We've launched the announced Talent and Lore Update! All characters are granted one free RP talent and race change. Update Log.
Updates to Talents and Monsters: Read the specifics in the Update Log
08/01/'21
Gaia Reborn
Gaia Reborn, the hottest MMORPG of the last decade, has seen millions of players experience its unique world - a combination of fantasy and reality. When Gaia Reborn was a game, one goal was to make the game world a one-half scale model of the real world. This pursuit was known as the Half-Gaia Project, and it is one of the aspects which led to Gaia Reborn becoming such a popular virtual world. With regional servers having unique areas, quests, cities, and monsters, it wasn't uncommon for people to create alternate characters on other servers to experience what felt like an entirely new game.
Ten years after the game's launch, millions of players have joined and created countless characters across the many servers. Now, with the release of the latest expansion, Pioneers of Arcadia, many are getting ready to begin new adventures in the new Italian server, exploring the new region corresponding to Italy, known in Gaia as Italia. Characters would have to start from fresh in this new world, but Italy would finally get its own piece of this world.
Countless players created their characters, logged in with excitement fueling their hands as the cursor swept across the screen, and then... darkness... Everything was black, and as their eyes opened, the players found themselves in the streets of an unfamiliar city. Looking around to survey their surroundings, many players realized this city was not so new after all. While desolate and ruined, the architecture conquered by vines and greenery, this city was unmistakably Rome, but at the same time, it was not. Finding themselves in the bodies of their characters, trapped in the world of Gaia Reborn, players are left to adapt to their new reality in this fantasy world.
Returning to Romalia felt conflicting in being here. It wasn't exactly home but it was the only place to call as one while adjusting to this new state of being. Sure slumming around in one of the abandoned buildings was something but safer to scrape up funds to find an inn room worked in higher factor for comforts. But since losing that little storage room was all Alma could think about was the sense of abandonment. There's no one she knew that could help her and there wasn't an obvious path to tutorial NPCs that usually had a road map of progression. The people here were more people like the real world or is this the new real world? All this made her feel tired to think about and so she laid here in this open space as most players would find their own corners in Romalia to sulk in the shadows as the world's sudden influx of invading homeless population. Alma rubbed her eye tiredly as she hung around the roof of an abandoned gas station, sandaled legs handing over the side and she laid back to soak up the warm sun. One of the few that even had a roof structure it seems in the overgrown city. Who knew there were stations that lacked a cover but here they were. Old petrol pumps with cracked gauges just a sidewalk apart from the clustered buildings. The handles full rusted and ivy overgrowth taking it over where it could reach.
The sun overhead crawled into its zenith and the deer woman would rather bake in it. Her hand raised to cover her eyes in wonder if her pale arms would get a tan from laying here long enough. Where was here though? She mentally drew up a map of the world she knew by memory. All the places and people she's seen. Ah. People. Alma's mind dragged over the list of so-called 'Friends'. The list opened up to a group of names. All showed online which, being redundant at this point, listed from oldest to newest. At least one of them was listed as Lander, whatever that meant. Must be something like being a farmer job or a non-combat class? Everyone else was marked as Adventurer but that was reasonable to believe that. She tapped the one marked Paullette and saw there were additional options. A...tell function? Like when people would type /w for a private chat?
Weird. Well, let's see if it works. She selected it and rested on the roof again with a tired yawn. A sort of jingle rang in her ears. A soothing short dial tone of this world. Even if the call didn't go through, at least it would be some sort of music to listen to for a spell. Alma closed her eyes and tried taking a brief nap to this dial tone.
Living in a world without responsibility other than her own life was astonishing. No week planning to observe nor homework, complete freedom everyday. This new world was refreshing in lots of aspects but also weary sometimes “What day of the week are we today ? What could I do ?” Paulette thought while looking at the sun on top of her.
