Board Optimization - United-Forum CSS Sprites - ludicrous speed - NOW!

tl;dr Makes your forum faster.

Want an easy one-click installation for this addon? . Vote for this jira-entry

Add on currently is in beta stage

When visiting a website, speed is a very important factor not only for users but crawlers as well. Long loading times are a nuisance since your time is basically wasted during the waiting period. Hence, we are trying everything we can in order to speed up our site. One great way to improve loading times is by the use of css sprites. Unfortunately these are not implemented by vBulletin.

We therefore decided to develop our own css-sprite add on for vBulletin boards and want to share this code with the worldwide vBulletin community.

Live demo

The add on is permanently running in our vBulletin board ( > 2.000.000 posts), take a look:
http://www.united-forum.de

The add on will be supported via this thread. If you have any questions, issues, improvements or feedback regarding this add on, please feel free to post a comment or write us a pm at any time. We are happy to discuss

vBulletin performance using css sprites

Our tests are based on version 0.7.0. We used the analytic tools firebug network utility and the googlelabs.com page speed site

on the client side the following parameter were used:
download speed: 5.7 MBit/s
ping: 31ms

css sprites - what are they?

The intention behind css sprites is the bundling of many small graphics into one large graphic in order to decrease the number of required http requests. This shortens the loading times of the given website. In addition, the the accumulated size of all small graphics is higher than the size of the sprite due to reasons of compression.
You can find further information in a great article by Chris Coyier.

What is the gain in using css sprites?

Aside from the technical implementation, the question on how much one actually does gain by using css sprites is of the most interest. Obviously they decrease loading times - but how important are small loading times and what is the impact on vBulletin overall loading times?

A short time ago, Jasper Aguila pointed out that speed is one crucial stickiness factor in his blog on vBulletin.com.

Originally Posted by Jasper Aguila vBulletin Support

The internet has unfortunately contributed to the exponential decrease in attention span for many individuals. That's why this decade is seeing a trend in emerging technologies emphasizing the importance of speed request. It's crucial for your content to be promptly distributed in a timely manner, else bounce rate will increase - making you lose returning visitors. It's also important to note that slow sites may be penalized by search engines.

With better browsers, more powerful processors, and improved technologies constantly releasing each year, it's becoming quite difficult to provide excuses for slow loading pages. Therefore, try optimizing your server for speed. Read up and learn optimization techniques at vBulletin.com's Server Configuration forum.

In addition, the google ranking is influenced by the site speed as well.

Google Webmaster Central Blog

Originally Posted by 09.04.2010 - Google Webmaster Central Blog

You may have heard that here at Google we're obsessed with speed, in our products and on the web. As part of that effort, today we're including a new signal in our search ranking algorithms: site speed. Site speed reflects how quickly a website responds to web requests.

vBseo Webmaster Mert G?k?eimam

CSS sprites is a huge bonus for big boards , any big board owner definately should use it.

Last but not least, not only the user's loading time is reduced, but also does the server load decrease as the server will have to handle a lot less of http requests. This clears available connections and cpu time.

Add on features

In the current released beta version 0.7.2, sprites are available for FORUMHOME and FORUMDISPLAY. Coming up next SHOWTHREAD.

Sprites are created style based for all forum styles and saved in a folder which you can set via the imgdir_sprite stylevar. You have one additional button in the ACP (CSS-Sprites -> Refresh) which automatically creates all sprites, the according css definitions and includes those css definitions in the vBulletin css rollup files.

Installation

First of all, if you didnt want to change the templates manually, install the Template Modification System (TMS). Now proceed with the installation:

• upload the contents of the upload folder into your forum home directory.
• import the add on in the ACP
• upon installation a new stylevar imgdir_sprite will be created. Update this stylevar based on your file structure - default value is the vbulletin sprite directory. Make sure the folder is writable, else the sprites can't be saved!
• create the sprites via the ACP at CSS-Sprite using the Refresh option.
• If you have installed TMS, you are done now. This was an easy gained speed up, not? If you didnt installed TMS and didnt want to do it, proceed with the next point:
• in order to use the sprites, you then will have to edit some templates. The diffs (xou will find it in the do_not_upload folder show which parts you have to delete '<' and which parts to add '>' In addition, on top find the lines in which you will find the respective code.[/b]

[Mooff]

@giorgino

Thanks for the report, we have missed that one. Search.php seems to use another threadbit template, we will update this later today.
Subscribed forums in the user control panel do work though.

