Appearance of Forum Blocks

[JenniferK]

I have been using vBAdvanced for my left and right column and would like to switch the right column to the included vB sidebar. But I can't figure out how to change the appearance of the forum blocks. I would like to get rid of the large border around them and also have some spacing. My preference would be to make them look like the vBA modules do. If that is not possible, then to look like the blocks do in the Classifieds mod (OzzModz) that I use. I have the same exact block in both the Classifieds section and in the forums and they appear differently. Please see attachment.

I'm sure there must be a way to edit this, I just can't figure out where.

[kh99]

I think what you can do is to find the css for the forum blocks and change it. I know at least some of it is in the sidebar.css template, which is under the CSS Templates group. For example, there's this:

#sidebar_container .block {
	margin-bottom:4px;
	padding:6px;
	border-top-{vb:stylevar right}: {vb:stylevar border_radius};
	border-top-{vb:stylevar left}: {vb:stylevar border_radius};
	border-top-{vb:stylevar right}: {vb:stylevar border_radius};
	border-top-{vb:stylevar left}: {vb:stylevar border_radius};
}

which sets 6px padding for the blocks. I think if you reduce that it will get it closer to the vBa block look. You can see that the padding and margin have values there, but other values use {vb:stylevar ..., in which case you'd probably want to change the stylevar instead of the editing the template.

I don't know how much CSS/HTML you know, but you can right click on the forum block and "inspect element" (at least you can in Chrome, and I think Firefox has something similar), and
it will open a window at the bottom that will tell you what CSS is affecting that area, then from there you should be able to find the CSS in the vbulletin template that needs to be changed.

[JenniferK]

Thank you - I will try that and see what I can figure out!

[JenniferK]

I have been playing around with this, and have mostly gotten it where I want it. Except I can't figure out how to get rid of the shadow along the left side and bottom of the sidebar.

[kh99]

I'm not sure what the arrows are pointing to. Are you talking about the blue parts, or some of the white?

[JenniferK]

It's like a drop shadow along the left edge (it shows on the bottom of the sidebar too). If you look at the space between two blocks, on the right there is no shadow so it looks like blank space. On the left side the shadow is there so you see a vertical line between the blocks.

[kh99]

I think I see what you mean now. Part of it is the border in the section that starts:

#sidebar_container > ul {

but maybe you got that already. I haven't been able to figure out where the rest of it is coming from.

[JenniferK]

Thank you - that did it. I removed the section for shadow.

One more thing (I think that will be it!) I could use help with. I am still using vBAdvanced for the left column because it will show on all pages, and the sidebar doesn't need to. The problem with using both is that they don't line up. the vBA column starts higher up and the sidebar is even with the listing of forums. I honestly am OK with either one, as long as both sides match. But again, not sure where to go to adjust things.

[kh99]

I don't really know html all that well, but I think to get rid of the space above the vB forum blocks you'd need to redo the structure of the FORUMHOME template so that the sidebar isn't inside the same div as the rest of the page content. It's probably easier to add space above the vba blocks, but I don't have that installed so I can't help with that.

[JenniferK]

I added space above the vba blocks as you said - found info on the vba website. Thank you for your help!