can template edits be made via plugin?

[rnmcd]

I was just wondering (as a novice typically does ), if template edits can be made with a plugin?

I see that some of the modifications/hacks that I'm interested in have template edits and I was wondering if they could be done via a plugin?

I was thinking about hiring someone to make plugins for the template edits...but I'm not sure it's even possible.

Thanks.

[peterska2]

some template edits can be done by plugin but not all of them. depending on the modification (and the coder who wrote it) there will either be automatic edits or manual ones.

the problem with automatic edits via plugins is that if you have a custom style or even any style that isn't the default one, then you can't guarentee that the edits will work.

[rnmcd]

So if a plugin was written for a specific instance of vBulletin then it could do template edits?

[peterska2]

not always. The code has to be unique and depending on the level of involvement of the edit it can often be better to make the changes manually. Plus another thing to consider is that with template edits via plugin you don't have the same control over them as you do with manual edits for things such as the order that they display in. For example, take the fields in the postbit here under join date. if these were done by plugin then they could well show in a different order. for something small it probably doesn't matter but for bigger items then it can have a negative impact.

Also to consider is that if you make any changes to your templates you can actually render edits via plugin useless if you change some of the code which it relies on.