[final kaoss]

Your addon still thinks the images can be found here though. When they cant.

/home/vgchat/public_html/forum/i1/statusicon/category-16.png does not exist or is not readable.
/home/vgchat/public_html/forum/i1/statusicon/category_forum_link.png does not exist or is not readable.
/home/vgchat/public_html/forum/i1/statusicon/category_forum_new.png does not exist or is not readable.
/home/vgchat/public_html/forum/i1/statusicon/category_forum_old_lock.png does not exist or is not readable.
/home/vgchat/public_html/forum/i1/statusicon/category_forum_old.png does not exist or is not readable.
/home/vgchat/public_html/forum/i1/statusicon/forum_link-16.png does not exist or is not readable.
/home/vgchat/public_html/forum/i1/statusicon/forum_new-16.png does not exist or is not readable.
/home/vgchat/public_html/forum/i1/statusicon/forum_old-16.png does not exist or is not readable.
/home/vgchat/public_html/forum/i1/statusicon/forum_new_lock-16.png does not exist or is not readable.
/home/vgchat/public_html/forum/i1/statusicon/forum_old_lock-16.png does not exist or is not readable.
/home/vgchat/public_html/forum/i1/statusicon/forum_link-48.png does not exist or is not readable.
/home/vgchat/public_html/forum/i1/statusicon/forum_new-48.png does not exist or is not readable.
/home/vgchat/public_html/forum/i1/statusicon/forum_new_lock-48.png does not exist or is not readable.
/home/vgchat/public_html/forum/i1/statusicon/forum_old-48.png does not exist or is not readable.
/home/vgchat/public_html/forum/i1/statusicon/forum_old_lock-48.png does not exist or is not readable.
/home/vgchat/public_html/forum/i1/statusicon/subforum_link-48.png does not exist or is not readable.
/home/vgchat/public_html/forum/i1/statusicon/subforum_new-48.png does not exist or is not readable.
/home/vgchat/public_html/forum/i1/statusicon/subforum_old-48.png does not exist or is not readable.
/home/vgchat/public_html/forum/i1/statusicon/subforum_link.png does not exist or is not readable.
/home/vgchat/public_html/forum/i1/statusicon/subforum_new.png does not exist or is not readable.
/home/vgchat/public_html/forum/i1/statusicon/subforum_old.png

[bilgicc]

Good modifications. I rate and Nominate for MOTM.

Can you added this images for sprites.

Thanks for mod.

[giorgino]

These are the template changes updated for 4.1.5 for reference and help

* Template: pagenav
* 5c5
Trova:
<span class="first_last"><a href="{vb:raw lastaddress}<vb:if condition="$show['pagelinks']"><vb:if condition="$use_qmark">?</vb:if><vb:if condition="$use_amp">&amp;</vb:if>page={vb:raw totalpages}</vb:if>{vb:raw address2}<vb:if condition="$anchor">#{vb:raw anchor}</vb:if>" title="{vb:rawphrase last_page} - {vb:rawphrase results_x_to_y_of_z, {vb:raw lastnumbers.first}, {vb:raw lastnumbers.last}, {vb:raw total}}">{vb:rawphrase last}<img src="{vb:stylevar imgdir_pagination}/last-{vb:stylevar right}.png" alt="{vb:rawphrase last}" /></a></span>
---
Sostituisci con:
<!-- SPRITE ON <span class="first_last"><a href="{vb:raw lastaddress}<vb:if condition="$show['pagelinks']"><vb:if condition="$use_qmark">?</vb:if><vb:if condition="$use_amp">&amp;</vb:if>page={vb:raw totalpages}</vb:if>{vb:raw address2}<vb:if condition="$anchor">#{vb:raw anchor}</vb:if>" title="{vb:rawphrase last_page} - {vb:rawphrase results_x_to_y_of_z, {vb:raw lastnumbers.first}, {vb:raw lastnumbers.last}, {vb:raw total}}">{vb:rawphrase last}<img src="{vb:stylevar imgdir_pagination}/last-{vb:stylevar right}.png" alt="{vb:rawphrase last}" /></a></span> -->
<span class="first_last"><a href="{vb:raw lastaddress}{vb:raw address2}<vb:if condition="$show['pagelinks']"><vb:if condition="$use_qmark">?<vb:else />&amp;</vb:if>page={vb:raw totalpages}</vb:if><vb:if condition="$anchor">#{vb:raw anchor}</vb:if>" title="{vb:rawphrase last_page} - {vb:rawphrase results_x_to_y_of_z, {vb:raw lastnumbers.first}, {vb:raw lastnumbers.last}, {vb:raw total}}">{vb:rawphrase last}<span class="pagination_last" title="{vb:rawphrase last}"></span></a></span>
<!-- SPRITE OFF -->


