Welcome Headers: Notices System Default Messages & Settings to Drive Participation

[Ted S]

Out of the box, your forum isn't personalized to assist or address your visitors. As a result, guests entering on a page other than the homepage (which is most often the case) have no idea what to do or why to register. Additionally, there are no visible status indicators, making it confusing for unconfirmed, unapproved or new members to know what to do or where to begin. But with a little customization, the use of the vBulletin Notices System and Welcome Headers, you can solve these issues in just a few minutes.

What is Welcome Headers?

Welcome Headers is a set of predefined messages and rules designed to help you get started in personalizing your site's notices using the vBulletin notice feature. The default templates are just that, default ? I highly encourage you to modify and add to the language and rules to meet the needs of your actual community environment.

Modifications/ Instructions:

Plugins: 1 (creates notices rules and phrases)
This template hack should take under 5 minutes to implement and customize.

Installation/ Upgrade Instructions

1 ? Install the attached plugin file
2 ? Customize the notices to include your site's name

For detailed instructions on each step please view the install.html file included with this addon.

Support

Please post any enhancement or technical questions you may have and I will do my best to respond in a timely manner. Please note: I can not guarantee an immediate response and am unable to assist with integrating this addon with other addons or with HTML related questions.

Why use this when the notices system exists?

Welcome Headers have been around since before vBulletin 3.0 but as of 3.7 the functionality of the system was no longer needed as vBulletin added its own native feature to handle notices. However while the notices feature lets you show welcome header style messages it doesn't give you any to start with. The notices version of this addon does not add any functionality but instead provides a set of 4 notices that have been time-tested and help your forum grow and function better for guests and members.

Please be sure to customize and add to the messages from this addon to match the individual needs of your forum!

Older Version Support (Templates (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=231387))

While most users are choosing to upgrade to the notices system, there are some advantages to the "old" system mainly in that it does not rely on a rules system and can be configured as designed with code changes. Additionally, the "old" version has automatic interfacing with several other addons which the notices system does not. For this reason, the old version (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=231387) is still supported being developed and will appear as a seperate file to download.

Updates from 3.7/3.8

Minor code changes to support 4.0, no changes to the functional mod.

[cloferba]

amazing screenshots :S

[Ted S]

amazing screenshots :S

Why not give me a few minutes to upload some? This mod has been up for more than 6 years, getting new screenshots was not the first priority compared to getting it online but they will come. I know it's asking a lot but being polite gets much better mods than sarcasm.

[AzzidReign]

I posted in the other welcome thread...what's the difference between your 2 threads?

[Ted S]

I posted in the other welcome thread...what's the difference between your 2 threads?

As explained in the addon thread, this version uses notices while the other uses templates. In this version what you're getting is just a set of time tested, predefined notices to get you going.

[Zaiaku]

I may have to use this on my new site. Great work!

[Eric]

Thanks for this Ted, I've been using Welcome Headers since vB 3.5 :)

[naoba]

Thanks Ted. This is exactly what i was searching for.

[Ted S]

Thanks for this Ted, I've been using Welcome Headers since vB 3.5 :)

Glad it still works for you!

[kall]

Hey Ted!

On install (with a 5.0.2 Welcome Headers installed but disabled) :

Database error in vBulletin 4.0.0:

Invalid SQL:
INSERT INTO notice (noticeid,title,displayorder, persistent,active,dismissible) VALUES (1000,'Guest Message',1,1,1,1);

MySQL Error : Duplicate entry '1000' for key 1
Error Number : 1062
Request Date : Tuesday, December 29th 2009 @ 08:09:05 AM
Error Date : Tuesday, December 29th 2009 @ 08:09:05 AM
Script : http://www.nzboards.com/xxx/plugin.php?do=productimport
Referrer : http://www.nzboards.com/xxx/plugin.php?do=productadd

[Ted S]

Looks like you already have this installed. New version should get you past the duplicate SQL issue.

To add, there's nothing updated in 4.0 that won't work from the 3.8 version.

[wIrEs]

please correct me if i am wrong but, isn't this already included in vb4 ? using the Notices Manager ?

[Ted S]

please correct me if i am wrong but, isn't this already included in vb4 ? using the Notices Manager ?

This modification is a set of default notices for the notices manager...

[4ums]

Hi ted great mod really like after i worked out how to upload properly and extract the file i am a noob:)

But could you explain a bit better how i edit the text please as i am struggling with that thanks.

