Upcoming CSS Grid Change

[Kyle Ford]

Hey all! With our next release (early March), we're moving to a new CSS grid system. This won't affect most Network Creators, but for those that've done extensive CSS customization, please take a moment to read these instructions. Thanks!

[Chris Retajczyk]

Hi Kyle,

Thanks for the update.

Just to ask you,can we change the design of our network to look it completely different.Infact I am willing to add new design for my network which is not listed in the given templates provided by Ning Site.I have the CSS/JPG files wilh me but as per the development team,it is just not possible to add customised CSS files due to code restrictions.Can you please update me.

Regard,

[Kyle Ford]

Hey Chris- Absolutely. If you're an experienced CSS coder the flexibility is almost endless. You can overwrite nearly every class/ID via the "Advanced" tab of the Appearance panel (located in the "Manage" tab). We hope to have much better documentation on all the classes/IDs in the future, but using Firebug (http://www.getfirebug.com) to inspect is probably the simplest way to mess around for now.

[Chris Retajczyk]

Hi Kyle,

What I have been updated is that we can use customised CSS using only those predefined tags which are already used in Ning developed CSS files.

To make my question clear,can we add a CSS file of the attached design to our network.When we are creating CSS of this design,we need additonal tags as used the current CSS provided by Ning network & as per the team,it is not possible to add CSS for this design as it contains additonal tags then defined in original CSS file.

Please confirm.

[Kyle Ford]

Hey Chris- While it's correct that you can't get into the HTML (without decentralizing your network) to add new CSS definitions, you can completely rewrite the Ning-developed CSS definitions to match your custom CSS file (to achieve the same end goal). The "Advanced" section of the Appearance panel loads last, so any CSS tweaks you make there will trump the Ning CSS.

[Chris Retajczyk]

Hi Kyle,

Thanks for getting back to me.

Can we use additional tags with the current CSS file implemented on Ning.Does Ning source code support this.

I downloaded the source code of the site but the problem is that it invokes coding of ning source for most of its functions which means we need to do the change in source code of Ning to support additonal tags which is not feasible I guess.

[Kyle Ford]

Yes, you can completely modify the CSS provided by Ning by overwriting classes and IDs using the "Advanced" panel method outlined above. No need to request source code access. Hope that helps!

[Chris Retajczyk]

Hi Kyle,

Thanks for the update.

Just to sum up,the only way we can add new tags & class to the existing CSS is after we decentralise the netowork from Ning.But I think that way we wont be getting any updates from Ning in future.Kindly update,am I right or what effect does it make to the functioning on my network. if I decide to decentralise the network.Kindly update.

[Phil McCluskey]

Hi Chris,

The only way to alter the underlying html so that you can add new css identifiers and class names is by requesting full access to the source code, and that means that you will lose automatic updates when we roll out new releases. The new html grid that will be rolled out in the next release contains changes to the underlying html so it will not be identical to what you have right now.

Thanks,
Phil