Forum Home Enhancements - UKBL ~ Quality Drop Down Menu System

UKBL ~ Quality Drop Down Menu System

You wanted Drop down Menu's that were easy to install and edit, Well now you've got it

Live Demo

http://www.aboxcafe.com/index.php

http://www.wheelsbd.com/

Compatible with almost ALL Browsers.

Hi Guys, i've had so many messages about My "Easy Menu Tabs" and when was i going to do Dropdown Tabs, Well i've listened and now i can happily add UKBL ~ Quality Drop Down menu's to our list of modifications.

This is just so easy to edit and install, as long as you feel confident with a few simple edits and uploading a graphics file to your images directory or even your photobucket account, if you don't want to mess about uploading to your server.

UKBL ~ Quality Drop Downs sit quite happily on top of your forums accessable from all pages of the forum



They look like any bog standard Menu Nav bar but when you hover the mouse over it you'll see the dropdowns, I've uploaded a test version to my forum, Take a look for yourselves http://www.ukbusinesslive.co.uk/forum

I've left the Top White Easy Men Bar in place also so you can compare both of them.

When you go over the menu bar the dropdowns should appear like in the picture below



See how the chosen links are highlighted

So now we come to the installation stage.

Download the dropdown.zip file below and open the VBOrg_Menu.txt file in notepad or any other text editor, as we need to edit a few files.

The first one we need to edit is the url of our Graphic File, So to cut a long story short we'll upload our graphic file to our Photobucket account, or any other account or image directory on your server, So firstly find

	/*"""""""" (MAIN) Container Edit Picture URL Here :-) """"""""*/	
	#qm0	
	{	
		padding:5px;
		background-image:url(http://i475.photobucket.com/albums/rr114/ukbusinesslive/center_tile_blue.gif);
		border-width:1px;
		border-style:solid;
		border-color:#eeeeee;
	}

and this is the line we need to edit, so that it gives us a nice gradiant blue acdcross the menu bar

background-image:url(http://i475.photobucket.com/albums/rr114/ukbusinesslive/center_tile_blue.gif);

Just replace the url within the brackets ( ) and thats it

Then we go and do the menu edits, You don't want your members click on your forum menu and ending up on my site :erm: So what we need to do now is change the menu links for yours, It take about 15 min's but its not hard to do, so lets do it.....

First find where our menu starts, This will be right at the bottom of the code, The HTML part of this and the first bit we need to change starts from here...

 <li><a class="qmparent" href="javascript:void(0)">MY CONTROL PANEL</a>

		<ul>
		<li><a href="http://www.ukbusinesslive.co.uk/forum/profile.php?do=editavatar" title="Edit Avatar">Edit Avatar</a></li>
		<li><a href="http://www.ukbusinesslive.co.uk/forum/profile.php?do=editsignature" title="Edit Signature">Edit Signature</a></li>
		<li><a href="http://www.ukbusinesslive.co.uk/forum/profile.php?do=editoptions" title="Edit Options">Edit Options</a></li>
		<li><span class="qmdivider qmdividerx" ></span></li>
		<li><a href="http://www.ukbusinesslive.co.uk/forum/subscription.php?do=viewsubscription" title="List Subscriptions">List Subscriptions</a></li>
		</ul></li>

Basically each tab is made up of a block like what you see above, You have the Main Tab Description which looks like this

<li><a class="qmparent" href="javascript:void(0)">MY CONTROL PANEL</a>

and you have all the sub links underneath and they look like this...

<li><a href="http://www.ukbusinesslive.co.uk/forum/profile.php?do=editavatar" title="Edit Avatar">Edit Avatar</a></li>

and its this one which we need to edit, basically if you want to keep the same link, all you need to do is to chasnge my url http://www.ukbusinesslive.co.uk/forum to your forums URL, and thats it, your link should work for your site.

If you want to change the link altogether and put your own, then replace the full URL with one that you want and don't forget to edit the end part "Edit Avatar" as that is the title thats shown on the dropdown.

