Non-Standardized Coding of Files

float:none;

}

That in and of itself tells you that the item is controlled in the PHP files and NOT in the CSS where it would be so easy to change.  Of course, we were looking at a "My Account" page and also the Viewfriends.php page.  But they weren't the same exact issue and they weren't handled the same way.  But it was the same task as both were element styles. 

Now, when I changed the float to left on the one and put a text-align:center on the other, it fixed both problems in FB, but I had to find out where they were.  Only one way, find the <div> that's being called specifically and adjust it.  In this instance we were looking for 2 of them.

browse_nick and thumbnail_block

Doesn't seem to hard, right?  This took hours to hunt down.  Why?  Because we had to start with the base page file and go through all the files called to finally figure it out.  Take a look at finding thumbnail_block for the member.php page.  Here's what it calls:

require_once( 'inc/header.inc.php' );
require_once( BX_DIRECTORY_PATH_INC . 'design.inc.php' );
require_once( BX_DIRECTORY_PATH_INC . 'profiles.inc.php' );
require_once( BX_DIRECTORY_PATH_INC . 'members.inc.php' );
require_once( BX_DIRECTORY_PATH_INC . 'news.inc.php' );
require_once( BX_DIRECTORY_PATH_INC . 'utils.inc.php' );
require_once( BX_DIRECTORY_PATH_INC . 'sharing.inc.php' );
require_once( BX_DIRECTORY_PATH_CLASSES . 'BxDolBulletins.php' );

require_once( BX_DIRECTORY_PATH_INC . 'membership_levels.inc.php' );
require_once( BX_DIRECTORY_PATH_CLASSES . 'BxDolClassifieds.php' );
require_once( BX_DIRECTORY_PATH_CLASSES . 'BxDolEvents.php' );
require_once( BX_DIRECTORY_PATH_CLASSES . 'BxDolGroups.php' );
require_once( BX_DIRECTORY_PATH_CLASSES . 'BxDolPageView.php' );
require_once( BX_DIRECTORY_PATH_CLASSES . 'BxDolSharedMedia.php' );
if(file_exists( BX_DIRECTORY_PATH_ROOT . 'last_visitors_member.php' ))
require_once( BX_DIRECTORY_PATH_ROOT . 'last_visitors_member.php' );
 
if(file_exists( BX_DIRECTORY_PATH_CLASSES . 'BxDolLastVisitorsManagerAddon.php' )) 
 require_once( BX_DIRECTORY_PATH_CLASSES . 'BxDolLastVisitorsManagerAddon.php' );

What does that mean?  That we have to start with member.php and look at the files it calls.  Of course, we think we're lucky as we find one instance of thumbnail_block in the member.php file. 

We find:

$ret = '';
  $ret .= '<div class="thumbnail_block" style="float:' . $float . '; ">';
   $ret .= "<a href=\"{$this->aConfSite['url']}upload_media.php\">";
    $ret .= '<img src="' . getTemplateIcon( 'spacer.gif' ) . '" style="' . $style . '" alt="' . process_line_output( $aFileName['med_title'] ) . '" />';
   $ret .= '</a>';
  $ret .= '</div>';
 
  return $ret;

The problem is, that's not it.  Nope, change it to:

$ret .= '<div class="thumbnail_block" style="float:left;">';

Does nothing for our problem the same as:

$ret .= '<div class="thumbnail_block">';

Did nothing. 

This means that the hunt is really on to find the solution.  Now, some files we're automatically eliminated as they had NOTHING to do with what we we're looking at.  Things like Groups, Events, Classifieds, header.inc.php and so on.  In the end this search was not as bad as some are.  Since the vast majority of files do NOT have thumbnail_block in them, it was a matter of just hunting for it with the search function in notepad++.  Finally, with 8 files opened and searched it was found:

inc/design.inc.php

//$bResDrawMargin = ($sCoupleImgEl != '') ? false : $bDrawMargin;
 $bResDrawMargin = $bDrawMargin;
 $ret = '';
 $ret .= '<div class="thumbnail_block" style="float:">';
  $ret .= "<a href=\"".getProfileLink($ID)."\">";
   $ret .= '<img src="' . getTemplateIcon( 'spacer.gif' ) . '" style="' . $sMarginsAddon . $style . '" alt="' . process_line_output( $aFileName['med_title'] ) . '" />' . $sCoupleImgEl;
   $ret .= getProfileOnlineStatus( $user_is_online, $bResDrawMargin, ($sCoupleImgEl!='') );
  $ret .= '</a>';
 $ret .= '</div>';

Yes, by changing it to:

//$bResDrawMargin = ($sCoupleImgEl != '') ? false : $bDrawMargin;
 $bResDrawMargin = $bDrawMargin;
 $ret = '';
 $ret .= '<div class="thumbnail_block">';
  $ret .= "<a href=\"".getProfileLink($ID)."\">";
   $ret .= '<img src="' . getTemplateIcon( 'spacer.gif' ) . '" style="' . $sMarginsAddon . $style . '" alt="' . process_line_output( $aFileName['med_title'] ) . '" />' . $sCoupleImgEl;
   $ret .= getProfileOnlineStatus( $user_is_online, $bResDrawMargin, ($sCoupleImgEl!='') );
  $ret .= '</a>';
 $ret .= '</div>';

(Removed the float reference on the <div class="thumbnail_block"> line of code.  That allowed the float to be called from the CSS files and NOT the php files.

Why in the world are you doing this Boonex?  I've been ripping for hours on this today.  Both to find the issue and then to check the site for any errors that have appeared from it.  Not a single issue is caused by removing the float from the php file, instead it resolved so many of them that it's ridiculous.  Why can't we get a standardized system here?

I understand that for somethings, like profile customization we need to drop the CSS commands into the php files so we can call it from the DB, but for something like this that is a standard item, a stupid thumbnail_block, we're forced to hunt through file after file after file after file after file to find it and correct it.  Yes, this was on a D6 site, not a D7, but D7 is no better about this.  In order for us, the members to help you develop Dolphin we need a set of standard rules/guidelines to follow.  As long as you are doing things that make no sense that deviate from the standards you have allegedly set for us to follow, it is impossible for us to help you get it where it needs to be.

So how about it Boonex, can you guys kill this practice of randomly placing CSS inside of php files and instead do it the way you want us to do it, placing layout code in the CSS files where it belongs?