Which hack(s) you can't live without?
 

I was just wondering... With all the hacks out there, any newbie like myself will have an almost impossible time figuring out which hacks are the best or most useful so I decided to come out with this thread.

It's almost standard for many users to install Trilogyte's Welcome Panel and Firefly's quickreply hacks. But I was also thinking if there are other hacks out their that newbie's like myself haven't heard about and what in your opinion are the hacks you just can't live without.

Any replies would be great. :)

Well my Mods can edit users hack really helps me because it let Mods do what i normaly have to do...

That's true Xenon. Gee, for my site there are so many hacks that I would hate to be without, because I've had them for so long. Most of them are admin hacks, which help adminstrating the site much easier, like the one Xenon mentioned.

End user hacks would be the collapse forum on forumhome, display last post on forumhome, thread browsers, chatbox, Weather and a myriad of custom hacks that I made for my site. :)

FlyFire's Template Backup System Hack

Quick Reply... because I am that lazy. For everything else there is Mastercard.

If you ask this question to hack authors, most will compile a list full of his/her own hacks and this is normal, because most of them code hacks initally for their personal needs so what they created are what they need most.. I have way too many hacks and I'm still surprised how come some of my personal favorites never got the attention they deserved, while some of my other hacks which never had a high priority to me, favored highly by many users..

Therefore I believe the answer of non-hackers will be more help to you, but IMO you dont need to seek this information in this thread: listing the hacks by installation number/rating/reply count/view count etc. in the hack db&Full Releases section, helps a lot to have an good impression.. :)

Quick Reply!!!! I need it! Can't live without it, all my members are too lazy to click newreply! Heh, FireFly has put the newreply.php file out of business :D

LOL! Very funny.

I have to agree, quick reply hack for me, Thats about it

I'm going to be using Hivemail soon and methinks this is going to be one essential hack. :)

You all missed the one hack that has changed the face of vbulletin. And that is Logician's Dynamic Templates Hack. I can do things with this one hack that I could never do in php file editing. I would give up vbulletin before I would give this hack up. ;)

Quickreply w/smilies, Blinking PM bar, Smilie order by title, Mark forums read (redirect to homepage), SWF and OT code buttons. Those are the ones I consider mandatory, anyway.

Can you give me an example of what you use the Dynamic Templates Hack for? After reading the description, I really can't think of why I'd need it.

Boofo - his wonderful hack wasn't around then ;)

Which one is the Mark forums read (redirect to homepage) hack? I couldn't find it. And what is the OT button?

Quote:

Can you give me an example of what you use the Dynamic Templates Hack for? After reading the description, I really can't think of why I'd need it.

It allows you to put conditional statements in the templates. If you want to hide a delete button in the postbit (for instance) from everyone except the Admin, you would just put the conditional in the template and not have to hack the functions.php with 5 lines of code to do the same thing. Saves a heck of a lot of php file editing. ;)

@Mist - That's what makes it the "All Time" most needed and used hack. ;)

I find it confusing to be honest. Keeping track of almost all templates on my site which have been modified is hard enough without the conditionals. But i do agree for someone who doesn't want to hack and n00bies it is the best hack out there by a long shot :)!

- miSt

Think about it, though. When you go to upgrade and you have to copy files over, the templates (most of them, anyway) will stay the same. So, for upgrading, it is the best way to go. And it is a lot easier than editing the php files. Like your hack for the edit button in the postbit. I did that same thing with one conditional statement and never had to touch a php file to do it. ;)

yeah,. Logicians is a really needed one (or some other sort of template condition hack :))

Yours is good, too, my friend. ;) It's just that Logician's is a little easier to do the conditionals with when you are not that used to all of the ways to do them.

never said anything against :)

well wit vb3 his hack wouldn't be in use anymore...

I guess that came out wrong. I meant that I tried yours and couldn't quite get the hang of it. For a more experienced coder, yours would work great.

From what I have seen and heard about the conditionals in vb3, I like Sinan's a lot better. Sinan's are a lot easier to understand for a mediocre coder like I am. ;)

The conditionals in vb3 are just as cool from what i've seen and heard ;)

But i've found a better way of doing that hack btw Boofo - i'll release a new version soon which restricts the buttons by usergroup via the ACP which is more easier to control :)

- miSt

With the vb3 conditionals you have to use iff (I think) and more to make them work. With Logician's, you don't have top worry about all of that.

Let me know when you release it. I'd be curious to see what you have done.

The ones that are very useful in my opinion:

Webtemplates - Great for my site. Very easy to install and use. Easier to track users, page views, etc.

Quick Reply - Saves loading the reply page for 56k modem users like myself.

Welcome Panel - Makes the forum look good and also shows new posts, etc.

vBstats - Shows where my members are from and where they found the site from.

vBhome - Excellent front page. Again pretty easy to install and even has loads of custom hacks.

Arcade / Quiz - Provides entertainment and competition amounst members.

Links database - again very useful for members to submit their sites for others to visit.

Micro Stats - See how quick your pages load and the loads of queries you're different sections use.

There are loads more too, but the above ones are very useful for me.

Craig

Will do ;)

Logicians webtemplate and Bane's vbstats hacks really kick ass at l33tville :)

Quick Reply Box ;)

QRB for me too...

- Template Conditions
- Microstats
- Archive by Teck
- and Last but not Least - Proarcade

Kars :)

well since my forum is made for an msn chat community , we love playing with fancy fonts centering shadowing etc bbcode hack 3.6
its one of the main hacks that are in use on the forum that and
the proarcade hack
also the shoutbox since i've installed that its become essential for the forum

Quick Reply Box
Proarcade
Trap Banned Members (Or the "Cookie Ban" as I call it)
Microstats
Miserable Users
And quite a few custom written ones. :)

First one before all: vB3 Microstats (so you can be informed of bad code that eats queries upfront and be sure if pages are cached. Probably should be the first mod to be installed). Real easy hack that newbies can try, too.

Miserable users mod (starvation mod too!!). For those pesky trolls that exist about anywhere. Make them pay for trying to ruin your community. :devious: Change the code to reflect reality though, or it'll be obvious they're being "picked on", and the creepzoids may then take it as challenge to beat.

Quality post mod. Helps to keep a board free of "me too" replies. It also can be used to ensure folks have true post counts (good for those with stores and other reward trinkets). Sometimes just limiting post counts in certain forums isn't enough.

Those are required mods (for me) that goes in before anything other, and I wouldn't operate the forum without them.

Chris

Easy...

a. Ebay Feedback hack
b. Who this May Be? (wish someone would make it for vB3.0)
c. Hunt Inactive Users