* 8c8
Trova:
<span class="prev_next"><a rel="next" href="{vb:raw nextaddress}<vb:if condition="$show['pagelinks']"><vb:if condition="$use_qmark">?</vb:if><vb:if condition="$use_amp">&amp;</vb:if>page={vb:raw nextpage}</vb:if>{vb:raw address2}<vb:if condition="$anchor">#{vb:raw anchor}</vb:if>" title="{vb:rawphrase next_page} - {vb:rawphrase results_x_to_y_of_z, {vb:raw nextnumbers.first}, {vb:raw nextnumbers.last}, {vb:raw total}}"><img src="{vb:stylevar imgdir_pagination}/next-{vb:stylevar right}.png" alt="{vb:rawphrase next}" /></a></span>
---
Sostituisci con:
<!-- SPRITE ON <span class="prev_next"><a rel="next" href="{vb:raw nextaddress}<vb:if condition="$show['pagelinks']"><vb:if condition="$use_qmark">?</vb:if><vb:if condition="$use_amp">&amp;</vb:if>page={vb:raw nextpage}</vb:if>{vb:raw address2}<vb:if condition="$anchor">#{vb:raw anchor}</vb:if>" title="{vb:rawphrase next_page} - {vb:rawphrase results_x_to_y_of_z, {vb:raw nextnumbers.first}, {vb:raw nextnumbers.last}, {vb:raw total}}"><img src="{vb:stylevar imgdir_pagination}/next-{vb:stylevar right}.png" alt="{vb:rawphrase next}" /></a></span> -->
<span class="prev_next"><a rel="next" href="{vb:raw nextaddress}{vb:raw address2}<vb:if condition="$show['pagelinks']"><vb:if condition="$use_qmark">?<vb:else />&amp;</vb:if>page={vb:raw nextpage}</vb:if><vb:if condition="$anchor">#{vb:raw anchor}</vb:if>" title="{vb:rawphrase next_page} - {vb:rawphrase results_x_to_y_of_z, {vb:raw nextnumbers.first}, {vb:raw nextnumbers.last}, {vb:raw total}}"><span class="sprite_pagination_next" title="{vb:rawphrase next}"></span></a></span>
<!-- SPRITE OFF -->


