so here's a progress report of sorts on the begins base skin i set out to finish. again, this is intended as a base and will be offered for free so it's going to be pretty basic in terms of styling, but i'm trying to add a few different options to play with to make it easier to make your own.
one of these is actually seen here with the forums. basically, i have the forums set up where you can have them in rows of 3, 2, or 1 - with one very simple code edit to say where you want them to be 2 or 1 (3 is the default) with and example and instructions built into the stylesheets already. in addition to that, there's also an optional forum image (i'm lazy so i reused the background image in this preview) with the same example and instructions built in as well as two optional forum descriptions (one without subforum links, one with) that again has the example and instructions built in. the default has the forum description and image areas hidden, but the code tells you how to make them show and where to switch out the images, basically.
i'm still messing with colors and style and that sort of thing but i'm trying to focus on function over form so that the form is easier to adjust throughout the skin but i did add in a visual subaccount switcher which you can see in the dropdown menu preview. it also has 19 member groups (and a separate color for staff, members, guests, etc non-sorted groups) built in based on the colors i used to preview my where it begins group color test code, but obviously i'll need to play with those as i chose a few that i knew would not work on both modes to showcase how the code itself worked but the plan is for whoever uses this base to change those anyway so it shouldn't be too much of a problem.
anyway, it's not much but here's where it's at so far. keeping it pulled back and more simple has been difficult, but i really want this to be something that's easy to build up from so i'm doing my best. the plan is for the header image to actually pull the main avatar image from your character accounts, so your character features in the header, i just haven't added in the links to character images yet because i've been too lazy to make them. honestly, shout out to all the amazing graphics artists on tumblr for the icons i used to quickly show the subaccount switcher, full credit to them for those.
so yeah! it's coming along, here's where it's at so far, and let me know if there's anything in particular you're looking to see in a base and i'll see about adding it in. just as a reminder though, stylistically i am keeping this quite simple to allow for it to be edited and made your own after release so stylistic specifications won't really be considered with this one.
oh! and one last not begins base related update: i have an almost finished wip skin that i am thinking about finishing for single sale and then i also am considering the possibility of opening up one commission slot for a skin with the caveat of requiring mock ups, so if either of those things have any interest at all please shoot me a message and we can discuss.