When you've finished all your editing, we need to upload this whole code to your Header Template of the Style that your Currantly using on your forum, So once you've saved your edited code, Just copy and paste directly to your Header, Go right to the end and click paste, save the template and thats it, The Graphic File which you need to upload to your server or image host is also in the zip file.

So easy and a great improvement to any VBulletin Forum

This is a Freebie for all you members on VB.org with my compliments

If anyone wants any custom menus made, Just PM me I'll help where i can, Just bear in mind a menu like this takes a good couple of hours or so, so a donation is more than welcomed

Oh almost Forgot guys,

If you like it, Please Click on Installed, as this really does motivate me to improving these hacks

UPDATE 09.02.09

Uploaded a New Zip File, Black Menu.Zip This is the same as this original except that its black for darker Websites and Forums, Instructions are the same as above, and comes complete with customised Graphics which will need to be uploaded to your /images/ directory.



UPDATE 23.02.09

For some of you Admins who prefer menu Buttons as opposed to a menu bar, i've made some buttons based on the above menu formate, You can install it by following the same instructions as the main install, Just upload the graphics and edit your menu links and thats it.

Experiment with the css to change colors width of boxes etc, Add more or as little as you want, the important thing is to have fun learning.



UPDATE: 26th April 2009

Centering the Menu so that it appears central

There has been much debate about trying to centralise the menu tabs, I didn't want to edit the code too much as this would make a mess of it in different browsers, However i've found that there is a way

The easiest way to center menu content is to place it inside of a center aligned table, as shown below:

<table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 align="center"><tr><td>

----[ your menu structure]----

</td></tr></table>

This way the menu tabs will appear central in all browsers.

Hope this helps :up:



Enjoy

[ArnyVee]

How do I get my vBadvanced working with the same menu? I'm sure it's easy, but just haven't found where to edit.

[t.uzuner]

good job but very adulterated. i want this modification to xml

[ArnyVee]

Anyone know where to adjust the 'padding' between the links on the main menu portion? They are a little too spread out so it breaks on smaller resolutions.

Any ideas?

[theparentpack]

I have this installed and have removed the vB navbar completely. Now when I have any notifications other than private messages I cannot click on the Your Notifications link. Also, I cannot do a search when in the Member List. When I try to click on either one it does nothing at all. Any way to correct this issue?

[ArnyVee]

Originally Posted by theparentpack

I have this installed and have removed the vB navbar completely. Now when I have any notifications other than private messages I cannot click on the Your Notifications link. Also, I cannot do a search when in the Member List. When I try to click on either one it does nothing at all. Any way to correct this issue?

Same issue here

But, if I find the answer I'll share it here. So, please let me know if you find the answer as well.

I have a feeling it has to do with something that is coded into the navigation bar that the dropdown information is listed into. I haven't had a chance to look at it, but if you find out, please share!

[Theater]

The navbar template contains more than just the navigational links. If you wipe it completely out you're also removing the Notice condition and more; like the Ad Location call for the ad_navbar_below template for example.

You'll need to use some basic coding search skills to see where what you want to remove begins and where it ends. For example if you just want to take off the bar below the breadcrumb navigation and login/member box, you would look at the template code and find:

<!-- nav buttons bar -->

then search down and find:

<!-- / nav buttons bar -->

..and snip out everything between.

I would recommend reverting your navbar template back to default. Copy the code to Notepad so you can have a better view of the whole template, snip out carefully what you don't want, and paste in what's left into the template in the AdminCP page and Save.

[high]* Theater takes the twitchy bunny and flees...[/high]

[ArnyVee]

Thanks Theater. We had the answer about removing the navbar (correctly) using this thread's info....

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=179238&

....but, we are now looking to reclaim the "lost" function of the link working on the private messages within the login box. Any idea as to how we can get that back and working?

[Theater]

By chance do you have this line:

<if condition="$show['popups']">

..right before this here still?