* 18c18
Trova:
<span class="prev_next"><a rel="prev" href="{vb:raw prevaddress}<vb:if condition="$show['pagelinks']"><vb:if condition="$use_qmark">?</vb:if><vb:if condition="$use_amp">&amp;</vb:if>page={vb:raw prevpage}</vb:if>{vb:raw address2}<vb:if condition="$anchor">#{vb:raw anchor}</vb:if>" title="{vb:rawphrase prev_page} - {vb:rawphrase results_x_to_y_of_z, {vb:raw prevnumbers.first}, {vb:raw prevnumbers.last}, {vb:raw total}}"><img src="{vb:stylevar imgdir_pagination}/previous-{vb:stylevar right}.png" alt="{vb:rawphrase previous}" /></a></span>
---
Sostituisci con:
<!-- SPRITE ON <span class="prev_next"><a rel="prev" href="{vb:raw prevaddress}<vb:if condition="$show['pagelinks']"><vb:if condition="$use_qmark">?</vb:if><vb:if condition="$use_amp">&amp;</vb:if>page={vb:raw prevpage}</vb:if>{vb:raw address2}<vb:if condition="$anchor">#{vb:raw anchor}</vb:if>" title="{vb:rawphrase prev_page} - {vb:rawphrase results_x_to_y_of_z, {vb:raw prevnumbers.first}, {vb:raw prevnumbers.last}, {vb:raw total}}"><img src="{vb:stylevar imgdir_pagination}/previous-{vb:stylevar right}.png" alt="{vb:rawphrase previous}" /></a></span> -->
<span class="prev_next"><a rel="prev" href="{vb:raw prevaddress}{vb:raw address2}<vb:if condition="$show['pagelinks']"><vb:if condition="$use_qmark">?<vb:else />&amp;</vb:if>page={vb:raw prevpage}</vb:if><vb:if condition="$anchor">#{vb:raw anchor}</vb:if>" title="{vb:rawphrase prev_page} - {vb:rawphrase results_x_to_y_of_z, {vb:raw prevnumbers.first}, {vb:raw prevnumbers.last}, {vb:raw total}}"><span class="sprite_pagination_previous" title="{vb:rawphrase previous}"></span></a></span>
<!-- SPRITE OFF -->


* 21c21
Trova:
<span class="first_last"><a rel="start" href="{vb:raw firstaddress}{vb:raw address2}<vb:if condition="$anchor">#{vb:raw anchor}</vb:if>" title="{vb:rawphrase first_page} - {vb:rawphrase results_x_to_y_of_z, {vb:raw firstnumbers.first}, {vb:raw firstnumbers.last}, {vb:raw total}}"><img src="{vb:stylevar imgdir_pagination}/first-{vb:stylevar right}.png" alt="{vb:rawphrase first}" />{vb:rawphrase first}</a></span>
---
Sostituisci con:
<!-- SPRITE ON <span class="first_last"><a rel="start" href="{vb:raw firstaddress}{vb:raw address2}<vb:if condition="$anchor">#{vb:raw anchor}</vb:if>" title="{vb:rawphrase first_page} - {vb:rawphrase results_x_to_y_of_z, {vb:raw firstnumbers.first}, {vb:raw firstnumbers.last}, {vb:raw total}}"><img src="{vb:stylevar imgdir_pagination}/first-{vb:stylevar right}.png" alt="{vb:rawphrase first}" />{vb:rawphrase first}</a></span> -->
<span class="first_last"><a rel="start" href="{vb:raw firstaddress}{vb:raw address2}<vb:if condition="$anchor">#{vb:raw anchor}</vb:if>" title="{vb:rawphrase first_page} - {vb:rawphrase results_x_to_y_of_z, {vb:raw firstnumbers.first}, {vb:raw firstnumbers.last}, {vb:raw total}}"><span class="sprite_pagination_first" title="{vb:rawphrase first}"></span>{vb:rawphrase first}</a></span>
<!-- SPRITE OFF -->


* 23c23
Trova:
<span<vb:if condition="THIS_SCRIPT == 'member'"> class="popupspan"</vb:if>><a href="javascript://" class="popupctrl">{vb:rawphrase page_x_of_y, {vb:raw pagenumber}, {vb:raw totalpages}}<vb:if condition="THIS_SCRIPT == 'member'"><img src="{vb:stylevar imgdir_misc}/black_downward_arrow.png" title="" alt="" /></vb:if></a></span>
---
Sostituisci con:
<!-- SPRITE ON <span<vb:if condition="THIS_SCRIPT == 'member'"> class="popupspan"</vb:if>><a href="javascript://" class="popupctrl">{vb:rawphrase page_x_of_y, {vb:raw pagenumber}, {vb:raw totalpages}}<vb:if condition="THIS_SCRIPT == 'member'"><img src="{vb:stylevar imgdir_misc}/black_downward_arrow.png" title="" alt="" /></vb:if></a></span> -->
<span<vb:if condition="THIS_SCRIPT == 'member'"> class="popupspan"</vb:if>><a href="javascript://" class="popupctrl">{vb:rawphrase page_x_of_y, {vb:raw pagenumber}, {vb:raw totalpages}}<vb:if condition="THIS_SCRIPT == 'member'"><span class="sprite_misc_black_downward_arrow"></span></vb:if></a></span>
<!-- SPRITE OFF -->


