[chrisbjax]

This gives me a very good starting reference. I will tinker now guys.
Thank you so much for your help!

--------------- Added [DATE]1320247176[/DATE] at [TIME]1320247176[/TIME] ---------------

I tried Zachery's suggestion first, and couldn't get it to render navbar.

I'm assuming I have to define it so I can render it?

PHP Code:

$navbar = templater->render();
$navbar = $warning; 


however, I couldn't get that to work. and I was uncertain how to continue registering components without having negative repercussions, so the page simply remains blank.
In the effort of simplicity, I went back and adjusted the board_inactive_warning template and simply added:

<div class="forum_disabled" style="position:absolute; left:300px; top:auto; z-index:1000;">{vb:rawphrase alert_board_off}</div>

Thanks for all your help guys.