Mini Mods - Welcome headers - Improve community registration rates

Exciting Announcement! vBulletin 3.7.0 now includes a built in Welcome Headers System (named "Notices") that easily allows you to add and control your own welcome messages with functionality above what can be found in the traditional welcome headers system. There are some important differences in these systems so please read this thread before upgrading.

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Important: If you are upgrading from the 3.6 or earlier versions and have modified the navbar template you will either need to revert it or add new vBulletin code as shown in https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....&postcount=152.

Out of the box, your forum isn't personalized to assist or address your visitors. As a result, guests entering on a page other than the homepage (which is most often the case) have no idea what to do or why to register. Additionally, there are no visible status indicators, making it confusing for unconfirmed, unapproved or new members to know what to do or where to begin. But with a little customization, the use of the vBulletin Notices System and Welcome Headers, you can solve these issues in just a few minutes.

What is Welcome Headers?

Welcome Headers is a set of predefined messages and rules designed to help you get started in personalizing your site's notices using the vBulletin notice feature. The default templates are just that, default ? I highly encourage you to modify and add to the language and rules to meet the needs of your actual community environment.

Modifications/ Instructions:

Plugins: 1 (notices entries, rules and phrases)
This template hack should take under 5 minutes to implement and customize.

Installation/ Upgrade Instructions

1 ? Backup any existing welcome header messages (upgrading)
2 ? Remove the default welcome header from your forum home template (new installs)
3 ? Install the attached plugin file
4 ? Now Required: Customize the messages to include your site's name

For detailed instructions on each step please view the install.html file included with this addon.

Support

Please post any enhancement or technical questions you may have and I will do my best to respond in a timely manner. Please note: I can not guarantee an immediate response and am unable to assist with integrating this addon with other addons or with HTML related questions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Please see the second post in the thread for a list of frequently asked questions which is updated periodically.

Older Version Support

While most users are choosing to upgrade to the notices system, there are some advantages to the "old" system mainly in that it does not rely on a rules system and can be configured as designed with code changes. Additionally, the "old" version has automatic interfacing with several other addons which the notices system does not. For this reason, the old version is still supported and remains fully compatible with 3.7.

Updates

- 5/9/2008 :: A small upgrade has been released fixing the typo in the sendmessage.php file

[AdrianH]

If in doubt Ted has added an updated file,just download and import the new version which has the corrected code.

[Charlie98902]

I just installed this last night so I think I do have the newer version? Can we use bbcode in place of html on this too? This might be an option for me?

[Charlie98902]

BBCODE don't work but I did manage to alter the HTML for the 2 links so I am good to go now.

[Ted S]

Originally Posted by Charlie98902

Nothing takes me anywhere, this is in IE 7 as well I should of mentioned. I have yet to test firefox. Here is the notice I used:

When I click "Contact Us" in I.E. 7 it takes me to the contact page correctly located at http://www.dvdnextcopysupportforum.com/sendmessage.php.

[Charlie98902]

Thanks Ted this is a great mod just needed to learn HTML a bit more. I have changed it since my initial post and confirmed it is working. I just used a different html method than prior.

[Zagis]

Originally Posted by Charlie98902

Under the settings drop down box put a check next to registered members except change registered members to not logged in.

I'm sorry, didn't get you... Which settings do you mean?

[Zagis]

Never mind I found it, thanks

[mark|3]

I've upgraded my board and followed the steps. But now I am not able to display the message. Any idea why?

[Ted S]

Originally Posted by mark|3

I've upgraded my board and followed the steps. But now I am not able to display the message. Any idea why?

You'll need to be more specific on this. Do you have any notices showing up in your notices manager? Have you reverted or changed your templates to include the notices variable?

[mark|3]

Under Notices Manger I have "Guest" targeting the guest.
I have not changed or reverted my template since the update. Did I miss out anything?
Thanks

Originally Posted by Ted S

You'll need to be more specific on this. Do you have any notices showing up in your notices manager? Have you reverted or changed your templates to include the notices variable?