[req] Forum status display

[Jolten]

Hi,

I'd like to be able to use static images in the forum home for the status display (I can most likely do this myself).

But I'd also like to add forum status visual cues to the forum titles. Meaning unread forums would cause the forum title to appear in a different color. Essentially moving the visual read/unread cue to the forum title rather than the image.

Can anyone help me with this?

The reason behind this is that the status images do not update fast enough for my users. They really dispise seeing the new post image only to find out there are no new posts. I'm hoping a style change or color change for the forum title will update faster and alleviate the frustration of many users.

Thanks.

[Meltdown]

I don't see how changing the color of the forum should be any different than the old/new posts image, but anyway here's one solution

1 Open template: forumhome_forumbit_level1_post

2 Find: $forum[title]

3 Replace with:
<if condition="$forum[statusicon]=='old'">
$forum[title]
</if>

<if condition="$forum[statusicon]=='new'">
<font color="purple">$forum[title]</font>
</if>

Meltdown

[Jolten]

it's a matter of browsers caching the images misleading users. No cache headers don't seem to help. I'll try yoru solution. Thanks Meltdown.

[Jolten]

hmm.. sort of works. With the if statement tied to the images they don't update any better then the images do. I want the status of a forum to be set to read as soon as a user clicks the forum link. That doesn't seem to happen at all.

Essentially the read/unread status of forums does not update after a user clicks through a forum. Only if a user backs out of a forum using breadcrumbs do status icons really reflect what has and has not been read.

[Meltdown]

I'm not sure if you're going to take a performance hit with everyone setting the forums to MarkRead by clicking on the forum link, or if it will solve the caching problem,but if you want to try it...

1 Open Template:forumhome_forumbit_level1_post

2 Find:
<a
href="forumdisplay.php?$session[sessionurl]f=$forum[forumid]>

3 Replace With:
<a
href="forumdisplay.php?$session[sessionurl]f=$forum[forumid]&do=markread&f_reset=1>

4 Open:
forumdisplay.php

Find:
eval(print_standard_redirect('markread_single'));

Replace with:
if (!isset($_GET["f_reset"]))
{
eval(print_standard_redirect('markread_single'));
}

...you may need to repeat Step 2 & 3 on template forumhome_forumbit_level2_post, depending on your level settings

Meltdown

[Jolten]

That worked pretty well. Thanks meltdown.

I don't see any extra DB queries and performance seems okay to the users.

I appreciate the assistance.