She was riding Saguaro, letting him wander around and graze at ease. Everything was peaceful around her, she was losing herself in her thoughts like always. During those sunny days, she wished she could chat with somebody along the way, a friend in short. She opened her friend list, only containing two names, both connected of course. “What could they be doing right now ?” she wondered to herself “probably some interesting quest or travel” she answered as well. She closed her eyes and breathed slowly, listening to the silence around her.
Five minutes later nothing had changed, nothing happened to her.
-The thrilling life of an adventurer into one unknown world… She whispered with a touch of irony.
She had barely finished to say so, that a sudden music resounded in her pointy ears. She jumped and looked around her to understand where this was coming from but the environment around her was still as peaceful as before. Even her easily scared companion didn’t flinch at all, like if he didn’t even hear it. Music was still playing in her ears, it sounded like a phone call from some app online she couldn’t acknowledge. Down her vision, she saw Alma’s icon trembling “Why do I have the feeling she is calling me ? That’s weird but probably not impossible…” Very curious of the outcome she tried to mentally pick up, music stopped.
-Is this… Alma can you hear me ?? She said out loud
She felt stupid for doing this and imediately regreted it as the words were coming out of her mouth.
speaking colour: ff8f00 , thought colour: 925417 total words : 325
Alma felt her eyes grow heavy till closing them completely. The breeze passing by and the ringing in her ears felt so comforting. Maybe something a bit missing in all this ambiance sound. How music from the game would further accent what the setting was lacking. Natural sounds are all well and good but try as she might, not a single song came to mind of what Gaia Reborn was supposed to sound like. For awhile did Alma content to this new musical sound playing in her ears. Eventually, it did not last when that elf looking woman's voice came in. Ohh...so this is how it works. They couldn't see each other's faces but it was good enough. Without really thinking about it, Alma placed a hand over her ear and tried to reply back like holding a phone's receiver to it. An oddly natural motion to do that seemed right.
"Is that you? You sound almost right next to me," Alma stated which was probably some neat magical thing about lacking some electronic filter. No keyboard meant speaking was required, or so that was the guess. Paulette seemed to be answering the same way. Since she was by herself on this old gas station rooftop, it didn't matter so much if some other people came walking by to hear some strange deer talking to herself. A sign of a descent into madness or something after all this.
"Soo...um, where are you right now? Am I trying this at a bad time?" Basic questions. Hopefully, she didn't sound too automated in running through the list of simple conversation prompts to use. It has been a small while since walking to that small town northeast of Romalila.
A smile merged on Paulette’s face, “it did work !” Living in this new world was indeed astonishing. -At the perfect time ! I’m… She looked around her, somewhere in between Tivoli and Romalia… Where are you ? What are you doing ? Do you need assistance ? According to what she said, Alma was seemingly trying this new means of communication for the first time. It looked like she was improving every day, the young Alv was curious to listen to her friend's stories. She probably was better informed about this world and all the remaining game mechanics than her. The sun was hitting her forehead and speaking made her thirty, she didn’t even eat anything since sunrise. While she was asking the faunri her location, she searched in her bag for something to eat and added -Did you eat well today ? Would you like a collation ? I think I have what’s needed for a nice snack break She didn’t have much in her carrying bag but she found out since quite the beginning that cooking in this world was way more complicated than in the previous one. She was only bringing with her fruits and essential cheap food like bread she could find here and there. This wasn’t much but still enough to make sandwiches and toast she would be happy to share with her deer friend.
speaking colour: ff8f00 , thought colour: 925417 total words : 231
"Ah. Assistance?" Alma strained her ears to listen for anything out of the ordinary. She's been starting to get used to these extra sets that have been both great and stressful to have. Some footsteps around of some wanderers following the roadways but nothing that really called out. The city was a relatively safe area and not many seemed to notice her from higher up from eye level. "Mmnm. No, I don't think so." Alma replied with a shake of her head that Paulette would never see. "I guess...you're helping me right now. I never thought to use this feature or if it worked at all. I'm glad to hear you."
