For those of you that use SVN, I also use it myself so I already have an up-to-the-minute version of “A Bit Blue” for use with the latest theming facility. This latest version (22 April 2009) requires r3177 or later.

A Bit Blue v0.9.zip.

Do not use this for 4.0.8 or lower. Use the download at the top instead.

Please Note: As of v0.7 you will require Textpattern v4.0.7

After much prodding in the ribs from Matthew over at Squared Eye to produce a “branded” admin interface for him I continued to work on the resulting design until I ended up with what you see above.

I started with Dan Hoy’s interpretation which I liked because of it’s bolder presentation and lack of images and just kept going from there.

I’ve added the select box back into the header.

The login details and login button at the top can be set to “display: none;” if you don’t want them as can the Textpattern links at the very top of the page. I find that I am always going to these places for reference when doing a design so I made them conveniently available.

The select box at the bottom is still there but set to “display: none;” by default so you can bring that back if you want.

The Textpattern links and the “View Site” tab open new pages or tabs depending on your browser. I prefer it that way.

The site name in the graphic is set to pick up the site_name directly from your install. If you prefer, you can create a logo to place in the /txp_img/ directory and the CSS for using it is included but commented-out.

The message line that outputs such things as “file xxx deleted”, “file xxx saved” and “file xxx created” etc. has been moved below the top_nav and has a permanent height attributed to it so that the other elements of the page don’t jump up and down when a message appears and disappears.

With one or two exceptions all the “border” and “background” styles have been separated out and placed at the bottom of the CSS. This should make it easier to change the colour formatting if you wish. I haven’t separated the text colours.

The CSS is placed in the “Style” tab so it is easy to modify and see immediate results.

The style requires a new txplib_head file and CSS file.

As far as I can tell it works in FF3. * , Safari3 (Win), Opera 9. * , Google Chrome, IE6, IE7 and IE8 beta.

There is probably other stuff I’ve forgotten to mention and the change log will announce any additions or removals.

Change Log

v0.9 – 22nd March 2009

• txplib_head.php hack no longer required. File removed.
• a_bit_blue.php file created and added.
• All files included in single, up-loadable folder.
• Installation instructions updated.
• Updated (22 April 2009) a_bit_blue.php inline with r3177

v0.7 – 30th November 2008

• updated txplib_head.php in line with r3004 (4.0.7).
• updated the css in line with the latest update to txplib_head.php (r3004).
• removed txp_tag from download as it is can use the default styling thus reducing the amount of “hacking” involved.
• added styling for the “Textile Help” block on the “Write” page.
• added styling for the “view article” link on the “Write” page.
• added styling for Mary’s “upm_image_popper” plug-in.

v0.6 – 16th February 2008

• updated txplib_head.php in line with r2783.
• updated the css in line with the latest update to txplib_head.php (r2783).
• removed txplib_html from download as it is no longer required.
• removed the logout button image introduced in v0.2.
• restyled the logout button in the header using CSS only.
• re-worded the login message in the header to a welcome message.
• using real name in the new welcome message.
• moved the new welcome message and logout button to the right next to the select list.
• for the page, form and CSS template pages the selected item is highlighted in red.
• for the form template page the form “type” list is blue to distinguish it from the form “name” list better.

v0.5 – 10th January 2008
(I really should have waited a bit)

• updated txplib_head.php in line with r2765.
• updated the css in line with the latest update to txplib_head.php (r2765).
• updated the css to add extra styling to the login/logout pages as now allowed by r2765.
• updated the css in order to display the plug-in help text aligned left unless over-ridden by the plug-in’s own code.

v0.4 – 8th January 2008

• updated the css in line with the latest update to txplib_head.php (r2761).
• updated txplib_head.php in line with r2761.
• updated instructions to include added txp_tag.php file.
• included modified version of txp_tag.php file.

v0.3 – 30th December 2007

• Changed the 2 logout button images for a single “sliding” image to remove any loading delay.
• Added new “text”, “xhtml” and “preview” buttons for the “write” page to match styling.
• Changed cursor style to “pointer” when hovering over new “text”, “xhtml” and “preview” images on “write” page.

v0.2 – 10th December 2007

• Added button images for the “logout” in the top-nav.
• Added styling for newly added “visual clue” for future articles (r2725) This will have no effect for people that don’t have this revision yet.

v0.1 – 25th November 2007

• Initial release.