* 25c25
Trova:
<span<vb:if condition="THIS_SCRIPT == 'member'"> class="popupspan"</vb:if>><a href="javascript://" class="popupctrl"><vb:if condition="THIS_SCRIPT == 'member'"><img src="{vb:stylevar imgdir_misc}/black_downward_arrow.png" title="" alt="" /></vb:if>{vb:rawphrase page_x_of_y, {vb:raw pagenumber}, {vb:raw totalpages}}</a></span>
---
Sostituisci con:
<!-- SPRITE ON <span<vb:if condition="THIS_SCRIPT == 'member'"> class="popupspan"</vb:if>><a href="javascript://" class="popupctrl"><vb:if condition="THIS_SCRIPT == 'member'"><img src="{vb:stylevar imgdir_misc}/black_downward_arrow.png" title="" alt="" /></vb:if>{vb:rawphrase page_x_of_y, {vb:raw pagenumber}, {vb:raw totalpages}}</a></span> -->
<span<vb:if condition="THIS_SCRIPT == 'member'"> class="popupspan"</vb:if>><a href="javascript://" class="popupctrl"><vb:if condition="THIS_SCRIPT == 'member'"><span class="sprite_misc_black_downward_arrow"></span></vb:if>{vb:rawphrase page_x_of_y, {vb:raw pagenumber}, {vb:raw totalpages}}</a></span>
<!-- SPRITE OFF -->


27c27
Trova:
<span class="first_last"><a rel="start" href="{vb:raw firstaddress}{vb:raw address2}<vb:if condition="$anchor">#{vb:raw anchor}</vb:if>" title="{vb:rawphrase first_page} - {vb:rawphrase results_x_to_y_of_z, {vb:raw firstnumbers.first}, {vb:raw firstnumbers.last}, {vb:raw total}}"><img src="{vb:stylevar imgdir_pagination}/first-{vb:stylevar right}.png" alt="{vb:rawphrase first}" />{vb:rawphrase first}</a></span>
---
Sostituisci con:
<!-- SPRITE ON <span class="first_last"><a rel="start" href="{vb:raw firstaddress}{vb:raw address2}<vb:if condition="$anchor">#{vb:raw anchor}</vb:if>" title="{vb:rawphrase first_page} - {vb:rawphrase results_x_to_y_of_z, {vb:raw firstnumbers.first}, {vb:raw firstnumbers.last}, {vb:raw total}}"><img src="{vb:stylevar imgdir_pagination}/first-{vb:stylevar right}.png" alt="{vb:rawphrase first}" />{vb:rawphrase first}</a></span> -->
<span class="first_last"><a rel="start" href="{vb:raw firstaddress}{vb:raw address2}<vb:if condition="$anchor">#{vb:raw anchor}</vb:if>" title="{vb:rawphrase first_page} - {vb:rawphrase results_x_to_y_of_z, {vb:raw firstnumbers.first}, {vb:raw firstnumbers.last}, {vb:raw total}}"><span class="sprite_pagination_first" title="{vb:rawphrase first}"></span>{vb:rawphrase first}</a></span>
<!-- SPRITE OFF -->


