chefjoe8841
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[New] New Forum User - LOOKING for Help PLEASE
Full Board URL: http://letstalkchef.com/forum/
XMB Version: 1.9.11
Hi everyone,
I am a new XMB forum user, and I am in the initial stages of setting up my discussion forum.
Click here to view my forum.
I have 3 questions that I was really hoping someone here could help me with, as I'm sure they are common question among all new forum
moderators.....
1- How do I get the "subject" of a new post to show up on the index page? People like to see what the post is without having to click into each forum
to see new posts.
2- How do I remove the padding on the very top of my page? Would it just be the header file template, or something within css?
3- How can I create/integrate a hyperlink back to my actual website from this forum? Which file should I try and put it into?
Thank you so much for your help! I really appreciate it!
Any other forum design criticisms or suggestions would be more then welcome! It is a work in progress.
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kuba1
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1 ... install the portal hack, it could accomplish this
2 ... either the header template or, possibly, the css template.
3 ... pluglinks on the config.php file
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chefjoe8841
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Okay, great!
Thank you so much for taking the time to reply.
I installed the plugin, and I also got the link back to my website plugged in the header- and it works great.
I am still very lost on how to get the new post subject to display on the homepage table.
Any detailed help would be more than appreciated! Thanks!
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Jason Fairmount
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I like your website; neat crisp design.
Also, for #2:
If you're only going to use one skin, modify the 'css' in your template area (under Look & Feel) and add this as a new entry under 'body':
If you implemented your own css file inside the theme's folder, add the same code inside that css file there, also under the 'body' css
group.
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Mouser
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In addition to that...
Each theme, has it's own themefolder.
In that themefolder, you can add a file called "theme.css"
If it exists, it gets loaded when that theme is loaded.
So you can add whatever you want in there 
As Jason said;
if you want this for all themes, adjust the CSS template.
If you want it for one or a few themes, adjust (or create) the theme.css file
I have to hurry run to work now, so can't paste you a link, but the Portal is a hack that's downloadedable from here
Mouser @ On vacation till early October 2010
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chefjoe8841
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Thank you, everyone, for your feedback.
I've fixed the padding issue at the top, and also successfully installed the portal. Everything works great!
I am still stuck on the "displaying post title on main screen" issue.
Does anyone have this properly working on their forum? Detailed instructions would really help me out! Thanks.
This seems like a common feature among other forum providers (phpBB, vBulletin, etc.) so I am surprised it is not more easily configurable.
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Mouser
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Displaying post title on main screen...
What I remember from installing the Portal... After the Portal is installed, it becomes the 'main screen'.
The Portal has a block called "10 Newest Posts" where the newest posts are being displayed. And there are all kinds of addons for it too. Like
displaying the threads with latest replies etc.
Don't you ... Just mean this, btw?
http://forums.xmbforum.com/today.php
http://letstalkchef.com/forum/today.php
http://www.xmbgarage.com/today.php
Mouser @ On vacation till early October 2010
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chefjoe8841
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No, my index/homepage is a list of all categories within the forum (so people know what the forum is all about).
Currently, it shows the Category Name, Topics, Posts, & Last Post.
In the "Last Post" is shows you Who and When the post was made. I would like it so that it also listed the title of the post.
Look at this forum as an example (this is my shopping cart provider):
http://forum.cs-cart.com/
Notice how the title of the post is listed as well (so you know what the post is within that category without having to click on each category to see
its contents).
Sorry if this is confusing.
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Mouser
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Ok, now I understand what you mean
The information shown (by whom and when) is stored in the "forums" table.
The latest thread-subject is not stored there.
The forum() function located in functions.inc.php generates the rows for each forum - in case you want to have look.
Midnight is bedtime for me, but I'm sure someone can cook something up 
Mouser @ On vacation till early October 2010
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kuba1
XMB Project Manager
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I have plenty of code for very similar functionality .....
Let me see what I can find ... as mouser said, it is pretty easy. I did what you are looking for a ways back on my own forum .... I guess I could
contribute a hack.
What is the url of your home page, for clarity ...
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chefjoe8841
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That would be great! Thank you so much.
When someone clicks to go to my forum, the initial url is http://www.letstalkchef.com/forum
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kuba1
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Been a bit busy ...
So, by index page you actually mean "forum index" some people mean something different, that's why I ask.
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chefjoe8841
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Yes. The homepage that shows up whenever someone clicks to go to my forum is letstalkchef.com/forum and that is the page I am trying to get the post
titles to show up on.
Thanks again for your help.
Joe
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chefjoe8841
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Anyone have any thoughts?
I am also trying to implement a custom html box near the bottom of my forum so that I can start running some of my AdSense ads for clicks.
Has anyone done this before?
http://www.letstalkchef.com/forum
Thanks!
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Jason Fairmount
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I need a confirmation on this (because I haven't used adsense in XMB in a long time, since 2006) but here's what I would add:
(in) Admin Panel > Templates > footer
Add this to the top of everything you have in the footer template
* = I'm assuming you want this above the actual footer, but underneath the lower forum navigation
| Code: | <br />
<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" width="$tablewidth" align="center">
<tr>
<td bgcolor="$bordercolor"><table border="0" cellspacing="{$THEME['borderwidth']}" cellpadding="$tablespace" width="100%">
<tr>
<td class="category"><font color="$cattext"><strong>Advertisement</strong></font></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td bgcolor="$altbg2">
Highlight and replace me with your entire adsense code
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
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The above code WILL show a category bar, that would say "Advertisement". It will also show a box (using your white background with a little cell
padding/spacing) that features your ad.
There IS a way to use the language's code, in place of using the actual word "Advertisement" in the code, but in order to make the actual
WORD "Advertisement" show, you'll need to make a new change onto the Translations. This I haven't fully experimented with; I'm wondering myself if
I need to download the existing English.lang.php file, edit and add the word, and re-import the php file. Having the word "Advertisement" within the
code above soooooooooooounds like it would be easier, because you don't end up altering multiple files.
The only thing I would personally change, is
to a fixed measurement of at least 800px, or whatever the largest adsense ad size + 10px
(because of the padding), so it would read out to something like
Different people have different ways of taking this on; that's why I would need confirmation on THIS particular approach.
I can't remember if there was a mod to allow advertising code underneath the header (but before the news) and before the footer (as a mod / hack
selection). I know they didn't make a hack to allow code after the first of every post, and I found out that Google Adsense doesn't allow more than 3
ads per page under a single account (supposedly).
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Mouser
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I have to run in a minute. But that code for a table looks good on a first glance.
Check out the already existing tables in the templates for an example, if you want to make 110% sure.
Adding vars to the Translations table, is not done by the English.lang.php - that file can be removed from the server after installation of the
forum.
Check my hack over here for example on how to add vars;
http://forums.xmbforum.com/viewthread.php?tid=775103
First step of header.php
Mouser @ On vacation till early October 2010
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chefjoe8841
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Thank you very much for the AdSense code provided above.
I placed it exactly where you said to, and I think everything looks great. The only thing I altered was I removed the title "Advertisement" and I
aligned the ad to the center.
Huge help.
Please review and let me know if you encounter any problems with it!
Thanks again!
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