Forum Display Enhancements - Display Options Above Threads - as seen on vbulletin.org

This template mod, updated from my 3.6.x version, will streamline and relocate the "Display Options" dropdown menus to the top of your threads list on forumdisplay, as seen here at vbulletn.org in the modification areas.

As part of this move, we'll also change the look of the "Active Users"/Moderators panel remaining at the bottom of the page. ('Before' and 'after' screenshots are below.)

Note: In the 3.6.x version, there were two different versions of this mod -- the extra one being for those forums using the excellent Thread Prefixes mod by Mystics. Now that vB 3.7.0 has prefixes on its own, those extra set of instructions are no longer necessary.

Important: If you've installed or applied other mods that have altered the forumdisplay template, you may need to adjust the instructions accordingly.

I hope this mod is helpful! As always, many thanks to vbulletin.org for the inspiration, not to mention years of providing an amazingly helpful community.

[TCB]

Now I'm not sure what version to use. Your first post still says version 1.0, although there is talking about changes afterwards? Is it now an xml-product import, or do I still have to edit templates?

[kira]

Hi TCB. Sorry, the changes mentioned in my OP are comparing this to the original 3.6.x version. This new 3.7.0 version is unchanged and the instructions are in the text file attached to the OP.

This is indeed a Template Modification, so yes, you need to manually edit a template (forumdisplay in this case). The instructions are pretty easy though! Shouldn't take you more than five - ten minutes, tops.

However, if you use the Template Modification System product addon, you can use the xml link up in Mike D's post. Please note that I can't verify that this works because I don't personally have TMS installed. (I'm weird in that I kinda enjoy modifiying the templates myself, since I think it helps me understand what changes are being made to the system.)

Let me know if you have any problems. Thanks and good luck!

[TCB]

Oh, great.. thanks a lot. The option to put this 'filter' and 'sort' option on top (like yours) or at the bottom of your forum (default) should be standard in vbulletin. In the meantime, me and my members will enjoy this modification

[Hostboard]

One thing I notied betweenthe before and after was the label "Display Options" Is there a way to slip that back in there?

[kira]

Thanks TCB! Glad it's useful, and I agree, this placement seems much more logical than the default -- especially when there are lots of threads within a forum, which means the filtering options are easily missed since they're all the way at the bottom of the screen.

Hostboard: Absolutely! In step #3 of my instructions, you'd just place the following:

PHP Code:

$vbphrase[display_options]: 


Into the code wherever you want. (By default this phrase is "Display Options".)

For example, in the "after" sample image, you can see the area that says "Showing threads 1 of 2." To change this to "Display Options: Showing threads 1 of 2" you'd go to Step #3 of my instructions and look for:

<td class="thead"><phrase 1="$limitlower" 2="$limitupper" 3="$totalthreads">$vbphrase[showing_threads_x_to_y_of_z]</phrase></td>

and change this to:

<td class="thead">$vbphrase[display_options]: <phrase 1="$limitlower" 2="$limitupper" 3="$totalthreads">$vbphrase[showing_threads_x_to_y_of_z]</phrase></td>

Does this make sense? Another option might be to place the "Display Options:" text to the left of all the dropdown filter/sort menus. To do this, again using the third step of my instructions (or if you've already installed the template mod you can just search in your edited template):

Search for:

<table cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" border="0" align="center">
		<tr>
			<if condition="$prefix_options">

Replace with:

<table cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" border="0" align="center">
		<tr>
		<td><strong>$vbphrase[display_options]:</strong></td> 
			<if condition="$prefix_options">

(You might want to surround the display options phrase with <span class="smallfont"> and </span> if the text looks too big.)

Let me know if this works for you, or if I'm not clear enough.

[Hostboard]

Tried Mikes pluggin but I get "Invalid File Specified" when I try to upload it.

[YLP1]

Thank you so much for this!!! Did I miss the announcebits in the mod template changes because I didn't see that added back with the mod changes.

Also is there a way to search for both date AND poster at the same time with this mod?

[kira]

Originally Posted by Hostboard

Tried Mikes pluggin but I get "Invalid File Specified" when I try to upload it.

Hi Hostboard. The file Mike-D attached isn't a plugin, per se. It works only if you have the Template Modification System addon installed. So if you don't have that installed yet, you should try that first! Or you can just use my instructions to do this manually. I promise it's really really simple!

Originally Posted by YLP1

Thank you so much for this!!! Did I miss the announcebits in the mod template changes because I didn't see that added back with the mod changes.

You're welcome, YLP1! Do you mean in the original instructions attached in my OP? Sure, it's in there -- right at the start of the replacement code in Step #3, in the third line or so. You should see:

<!-- Modified Thread Search Layout -->

<table class="tborder" cellpadding="$stylevar[cellpadding]" cellspacing="$stylevar[cellspacing]" border="0" width="100%" align="center">
<tbody>
$announcebits
</tbody>
</table>

(That's only the start of the replacement code, not the whole thing. Cut for brevity's sake!)

Originally Posted by YLP1

Also is there a way to search for both date AND poster at the same time with this mod?

Hm, well, except for the prefix filters, these are really just sorting options, not searches exactly. I'm pretty sure you can only sort by one thing at a time.

Basically whatever you can do with the standard vBulletin "Display Options" is available here -- it's just the layout that's changed.

[Ascor]

Installed, thank you

[rapidphim]

for some reasons, after I installed this mod, everytime I start a new thread, the cursor is already in center position and all the texts are also center as I typed. But after hit submit new thread, all the texts are aligned left as normal.

Can someone please help me fix this?