Advertising Layout Question

[AlexisMedia]

I use AdSpeed for my adserver. I think this appears to be no problem accept for design factors.

On the home and thread view (not post view) I want a row of 140x140 ads all the way down the right side. Only problem with this (haven't done it yet but theoretically) is that I'd need set dimensions from the start right?

I mean, if I open up a brand new forum area then there will be no threads and room for maybe one or two 140x140 ads whereas another forum area with more threads might have room for 10. Is there a way to make this grow automatically to accommodate for these size variations?

On the homepage I will have hidden areas pending on the level of subscription (I think that's possible) but again... for most people they can only see 1/3 of the forum for free so how can I have the ads extend longer on the page if it's a paid member with more access in turn revealing more forum areas?

Thanks and please let me know if what I said is not clear in any way. Thanks!

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Thinking about it. Could I just setup tabs for each level of forum access (as setup here tab wise) and then have the heights on each of those pages preset and displaying the ads. Only they won't be able to see the actual forums unless they have that level of access?

Does any of these ideas make any sense to anybody? Please let me know so I can clarify if needed...

Thanks!

[Lynne]

If you just want a sidebar with a bunch of 140x140 ads, then you can have that sidebar as high/tall as you want. It doesn't have to have anything to do with the number of threads in that forum. So, I'm not sure exactly what you are asking. Have you set this up? It would be easier to talk about something that we could actually see.

[AlexisMedia]

Here is a mockup. I did it with far fewer ads to save space on the image but it should give you an idea of what I'm talking about. The problem is that if I setup the div to be tall enough to cover the highest access level then if it's somebody else logged into the homepage with level 1 access there would be a tall page of ads displayed with only a short amount of forum area filled. In other words... a large white space. Does this help?

Thanks!

http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/9342/forumio.jpg (http://img3.imageshack.us/i/forumio.jpg/)

[Neo_obs]

Just size it differently for each usergroup with if tags... Don't understand why this is so difficult and you have to use 2 threads for this. Especially when this thread hasn't even been open for more than 24 hours.

[AlexisMedia]

I didn't post a 2nd thread just to *bump* this one. I posted another thread for several reasons.

1. Complain about the no-bump policy. I have zero problem with waiting 24 hours though.

2. As stated and if you would have read my posts... the number 1 reason is because I updated the information and the no-bump feature doesn't indicate to anybody that their is updated information. If someone didn't know the answer before, they might with the updated info. But they won't bother to check because there is no way for them to know that there is updated info.

3. Again, as stated "Here is my "question" for this thread then. Is there a way to disable this so that my users don't have this kind of bad experience?". I would have posted this thread to ask this question regardless of my ad-layout thread. I feel as though this is a horrible experience (not the forum itself but the auto-merge feature) and I want it disabled on my new vBulletin site.

Thanks for your comments and I'll look into whatever usergroups with if tags are. I'm brand new to vBulletin so I'm struggling and I needed this site up days ago. I had thought that their support would give a little more support then they have and I didn't realize that it would be this difficult to modify everything. The ad-display holds up my entire site design so I needed to figure it out.

[Lynne]

If you have the ads added with a div tag, you could probably just use css to have the overflow:hidden if you need less ads to show since there are less forums. I say probably cuz I'm not positive which is why I was wondering if you had this already working and I could just change your css using firebug to see. But, this really depends on what your html looks like.

[AlexisMedia]

I didn't post a link because I was trying to get some forums entered in so you could see what I was referring to. At the time it was a mess. I'll try to straiten it up tomorrow to paint a clearer picture...

Regardless I don't think that hidden would work because then it might show "half" an ad right? Otherwise it would sound great! It would seem like I'd need to preset the sizes somehow which is why the "if" statement somewhat makes sense.

I researched that if thing. It's over my head but seems do-able.

One of my concerns is that I'm addressing a very broad industry with multiple levels of subscription. This makes for tons of forums, which makes for a very loooooong page. That's why I was kinda thinking maybe it would be best to do tabs like at the top of this forum. Each tab being a separate level of subscription. Then each "homepage" (kind-of) for each tab is predictable in length (unless they use the collapse feature).

But even then I'm not sure if I can create those tabs without having the CMS version or if I can edit the HTML of each tab/homepage to give the div appropriate heights?

Does any of what I'm saying make sense? Sorry if it doesn't. I'm explaining the best that I can...

[Lynne]

You can't give a <div> height. That is part of the problem here. I think I have heard of people using javascript to basically figure out the height of the page and then insert the proper number of 'things' on the side. So, that may be one way to go (sorry, I have no links).

You could set up a tab for each level of view and then just put 3/4/whatever number of ads on the side for that navtab. So, that is also an option. I wouldn't worry about if they have it collapsed or not.

[AlexisMedia]

Doing the second option. Any links on how I would go about setting up tabs without the CMS version?

Also, how can I edit the template of each tab when I believe their is only 1 or 2 templates that controls them all. Forumhome and forumdisplay (I think they were called)?

Thanks! I think we are on to something here. I did look up the java script idea and that seems possible to but this would probably look better in the long run so I don't have an insanely long homepage...

Thanks!

[Lynne]

I wrote an article on how to add navtabs via a plugin (in the vB4 Articles forum) and then there are also mods that will do this.

I don't know what you mean by "edit the template of each tab".

[AlexisMedia]

I mean will I have to have the same amount of ads on each page/tab or can I have 5 on one and 10 on another. Will I be able to easily have control over it like that?

[Lynne]

I don't know how you are planning to add the ad code - through a plugin or a template or what - but I'm sure you can put a condition in the template, or plugin, that can change the number of ads depending on the forumid.

[AlexisMedia]

OK, I'll look into it somehow. My ads are called 1st by the javascript in the head of my page. Then I put the display callers (don't know what to call them) in each 140x140 div.

I read your article for the tabs. Only problem is that you stated clearly for somebody not to do it without strong understanding of the proper coding. That pretty much leaves me out. Is it best that I ask for help specifically on how to baby-step me through this on the forum or can you or anybody recommend me to somebody who can do it ASAP for me (paid)? Seems like a pretty quick little project for somebody especially with your instructions already provided?

Thanks!

[Lynne]

You may post in the Requests For Paid Services (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/forumdisplay.php?f=30) if you need someone to do it for you. Make sure to read the stickies and research anyone who you may think of hiring.