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  • Tips on forum design & creation.

    Greetings People

    Most people who build a web site for what ever reason, want to have a forum of some type or another Vodahost offer phpbb and simple view to install through Fantastico in your C-panel . These tips mainly deal with phpbb, though some elements go for what ever forum you use.
    The easiest way to get your phpbb forum is by installing through Fantastico , when you have installed you get the standard no thrills SubSilver skin, this in it’s self is ok if you just want a forum with no frills.
    But more often then not people want there forum to look good and more importantly a bit like there web site. This is mainly why I am writing this thread. I have had my own far share of up’s and down’s doing my forum and at one point almost lost it, and if it was not for Racefan20 my forum would not be up today.
    So it has come time for me to pass on some of the info I have learnt.
    These Tips are for those of you who wish to add skins, mods, hacks, etc.
    1/ Install a second forum through Fantastico and call it Test forum ( this is so you can test mods on that forum with out any harm coming to your main forum ). If you mess up the test forum you can always uninstall then reinstall a another one.
    2/ find and install any skins you wish to use, to both forums. ( this is better done before you add any mods, but not essential as it will only mean change the tpl files of that skin).
    3/ To help with installing mods or hacks you can download a program called easymod which you can get here
    http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/catdb.php?cat=26 you need to follow the instructions to install on to your forums.
    4/ when using the above program you may find that some mods will not install , this does not mean that the mod will not work it’s just that the easymod does not recognise a command this in it’s self is not a problem it just means you have to install it by hand.
    5/ BYE HAND your having a laugh I here you say. Nope sometimes it’s better to do this. Mainly because you will learn a lot. But you will need Dreamweaver 8 or something like wise.
    6/ Always, Always make two copy’s of any file you download from your forum to your computer .( this is because if you mess it up you have one that works to put back up until you find what you did wrong ) this is one of the reasons for having a test forum. Bet your glade you did now.
    7/ Some mods come with instructions to add tables into the datebase of your forum. This is done through
    C-panel - My-SQL Database scroll to the bottom of the page and find a link to phpMyAdmin when you first go there it looks a bit terrifying, Please if you are not sure what to do come running back here and ask for some assistants . DO NOT TRY AND DO IT if your not sure.
    8/ Skins : you’ve found one you like but don’t like the header image. Well these images are kept in the templates images folder, now to change , find the image you don’t want write down the size and name ie.250 x 127 Name logo.gif . Now find a image you want to use resize to 250 x 127 then save as logo
    ( making sure the file type is gif ) then upload to the same folder of the old image is in .
    9/ you can get phpbb mods from here
    http://www.phpbb.com/mods/ or you can search the net just type in what you want ie, I want something mod for phpbb .
    10/ last of all I think, if you have any trouble or you do not fill confident enough but would really like to do something then please don’t be hesitant post on the forum here and ask, someone WILL help you through it.

    Well that’s about it, I would just like to say that almost what ever you want to put on your forum, there’s probably a mod out there that will suit your needs, from security to music from photo albums to links to yours site.
    I have put a link here to my forum to show you some of the things you could do . Click Here

  • #2
    Re: Tips on forum design & creation.

    hey i found what i am looking for thanks.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Tips on forum design & creation.

      No Problem

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Tips on forum design & creation.

        Aliens, your post was very informative, but I am still unable to figure out how to actually get the forum to appear on my site. Is there anything you could do to walk me through once I arrive in my admin acct at phpbb?
        Thanks
        Nish

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Tips on forum design & creation.

          Originally posted by Aliens Anonymous
          Greetings People

          Most people who build a web site for what ever reason, want to have a forum of some type or another Vodahost offer phpbb and simple view to install through Fantastico in your C-panel . These tips mainly deal with phpbb, though some elements go for what ever forum you use...

          GREAT POST! Very insightful, very informative and it comes from someone who has been there, done that and bought the t-shirt. The one correction I would make is that no additional software is needed to edit the .php files by hand - I've always done it with Notepad or WordPad. WordPad is much easier to use, in my opinion, and I wish I'd learned that much earlier in my phpBB education. LOL

          Again, a great post, my friend, nice work.
          My NASCAR Forum

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Tips on forum design & creation.

            Originally posted by nish1959
            Aliens, your post was very informative, but I am still unable to figure out how to actually get the forum to appear on my site. Is there anything you could do to walk me through once I arrive in my admin acct at phpbb?
            Thanks
            Nish
            You need to provide your visitors a link to your forum and you do this in your site builder, not through the forum admin panel (link to the forum just like you do any secondary pages on your site). This can be done in any number of ways, but most do it the way I've done it on this page: Click here and then click Forum on my page.