A tired yawn and a large stretch later was the deer back to laying on the roof again. It appears the sound cut off briefly once her hand move away from her ears. Good to know that the chat would be briefly dropped as if moving the phone away from your own ear in the real world. Guess it's back to holding this pose for a while so what better way to do this than by laying around.
"A collation?" What was the elf looking spear woman asking? Although it has been a while since she last ate something. Funny to be asking if Alma was eating well. "Not yet. Maybe get something nearby. I'm...kinda in the southwestern part of Romalia. Soaking up a bit of sun at the moment. If I really get antsy to move around, I guess I could practice what I am supposed to do as a monk or collect paper supplies. How...is it wielding a spear?" Paulette seemed like the more proactive kind fo woman between the two so, if anything, Alma thought to maybe learn some tips from them.
“Southwestern part of Romalia” Paulette pictured the approximative map of the world she knew in her head, and made her mount move forward -Can I join you ? Her interlocutor seemed in a safe situation but they both hadn’t eaten yet. -I think I can find you soon if I ride at full speed. I have some bread and many forest food products like tomatoes, figs and olives ! She was politely asking but was actually already on her way. She didn’t have a clear sight of the world she lived in and couldn’t make a paper map herself but she was able to picture the four cardinals and knew where Romalia was. Her plan was to find the river shore and follow its stream all down Romalia until she found Alma’s exact location. The river was also home for numerous freshwater fish and some were easy to catch. At a point, Tiberian barbels had become the main component of her daily snacks despite their lack of real taste. She would prefer chicken meat but found trouble using her spear as a javelin to hunt birds. On the contrary, she found it very easy to use her novice spear as a harpoon. She wanted to catch some of those Ciminian piranha along the way to surprise her friend with. -Actually it’s funny you ask that because I discovered that using a spear is easier than expected. I mean it depends on what you want to do but the main thing is to be quick. I can do that ! Maybe that’s because I’m presumed to be a duelist ? What about you ? What are you supposed to do as a monk exactly ? The young Alv had absolutely no idea how adventurers could use their classes’s skills. This was her first game and it was not even a game with predictable mechanics anymore. She was using her equipment in the most instinctive way and was very curious to learn how to properly use it. Also if tanks were a little understandable because they used acknowledged weapons, Mages looked completely mysterious to her. She hoped her deer friend could explain some of it to her during their peregrinations. She wanted to train her own skills as well, if she was a better talented duelist, she probably could catch some birds and other tastier food than common barbels. She was still talking to the seafoam haired girl while galloping into the wild when she got an idea -Hey, we still have plenty of time before sunset, would you like to train your skills with me against low leveled monsters and this evening we make a copious meal with today’s harvest ?
"Full speed?" So on a mount of some kind? That would be easy to spot the elf looking woman. Although hearing the food choices did make her cringe at the thought of them. None of those things sound like something Alma would enjoy eating raw. She shouldn't be so picky though but knowing those items were available made her want to decline right away. "M-maybe something else to eat. I wouldn't want to use up your supplies like that." The deer laughed in hopes Paulette bought that by masking the suggestion in consideration to avoid trying a raw olive. They were usually pickled so, as most would be, Alma couldn't picture an olive ever tasting sweet! Just...just no. Maybe another day she'll be braver about her picky food choices.
Luckily the conversation moved from the food to something slightly less embarrassing to talk about. Alma only tried movement practices for the majority of the time than live combat. To answer about what is a monk 'supposed' to do left Alma quiet for a few seconds. "I guess punch and kick stuff? It's not really all that meditation stuff you see in movies or super-spiritual but figured to try a little. Wish there was a combat teacher I could go to. I'm afraid to be punching and kicking stuff around town as a training dummy without getting in trouble." Not that there has been a person who looked the NPC part around Romalia. Did such a person even exist? Granted the city is larger to wander around by foot so it may be a case Alma was looking in all the wrong places.
"Ya know, that sounds like a good idea." Her tone sounded lighter to have a training partner. Not in a way for battle but for company. "Oh. Since you're riding to be here, how about I stay put so you can find me? I'm about...on top of a cover for a gas station. I'll also listen for you when you ride up. That way so you can free up your hands to ride at full speed."