30c30
Trova:
<span class="prev_next"><a rel="prev" href="{vb:raw prevaddress}<vb:if condition="$show['pagelinks']"><vb:if condition="$use_qmark">?</vb:if><vb:if condition="$use_amp">&amp;</vb:if>page={vb:raw prevpage}</vb:if>{vb:raw address2}<vb:if condition="$anchor">#{vb:raw anchor}</vb:if>" title="{vb:rawphrase prev_page} - {vb:rawphrase results_x_to_y_of_z, {vb:raw prevnumbers.first}, {vb:raw prevnumbers.last}, {vb:raw total}}"><img src="{vb:stylevar imgdir_pagination}/previous-{vb:stylevar right}.png" alt="{vb:rawphrase previous}" /></a></span>
---
Sostituisci con:
<!-- SPRITE ON <span class="prev_next"><a rel="prev" href="{vb:raw prevaddress}<vb:if condition="$show['pagelinks']"><vb:if condition="$use_qmark">?</vb:if><vb:if condition="$use_amp">&amp;</vb:if>page={vb:raw prevpage}</vb:if>{vb:raw address2}<vb:if condition="$anchor">#{vb:raw anchor}</vb:if>" title="{vb:rawphrase prev_page} - {vb:rawphrase results_x_to_y_of_z, {vb:raw prevnumbers.first}, {vb:raw prevnumbers.last}, {vb:raw total}}"><img src="{vb:stylevar imgdir_pagination}/previous-{vb:stylevar right}.png" alt="{vb:rawphrase previous}" /></a></span> -->
<span class="prev_next"><a rel="prev" href="{vb:raw prevaddress}{vb:raw address2}<vb:if condition="$show['pagelinks']"><vb:if condition="$use_qmark">?<vb:else />&amp;</vb:if>page={vb:raw prevpage}</vb:if><vb:if condition="$anchor">#{vb:raw anchor}</vb:if>" title="{vb:rawphrase prev_page} - {vb:rawphrase results_x_to_y_of_z, {vb:raw prevnumbers.first}, {vb:raw prevnumbers.last}, {vb:raw total}}"><span class="sprite_pagination_previous" title="{vb:rawphrase previous}"></span></a></span>
<!-- SPRITE OFF -->


40c40
Trova:
<span class="prev_next"><a rel="next" href="{vb:raw nextaddress}<vb:if condition="$show['pagelinks']"><vb:if condition="$use_qmark">?</vb:if><vb:if condition="$use_amp">&amp;</vb:if>page={vb:raw nextpage}</vb:if>{vb:raw address2}<vb:if condition="$anchor">#{vb:raw anchor}</vb:if>" title="{vb:rawphrase next_page} - {vb:rawphrase results_x_to_y_of_z, {vb:raw nextnumbers.first}, {vb:raw nextnumbers.last}, {vb:raw total}}"><img src="{vb:stylevar imgdir_pagination}/next-{vb:stylevar right}.png" alt="{vb:rawphrase next}" /></a></span>
---
Sostituisci con:
<!-- SPRITE ON <span class="prev_next"><a rel="next" href="{vb:raw nextaddress}<vb:if condition="$show['pagelinks']"><vb:if condition="$use_qmark">?</vb:if><vb:if condition="$use_amp">&amp;</vb:if>page={vb:raw nextpage}</vb:if>{vb:raw address2}<vb:if condition="$anchor">#{vb:raw anchor}</vb:if>" title="{vb:rawphrase next_page} - {vb:rawphrase results_x_to_y_of_z, {vb:raw nextnumbers.first}, {vb:raw nextnumbers.last}, {vb:raw total}}"><img src="{vb:stylevar imgdir_pagination}/next-{vb:stylevar right}.png" alt="{vb:rawphrase next}" /></a></span> -->
<span class="prev_next"><a rel="next" href="{vb:raw nextaddress}{vb:raw address2}<vb:if condition="$show['pagelinks']"><vb:if condition="$use_qmark">?<vb:else />&amp;</vb:if>page={vb:raw nextpage}</vb:if><vb:if condition="$anchor">#{vb:raw anchor}</vb:if>" title="{vb:rawphrase next_page} - {vb:rawphrase results_x_to_y_of_z, {vb:raw nextnumbers.first}, {vb:raw nextnumbers.last}, {vb:raw total}}"><span class="sprite_pagination_next" title="{vb:rawphrase next}"></span></a></span>
<!-- SPRITE OFF -->


