Arrange Sub-Forums in columns

There's also a vB 3.5 version here: https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthrea...threadid=82845

What it does
This hack arranges sub-forums on the forum home into 2 (or more) columns, makeing large lists of sub-forums more presentable. You can see it in action on my forums here:

Demo
http://forum.lowcarber.org

Note:
1. You need to enable sub-forum display on the forum home from your vB admin panel
2. This hack is for the forum home page, not forum display.

To enable sub-forums on the forum home page
1. Go to your forum Admin panel
2. Click vBulletin Options
3. Select "Forum Listings Display Options" from the drop down list
4. In "Depth of Sub-Forums" replace 0 with 1

Installation
To install, edit the file functions_forumlist.php (in the includes directory)

1. Find

PHP Code:

      foreach($vbulletin->iforumcache["$parentid"] AS $forumid) 


Place this code above it:

PHP Code:

$output .= "<table width=\"100%\" cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" border=\"0\" align=\"center\" ><tr valign=\"top\"> ";
      $cols = 0; 


2. Find

PHP Code:

            eval('$subforum = "' . fetch_template("forumhome_subforumbit_$canpost") . '";');
            if (!empty($output))
            {
                $subforum = $splitter["$canpost"] . $subforum;
            }
            if ($depth < $vbulletin->options['subforumdepth'])
            {
                $output .= construct_subforum_bit($forumid, $cancontainthreads, $subforum, $depthmark . '--', $depth + 1);
            }
        }
    }

    return $output;

} 


Replace with

PHP Code:

            eval('$subforum = "' . fetch_template("forumhome_subforumbit_$canpost") . '";');
                    if ($depth < $vbulletin->options['subforumdepth'])
                        {
                                $cols++;
                                if ($cols==3)
                                        {
                                        $cols = 1;
                                        $output .=  "</tr><tr>";
                                        }

                        $output .= '<td width="50%">' . construct_subforum_bit($forumid, $cancontainthreads, $subforum, $depthmark . '--', $depth + 1) . "</td>";
                        }
        }
    }

        if ($cols ==1) $output.="<td>&nbsp;</td></tr></table>";
    else $output.="</tr></table>";

        return $output;

} 


To put them in 3 columns, instead of t2, just edit this line "if ($cols==3)" to "if ($cols==4)" and change this line:

PHP Code:

                  $output .= "<td width=\"50%\">" . construct_subforum_bit($forumid, $cancontainthreads, $subforum, $depthmark . '--', $depth + 1) . ""; 


To this:

PHP Code:

                  $output .= "<td width=\"33%\">" . construct_subforum_bit($forumid, $cancontainthreads, $subforum, $depthmark . '--', $depth + 1) . ""; 


Template modification (optional)
As this hack will list the sub-forums in a table, the font used is not effected by the <div> tag for subforums, which will cause the default font to be used instead of smallfont.

To use smallfont for sub-forum names, edit the "forumhome_subforumbit_post"

Change (this is the whole template)

<img class="inlineimg" src="$stylevar[imgdir_statusicon]/subforum_$forum[statusicon].gif" alt="" /> <a href="forumdisplay.php?$session[sessionurl]f=$forum[forumid]">$forum[title]</a>

To:

<img class="inlineimg" src="$stylevar[imgdir_statusicon]/subforum_$forum[statusicon].gif" alt="" /> <a href="forumdisplay.php?$session[sessionurl]f=$forum[forumid]"><span class="smallfont">$forum[title]</span></a>

And for those who want to edit or remove the "Sub-forum" word, just remove (or edit, if you just want to change it) "<strong>$vbphrase[subforums]</strong>:" from the "forumhome_forumbit_level2_post" template

Screen shots, before/after

[Nj?rd Eriksson]

Awesome. Works great for me. Thanks for this one.

[Nj?rd Eriksson]

@tamarian:

Okay, for some or other reason the subforums don't align nicely when the forum description doesn't fill a whole line (it seems to work on your site, though.)

What could the issue be? Do you have a fix for this?

[GamerJunk.net]

Awesome hack I love it!

[tamarian]

Originally Posted by Nj?rd Eriksson

@tamarian:

Okay, for some or other reason the subforums don't align nicely when the forum description doesn't fill a whole line (it seems to work on your site, though.)

What could the issue be? Do you have a fix for this?

Yes, it looks like some HTML is messed up. Click on view source, and see where the width is getting screwd up. This hack essentially adds 2 TD's of 50% width each.

[tamarian]

I just added a little note on how to fix the font size for sub-forums. A minor template edit.

[draculanowaday]

thanks
/me installed

[obsidian]

Whats the easiest way to remove the "Sub-Forums:" text. I am trying to remove some of the vertical space that each forum takes up and that is unnecessary in my opinion. I can not seem to find where it comes from though

[tamarian]

Originally Posted by obsidian

Whats the easiest way to remove the "Sub-Forums:" text. I am trying to remove some of the vertical space that each forum takes up and that is unnecessary in my opinion. I can not seem to find where it comes from though

Remove "<strong>$vbphrase[subforums]</strong>:" from the "forumhome_forumbit_level2_post" template

[obsidian]

Great hack....Thanks for the help

[ph03nIX]

Hi!
I was in the middle of installing it when I came across a problem. For some reason CuteHTML cannot find this code:

PHP Code:

eval('$subforum = "' . fetch_template("forumhome_subforumbit_$canpost") . '";'); 
                if (!empty($output)) 
                { 
                    $subforum = $splitter["$canpost"] . $subforum; 
                } 
                if ($depth < $vboptions['subforumdepth']) 
                { 
                    $output .= construct_subforum_bit($forumid, $cancontainthreads, $subforum, $depthmark . '--', $depth + 1); 
                } 
            } 
        } 
    } 

    return $output; 

} 


What could be the reason for this? It had never had a problem before finding code that was there. Has the code changed or something?

Thanks