Paulette pictured her pretty tall friend standing on top of an abandoned gas station. -You should be easy to spot She said with a big smile, almost forgetting that nobody was around her to notice it. She was thinking that sometimes, Alma was acting really shy compared to her mature face “why are she refusing my supplies ? I have food, it is meant to be eaten, I don’t mind sharing it with her. Maybe she would feel indebted towards me ? And I don’t want that kind of report ! Anyway, we’ll have plenty of food if we achieve to defeat some monsters together. This will be enough for tonight, no need to bother her with untasting fish and small berries.” However she was finding that Alma’s reserved expressions were sweet and polite, on the opposite of her own defect of being a loudmouth. Speaking of which she started to boast about the importance of a coach in the training process and how her little brother would have been a great teacher in the art of fighting, especially in this world where he probably knew every move and technique. Deep down she knew she should stop as her deer friend would be bored before they even met, but she realized that she was really holding to that first scenario that brought her here. -He was supposed to show me his world actually, you know, the video games world starting with this one and explaining to me all that he knew. He said he had a strong character and that he could teach me how to level up quickly. Now she was mentioning it, this wasn’t “his world” and he wasn’t even there to help. -Anyway, I think combat teachers exist and can be found, maybe some high leveled adventurer kind enough to explain it to beginners as us. But don’t worry, with or without them, you will fully develop your skill in time, don’t you think ?
The trail was long and galloping while speaking was kind of breathless, forcing the young Alv to stop her monologue. She was kind of hopping that the faunri would take over the conversation since she was the caller. “Between the run and the hunt, I’ll have body aches tomorrow”
Finally, when Saguaro started to feel exhausted by the race, they were leaving Romalia behind and entering a brushwood zone. She slowed down her young stallion and addressed to her friend -I see broken cars covered by moss, I am following a paved way, are you close ?
speaking colour: ff8f00 , thought colour: 925417 total words : 425
"I hope so." Alma laughed briefly before the joke settled into a worrying concern if Paulette couldn't find her. A high place and an even taller character choice. Not as though she was hiding on purpose or standing on a city building. Well, technically so, but not the hiding part. Or was she? Alma scratched through her hair for overthinking this and had to stop herself from going critical.
"He was supposed to do that? Hmm, yeah, I can understand the feeling. Having someone around showing you the starter world. You'd think a person like that be easy to find. Someone helpful like that would be a talk of the city."
Built renown like that should have gotten other lost players in a flock. But, the news doesn't travel as quickly as the modern world. All word of mouth. Weren't there some popular areas in Romalia still? Alma had to think of general stores and plazas. A town square or crier would do.
Hearing that Paulette was getting closer, Alma stood up on the aged station and looked up the road. The elf-looking spearwoman must not have entered hearing range yet. "You should be getting close to the area. I don't hear you yet though. I'm standing now so you should be able to spot me atop the gas station. How'd you get here so quickly? We're you on the other side of Romalia or something a few minutes ago?"
Time flew faster than Alma thought, Paulette was riding for more than “a few minutes” along the stream and had found an abandoned road. This was the best way she could follow to find that gas station, but maybe her dear friend was standing a little more forward.
Of course, it would have been much easier to find the young seafoam haired monk if Paulette had a map in her hands or at least, common landmarks to situate themselves. The Alv observed her environment with great care, she had to find some identifiable spots. The surrounding were leafy, she could have believed walking in a wood if only there weren’t those abandoned cars here and there recalling their city civilisation.
“I guess I’m fast when I travel with four legs” innocently laughed Paulette. She was sympathetically patting her stallion. Actually, the young horse was out of breath and all sweaty. He had never run on such a long distance in one shot before. She needed to let him go, else he could be injured. “In fact, I’m phasing to two legs now, I don’t want to exhaust my mount more”. She dismounted and observed Saguaro disappear between the trees, not far from him on the paved road, some birds flew away. The Alv kept walking at a good pace, still looking for Alma or some recognizable item around her.