43c43
Trova:
<span class="first_last"><a href="{vb:raw lastaddress}<vb:if condition="$show['pagelinks']"><vb:if condition="$use_qmark">?</vb:if><vb:if condition="$use_amp">&amp;</vb:if>page={vb:raw totalpages}</vb:if>{vb:raw address2}<vb:if condition="$anchor">#{vb:raw anchor}</vb:if>" title="{vb:rawphrase last_page} - {vb:rawphrase results_x_to_y_of_z, {vb:raw lastnumbers.first}, {vb:raw lastnumbers.last}, {vb:raw total}}">{vb:rawphrase last}<img src="{vb:stylevar imgdir_pagination}/last-{vb:stylevar right}.png" alt="{vb:rawphrase last}" /></a></span>
---
Sostituisci con:
<!-- SPRITE ON <span class="first_last"><a href="{vb:raw lastaddress}<vb:if condition="$show['pagelinks']"><vb:if condition="$use_qmark">?</vb:if><vb:if condition="$use_amp">&amp;</vb:if>page={vb:raw totalpages}</vb:if>{vb:raw address2}<vb:if condition="$anchor">#{vb:raw anchor}</vb:if>" title="{vb:rawphrase last_page} - {vb:rawphrase results_x_to_y_of_z, {vb:raw lastnumbers.first}, {vb:raw lastnumbers.last}, {vb:raw total}}">{vb:rawphrase last}<img src="{vb:stylevar imgdir_pagination}/last-{vb:stylevar right}.png" alt="{vb:rawphrase last}" /></a></span> -->
<span class="first_last"><a href="{vb:raw lastaddress}{vb:raw address2}<vb:if condition="$show['pagelinks']"><vb:if condition="$use_qmark">?<vb:else />&amp;</vb:if>page={vb:raw totalpages}</vb:if><vb:if condition="$anchor">#{vb:raw anchor}</vb:if>" title="{vb:rawphrase last_page} - {vb:rawphrase results_x_to_y_of_z, {vb:raw lastnumbers.first}, {vb:raw lastnumbers.last}, {vb:raw total}}">{vb:rawphrase last}<span class="sprite_pagination_last" title="{vb:rawphrase last}"></span></a></span>
<!-- SPRITE OFF -->

[Mooff]

Thanks bilgicc

As for gradients:

Originally Posted by Mooff

Another quick word on gradients.
I'm not so sure whether we should implement them at all. Those gradients are mostly used for background manipulation and in the styles i made for our board i used those gradients in many places. Places they weren't used in the default vb version and i removed them in a lot of backgrounds where vbulletin has them.
I personally think it will be impossible for us to create the addon in a way that we will automatically find all the places where you have used this one particular gradient - and will end up in serving the background some times via sprite and some times via icon.

But you can add those gradients in the sprite yourself. Since 0.6.0 we have added the
posibility to add custom icons into the sprite via the plugin-hook sprite_add_icon.
Be aware that this option is meant for experienced users and will probably stay that way for a long time. That aside, if you are using a modded style it gives the style designer the opportunity to offer a plugin to our addon, which includes all his additional graphics.

If i find some time later today i'll translate our german faq on how to use that plugin-hook.

--------------------------------

Your addon still thinks the images can be found here though. When they cant.

If you do not tell our addon where those images are located - it can't find them.

How would your users access those files via their web browser (please provide a full sample link we can click to see an image)?
In addition the folder where our addon wants to write the sprite has to be writeable and accessible by the user/group which does execute our addon. We cannot hack your linux system in order for our addon to save data.

[final kaoss]

SO HOW DO i DO THAT??? I already explained three times what I edited. And still, no support.


Anyways, they would get to it from here
http://vgchat.info/i1/sprites/sprite-16-main.png

Originally Posted by Mooff

Thanks bilgicc

As for gradients:





If you do not tell our addon where those images are located - it can't find them.

How would your users access those files via their web browser (please provide a full sample link we can click to see an image)?
In addition the folder where our addon wants to write the sprite has to be writeable and accessible by the user/group which does execute our addon. We cannot hack your linux system in order for our addon to save data.

And listen. I already know that it has to be readable/writable and quite frankly, you would be aware that I already knew that if you actually backtracked a bit & read (since I already had this installed and working prior to moving the images). THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IT, People here aren't stupid. The problem here is what I've been posting

THERE ARE NO IMAGES AT /forum/i1/statusicon/category-16.png
That one would be found here now /i1/statusicon/category-16.png

