order";
set show_free_text = true;
set sixth_position = "none";
set comp_navbar = true;
set fifth_position = "none";
set fourth_position = "free_text_order";
set first_position = "profile_order";
set third_position = "none";

[sarea-okelani.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Actually, after your earlier comment, I went and took the code that LJ created from the customization page and repositioned everything. That led me to do exactly what you've suggested here, and that took care of both removing the navbar and stopping the repetition of the components. :D

I've edited my post on components_help to reflect what I no longer need help on (and your assistance!) ... because somehow, in doing the above, the sizing was also fixed on my friends page and entry link page. Who knew?? :-)

Now the only thing left for me to de-mystify is how to get the permalink to be next to the entry-link icons rather than on top.

[sssexygirl.livejournal.com]

ok im not sure if this is what you want or not
but go look at one of my styles and find the thing next to the entry icons and tell me if thats it. if it is then i will have to post the code in a journal entry and let you read it hehe. so lemme know heres the link

http://www.livejournal.com/users/sssexygirl/?s2id=3851711

[sarea-okelani.livejournal.com]

Okay, first of all -- they are all so cool. <g> I looove the look of the dates on the first two skins. And how you have hearts on your calendar!

Secondly, the only skin that seems to have sort of what I'm looking for is "The Passion of the Christ" -- there's a permalink on that one. But instead of being in the middle, the way it is, I would like it off to the side along with the other icons.

So that it looks like this:

( Link )

Instead of:

( Link )


(This is the way it looks on my journal right now.)

See what I mean?

[sssexygirl.livejournal.com]

ok they all have perma links just they are buttons instead of letters :) do you want letters or a button? the thing that looks like a chain on my journal is the perma link. this picture is my perma link. i figured instead of words a button would match the rest of the buttons. if you still want the words lemme know

[sarea-okelani.livejournal.com]

Ahhh -- actually, it would be cool to have the button. I will upload that to my own server. But what's the code to get that included with the others? Right now the code looks like this (I'm including a bunch of it because I'm not sure what's important...):

<td width="50%" align="right" valign="center">""";
# Then the entry related buttons

# The easiest way to do this, which will work for all
account types, is as follows, and will display
# actual buttons.
# If you'd like text instead of buttons, then remove the
following line in blue, decomment the lines in pink,
# and edit as you see fit. Note that using the print_linkbar
function will also add next and previous buttons
# to the
# Entry page (with comments), and I've reflected that in the
pink lines below.
"""<div class="entryComments"><span
style="white-space:nowrap;"><b>( <a href="$e.permalink_url"
class="commentLinks">$*text_permalink</a>
)<b></span></div>""";$e->print_linkbar();

# var Link prevlink = $e->get_link("nav_prev");
# if ($p.view=="entry" and defined $prevlink and
$prevlink.url!="") { """<a href="$prevlink.url">
# <img border='0' width="$prevlink.icon.width"
height="$prevlink.icon.height" alt=""
# src="$prevlink.icon.url" /></a>"""; }
# var Link editlink = $e->get_link("edit_entry");
# if (defined $editlink and $editlink.url!="") { """<a
href="$editlink.url"><img border='0' width="$editlink.icon.width"
height="$editlink.icon.height" alt="" src="$editlink.icon.url"
/></a>"""; }
# var Link memlink = $e->get_link("mem_add");
# if (defined $memlink and $memlink.url!="") { """<a
href="$memlink.url"><img border='0' width="$memlink.icon.width"
height="$memlink.icon.height" alt="" src="$memlink.icon.url"
/></a>"""; }
# var Link nextlink = $e->get_link("nav_next");
# if ($p.view=="entry" and defined $nextlink and
$nextlink.url!="") { """<a href="$nextlink.url"><img border='0'
width="$nextlink.icon.width" height="$nextlink.icon.height" alt=""
src="$nextlink.icon.url" /></a>"""; }
"""
</div>
</td>

And can I just say again how cool you are for helping a clueless gal like me? : )

[sssexygirl.livejournal.com]

ok ill start at the same part you did all you gotta do is copy it how i have it.


<td width="40%" align ="right" valign="center">""";
        # Then the entry related buttons
        """<div class="entryComments">
          """;
          # The easiest way to do this, which will work for all account types, is as follows, and will display actual buttons.
          # I used to use the code following it, but ran into problems trying to figure out the logic to show the edit button on a community properly.
          # If you'd like text instead of buttons, then you can remove the following line in blue, decomment the lines in pink,
          # and edit as you see fit. Note that using the print_linkbar function will also add next and previous buttons when viewing using the EntryPage.
          #$e->print_linkbar();
         
          # Edit button : Only put up if the person viewing this entry wrote the entry
          # I check that by checking whether the person looking at the page is the owner of the page, and the entry's poster is the page's owner.
          # It puts Edit buttons on my entries, and entries that I post to communities that show on my friends page.
          if (viewer_is_owner() and $e.poster.username==$p.journal.username) { """
           <a href="$e.permalink_url" class="commentLinks">
            <img src="http://geocities.com/tatertati28/link.txt (http://geocities.com/tatertati28/link.txt)" alt="Link" style="border: 0;" /></a>
          <a href="http://www.livejournal.com/editjournal_do.bml?journal=$e.journal.username&itemid=$e.itemid (http://www.livejournal.com/editjournal_do.bml?journal=$e.journal.username&itemid=$e.itemid)">
               <img border="0" width="22" height="20" alt="Edit Entry" src="http://stat.livejournal.com/img/btn_edit.gif (http://stat.livejournal.com/img/btn_edit.gif)" /></a>
            """;
          }"""
         
          <a href="http://www.livejournal.com/tools/memadd.bml?journal=$e.journal.username&itemid=$e.itemid (http://www.livejournal.com/tools/memadd.bml?journal=$e.journal.username&itemid=$e.itemid)">
              <img border="0" width="22" height="20" alt="Add to Memories" src="http://stat.livejournal.com/img/btn_memories.gif (http://stat.livejournal.com/img/btn_memories.gif)" /></a>
          <a href="http://www.livejournal.com/tools/tellafriend.bml?journal=$e.journal.username&itemid=$e.itemid (http://www.livejournal.com/tools/tellafriend.bml?journal=$e.journal.username&itemid=$e.itemid)">
              <img border="0" width="22" height="20" alt="Tell A Friend" src="http://stat.livejournal.com/img/btn_tellfriend.gif (http://stat.livejournal.com/img/btn_tellfriend.gif)" /></a>""";

code cont.

[sssexygirl.livejournal.com]

REST OF THE CODE PICKED UP WHERE THE LAST ENTRY LEFT OFF

      """
        </div>
      </td>
    </tr>
  </table></div>
  """;

  # End the entry component and put a spacer after it so that entry components are seperated.