This world seemed so huge, how many lost adventurers were wandering on those pathways ? She didn’t even had the slightest idea of their demography but it was so difficult to find one person that, in Paulette’s mind, even finding a renowned hero would be a burden.
“Maybe Alma is right, maybe there aren't anybody of that kind” This was a painful thought that could also lead to another depressing thought : “perhaps my brother isn’t here at all !” How could she be certain ? The only way to find out was to keep searching everywhere.
Speaking of places, on the side of the way, half hidden by the vegetation, the Alv noticed a big building as devastated as the cars before. It looked like an old mall with broken windows and ivy climbing on the walls. It probably couldn’t be seen by the deer girl from where she stood because it wasn’t so high, but maybe Alma had passed in front of it sooner. Through the open doors she could see quiet shadows, maybe the seafoam haired girl had even taken some rest from the sun in this place. In any cases, this was a good landmark, she asked :
“I’m walking next to what looks like an abandoned mall, does that remind you of something ?”
The deer woman stared off at the horizon. A horse should be coming this way with an elven rider. Or was it Alv. Alv. Not elf. Alma rubbed her head with these terms. It was weird relearning on the fly without a handbook or proper education. When looking at it this way, it was almost a shame that when coming to this world would the information be added into their brains. At least they can hear the people speak in the same language. No telling how much the grief that would cause for having another language to relearn. Where’s the magic of this place?!
She sighed and moved to sit cross legged on the roof and pull out the odd book she had with her. Basic reading allowed her to see what the words looked like but it was a condensed brick. The words didn’t strike out individually and what more could be read were blank. Incomplete or not knowledgable enough. Who could say. The alphabet soup of words she could summarize were closer to saying, ‘Point book and fire.’
To that end, the letters were pretty looking. She began to trace it with a finger till her ears rang lightly of Paulette. A broken mall? There did seem to be one down one of the roads. It wasn’t as wide but it was certainly tall.
“You’re there? Should be 20 minutes or so from this station. Looks like some old movie, doesn’t it?” Alma replied to the call with her head turned in the direction the Alv will appear in.
“Thus she does know the mall ! I am on the right path” thought with satisfaction the Alv. The last half hour of travel would be easy to Paulette even without the help of her horse. She believed she was able to run that distance, since she was in this new world her stamina and strength were way better. An explanation was her new height : she was a little taller now, even though she wasn’t sure it could explain it all and certainly not her sudden ability to communicate by telepathy. She laughed at the evocation of so many memories from their past lives “yes it’s exactly like those old movies” Suddenly a wave of nostalgia overwhelmed her “will I be able to see a movie once again in my life ?” She chased away her sad thoughts and kept talking and reassuring her friend about her nearby arrival. -Alma, were you a cinematophile back in our world ? Keep an eye around, I will be there soon. Travelling while chatting with someone was indeed very relieving and the seafoam girl was a really nice partner. She kept a good memory from their meeting, but thinking again about it, maybe they needed more training. This disaffected field was a great opportunity for them to train against low levelled monsters without many risks. There was only to pray they wouldn’t come across some Roamurus.
From her vantage point could Alma spot stray forms moving in the distance. Not many dared to go closer in her direction from the main roads. There wasn’t anything remotely interesting this way as far as she could tell than the decrepit gas station. Although her knowledge of this world remained so limited. She could read signs and talk to the people but couldn’t read the letters of a spell book. Maybe her magic wasn’t that strong in that department.
She closed the book and tapped the bound pages against her thigh in contemplation with Paulette’s inquiry about the real world. For once she thought about the real world in a lighter note. “Movies huh.” Alma tried to remember back to the last movie she enjoyed. A movie about a spy turned into a pigeon. Two different ones about toys. Those stood out in her mind but to say that Alma was a cinematophile? Nah. Not even close.