/home/vgchat/public_html/forum/i1/statusicon/category-16.png does not exist or is not readable.
/home/vgchat/public_html/forum/i1/statusicon/category_forum_link.png does not exist or is not readable.
/home/vgchat/public_html/forum/i1/statusicon/category_forum_new.png does not exist or is not readable.
/home/vgchat/public_html/forum/i1/statusicon/category_forum_old_lock.png does not exist or is not readable.
/home/vgchat/public_html/forum/i1/statusicon/category_forum_old.png does not exist or is not readable.
/home/vgchat/public_html/forum/i1/statusicon/forum_link-16.png does not exist or is not readable.
/home/vgchat/public_html/forum/i1/statusicon/forum_new-16.png does not exist or is not readable.
/home/vgchat/public_html/forum/i1/statusicon/forum_old-16.png does not exist or is not readable.
/home/vgchat/public_html/forum/i1/statusicon/forum_new_lock-16.png does not exist or is not readable.
/home/vgchat/public_html/forum/i1/statusicon/forum_old_lock-16.png does not exist or is not readable.
/home/vgchat/public_html/forum/i1/statusicon/forum_link-48.png does not exist or is not readable.
/home/vgchat/public_html/forum/i1/statusicon/forum_new-48.png does not exist or is not readable.
/home/vgchat/public_html/forum/i1/statusicon/forum_new_lock-48.png does not exist or is not readable.
/home/vgchat/public_html/forum/i1/statusicon/forum_old-48.png does not exist or is not readable.
/home/vgchat/public_html/forum/i1/statusicon/forum_old_lock-48.png does not exist or is not readable.
/home/vgchat/public_html/forum/i1/statusicon/subforum_link-48.png does not exist or is not readable.
/home/vgchat/public_html/forum/i1/statusicon/subforum_new-48.png does not exist or is not readable.
/home/vgchat/public_html/forum/i1/statusicon/subforum_old-48.png does not exist or is not readable.
/home/vgchat/public_html/forum/i1/statusicon/subforum_link.png does not exist or is not readable.
/home/vgchat/public_html/forum/i1/statusicon/subforum_new.png does not exist or is not readable.
/home/vgchat/public_html/forum/i1/statusicon/subforum_old.png

[Mooff]

You can be aggressive all you want. In the end you do tell our addon to look in the wrong place.
We cannot magically guess where your images are located. And no you apparently did not tell us that.

Thats a link to an actual image used by a vbulletin board:
https://www.vbulletin.com/forum/imag...rum_new-48.png
where are your images located. Not the sprite. The images your users see when they visit your site.


Again i have to guess what link you might have to add. Your feedback is not clear enough. I'm really sorry, but that's the way it is.

so add http://vgchat.info/i1/statusicon/ as your statusicon image directory. That might work, that might not work. Or maybe http://1i/vgchat.info/ or http://3i/vgchat.info. Help me helping you - i really cannot work with the level of information you do provide.

[DNCL]

Hello Mooff, you looked into my problem?

[final kaoss]

When people have to repeat themselves over and over, what do you expect?

And where do you want me to change this at? In the stylevars or in the template edits? Because right now, this is how I'm setting the image paths.

so add http://vgchat.info/i1/statusicon/ as your statusicon image directory.

Originally Posted by Mooff

You can be aggressive all you want. In the end you do tell our addon to look in the wrong place.
We cannot magically guess where your images are located. And no you apparently did not tell us that.

Thats a link to an actual image used by a vbulletin board:
https://www.vbulletin.com/forum/imag...rum_new-48.png
where are your images located. Not the sprite. The images your users see when they visit your site.


Again i have to guess what link you might have to add. Your feedback is not clear enough. I'm really sorry, but that's the way it is.

so add http://vgchat.info/i1/statusicon/ as your statusicon image directory. That might work, that might not work. Or maybe http://1i/vgchat.info/ or http://3i/vgchat.info. Help me helping you - i really cannot work with the level of information you do provide.

[Mooff]

@DNCL please install 0.7.0a it should solve that bug.

@exterme-gaming
I do expect new information when i'm asking a question. New information which actually can be called an answer.
Repeating the same 'not enough information' over and over again won't help at all. Getting called not supportive isn't of help either. Since we are actually trying to help you right now.


In that box, replace /i1/statusicon with http://vgchat.info/i1/statusicon
(so the addon does read your files from there (and similar) http://vgchat.info/i1/statusicon/forum_new-48.png )