Miscellaneous Hacks - Ultimate Side Columns

Ultimate Side Columns
By Kerry-Anne www.peterska2.co.uk

Welcome to Ultimate Side Columns!

Introduction

Following the success of the left and right side column modifications, and building on their weaknesses, the Ultimate Side Columns system was born.

Ultimate Side Columns (USC) is your one stop shop for all your side columns needs. It is an easy to configure, all in one solution.


Features

USC uses a standard vBulletin Options Interface with minimal template editing involved, to display content in columns on your site.

USC controls both the left and right columns on your site, both of which work independently of each other, and can be displayed on a range of pages through some very simple options.

The only editing required for a standard installation is the header and footer template. For advanced users, the templates for the two columns can also be edited if required. Most users of this system will not need to do this.


Installation

Import the product-ka_ultimate_sidecolumns.xml file as a product through your product manager.

Open your header template and at the very end add

<!-- USC header edit start -->
<table width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0">
<tr>
$usc_left
<td valign="top">
<!-- USC header edit end -->

Open your footer template and above

$spacer_close

add

<!-- USC footer edit start -->
</td>
$usc_right
</tr>
</table>
<!-- USC footer edit end -->

That is all your template editing done.

Now, go to vBulletin Options > Ultimate Side Columns Options

Here you can set which column you wish to use, and where you want it to appear. Content is also controlled through the options on this page. HTML is allowed in all content boxes.


Configuration

As there are a number of options available, this section explains them all.

First, you have the settings for enabling and disabling the two columns. As these work independently of each other, you can have the left column turned on, the right column turned on, or both turned on. If you need to turn them off for any reason, you can also turn them off here. Also, if you need to disable plugins for any reason, the code is completely disabled meaning that no unsightly white gaps are left on your pages.

Next, we have the width settings for the two columns. If you find that your columns are too wide, or too narrow, then they can be adjusted independently here.

The display pages settings allow you to control where your columns are displayed. These are pretty straightforward, with the exception of the setting adsense appropriate. This option stops the column from being displayed on the following pages in line with the adsense TOS:
- search
- search results
- registration
- contact us
- usercp
This is correct as of todays date. Any changes in the TOS for adsense will only be reflected in any updates as appropriate.

Next are the settings for the content of the left column, followed by the content of the right column. Both sections are prefixed by a blank setting. This is by design and there is not a bug with the code or anything missing.


Adding More Blocks

By design there are five (5) blocks per column. Some people may require more than this. To allow for this, comments have been added to both the usc_sidecolumn_left and usc_sidecolumn_right templates. The comments include a commented out section of code to use as a template for additional blocks. There are also some warning comments present in both templates. Take heed of these as editing other than the places indicated will result in the templates being malformed and the USC system not working correctly.


Support

Support for this modification is extremely limited. However, as everything apart from the two small template edits is controlled directly through the vBulletin options and not through template editing, issues should be minimal.

If you have any other combinations of pages that you would like to see available for the column options, please post them in the support thread ensuring that you add the title "USC Page Combination Request" to your post, or use this as the first line of your post ensuring that it is in bold text. This is very specific as due to the limited nature of support and time, the support thread will only be quickly skimmed through and therefore requests may be missed if it is not clear what they are.


The screenshots attached to this post and the next one show a range of pages with a range of column combinations. They are not labeled but they are pretty self explanatory.

Enjoy the USC system.

Kerry-Anne




PLEASE NOTE: This modification is unsupported. You may not receive a reply right after posting. Please try and help each other out. I do not support custom styles. If this does not work in your style, and you can confirm that it does not work in the default style (with a link and screenshot) then you will need to resolve the problem yourself. I also do not support any versions earlier than 3.6.5 in any way, shape or form. If you are using it on a version prior to 3.6.5 then no support at all will be provided.



Version 2.0 information


Version 2.0 has been released and can be found here:
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=175181

[TitanPK]

Great Hack, however when installed as noted it seems to randomly throw the forum posts out of alignment...the forum home is good but the actually forum posts in a thread are off (boxes are different sizes.)
I unistalled the hack itself, no change.
Removed the template updates and it's fine.
Any thoughts?

[Get Shorty]

Is there any way to keep this from making threads narrower than the navbar?

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/attachmen...6&d=1173724090

[nix]

Originally Posted by Get Shorty

Is there any way to keep this from making threads narrower than the navbar?

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/attachmen...6&d=1173724090

Try this.

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....2&postcount=12

[KHALIK]

Originally Posted by KHALIK

Bish, can you provide me a "example" of the code used to get the image. A screenshot will help me alot.

Thanks.



p.s. I even tried both methods without success

[img].http://www.fragmasters.co.uk/images/HGFMAD2.jpg[/img]
<img. http://www.fragmasters.co.uk/images/HGFMAD2.jpg</img>

any ideas ? how to place a image / photo instead

[mtlcore]

Guys, once again, I had the same problem (the menu appearing above forums instead of being on the side. I just put the first code in navbar at the very end instead of header. It worked for me.

[The Bish]

Originally Posted by KHALIK

Bish, can you provide me a "example" of the code used to get the image. A screenshot will help me alot.

Thanks.



p.s. I even tried both methods without success


<img>XXXX http://www.fragmasters.co.uk/images/HGFMAD2.jpg</img>

I am actually using a Banner Rotator... here ya go.

<!-- Banner Rotator by Redline -->
<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="Javascript"><!-- 
function banner() { 
}; 
banner = new banner(); 
number = 0; 
 
// bannerArray 
banner[number++] = "<a href='http://maid-2-order.net' target='_blank'><img src='images/m2o_logo.gif' border='1'></a>"
banner[number++] = "<a href='http://prizefitness.com/' target='_blank'><img src='images/prize_fitness.gif' border='1'></a>"

increment = Math.floor(Math.random() * number); 
document.write(banner[increment]); 
//--></SCRIPT>
</td>    
<!-- End Banner Rotator by Redline -->

[Capper5016]

Anyway to maybe add RSS feeds, polls, and/or stats within the blocks?

[dizzy100]

Originally Posted by Capper5016

Anyway to maybe add RSS feeds, polls, and/or stats within the blocks?

rss feeds from your forum is possible

Heres one for pulling the latest threads from your vbulletin board (make sure you have Vbulletin Options > External Data Provider > Enable External Javascript enabled)

PHP Code:

<script type="text/javascript" src="external.php?&amp;type=js"></script>
<script language="" type="text/javascript">
<!--
for (var x in threads)
{
document.writeln("<img class="inlineimg" src="YOUWEBSITEADDRESS/images/buttons/lastpost.gif" alt="" border="0" /> <a href="showthread.php?t="+threads[x].threadid+"">"+threads[x].title+"</a> <span class="time">(Posted By : "+threads[x].poster+")</span><hr />");
}
//-->
</script> 


Substitute YOUWEBSITEADDRESS with the full url to your forum (assumes using ther default theme).

Its not phrased because this mod seems to ignore them This is a shame as stats, banner etc can't be used through internal vbulletin options. However javascript seems to work well.

[Hornstar]

Well it seems several people are now having the same problem as I first had.

Just incase Amy Misses all the other posts

Confirmend Bug

Please read the posts before this, as there has been a bug confirmed by several members now, not just by me.

Thanks.

ps. running vb 3.6.5

[Capper5016]

Well, its not the latest posts, its the most recent threads.......which is my biggest gripe with VB

http://forums.hardwarelogic.com/

I know this is more of a template issue, but can someone help me figure out how to make the side panel move under the navbar?
I've had an awful time trying to get this to play nice with my template, I can't get things to resize correctly, and can only get one or the other to work, not both sides