<!-- PAGENAV POPUP -->

PM me your navbar template and I'll have a look if you want.

[ArnyVee]

Originally Posted by Theater

By chance do you have this line:

<if condition="$show['popups']">

..right before this here still?

<!-- PAGENAV POPUP -->

PM me your navbar template and I'll have a look if you want.

Yes, those show up in the navbar template.

PM sent with template. Thanks for your help!

[Theater]

I narrowed it down to this code you're missing:

<if condition="$show['member'] AND     $notifications_total">
<!-- notifications menu -->
<div class="vbmenu_popup" id="notifications_menu" style="display:none">
    <table cellpadding="4" cellspacing="1" border="0">
    <tr><td class="thead" colspan="2">$vbphrase[your_notifications]</td></tr>
    $notifications_menubits
    </table>
</div>
<!-- / notifications menu -->
</if>

Entire template with it:

<br />

<!-- breadcrumb, login, pm info -->
<table class="tborder" cellpadding="$stylevar[cellpadding]" cellspacing="$stylevar[cellspacing]" border="0" width="100%" align="center">
<tr>
    <td class="altbg" width="100%">
        &nbsp;
    </td>
<!--<UKBL Iframe Ticker Start>----------------------------------------------------------------------->

<td class="altbgcolor">
<div align="right">
<!--For full source code and more DHTML scripts, visit http://www.dynamicdrive.com-->
<!--This credit MUST stay intact for use-->
<iframe id="tickermain" src="http://waltdisneyboards.com/exfile.htm" width=200 height=90 marginwidth=0 marginheight=0 hspace=0 vspace=0 frameborder=0 scrolling=no></iframe>
</DIV>
</td>
<!--<UKBL Iframe Ticker End>----------------------------------------------------------------------->
<td class="altbgcolor">
<a href="http://www.waltdisneyboards.com/external.php?type=rss2"><img src="http://www.waltdisneyboards.com/images/misc/feed-icon.gif" border="0" alt="WDB News Feed" />
<if condition="$show['member']">
    <td class="altbgcolor" nowrap="nowrap">
    <div class="smallfont">
        <strong><phrase 1="$bbuserinfo[username]" 2="member.php?$session[sessionurl]u=$bbuserinfo[userid]">$vbphrase[welcome_x_link_y]</phrase></strong><br />
        <phrase 1="$pmbox[lastvisitdate]" 2="$pmbox[lastvisittime]">$vbphrase[last_visited_x_at_y]</phrase>

        <if condition="$show['notifications'] AND $show['popups']">
            <div><span id="notifications"><a href="usercp.php$session[sessionurl_q]">$vbphrase[your_notifications]:</a> <strong>$notifications_total</strong></span></div>
            <script type="text/javascript"> vBmenu.register("notifications"); </script>
        <else /><if condition="$show['pmstats']">
            <div><phrase 1="$vbphrase[unread_x_nav_compiled]" 2="$vbphrase[total_x_nav_compiled]" 3="$session[sessionurl_q]">$vbphrase[private_messages_nav]</phrase></div>
        </if></if>