“Sorry. I’ve mostly watched casually. Don’t think I’ve seen enough to be called that. Seen a ton of Disney when I was a kid and mostly been some animations. You a huge movie buff?” Alma asked. Eyes trying to peel through the crowd. Too far. Or maybe she’s close but common wear for travelers were a dime a dozen in a crowd. Not like patterned shirts back home. That said, Paulette had to be close. Almost in visual sight. Just had to make sure of something.
“Hey, Pauletta. I’m goi to try something. You might be able to see it from where you are so all ya gotta do is go straight ahead.”
Raising her book, Alma closed one eyes and pointed a corner of it to the sky. The summary in the book was straight forward point and shoot so... maybe like this? Using her fingers did the deer flipped it open and book mark a segment and the letters started to shimmer to life. Off the pages and up the spine of the book a small energy orb gathered and shot up to the sky. A thin light trail following afterwards till it fizzles out a few meters overhead. A stray shooting star in the daylight.
Paulette was about to answer when a sudden light ray dazzled her. Many birds flew away.
Her mouth still mid open, half way between ready to speak and astonished, she raised her arm over her face to protect her sight. She had never seen anything like it. The light was projected like a firework in the air and went off slower, after culminating at several meters. Even in the summertime sunlight this surprising light could clearly be seen from far away.
First, Paulette thought it was lightnings but even though the air was heavy, the sky was blue and cloudless. Also, the light went from earth to up in the sky, this is when Paulette made the link between Alma’s attempt and this unknown phenomenon.
-Did you launch that ?! This is amazing !
The light ray left from down the forest, this was where Alma was standing. Paulette started running again in that precise direction
-I know where you are, don’t move
A slight gas smell helped her to track the location too. But as she was leaping over bushes, she heard some cracking above her head.
A crow flock was flying towards Alma’s lightning too.
They didn’t seem aggressive but they were big and noisy. There was no doubt concerning their destination. Paulette tried to warn her friend
-Alma ? What does your skill do exactly ? Because there are crows coming to you… And I can’t run as fast as they fly…
speaking colour: ff8f00 , thought colour: 925417 Total words : 245
At first nothing seemed to happen. Nothing out of the fee expectations left hanging around Alma’s mind as she watched the mock flare gun signal off. Wide eyed to see this work the way it did, there was almost a new respect for the seemingly odd book choice. She lowered it and held onto the bindings with both hands. So magic was real in this setting. Alma had probably seen some drifter looking mages with their staffs as walking sticks and the odd knight or spear user around but to think a magic would be in her own hands was all together a curious wonder and confusion. As simple to say this world is the new reality, everything being real as they could see and feel it, why was Alma and the other pampardi, or whatever player adventurers were called in this themed setting, were able to see system menus in their eyes? Undeniably this kept the feeling that this had some game systems at work but contradicts how it all functions with the world.
“Maybe I should think of it similar to a touch detective type,” Alma stroked the over of the book with the item’s description filling the front of her mind. A basic, starter level magic book. A beginner’s option choice to use to conjure a basic energy spell. People would probably think of her crazy to have one. But there’s too many crazy things as is so what’s to worry about player hazing for sub optimal builds?
“But she should be able to have seen that.” Confirmed by the voice in her ears, Paulette had indeed seen the light. What came after was almost confusing.
“What do you mean? Should have been a basic spell. A bright energy. Why ask?” Alma raised her book to check if there was something extra about it the description failed to mention. Some emblem or maybe a printing mark from its former marker or author. Nothing really stood out though which begged to question what exactly was her friend talking about.
“Crows?” Her ears and eyes scanned around her when something of a dark haze seemed to be coming her way. Not at all noticing the danger of a few birds, or even recognizing that these too could be enemies, Alma watched them fly toward her. Assuming the flock would fly on by as usual birds go.
“I think I see them. Why? It’s just some birds, aren’t they?” ———- wc: 409
Welcome to the help dialog for the Custom Mini-Profile Creator plugin!
