Put a Column on the Left Side of Every Forum Page

This little PRODUCT will provide you with a template to put content in a column going down the left side of every forum page.

What you put there is limited only by your imagination.

This can easily be combined with the right column product to have a column on both sides.

To use this with the right column product , change the footer code to:

<!-- Right Column Code  -->
</td>
<td width="160" valign="top" align="left">$rightcolumn</td>
</tr>
</table>
</td></tr>
</table>
<!-- End Right Column Code -->

Changes in 1.1
Some very important changes were made to the header and footer template changes. Please modify your header and footer code to use the new version.

This is now a PRODUCT and not a plugin. Use the product manager to import it. If you are upgrading, copy the contents of your left_column template to notepad BEFORE you install the product. Then, replace the template contents with your backup.

This version now includes sample html in the left_column template. Thanks to iguanairs for that code.

[ithf]

thanks for the hack..

few questions though...

first of all, where exactly in the header template would u add the code...?
i added at the very top, above evrything else and then added it in the footer...

it added the right block, though it wasnt possitioned complete to the left as u have it on your screenshot, there was a gap between the block and the left side of the skin..also, i am not using a fixed template so as I added the blocked it streeched the main skin it self to the right adding a scroll bar at the bottom..

also, where would u edit the content of the block
and also, how would u another one right under it?

thanks

[Rik Brown]

Originally Posted by skyecade

I just added this to my forum (3.6) and it works great with 1 minor exception. When I view a thread (showthread.php) it seems to disalign some of the tables. Anyone know a fix to this problem?

Everything else seems to be working okay.

I just added it to 3.6.0 too. Likewise, everything looks fine except that in the threadview, it all expands from 1000 pix (my default vb width) to 1160 pix with the left side bar added in. Again, this is only on thread view and the rest of the site doesn't exceed the normal 1000 pix I have it defaulted to...

If anyone know a fix for this, I'd like to know, too

Thanks. -- Rik

[GrantHorizons]

Amy, any chance of a full upgrade to VB 3.6 for this lovely hack?

I'm not much of a coder and would like to just install and go! lazy, I know, but with a busy board it's dangerous to play when you don't know what you're doing! And it DOES seem there are a few problems.

[JenniferK]

Rik - check post #367

GrantHorizons - It works fine for 3.6

[GrantHorizons]

Originally Posted by JenniferK

Rik - check post #367

GrantHorizons - It works fine for 3.6

Thanks Jennifer!

[Rik Brown]

Originally Posted by JenniferK

Rik - check post #367

GrantHorizons - It works fine for 3.6

Jennifer:

Your post #367 fixed almost every page. I'm still just having difficulties on viewing threads (which are still too wide). But all other pages seem fine.

Thank you very much. -- Rik

P.S for Anyone: Also, I'm using this mod for Google Adsense ads. They really shouldn't be displayed on all pages (such as thread editing pages). Is there a way with PHP to know what vbulletin page you are on and then using if/then/else determine whether to display the left column or not?

[peterska2]

Rik,

Have a look at instructions in this post. They explain how to not have it on the register page. You add more pages by using the same variable and getting the script name from the top of the php file and adding an or to your conditional so you might end up with a conditional like this (well actually you won't but I just picked some pages that I kow the script names of)

<if condition="THIS_SCRIPT!='register' || THIS_SCRIPT!='index' || THIS_SCRIPT!='private' || THIS_SCRIPT!='adv_index'">

Whatever you do don't actually use that conditional as it will not display on your vBAdvanced (if you use it), your forumhome, private messaging, and registration pages. That is just a sample to show how to put more pages into the conditional.

[JenniferK]

Glad I was actually able to be of some help to someone

Anyone have any ideas about how to make the footer (What's Going On) not get pushed over by the column?

[Rik Brown]

Kerry-Anne: Fantastic. Your message #377 solved it for me. Thanks. -- Rik

[peterska2]

Originally Posted by JenniferK

Glad I was actually able to be of some help to someone

Anyone have any ideas about how to make the footer (What's Going On) not get pushed over by the column?

Thats going to be fun, as it will need some fancy conditional work

(actually not really, but it sounds good lol)

In your footer wrap the edit with

<if condition="THIS_SCRIPT!='index'">additional stuff for the column</if>

Then in your forumhome template above the whats going on box code, add the code normally put in the footer.

It's not tested, but you shouldn't have any problems.