        <if condition="$show['pmwarning']"><div><strong><phrase 1="$vbphrase[pmpercent_nav_compiled]">$vbphrase[your_pm_box_is_x_full]</phrase></strong></div></if>
<if condition="$show['navbar_credits']">
            <div>$vbphrase[credits]</a>: <strong><span id="navbar_credits">$GLOBALS[navbar_credits]</span></strong> [<a href="credits.php?$session[sessionurl]do=banking">$vbphrase[check]</a>]<if condition="$show['credits_purchase']"> [<a href="credits.php?$session[sessionurl]do=manage#purchase">$vbphrase[purchase]</a>]</if></div>
        </if>
    </div>
    </td>
<else />
    <td class="altbgcolor" nowrap="nowrap" style="padding:0px">
        <!-- login form -->
        <form action="login.php?do=login" method="post" onsubmit="md5hash(vb_login_password, vb_login_md5password, vb_login_md5password_utf, $show[nopasswordempty])">
        <script type="text/javascript" src="clientscript/vbulletin_md5.js?v=$vboptions[simpleversion]"></script>
        <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="$stylevar[formspacer]" border="0">
        <tr>
            <td class="smallfont" style="white-space: nowrap;"><label for="navbar_username">$vbphrase[username]</label></td>
            <td><input type="text" class="bginput" style="font-size: 11px" name="vb_login_username" id="navbar_username" size="10" accesskey="u" tabindex="101" value="$vbphrase[username]" onfocus="if (this.value == '$vbphrase[username]') this.value = '';" /></td>
            <td class="smallfont" nowrap="nowrap"><label for="cb_cookieuser_navbar"><input type="checkbox" name="cookieuser" value="1" tabindex="103" id="cb_cookieuser_navbar" accesskey="c" checked="checked" />$vbphrase[remember_me]</label></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td class="smallfont"><label for="navbar_password">$vbphrase[password]</label></td>
            <td><input type="password" class="bginput" style="font-size: 11px" name="vb_login_password" id="navbar_password" size="10" tabindex="102" /></td>
            <td><input type="submit" class="button" value="$vbphrase[log_in]" tabindex="104" title="$vbphrase[enter_username_to_login_or_register]" accesskey="s" /></td>
        </tr>
        </table>
        <input type="hidden" name="s" value="$session[sessionhash]" />
        <input type="hidden" name="securitytoken" value="$bbuserinfo[securitytoken]" />
        <input type="hidden" name="do" value="login" />
        <input type="hidden" name="vb_login_md5password" />
        <input type="hidden" name="vb_login_md5password_utf" />
        </form>
        <!-- / login form -->
</if>
</tr>
</table>
<!-- / breadcrumb, login, pm info -->

<br />
$vbnews_ticker
<br />
<if condition="$show['notices']">
    <table class="tborder" cellpadding="$stylevar[cellpadding]" cellspacing="$stylevar[cellspacing]" border="0" width="100%" align="center">
    <tr>
        <td class="thead">$vbphrase[notices]</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td class="alt1">$notices</td>
    </tr>
    </table>
    <br />
</if>

<if condition="$show['forumdesc']">
    <table class="tborder" cellpadding="$stylevar[cellpadding]" cellspacing="$stylevar[cellspacing]" border="0" width="100%" align="center">
    <tr>
        <td class="alt1" width="100%"><strong>$foruminfo[title]</strong> <span class="smallfont">$foruminfo[description]</span></td>
    </tr>
    </table>
    <br />
</if>

<if condition="$show['popups']">

<!-- PAGENAV POPUP -->
    <div class="vbmenu_popup" id="pagenav_menu" style="display:none">
        <table cellpadding="4" cellspacing="1" border="0">
        <tr>
            <td class="thead" nowrap="nowrap">$vbphrase[go_to_page]</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td class="vbmenu_option" title="nohilite">
            <form action="$vboptions[forumhome].php" method="get" onsubmit="return this.gotopage()" id="pagenav_form">
                <input type="text" class="bginput" id="pagenav_itxt" style="font-size:11px" size="4" />
                <input type="button" class="button" id="pagenav_ibtn" value="$vbphrase[go]" />
            </form>
            </td>
        </tr>
        </table>
    </div>
<!-- / PAGENAV POPUP -->
</if>

<if condition="$show['member'] AND     $notifications_total">
<!-- notifications menu -->
<div class="vbmenu_popup" id="notifications_menu" style="display:none">
    <table cellpadding="4" cellspacing="1" border="0">
    <tr><td class="thead" colspan="2">$vbphrase[your_notifications]</td></tr>
    $notifications_menubits
    </table>
</div>
<!-- / notifications menu -->
</if>

$ad_location[ad_navbar_below]
$welcomeheaders

Try that out on your board.