[ccjc]

This modification is a set of default notices for the notices manager...

lol if i had read this part earlier, it would have made step 2 easier to follow xD

Thanks btw!

[wIrEs]

This modification is a set of default notices for the notices manager...

thanks, i was in the impression that it added new features. It saved me the time to write these on my own.

[Ted S]

Hi ted great mod really like after i worked out how to upload properly and extract the file i am a noob:)

But could you explain a bit better how i edit the text please as i am struggling with that thanks.

Just head on ove rto the notices manager and click on the item you wish to edit!

[cooltechie]

Thanks Ted S! Will give this a try once I upgrade to vbulletin 4.

[kall]

A little point I have noticed:

Default Guest Message: "please contact contact us". (Thats been there for ages, I just normally fix it, but this time I remembered to post.)

[synseal]

Thanks very much for this!.

[Gosef]

thanks

[sadiq6210]

Thanks

[BadgerDog]

Has anyone had any problems with this in v4.0.4pl1?

We seem to be getting ALL the messages appearing at the same time, including Ted's other mods?

Does this mod play well with Ted's "Limited Guest Viewing" mod under this configuration?

Thanks ... :)

Regards,
Badger

[Ted S]

Has anyone had any problems with this in v4.0.4pl1?

We seem to be getting ALL the messages appearing at the same time, including Ted's other mods?

Does this mod play well with Ted's "Limited Guest Viewing" mod under this configuration?

Thanks ... :)

Regards,
Badger

This mod is just a set of notices, go to the notices manager and be sure they look ok.

[BadgerDog]

Thanks Ted ... :)

I think I'm getting confused with the older version I ran for a long time. The one with the check box option to inform it that this mod was running.

Regards,
Badger

[Ocean-Wonders]

Is there anyway of being able to change the colour of the background ?

Great mod thanks :D

[Ocean-Wonders]

Is there anyway of being able to change the colour of the background ?

Great mod thanks :D

Anyone ?

[Simon Lloyd]

Go to your style>Main CSS and in the additional css box add this/* ***** Notice colours ***** */
.notice {padding:.8em;margin-bottom:1.6em;border:2px solid #ddd;}
.notice {background:#FFF6BF;color:#514721;border-color:#FFD324;}
.notice a {color:#514721; background:none; padding:0; margin:0; }
/* ***** End of Notice Colours ***** */then wrap your notice in this:<p class="notice">YOUR NOTICE TEXT</p>

[Ocean-Wonders]

Go to your style>Main CSS and in the additional css box add this/* ***** Notice colours ***** */
.notice {padding:.8em;margin-bottom:1.6em;border:2px solid #ddd;}
.notice {background:#FFF6BF;color:#514721;border-color:#FFD324;}
.notice a {color:#514721; background:none; padding:0; margin:0; }
/* ***** End of Notice Colours ***** */then wrap your notice in this:<p class="notice">YOUR NOTICE TEXT</p>

I've added it but there's no save button, isn't the CSS obsolete now ? Thanks for you help it's been something that's bugged me for ages ! :D

[ARSamo]

I've added it but there's no save button, isn't the CSS obsolete now ? Thanks for you help it's been something that's bugged me for ages ! :D

go admincp>styles & templates>search in templates>
here you search vbulletin.css in style you want.... then add in the end.... enjoy:)

[Krusty1231]

Thank you.

[cbiweb]

Nice little mod, but was it really necessary? All you really had to do was submit an article with the pre-written messages, and specify which usergroup or other settings is relevant to each one, and let us put them into the native notices system. Why have a bit of 3rd party code floating around in the database just for a few canned messages?

[Ted S]

Nice little mod, but was it really necessary? All you really had to do was submit an article with the pre-written messages, and specify which usergroup or other settings is relevant to each one, and let us put them into the native notices system. Why have a bit of 3rd party code floating around in the database just for a few canned messages?

You're absolutely correct. Of course this mod doesn't add any code, it merely creates messages and their corresponding settings. Could an article explain that? You bet.

You may notice that this version was posted a couple years back right after the release of 4.0 and that there's a number of versions for older vBulletin installs. After having the welcome header system out there for over 7 years [mod was launched in the vB 2.0 days] people asked for it to continue even with the advent of notices so here it was ported over.

As the introduction and install file states, this is just intended to get people started with some ideas of marketing messages. I wish everyone would create their own but that's not the case and for those who want a jump start, this makes it very easy. If that's not you then by no means should you use it.

