Forum Display Enhancements - Advanced Snowstorm Integration for Christmas

Please take some time and read this feature list before you go "Oh no, another of those pesky snowflake Mods!".

Features:
- The snow is optionally piling up on the bottom of the screen (customize the script to your liking)
- The script is lightweight and fast
- The script works on all current browsers and uses PNG images incl. GIF fallback
- Can be turned off by your users via quicklink or in the UserCP
- User can change the direction of the blowing wind

HackDetails:
Difficulty: easy
Templates to edit: 2
Approx. Time: 5-8 Minutes
Compatibility: All vB versions

As we all know, those nice scripts come at a price, and that is performance at the client side! I didn't want to pester my users with a CPU intensive script for the next 30 days and not offering a solution to switch it off in the UserCP (or temporarily). So with this hack everyone can decide for him/herself is he/she wants those nifty flakes flying around while reading the forum

Allright let's move to the hack itself:

First of all, I have to give full kudos to Scott Schiller who came up with the original Javascript for this nifty snowing effect. Secondly it is VERY easy to incorporate in your forum if you follow these 10 steps to success:

1) Get the latest version of the script from Scott Schiller's Homepage
2) Upload the script as well as all images included
3) AdminCP -> User Profile Fields -> Add New User Profile Field
4) Choose "Single Selection Radio Buttons"
5) Fill in all required fields and insert two values in the Options Box: (seperated with a return)
YES
NO
6) Set "Default" to YES
7) Hit "Save" and memorize the name of your field, in my case it's "field8".
8) Open up the Template "headinclude" and add at the bottom:

<if condition="$bbuserinfo['field8']=='YES'">
<script type="text/javascript" src="[path to your script]/script/snowstorm.js"></script>
</if>

Notice that I included the name of my field (field8) in the first line!

9) Hit "Save" and open up the template "navbar" and look for this code:

<if condition="$show['member']">
	
		<td class="alt2" valign="top" nowrap="nowrap">
		<div class="smallfont">

below add:

<if condition="$bbuserinfo['field8']=='YES'">
<a href="javascript:snowStorm.randomizeWind()">Change Wind</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="javascript:snowStorm.stop()">Stop snowing</a><br /><br />
</if>

Please note again that I included the name of my field (field8) in the first line!

10) Hit "Save" and you're ready to go!


Further thoughts:

This little hack adds the two control links directly above the login-details of your users. But it can of course be implemented where you like, you can also add graphical buttons to it. Furthermore you can use phrases to make all this multilingual, a step I took because my forums are multilingual.

Troubleshooting:

Q: It doesn't work?!
A: Be aware that this hack USES a script, which you have to download here!

Q: Argh, I don't see any snow flakes, but my CPU get's mangled
A: That's because the script doesn't find the images for the snowflakes. Open up the script (snowstorm.js) and set the "imagePath" to the folder where your snowflakes are in. You can even hardcode an absolute link there is everything fails.

Q: My switch in the UserCP doesn't work!
A: Make sure that you filled in the exact name of your field in the two locations which are specified in the steps above.

Q: The snow falls too slow or the flakes are too small
A: Open up the script and modify it to your liking, it's a great piece of code and well documented

Q: Is the snow only visible for registered users?
A: Yes, that's on perpose. Guests can't store any infos on the forum, therefore they can't switch it off if they don't like it.

Q: Oh my god it still doesn't snow... and it's mid December already!
A: Welcome to the age of global warming! Switch to a Hybrid Car, and walk more often. If everybody does that, we should get real snow again in a couple of decades

[Shouzen]

I tied but it doesn't work.

[doberlec]

Did you substitute the fieldname I was using in the hack-example with the name of the field you made on your forum? Did you check if the script is able to find the images on your server? Does the script get loaded? (You should see that in an increase of the processing power of your processor in the taskmanager in Windows).

[Shouzen]

..Do you have msn?

[Kirk Y]

Is this 3.5.x compatible?

[SeQual]

HackDetails:
Difficulty: easy
Templates to edit: 2
Approx. Time: 5-8 Minutes
Compatibility: All vB versions

[PixelFx]

nice .. i'll try this out later

[Talisman]

It's very cute. Thank you, doberlec.

[doberlec]

Originally Posted by Shouzen

..Do you have msn?

I`m sorry but I`m behind quite a good firewall so no MSN. But here is enough space to elaborate on your problem, feel free to do so. I'll try to be as helpfull as possible

[projectego]

Nice mod... I might check this our nearer to Christmas...