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New Ning Design Studio, Coming - - Released in Beta on February 9, 2011

February 9, 2011 Update:

Ning just released the new Ning Design Studio in Beta.

How to Access new Design Studio
- Access My Network/Settings/Ning Labs and enable the beta for the new Design Studio.
- Click on Save.
Warnings:
- Please choose moving to the beta for Ning's new Design Studio, wisely. I would rather see Ning Network Creators test this some more, and then make the move.
- This is how I understand this. When/if you make this change, none of your original custom CSS tweaks will work. For the customization you would like to add back, you will need to start adding one at a time, and testing the results. Some examples would be: Overall site colors, backgrounds, the CSS tip for scrolling through Blogs-Videos-Photos-etc...on the home page, tip for removing right column, width of site, and any other customized CSS you have added to your site.

Well, it's exciting and pretty nerve-racking, all at the same time. Ning is introducing a new Ning Theming System. They're calling it the Ning Design Studio, and it's loaded with more themes, nicer features, and a lot more.

More About the New Ning Design Studio - -

According to Ning: (Original Discussion)

"The Ning Design Studio gives you an incredibly intuitive way to customize and transform your social experience."

Choose from 70+ hot new themes at launch
See a live preview of changes as you make them
Set a 2- or 3-column layout and choose navigation and sidebar locations
Tweak 80 dials and controls for your site appearance
Access Developer Mode, where design gurus can access the Ning CSS and create their own themes

For more screenshots and information about the Ning Design Studio, check out this page.

For new Ning Network Creators, it'll be great. For existing Ning Networks with a lot of CSS customization, it could become a real challenge, and decision making time.

Let me explain. You'll have to choose one or the other: the old way (your current customization), or the new way (new Design Studio Theming System). Fortunately, it sounds like Ning will provide ongoing access to both Appearance Panels.

Old Appearance Panel
- My Network/Settings/Appearance/Advanced
- Current panel where you tweak and add CSS.
New Theming System
- Developer Mode
- New panel where you will tweak and add CSS.

If you choose the new, then you've got to start over as far as your overall theme. There really was no other way for Ning to handle this, but to make the 2, separate entities. For those of us who have worked on our custom CSS for years, and a lot have paid for customization; you cannot use the new theming system without giving up your current customization. But, don't panic. It'll just take time to decide which way to go, and I'll be offering all kinds of help once I get my feet good and wet in the new theming system.

And as Ning explains it: What if my Ning Network is already perfect?

When the Ning Design Studio rolls out, your current theme and customizations won't change. In order to take advantage of the new features, including 2-column layouts and Developer Mode, you'll need to select one of the 70 new themes.

However, you can always revert back to your old theme at any time — you can find it in the "My Themes" section. And if you want to edit your old theme, you can choose to do so in the old appearance editor as well. This ensures a great experience for every Ning Creator. If you have any questions about this, take a look at our FAQ on the Creators Network.

Well, February 9th is right around the corner. We'll see how it goes. Here's hoping it's a great addition for all Ning Network Creators!

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Permalink Reply by Dr. Sohiniben Shukla on February 2, 2011 at 9:05pm

Dear JenSocial,

I do not know much about computer and so i can not chage the colors of the Print when it is Dark...and I want to post on dark layouts....

Then its no use of new themes...

Dr.Sohiniben Shukla

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Permalink Reply by James Hawkins on February 2, 2011 at 10:26pm

Hi Dr. Shukla,

Go to your appearance page and under both basic themes and all options you can change the color of your text (print/lettering) in the text area. Left click on the color you want to change and pick from the color palette that pops up.

my network>appearance>basic theme/all options

James

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Permalink Reply by JenSocial on February 2, 2011 at 10:31pm

Thanks James! I didn't understand the question. Guess I'm being dense tonight.

Thanks so much for helping out,

Jen

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Permalink Reply by Eric Velouria on February 2, 2011 at 10:24pm

Wow. This does sound exciting, yet could be a bit nerve wracking.

I hope we can test it our in a test network first and see how it goes. It might take a while to play with it first to see if I would want to make the change or not.

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Permalink Reply by Predestined by God on February 3, 2011 at 9:06am

Jen, I follow you as you follow that intelligent brain of yours. I'll wait for your report because I trust your leadership. Cheers!!!

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Permalink Reply by JenSocial on February 6, 2011 at 12:37pm

Predestined by God,

It's going to be a challenge for a long time. Try to do what I'm doing. Read this FAQ more than once.

http://creators.ning.com/page/design-studio-faqs

Best Regards,

Jen

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Permalink Reply by the witches Den on February 5, 2011 at 7:22pm

so does this mean if we click on the new theme design in the theme css section that the members whom have the old ways themes that it will mess up their pages or what, hope you know what im saying here lol, bb, snow wolf aka lisa

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Permalink Reply by Magic Happens on February 5, 2011 at 10:01pm

If you go with the beta, members will only be able to do text change little things and will not be able to theme their own page. What you put up on the main is what all members will have.

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Permalink Reply by JenSocial on February 6, 2011 at 12:21pm

The Witches Lair,

Correct. I've been trying to find the FAQ that I regret breezing over, now. Writer Chick provided the link, and I realize it's in the main discussion above, LOL! Anyhow, I think it's been changed, or I should have read it much closer. This will clear up a lot of questions, and some not the greatest answers:

http://creators.ning.com/page/design-studio-faqs

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Permalink Reply by Writer Chick on February 5, 2011 at 10:39pm

I'm in the beta group to test the Design Studio. Just know that when you publish a new theme, members lose the ability to change their profile pages. The button they used to click to do it is gone. So...some of us are NOT happy with this. It seems we have a very vocal bunch of networks who want to make Ning into a clone of Facebook, with every page looking exactly like the other, and Ning is giving into them. They've even made the public comment that giving members this ability makes networks look strange. Says who? You can't paint every network with the same brush.

My members would be livid if I wiped out their profile pages to put on a new theme! This is a HUGE part of our site and to not include something for members, and to completely DISABLE member's creativity is unacceptable to me.

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Permalink Reply by JenSocial on February 5, 2011 at 11:19pm

Fantasyland and Writer Chick,

I heard about this, and find it very odd. I can understand why the member profile pages may have to start over, if you went with the new - - although even that is not the ideal solution.

But, to not allow members to customize at all is odd. I was involved in the early beta testing and didn't notice this, and Ning never mentioned this to us. I don't think the warning was there yet. I'd like to go test it, but that beta test site won't work.

I feel sure Ning will enable member customization in the future, no? Are you all hearing different?

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Permalink Reply by Writer Chick on February 6, 2011 at 7:16am

Here is the actual discussion on this from the Beta Group:

Posted by Thomas Palmer:

"Just curious --- after the change to the new design studio, there is no longer an ability for members to change themes on their member page --- the link is completely gone. Will members be losing the ability to tweak their member page appearance under the new system?'"

And here is Eric's response:

"Yes. There is some additional info on the FAQ page about this, and we have messaging in the interface to try and be as explicit as possible about this. We may include the ability to alter the Theme somewhat in the future, though."

Notice the words I highlighted in bold. "Somewhat" sounds extremely limited to me. I'm not liking the sound of this. They're moving us to monotone networks (like Facebook) with very little room for creativity. Perfectly fine for business sites, but miserable for more creative sites.