[v12kid]

dumb question, once installed, where do I go to change my message?

[Ted S]

dumb question, once installed, where do I go to change my message?

Head over to your notices manager where you can not just change the text but easily configure settings and build more messages. This is a vBulletin default feature, welcome headers are just a few default messages to get ya started.

[v12kid]

thanks Ted

[hyperviperx99]

How do I change the color of the background of the header?

[Ted S]

How do I change the color of the background of the header?

The headers run through the notices system which is a default part of vBulletin. Customize the notices css .

[hyperviperx99]

Thanks Ted! I got it now!

[LisaArnold]

Thanks, works great with 4.1.4. Just what I've been looking for. :)

One thing.... how can I get them to stay there even after you've logged into the site/forum and not just there if you're not logged on?

[Simon Lloyd]

just change the setting of that particular notice to be persistant, non dismissable

[LisaArnold]

just change the setting of that particular notice to be persistant, non dismissable

Thanks, I'll try doing that without breaking something (I'm new to this modding stuff). :(

I've been told I can find where to do that (in the Notice Manager), but I have no idea where to find that. :o

[cavyspirit]

Go to your style>Main CSS and in the additional css box add this/* ***** Notice colours ***** */
.notice {padding:.8em;margin-bottom:1.6em;border:2px solid #ddd;}
.notice {background:#FFF6BF;color:#514721;border-color:#FFD324;}
.notice a {color:#514721; background:none; padding:0; margin:0; }
/* ***** End of Notice Colours ***** */then wrap your notice in this:<p class="notice">YOUR NOTICE TEXT</p>

I just wanted to add a variation on this that I did that was more what I was looking for.

Rather than a paragraph class (it takes up too much space and still leaves the default background), I have some specific notices that I wanted in a DIFFERENT background color.

So, I put this code in my Additional CSS template:

.notices li#navbar_notice_4 {background: #fee303 !important;}

You can get the notice number by looking at the link when hovering over it in the backend or in the view source on the frontend. #4 was the one I wanted in a different background color.

[Peter Cook]

I don't see a use for this mod as it's easy enough to change the notices header manually yourself to match the template you are using! Once saved there is no further modification required

[Ted S]

I don't see a use for this mod as it's easy enough to change the notices header manually yourself to match the template you are using! Once saved there is no further modification required

Did you read the intro to this addon?

[Filgga]

This' not working for me nowadays, 3rd day now :(

[Simon Lloyd]

it's nothing to do with the mod as it simply "adds" some notices in notices manager to get you started, if it doesn't work it may be disabled in notce manager or you have changed something there.

[Filgga]

it's nothing to do with the mod as it simply "adds" some notices in notices manager to get you started, if it doesn't work it may be disabled in notce manager or you have changed something there.
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/external/2011/10/51.jpg

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/external/2011/10/52.jpg

Where did I go wrong?

[Ted S]

Where did I go wrong?

As the previous poster mentioned, this modifcation is a series of notices. If the notices don't show up, check the notices manager [a default part of vBulletin] and the settings you have for notices. If everything is enabled and it still hasn't show, check your template modifications to be sure you didn't remove the system.

And as a piece of advice saying a mod "doesn't work" is not the best way to get help. Be specific. Explain the issue. It saves the reply from asking for those exact things speeding up help by hours if not days.

[Simon Lloyd]

In your navbar template look for<!-- / nav buttons bar -->

<br />
and<if condition="$show['forumdesc']"> and replace everything between them with this<if condition="$show['notices']">
<form action="profile.php?do=dismissnotice" method="post" id="notices">
<input type="hidden" name="do" value="dismissnotice" />
<input type="hidden" name="securitytoken" value="$bbuserinfo[securitytoken]" />
<input type="hidden" id="dismiss_notice_hidden" name="dismiss_noticeid" value="" />
<input type="hidden" name="url" value="$return_link" />
<table class="tborder" cellpadding="$stylevar[cellpadding]" cellspacing="$stylevar[cellspacing]" border="0" width="100%" align="center">
<tr>
<td class="thead">$vbphrase[notices]</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="alt1">
$notices
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<br />
</form>
</if>
that will be your standard notices, if they still dont work you probably have them set wrong in notice manager.

[Bro_Joey_Gowdy]

Downloaded and installed... nice upgrade from this one:

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=201564

:cool: