Thread Status Icons - Help needed!

[Milargo]

How can I change the status icon of a thread?
The current representation if the thread is "hot", closed or if it contains unread posts is a little icon (where the green circle & arrow is).

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/external/2011/02/21.jpg

However, instead of a small icon, I would like the thread status to be represented with a larger image and forgo the icons altogether.
To be more specific, I would like to replace the letter tile in above image and show a different icon depending on the thread's status.

Is there anyway that this can be accomplished?

I've seen this done plenty of times (Namely on IP Boards) and this feature would considerably help tie together the overall aesthetics of my forum and improve the user experience by leaps and bounds.

Any help/solutions would be greatly appreciated!

[fxwoody]

You need to setup the "Prefix for Forum Status Images " in the forum manager from each forums and subforums for this to work.
Refer to Lynne's answer and others in here : https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=256551

[Milargo]

That did the trick. Not sure why I couldn't find that thread when I was searching...
Thanks!

Got another question, how can I change the forum categories background in vBulletin 4? I've searched high and low but couldn't find any solutions for VB 4. : (

How can I have background images for my Forum categories? Here's an example of what I'd like to implement: http://www.rootanime.com/forum/

[Lynne]

They are adding the CSS for it inline:
<div style="border-right: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); height: 70px; background: url(&quot;images/forumbackgrounds/15.gif&quot;) no-repeat scroll right bottom rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="foruminfo td">
That is for forumid 14. So, he has a background image for each forumid and add it in the CSS you can see there.

[Milargo]

Thanks for the help on this, really appreciate it, I would never have guessed that such a simple modification could produce these results. Learn something new everyday. :D

Only one stumbling block, I figured out how to replicate it. But now I have the same image for each forum under my main category, how can I have a different background image for each forumid? I only see one forumhome_forumbit_level2_post.

[Lynne]

Make sure you are modifying the correct template. There are a couple of different templates used on that page: To find the template to modify, do this - vboptions > General Settings > Add Template Name in HTML Comments > set to Yes . Then go back to your page and view the source code and you will see the name of the template called around your part of the code. (Sometimes the template is the one mentioned at the very top of the page source.)

[Milargo]

Okay, I followed the steps. Ticked template name around HTML comments to yes, went to my home page and viewed the source code. And both forum categories where the image code is have the same name:
<!-- BEGIN TEMPLATE: forumhome_forumbit_level2_post -->

:confused:

[Lynne]

Can we see the exact code you changed in the template? And a link to see your style would also help.

[Milargo]

Can we see the exact code you changed in the template?
I'm not using the default template, I'm using "Green SEO Fixed Width" so I made sure to edit the right one.
In "forumhome_forumbit_level2_post" I changed :
<div class="foruminfo td">
To:
<div class="foruminfo td" style="background: #fff url(images/forumbackgrounds/{vb:raw forum.forumid}.gif);">

And a link to see your style would also help.
Is this the right link? Homepage of my forums?
http://www.milargoreviews.com/mccforums/forum.php

I also tried searching things like my forum IDs via "search in templates" but couldn't produce any results. And since I only have one "forumhome_forumbit_level2_post" and it seems to be tied to all forum categories if I edit the image in that code, the change effects all the forums.

[Lynne]

Very odd. Both of them are calling 25.gif and yet they are forumid 2 and 3. But, you don't have a 2.gif or 3.gif, so nothing is going to show for either of them. Why do you have an image for 25.gif if you have no forumid 25?

[Milargo]

How I found the piece of code that I pasted in the forumbit_level2_post, I stumbled upon this thread (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php/352355-Adding-background-images-to-the-categories?). However I have no idea how to use it. I did the basics, replaced the coding as instructed then edited this bit of the code:
images/forumbackgrounds/{vb:raw forum.forumid}.gif
So it pointed(?) to my image for forum 1:
images/forumbackgrounds/25.gif

Very odd. Both of them are calling 25.gif and yet they are forumid 2 and 3. But, you don't have a 2.gif or 3.gif, so nothing is going to show for either of them. Why do you have an image for 25.gif if you have no forumid 25?
Okay, I just copy and pasted the code, so I have two sitting beside one another. Pointing to two different images, labeled 2 and 3 (Like the forum IDs):
<div style="border-right: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); height: 70px; background: url(&quot;images/forumbackgrounds/2.gif&quot;) no-repeat scroll right bottom rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="foruminfo td">
And:
<div style="border-right: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); height: 70px; background: url(&quot;images/forumbackgrounds/3.gif&quot;) no-repeat scroll right bottom rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="foruminfo td">
But that didn't work, now I have two images squeezed together in each forum.:(

Sorry if I'm missing something really basic here, I have absolutely no experience when it comes to things like coding. Everyone has to start somewhere I suppose. :o

[Lynne]

You should have this in the code:
images/forumbackgrounds/{vb:raw forum.forumid}.gif

Not this:
images/forumbackgrounds/25.gif
or this:
images/forumbackgrounds/2.gif
or this:
images/forumbackgrounds/3.gif

The forumid needs to be a variable that changes for each forumid.

[Milargo]

I can't thank you enough,

Now I understand. I had no idea that having "{vb:raw forum.forumid}" instead of the actual image name could work. Let alone make it read the image file names and decide which one to use based on the matching forum ID, tricky concept. :D

I've learned a lot, plus my forum's looking snazzier than ever.

Thanks again!

[Lynne]

You've done a very nice job with the look of your forums on your site!

[Milargo]

You've done a very nice job with the look of your forums on your site!
Thanks! I'm glad to see I'm heading in the right direction. :D

Though I do have another question. :o

I would like each of my forums to have a customized header image. I did some searching and most of the results I found were for previous versions of vBulletin, or the solutions were ineffective, e.g. creating multiple styles. All of which poses a problem for me (vB 4 user, and the lighter the better), this (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php/180407-Different-header-images-per-forum)solution seemed to make the most sense. Even though it was posted back in '06.

It wasn't really clear (not enough for a green-sleeve anyway) exactly where I needed to put the code, what to replace etc.

I thought I'd give it a try anyhow, I navigated over to "Style Manager", and in the drop-down box of my installed template, and under template options clicked "Edit Template" and in the left hand box I scrolled down until I found "header", after selecting I clicked edit

Inside, I replaced:
<img src="{vb:stylevar titleimage}" alt="{vb:rawphrase x_powered_by_vbulletin, {vb:raw vboptions.bbtitle}}" />

With:
<img src="./images/logo/logo-$foruminfo[forumid].jpg" />

Then, in the images directory via FTP I created a new folder labeled "logo", and uploaded my header image with the forum ID "logo 2.jpg" I also tried "logo2.jpg, logo-2.jpg and 2.jpg" none of this worked, instead my header disappeared completely.

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

[Lynne]

I don't think $foruminfo[forumid] is a valid variable in the header template - nor do you have the format correct. Try something like this:
<img src="./images/logo/logo-{vb:raw GLOBALS.foruminfo.forumid}.jpg" alt="" />

[Milargo]

Wunderbar! That works perfectly, now I can have relevant headers for my forum. The only problem is, all pages (except my forum categories) have no header.

I replaced:
"<img src="{vb:stylevar titleimage}" alt="{vb:rawphrase x_powered_by_vbulletin, {vb:raw vboptions.bbtitle}}" />

With:
<img src="./images/logo/logo-{vb:raw GLOBALS.foruminfo.forumid}.jpg" alt="" />

[Lynne]

You can try just GLOBALS.forumid . Or, threads may need GLOBALS.threadinfo.forumid

[Milargo]

No dice, still displays two headers. Though, I think I actually prefer it this way.

Found a way to incorporate it into the design. (http://www.milargoreviews.com/mccforums/forumdisplay.php?2-Frontpage-News) (Apologies for the late response)

How can I add a background image to my footer, similar to the footer used in The Admin Zone? [link (http://www.theadminzone.com/)].

[Lynne]

You have the bottom part of your site using class "below_body" . So, just write some CSS to add a background to that class:

.below_body {background: whatever;}

http://www.w3schools.com/css/css_background.asp