Click on any of the tabs above to go through the plugin configuration process!
You can access this menu at any time by clicking on the icon in the bottom right bar (may not be applicable if you're on Forums.net), or you can disable the welcome window and/or the icon by going to Plugins > Manage > Custom Mini-Profile Creator and changing the Show Help option.
This step is essential as it gives the plugin everything it needs on the page to get as much profile information as possible.
To make the profile variables work you'll need to add a new line to the very end of Themes > Layout Templates > Mini-Profile and paste the code below on it. The code should be placed completely outside of the mini-profile, so if you're using the default mini-profile template this will be after the very last closing </div> tag. This needs to be done on every theme you have the plugin enabled on as the template is theme-specific.
If your mini-profile template is already customized and you've hit the variable limit for your template you're free to remove any lines from the code below if they contain information that you don't plan on using. For example, if you have no plans to ever add a user's IP to their mini-profile for staff reference you can remove <div class="mp-info ip">$[user.ip]</div> from the code and everything else will still work just fine.
Once you've added the HTML from the Layout Templates tab you're ready to move on to building your mini-profiles. If you want to get going and try some out now or you're not very adept at HTML, CSS, or Javascript, worry not! This plugin includes some examples for you to try out. You're free to skip to the Custom Profile Fields tab and read over this tab later when you're ready to build your own.
Here's a quick rundown of each of the components in Plugins > Manage > Custom Mini-Profile Creator:
Name This is the name you'll be adding to your custom profile field dropdown once you've finished coding the mini-profile. Pretty self-explanatory. Make sure this name is unique from every other name you use for your mini-profiles or you'll end up overwriting the earlier ones in the list.
HTML This is the HTML that will go inside your mini-profile. You can use just about any HTML tag here so long as it's appropriate for where the mini-profile is showing on the page. Please refrain from using <style> or <script> tags here. You have the next two sections for that! Also, remember that mini-profiles can show multiple times on the same page, so you shouldn't add ID attributes to any of your elements here. Two elements on the same page cannot have the same ID per HTML standards.
CSS This is where you'll place what would normally go in your forum's style sheet or what would normally be between <style> tags. Try to code your mini-profile's HTML in a way that will allow you to target it specifically with your selectors. For example, you can surround all of the content in your HTML with a <div> element with a class and target that class and its child elements specifically with your CSS. That way you don't accidentally target every mini-profile on the page with CSS that was meant for the one you're building. One more thing: The forum theme's CSS still applies beforehand, so your mini-profile may look right in one theme but not in another. The best way to circumvent this is to define as many styles as you can to override the theme's CSS.
Javascript Anything that normally goes between <script> tags will go here. This one's a bit tricky since you'll obviously want to target the custom mini-profile specifically. Luckily there's an easy way to do that. In your statements you can use the $(this) variable to target the mini-profile if you're coding using jQuery. Otherwise, if you only plan on using standard Javascript you can target $(this)[0] instead.
Once you've finished building your mini-profiles it's finally time to add them to the Edit Profile page for use! To enable selection of custom mini-profiles you'll first need to add two specific custom profile fields in Members > Custom Profile Fields in your forum's admin area:
Mini-Profile Theme
Staff Mini-Profile Theme
Mini-Profile Theme is for mini-profiles that are designed for member use. You can set the Who Can Edit option for this field to Staff With Power if you only want staff to be able to choose mini-profiles for users. Otherwise, if you want members to freely be able to choose their own mini-profiles you can choose Members and Staff With Power.
Staff Mini-Profile Theme is for mini-profiles designed specifically for staff use. This field is completely optional.
Set the type for both of these fields as Drop Down Selection. Click on the (View/Edit) link to add mini-profile names to each of these fields.
If you've just installed this plugin you should have three different mini-profiles already installed by default: Example 1, Example 2, and Example 3. You can add these to your dropdowns to test them out and see the plugin in action.
If you're having trouble getting this plugin to work despite following the instructions in the previous tabs you may want to check that each of your themes meets the prerequisites below in Themes > Layout Templates > Mini-Profile.
