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Themes

WorldClient Pro's email client interface is based on a system of Views (i.e. Template files) which utilize Template Tags included within each file's HTML code. These Views are grouped together to form a Theme. A Theme is the particular set of template files that WorldClient Pro will use when sending pages to a user's browser. Themes are based on various formats or schemes, i.e. frames, no frames, JavaScript with frames, various color schemes, a customized company theme, and so on.

By using Views and Tags, it is possible for you to customize and create Themes so that your web pages can look any way that you want, and contain any elements that you want to include on them. This gives you absolute control over what features or controls will be visible or available to your users as well as how those controls will look in their browsers.

Themes are contained in their own individual subdirectories under WorldClient Pro's "...\Templates\" directory. Each set of templates must be contained in its own subdirectory. The name of this directory will be used to refer to the theme. For example, if you created a new set of templates based upon your company, with your company's logo and custom colors, you would put the various HTML files into a single folder called "Company" and then place that folder into the "...\Templates\" directory.

WorldClient Pro's various Views are discussed in the section called "Views & Template Tags".

For a complete list of WorldClient Pro's Template Tags, see Appendix A in the WorldClient Users Manual.

WorldClient Pro's Default Theme

WorldClient Pro ships with two themes: Standard-WorldClient's original Theme which utilizes frames with JavaScript, and Globe-the latest and most advanced Theme containing many new features, controls, and images. These themes have been tested successfully with IE4 or later and Netscape 4 or later. Earlier versions of those browsers are not fully supported when using the Globe or Standard themes. WorldClient Pro can support all browsers but those specific themes do not. If you wish to support an earlier browser then you will need to create a custom theme to do so.

Creating a New Theme

If you wish to create one or more additional Themes for your users:

1. Create a new subdirectory for each Theme and place it in "...\WorldClient\Templates\" (the name of this subdirectory will be the name of the new Theme).

2. Copy the template files from whichever Theme that you wish to base it on to the new Theme's directory.

3. Create a subdirectory with the same name in the \HTML\ directory.

4. Copy the files contained in the original Theme's subdirectory of \HTML\ to this new directory.

5. Edit the files contained in your new Theme's directories to change WorldClient's appearance or controls. You can also customize much of WorldClient Pro's appearance by using Style Sheets, which are discussed in the \HTML\ section, and the User Defaults section.

When creating your own theme, we strongly recommend that you always begin by making a copy of a default set of templates and then building your new theme from this copy rather than trying to create a new theme from scratch. By using this method you can be sure that WorldClient Pro's main features and controls will work properly and you will not have to worry about inadvertently omitting a specific Tag that WorldClient Pro might need to complete a task.

If you do wish to create a new Theme for WorldClient Pro, or add a control or feature to an existing View, you should always examine the default templates closely to be sure that you imitate the proper usage of WorldClient Pro's Template Tags. These Tags are dynamic and in some cases may be used in various ways, so comparing your usage to the default templates may aid you in avoiding any mistakes.

Changing the Default Theme

WorldClient Pro's default theme is Globe. When a new user is created, this Theme will be used when they first log in to WorldClient Pro. To change the new users default theme:

1. Use the Administration Utility to open the Remote Administration , or log in to it directly from your browser.

2. Click Edit Config on the Navigation bar in the left frame of the Remote. This will take you to the Files Page from which you can edit the domains.ini file.

3. Click the "domains.ini" link.

4. Move to the [Default:UserDefaults] section of the file.

5. Find the "Theme=" key in this section and change its value to the name of the new Theme. The Theme's name must be identical to the name of the Theme's subdirectory located in "...\Templates\". For example, if you created a new theme called "Company" then you would change "Globe" to "Company".

6. If you are hosting multiple domains (and want the default Theme to apply to them as well) and the [Domain:UserDefaults] sections of domains.ini contain the Theme= key, then you will need to delete this key or change it to reflect the new default domain.

7. Click the Save Changes button at the bottom of the page.

If you already have existing WorldClient Pro user accounts, and want them to be switched to this Theme as well, then you can accomplish this by adding/editing the [Default:UserOverrides] section of domains.ini. Add the Theme= key to this section. Now all users will be forced to use this Theme regardless of all other settings. The only exception to this rule is if a [Domain:UserOverrides] section has been created and it includes the Theme= key as well. In that case, users belonging to that particular domain would have their Theme setting determined by that section instead.

Optionally, you can change an individual user's Theme setting by editing their INI file. Each user's "User.ini" file is located in their individual subdirectory under the WorldClient Pro "...\Users\" directory.

1. Click Accounts on the Navigation bar in the left frame of the Remote Administration interface.

2. Click the Edit Account link on the right side of the user's entry that you wish to edit.

3. Find the "Theme=" key in this section and change its value to the name of the new Theme. The Theme's name must be identical to the name of the Theme's subdirectory located in "...\Templates\".

4. Click the Save Changes button at the bottom of the page.

If you want to change all user.ini files at once then you can utilize the ModifyUsers.exe utility included in WorldClient's \Util\ directory.

If you already have existing WorldClient Pro user accounts, and you wish this change to be applied to those accounts as well, then you will need to manually edit each user's INI file to reflect this change. Each user's "User.ini" file is located in their individual subdirectory under the WorldClient Pro "...\Users\" directory.