There is Simply.....

[RobAC]

...NO other forum software out there capable of doing some of the things that vBulletin is capable of doing. For those of you who have not explored some of the optional capability that comes with this software, you don't know what you're missing. I created three new styles for my Community Forums and based them upon the general content of my site. The third style took a lot of code "hacking" (and I don't mean "hacking" in terms of adding hacks). I was capable of taking my forums and making a bare bones version which will operate quicker than the default will. This is ideal for members that have to rely on slow dialup internet connections. With the deletion of most of the graphics, some tables and options, the "Lite" style was developed.

If you'd like to check them out to get an idea of what you can do with your vBulletin forums, click below:

[list=1]
Default (http://corvetteactioncenter.com/forums/index.php?s=&styleid=1)
Firethorn Red (http://corvetteactioncenter.com/forums/index.php?s=&styleid=7)
Grandsport Blue (http://corvetteactioncenter.com/forums/index.php?s=&styleid=8)
Z06 Lite (http://corvetteactioncenter.com/forums/index.php?s=&styleid=11)
[/list=1]

Two thumbs up for the vBulletin Dev. team! :)

[Jake Bunce]

http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=23347

this sug i made goes along with that but takes themes to the forum level by isolating the header, headinclude, etc to the Styles -> [fonts, colors, etc] section (completely separate of the template set). this makes it so you can create completely different styles at the forum level without having to create a new template set which creates wasted time if you start making changes that you want to take effect in every style set you have.

actually, the suggestion develops farther down that thread. you have to read the whole thing.

ahem! *wink wink nudge nudge* :D

[RobAC]

Jakeman,

I read that thread you cite above. Excellent idea. However in my case, I started trimming down the default set of templates because some of my members were complaining about the overall size of the pages being downloaded etc. I did a lot of reorganziation and customatization to some of the templates.

With the red and blue styles I set up, I wanted to keep the appearance and features of the standard vBulletin software including all the buttons, graphics, options, etc. These two styles use a new set of templates, most of which remain untouched as compared to the Default set.

With the Lite style, I took the default temlates, downloaded a copy of them, and then installed the copy under a different name and used them as a basis for the Lite version. Those templates have been hacked even more in comparison to the Default set. So now, my members have a few options: use the full blown version with the fancy graphics (red or blue), use a slightly trimmed down version, with not as many graphics but just as much functionality, or use the Weight Watchers version. :) Basically, I have three separate sets of templates running 4 different styles.

[chilliboy]

Hi Jakeman,

I read your post and it is actually already easy to do what you want to do.

If you would like headerinclude/header footer forum dependant without having to do multiple templates then you can use a small script in phpinclude: -

something like

if ($forumid==3)
{
$Header = implode(file("", /path/to/header/3));
$LogoGraphic = 'images/logo3.gif';
$Title = "hello there welcome to the car forum";
$BannerAdset = implode(file("", /bannerad.txt));
$MetaTags = "blah blah blah";
}

Then put $Header in the header template, $LogoGraphic in template xxx and so on. You can do things so they are forum dependant or styleid dependant quite easily and simply.

I've got over 40 unique forums using this method and just using the single default template.

Unless the developers can incorporate something in the CP which would be just as flexible then I sy leave it as its is.

What I would like to see is a globally accessible variable which gave the 'parent forums' - so you could set things up that would automatically work within all subforum set. There is a variable at the moment but its not globally available so I can't use it. This would make thinks really flexible.

There is also definately no need for more than one phpinclude - if you know enough php to use it, then it is very simple to put in switch() statements that execute different paths depending on the numerous variables that are avaialble to it (forumid and styleid being the most common).

Rob - I know you have used multiple templates but using the above method you could acomplish all that using just one. It also makes it a lot easier to manage.

[Jake Bunce]

yeah, i know it can be done with a little tweaking. i'm just suggesting that this functionality be integrated into vB without having to write your own custom script.

[chilliboy]

One of the main reasons that I think doing it by a custom script is more preferable is that it gives a far higher level of flexibility than could ever possibly be achieved via 'extra templates' or 'seperate headers/footers' or whatever.

If you get down to it, making a custom script to do this is actually pretty simple and I think its actually quicker than editing loads of templates - at the end of the day its just a switch() statement.

what I would like to see is more global $varibales available to phpinclude to make 'script management' easier. For example my switch() runs on a combination of $forumid and $styleid and depending on these variables you get a different result. However, it would make it much easier to program if you could also access the corresponding 'names' of these variables and not just the numbers as current. For example if I had a style set named 'cars' the $styleid would just be a numeric value - if you had an iditional var such as $stylename with held the string 'cars' then its much more user friendly to program with.

eg if you had the variable $stylename = 'cars' available to use it is much more program things like

$LogoGraphic = 'images/$stylename.gif';

- If you have 20 -40 different graphics its far easier to referance them by a alphabetic string than a single number. Currently to do the above you would need to have 20-40 'gifs' named 1.gif, 2.gif etc etc So you end up constantly back referencing.


So I would like to see corresponding global 'name' variables for $styleid and $forumid and also an additional global variable for 'forum parent path' (this would given even more flexibility).

Jakeman - if you can do a bit of php, have a go at using phpinclude as I said. I understand why you would like to have it integrated into vB functionality, but I still think using phpinclude is more flexible.

I'd be greatful if any of the developers could comment on my thoughts as it is something I feel would be very useful.

Thanks