So, there are two profile systems; what are the differences?
Classic, or Old School, system uses CSS coding to customize things and gives you a lot of freedom to create whatever design you desire. The current, or v2, system makes it easier for users that don't know any CSS to customize their profile the way they want; you just click and drag stuff around. But if you do know CSS and are feeling adventurous, the new profile system can be alot easier to work with, and can be more flexible than old school.
How do I make a profile?
There are many different answers to this question. You can check out the individual sections for Old School Profiles and V2 Profiles in this sticky. In addition, there are many guides that can be found in the forum. Some of these have been listed in this thread as well, in the sixth post
For a basic tutorial, read Chisas step by step CSS, and for a more advanced guide check out Jakobos CSS and Changing Document Flow article. Please note that both of these guides may be outdated.
That seems too difficult; can you make me a profile?
I'm afraid asking someone to make you profiles in the PD is not allowed. But, there are ways to request profiles from others. If you're willing to pay for a profile, visiting the Personalized Graphics Forum is a good idea. If you want something made for free, you can poke around in the Art Freebies Forum for any willing profile designers. If you're seeking someone to code an already made profile layout, the Services Forum is a good place to start looking.
If you scroll down to the sixth post in this sticky, there's a list of links and resources to profile shops, CSS tutorials, profile guides and such.
Please bear in mind that purchasing profiles with copyrighted images is not allowed anywhere on Gaia's servers. If you wish to have someone make you a profile with (for example) official Kingdom Hearts artwork, you'll have to ask around in the Art Freebies Forum.
Can I just use your profile?
Absolutely not. You may not use mine, Eli's or anyone else's for that matter, unless they've given you their permission. If you do use someone else's profile without their permission, you could get reported for Profile theft.
Why is Profile theft bad?
Because you're robbing someone else of the time and effort they put into creating their profiles. It is not only rude, it's disrespectful, not to mention selfish.
So, please, for the sake of all profile designers, do not steal someone else's profile. Not only would it ruin the purpose of this sticky, but it would make us (the sticky moderators/helpers) very sad. D:
Where can I get free Gaia profiles?
You can find a huge number of pre-made profiles at Tektek.org.
Okay, I have a tektek profile, but it won't work. What am I doing wrong?
Make sure your profile is set to "Classic" style. Many of the themes on Tektek don't work quite right with the v2/Current system
How do I change between Old School and V2?
To access your profile options, go to My Gaia -> Account. The last option in the first section is "Choose Profile" and the drop down allows you to choose between "Classic" and "Current". In this forum, Classic is generally referred to as Old School and Current is referred to as v2
How do I make banners/graphics?
Many profile designers use graphics programs such as Adobe Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro and other various sources to create their profile layouts. The Art Resource sticky has links to downloads as well as tutorials (mostly for art, but you get the idea).
How do I add multimedia to my Profile?
You may enter the URL of a flash file (.swf) into your multimedia section. There are now several sites that make it extremely easy to upload or get a video to put on your profile; read o0NeMo0os guide for more information. You can also have just music, check out Demonic Lifes thread to find out how.
Friends in common; what is it and how do I make it show up on my profile?
The friends in common is a nifty little feature for Old School profiles, where you can see thumbnails of the friends you and the user whose profile you're visiting have in common!
This is why it won't show up when you're visiting your own profile, because you can't really have friends in common with yourself. xD
How do I disable it then?
This feature often tends to take up space, so some people prefer disabling it. You can of course follow this trend, if you so wish, by simply adding this code to your profile:
______#commonFriends {display: none;}
Note that this code will only work for Old School profiles, as the option doesn't exist in V2. ^__^
Browser compatibility.
One big issue that comes up alot in the PD is browser compatibility. Many people who browse Gaia do so in IE, and others in Firefox. There are also people who use browsers such as Opera or Safari. In general most things will look the same in both beforementioned browsers, but there are a few things you might run across that don't.
One big thing is filters and scrollbar colors. These are codes that only work in IE based browsers. They will not work in any other browser.
Another problem that people run into alot is positioning. They'll make a block positioned on top of a background image in IE, but then upon looking at it in Firefox, it's not lined up properly.
One way to get around this is to use an "IE Hack":
margin-left: 10px; *margin-left: 5px;
The margin-left is where the left side of the block should be in Firefox, and the *margin-left is where the left side should be in IE.
Another common browser compatibility is rounded corners on captions and comments in Old School. The developers designed the captions using "pseudoclasses" that IE doesn't support. So if you design your profile in IE, you won't see these little rounded corner images, but anyone using any other browser will.
.caption:before, .caption:after, .caption2:before, .caption2:after{display:none;} will remove these little images.
This thread covers a few other known browser compatibility issues.
Someone stole my profile, how/to who do I report it?
You can report someone for stealing your graphics, but unfortunately you cannot report someone for copying your code/concept. Code is not protected in that aspect.
If someone takes your graphics and they use them as their own, please report them to one of the Profile Subforum Mods. Make sure you have proof and any other evidence available of the graphics actually belonging to you.
Can my Profile be disabled? Why?
Yes, each section (About, Details, Multimedia, Theme, Signature, etc) can be disabled by an Admin/Mod if it is found to break the rules stated on the ToS, such as PG-13 violations, copyright infringemenet, advertising, art theft, etc. The first time it costs 10 gold to re-enable it (each section), then 100, 1000, and so on. Also, your entire theme can be disabled for removing or altering the Gaia logo in the navigation bar, or for repositioning the navigation bar.
I've heard of something called Profile Spotlight... what is it?
In June last year, a new feature was added to Gaia by the name of the Featured Profile Spotlight. Every month (ok so sometimes they let it go longer than a month), the administrators choose one lucky Gaian with a spiffy profile, to add to the spotlight on the community page.
These are just some of the most frequently asked questions on the forum. Feel free to post all other questions you may have in this thread and someone will try to help you as soon as possible. You can also try reading through the links and resources in the sixth post.
Remember, please don't PM Moderators or Moderator Assistants for codes, etc.