First, ensure that opening tag of your mini-profile template includes the $[miniprofile_class] variable in its class. On the default ProBoards theme it should look something like this:
<div class="$[miniprofile_class]">
Next, make sure that the default {foreach} loop for custom fields is present inside your mini-profile. It doesn't need to be visible, so you're free to add it inside a hidden element if you don't plan on displaying it or if it would mess up the appearance of your own custom template.
Beyond that you can do whatever you like to the mini-profile template for the most part and it shouldn't negatively impact the plugin.
The following is a list of available variables for use in the HTML section of the mini-profile creator and their definitions. Adding any of these to a mini-profile will generate the content described in its definition in place of the variable so long as the information that variable outputs is visible to you.
To reference your forum's custom profile fields you can use $[user.customfieldname], substituting "customfieldname" with your custom field's name. You'll need to type the name in all lowercase with no spaces and only use characters A-Z and 0-9.
For example, Mini-Profile Theme becomes $[user.miniprofiletheme]. This will output the value of the custom field. In the case of this example, it'll be the name of the mini-profile theme you've chosen in your profile.
IMPORTANT NOTE: These will only work if you followed the steps in the Installation tab of this window on each of your themes. Any themes that do not include the template code specified there will not have these variables replaced in the mini-profile.
$[user]
User's display name link.
$[user.age]
User's age (if visible to you).
$[user.avatar]
User's current avatar.
$[user.badges]
User's list of badges.
$[user.birthday]
User's date of birth (if visible to you).
$[user.color]
Hex color of user's group. If user is not in a group this will return inherit.
$[user.custom_title]
User's custom title.
$[user.email]
User's email (if visible to you).
$[user.gender.image]
Image associated with the gender selected in the user's profile (if available).
$[user.gender.text]
Name of gender selected in the user's profile (if available).
$[user.group.name]
Name of user's current display group.
$[user.group.stars]
Star images associated with user's current display group.
$[user.id]
User's numerical ID.
$[user.instant_messenger]
User's list of instant messengers specified in their profile (if available).
$[user.invisible]
Returns 1 if a user is invisible. More useful for Javascript.
$[user.ip]
User's IP address (if visible to you).
$[user.is_online]
Returns Member is Online if user is currently online.
$[user.is_staff]
Returns 1 if a user is designated as staff. More useful for Javascript.
$[user.last_online]
Timestamp showing when user was last online.
$[user.likes]
Number of likes this user's posts have received.
$[user.location]
Location specified in user's profile.
$[user.name]
User's display name in plain text.
$[user.personal_text]
User's most recent status.
$[user.posts]
User's post count.
$[user.rank.name]
User's current posting rank.
$[user.rank.stars]
Star images associated with user's current posting rank.
$[user.registered_on]
Timestamp showing the date/time the user registered on the forum.
$[user.registered_on_short]
Condensed version of user's registration date.
$[user.social_network]
User's list of social networks specified in their profile (if available).
$[user.username]
Outputs the user's login username in plain text.
$[user.warning.bar]
User's warning bar (if it exists).
$[user.warning.level]
User's current warning level (if visible to you).
$[user.website]
Website specified in user's profile.
You can utilize the $(this) variable in the Javascript component to target the mini-profile <div> element. For example, if you wanted to add a class to the mini-profile you can use:
$(this).addClass('class-name-here');
Profile variables can also be used in the Javascript component in this plugin. In Javascript the value undefined is used to signify that a value doesn't exist for the variable you've specified. With this in mind you can use profile variables in Javascript conditional statements within the plugin similar to how they're used in the actual layout templates section of the admin area.
if(variable) will only run if the variable you specify has a value.
if(!variable) will only run if the variable you specify has no value.
Example 1 (variable has value):
if(user.group){
$(this).find('.group').show();
}
If the user has their group displayed in their profile the above Javascript would make the HTML below visible if you had it hidden with CSS.