Welcome Headers: Template System 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:

Template edits: 2
Plugins: 1 (adds 1 template and several settings)

This template hack should take under 5 minutes to implement and customize.

Installation/ Upgrade Instructions

1 ? Install the attached plugin file
2 ? Add the variable {vb:raw welcome_headers} to the end of your navbar template
3 - Customize the phrases to match your forum

For detailed instructions on each step please view the install 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.

Should I use this version or the notices version (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=231384)?

Welcome Headers have been around since vBulletin 2.0 and for many people the template conditionals give more flexibility than the notices manager. If you're looking to click and go I suggest the notices version (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=231384) but if you want more control over what messages show and how, this version is right for you.

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

Upgrading from 3.7/3.8

Significant changes were made to work with the new vb4 code structure. Please be sure to backup any template changes before updating as the new version will override your existing phrase and templates.

[Dr.osamA]

nice won

thanxxx very mutch man

installed
________
Hawaii Medical Marijuana Dispensaries (http://hawaii.dispensaries.org/)

[Charlie98902]

I would use this but I have learned to use the notices to do the same as a welcome header. I am sure this will help a lot of those that don't want to figure it out though.

[AzzidReign]

Is there a reason to install this rather than just use the default notice system?

[Ted S]

Is there a reason to install this rather than just use the default notice system?

Absolutely not! Ok... kidding. :D

To elaborate on the main post, some people find the notices system limiting as it uses predefined rule sets and a basic template. For this reason I support (and continue to develop) the template version. It's not for everyone but for some people with specific needs like wanting to use an image or build a custom set of messages it's here.

Figured someone would ask quickly.

[Ted S]

I would use this but I have learned to use the notices to do the same as a welcome header. I am sure this will help a lot of those that don't want to figure it out though.

Definitely! There's also a notices version (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=231384) of this mod for those who want the templates but use the notices system.

[frogster]

Is there anyway to only show the non-registered notice on the forum and not the cms?

[radmoose]

Thanks! I have set up most of my notices before so it was nice to augment them with yours.

One coment/suggestion: As I already had many notices set up, it was hard to imediately distringush your new ones from the existing ones. As we have to (or at least should) edit yours, it would be nice if the titles had some sort of unqiue prefix like (EDIT THIS) or [Ted S]

Just would make it a bit easier to incorporate quickly.

Thanks again for sharing these notices.

[Ted S]

Is there anyway to only show the non-registered notice on the forum and not the cms?

Absolutely. At the top of the welcome_headers template you will see a condition with THIS_SCRIPT mentioned, you can use this to change what scripts are not shown the welcome headers.

[Ted S]

Thanks! I have set up most of my notices before so it was nice to augment them with yours.

One coment/suggestion: As I already had many notices set up, it was hard to imediately distringush your new ones from the existing ones. As we have to (or at least should) edit yours, it would be nice if the titles had some sort of unqiue prefix like (EDIT THIS) or [Ted S]

Just would make it a bit easier to incorporate quickly.

Thanks again for sharing these notices.

Great idea! You posted in the template version of this mod but I'll see that the notices one gets updated.

[frogster]

Originally Posted by frogster
Is there anyway to only show the non-registered notice on the forum and not the cms?

Absolutely. At the top of the welcome_headers template you will see a condition with THIS_SCRIPT mentioned, you can use this to change what scripts are not shown the welcome headers.


Ted or any other helpful person,

Not sure if you can help with this but would you be able to tell me what coding I would have to input there in order for the message not to show on the CMS section? Sorry I know nothing about coding and thanks in advance.

Maria

[Ted S]

Not sure if you can help with this but would you be able to tell me what coding I would have to input there in order for the message not to show on the CMS section? Sorry I know nothing about coding and thanks in advance.


Sure, in the template welcome_headers change:

<vb:if condition="$vboptions[wlhon] AND THIS_SCRIPT != 'register' AND THIS_SCRIPT != 'login'">

To:

<vb:if condition="$vboptions[wlhon] AND THIS_SCRIPT != 'register' AND THIS_SCRIPT != 'login' AND THIS_SCRIPT != 'blog' ">

[Trek]

Tagged.

This looks cool, I was unaware of anything other than announcements and notices, so I'll have to look into this more. =)

[halkum]

Will update my installation tomorrow, but can you start adding a version change log to the main description. I hate when I upgrade only to find it changed something that wasn't a drastic need for me at the time.

[Ted S]

Will update my installation tomorrow, but can you start adding a version change log to the main description. I hate when I upgrade only to find it changed something that wasn't a drastic need for me at the time.

Yup. After I get all the other mods upgraded and stop people complaining about that... :D

[jGas]

thanks ted! i really need it :D

[ged]

A little question, how can I remove this?

[Ted S]

A little question, how can I remove this?

Turn off that message in the Welcome Headers options.

[ged]

I deleted the default guest notification from Notifications menu and problem solved. :)

[nci]

Nice work.

[axix20xx]

sorry stupid Q
but where can i do this :

Add the variable {vb:raw welcome_headers} to the end of your navbar template

???

[Ted S]

In your template manager.

[zeroality]

This work on 4.0.2?

[YankForum]

installed on 4.0.1 and worked great , tnx

[Chickenpotpie]

tagged for now. Great work on this Ted. It looks very nice.

-CP

[zeroality]

This work on 4.0.2?

Does it?

[Chickenpotpie]

Does it?

yes. Works very well, very easy to install (5 minutes or less) Only part that can be a gotcha for some is changes to the messages. I just copy those into dreamweaver and mess with them there.

-CP

[zeroality]

Thanks.

[demojames]

Been using this for years since it was first released, still loving it today. Great job Ted!

[theoutlawed]

Nice work, thank you.

[tony]

Hi,

What size image can make for guess? Can I make my own background image with medium size button to the left and still have the text?

[Ted S]

Hi,

What size image can make for guess? Can I make my own background image with medium size button to the left and still have the text?

You can make any size image or change the fonts, background, whatever you like by editing the templates as you see fit. The more you want to do, the more css/ html you will need to modify.

[merk_aus]

Hey All,
I installed this and the notices mod, however removed the notices one (as it just doubled up the notices that were already there) however I am left with the two yellow backgrounds from the notices and can't find anywhere to remove them.

Website url is http://cricket-central.com (stil under development) but once you get there you will immediately see what I am talking about.

I was wondering if anyone could provide any details on how to get rid of them.

[maamon]

thank you .