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

[The Realist]

Working fine.

Thanks

[tamarian]

Originally Posted by dpkm

Here's the screenshot. I've thought about it a bit, and I think it doesn't have anything to do with the hack, but either rendering in Mozilla (because I can scroll up and down and the problem can disappear or reappear in different places) or the css.

Yes, I've noticed that before. It's just the undelining of the links, right? So it's not the table cells or width... I'm not sure what's causing that, I've written it off as an old mozilla bug.

[dpkm]

Right, just the underlining of the links. I only fretted about it because the audience for my forums skew toward people with less experience with the Internet, and I try to maintain a consistent (and clear) interface. Your hack certainly helps with the clear, and by adjusting the CSS a bit, I don't have much problems with the underlining now.

[tamarian]

Originally Posted by dpkm

by adjusting the CSS a bit, I don't have much problems with the underlining now.

Let me know what changes you've made to your CSS, I might implement those, just to make things better for my users with older moz browsers

[Bulent Tekcan]

It is not work in 3.0.2 ... :disappointed: :disappointed:

Any idea ?

[Bulent Tekcan]

Any idea for that ??? Or any trick ?

[tamarian]

Originally Posted by turkeyforum

It is not work in 3.0.2 ... :disappointed: :disappointed:

Any idea ?

I have not installed 3.0.2 yet, so I'm not sure. But the file has not changed in this update, so I think it should work fine.

Did you enable sub-forums as explained in the first post?

[Visibility]

Nice work, tamarian. Really cleaned up a messy layout, and seems to work fine in 3.0.3.

Thanks.

[tamarian]

Originally Posted by Visibility

seems to work fine in 3.0.3.

That's great to hear, thanks for letting me know, as I may not upgrade for a while.

[Lonny]

I followed all te instructions and for some reason I get it displayed only in 1 column...


Here is the code that I have there

eval('$subforum = "' . fetch_template("forumhome_subforumbit_$canpost") . '";'); 
                //sub-forum hack 
                if ($depth < $vboptions['subforumdepth']) 
                { 
                    $cols++; 
                    if ($cols==3) 
                        { 
                        $cols = 1; 
                        $output .=  "</tr><tr>"; 
                        } 
                $output .= "<td width=50%>" . construct_subforum_bit($forumid, $cancontainthreads, $subforum, $depthmark . '--', $depth + 1) . "</td>"; 
                } 
            } 
        } 
    } 
    $output.="</tr></table>"; 
    return $output; 
// end sub-forum hack 
}