Theme development

I am sure this is very simple, but how do you change the sidebar html?
I don't want to use an unorder list

I feel that some of the simple softness of other bulletin boards is the fact that they use a lot of buttons. Is it easy to change the forums code to remove the links and make them to buttons. I know this may be a very easy fix. But as I'm learning PHP, everyone needs to start from somewhere.

If a reply comes, thanks ahead of time, much appreciation.

Hi,

Iam customising box_grey and want to add the fourth colum to the absoulute right. Og the column are to start at top of the page and continue to the bottom(footer)....that meens all the way down the page! I made a div-tag and named it to the new class. It do show up on the right spot on the page(x-y axis) but it displaces the other tables.

I manage to fix this by adding 3 different tables(in header, body and footer) all to the right and making it touch eachother. It worked, but aint there a more clever/better solution than doing this??

Best Regards Ayvind

What's the easiest way to transform an unordered list in html to a drop down menu. For example if I were to change the content of the "New forum topics" block from a long list of links to a drop down menu that users can select from. Is it even possible? Wish it was possible with CSS.

I only started using CSS based layout when I started using drupal. After a few tutorials I new basically how things worked, but when it come to learning and modifying drupal themes I found things a little more difficult. Every theme’s css file is laid out differently and things are grouped differently.

I think it would be good idea to set a standard for the layout and grouping of CSS in style sheets files using comments.

I have tried multiple themes and every time I try to modify a theme I have to learn how that Theme Developer layout and grouped elements in that theme and it is completely different form theme to theme. How one person thinks things should be logically grouped is not at all logical for another user.

What I propose is a basic layout of drupal theme css files. IE. All HTML elements at the top, followed by, all page layout elements group together and then all CSS relating to comments ….. And at the end theme specific CSS. (Just a example)

I think this could promote Theme development. This way a person only needs to learn one structure. And will know more or lees how things are laid out for any theme, making modifying exiting themes much easier. And maybe reduce the drupal learning curve for new comers and CSS novices.

And in the download area. The theme description should specify if it conforms to the standard just like some of the themes specify that it is a PHPTemplate theme.

I want to run a small script to add some dynamic content to my template (based on xTemplate). How can I do this? Any direct usage of php will not be parsed, since the file is xtemplate.xtmpl.
I would really apreciate some help, any gurus out there?