            If you're unsure how to hyperlink, you can learn about that here: http://www.vodahost.com/vodatalk/hyp...mages-etc.html
            My NASCAR Forum

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Tips on forum design & creation.

              Thanks, Racefan. I'll give it a try tonight.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Tips on forum design & creation.

                Originally posted by racefan20

                GREAT POST! Very insightful, very informative and it comes from someone who has been there, done that and bought the t-shirt. The one correction I would make is that no additional software is needed to edit the .php files by hand - I've always done it with Notepad or WordPad. WordPad is much easier to use, in my opinion, and I wish I'd learned that much earlier in my phpBB education. LOL

                Again, a great post, my friend, nice work.
                Thanks Race i had Forgotten about this post. i have not tried wordpad, but i found it hard in notepad as there is no numbered lines and when easymod says error could not find ----------- on line 536 for example it gave me a headache. Have you seen the forum lately i've had to tighten up Security for one reason and another, it's taken me to weeks to sort out and resulting in banning two members, one a mod. thanks agian Race for all your help.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Tips on forum design & creation.

                  Aliens or Anyone with the knowledge-
                  I need to add a link back to my home page from my forum page. I have very little experience with HTML.
                  First I need to know WHERE I will be doing this - in my cpanel? And where in the Cpanel if so. I really need someone to help me one step at a time.
                  Thanks,
                  Nish

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Tips on forum design & creation.

                    Hi nish1959
                    open your ftp manager, on the right side find the folder that is your forum open it and find the templates folder, open and find the skin you are using, ( if you are just using the standard one it will be subSilver ) open that and look for the file called overall_header.tpl, now copy that file back down to your computer ( the left side of screen ) in a safe folder were you can find it, copy a second time into another folder this a spare just incase you mess things up you will have a good copy to put back.

                    now open the tpl file using what ever script editer you have notepad - wordpad - dreamweaver.
                    look for the lines that look like this.

                    &nbsp;<a href="{U_GROUP_CP}" class="mainmenu"><img src="templates/subSilver/images/icon_mini_groups.gif" width="12" height="13" border="0" alt="{L_USERGROUPS}" hspace="3" />{L_USERGROUPS}</a>&nbsp;
                    now copy the hole line on to notepad so you can edit.
                    Now the text in red is the link it's self put the full URL there of the page you wish to go back to.
                    the one's in green are the text link that appears on the forum page, so you will need to put something like Home Page there.

                    So you will end up with something like this.
                    &nbsp;<a href="http://aliensanonymous.org/tell_a_friend.html" class="mainmenu"><img src="templates/subSilver/images/icon_mini_music.gif" width="12" height="13" border="0" alt="Tell a Friend" hspace="3" />Tell a Friend</a> &nbsp;

                    now copy / paste the line back to the file in the place you want the link to appear.
                    so the file should look something like this.

                    <!-- END switch_memberlist -->
                    &nbsp;<a href="{U_GROUP_CP}" class="mainmenu"><img src="templates/subSilver/images/icon_mini_groups.gif" width="12" height="13" border="0" alt="{L_USERGROUPS}" hspace="3" />{L_USERGROUPS}</a>&nbsp;
                    <a href="{U_ALBUM}" class="mainmenu"><img src="templates/subSilver/images/icon_mini_album.gif" width="12" height="13" border="0" alt="{L_ALBUM}" hspace="3" />{L_ALBUM}</a>&nbsp;
                    &nbsp;<a href="{U_MUSIC}" class="mainmenu"><img src="templates/subSilver/images/icon_mini_music.gif" width="12" height="13" border="0" alt="{L_MUSIC}" hspace="3" />{L_MUSIC}</a> &nbsp;
                    &nbsp;<a href="http://aliensanonymous.org/tell_a_friend.html" class="mainmenu"><img src="templates/subSilver/images/icon_mini_music.gif" width="12" height="13" border="0" alt="Tell a Friend" hspace="3" />Tell a Friend</a> &nbsp;
                    <!-- BEGIN switch_user_logged_out -->

                    now all you have to do is copy the file back to the same place you downloaded it from ie: templates/subSilver

                    now all you have added is the link and text if you wanted to change the little image or you using a different skin that uses buttons or images you will need to make and change the images acordingly.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Tips on forum design &amp; creation.

                      Aliens, thanks. But do I have a scriptwriter with bluevoda? If not,I don't have any of the products you've mentioned.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Tips on forum design &amp; creation.

                        If you our using windows it comes with notepad and word. you can find notepad by clicking start go to all programs then accessories you should see notepad in there.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Tips on forum design &amp; creation.

                          Thanks again! I'll play with this all weekend. Hopefully I won't rip all the hair out of my head!
                          Nish

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                          • #14
                            Re: Tips on forum design &amp; creation.

                            Aliens, I didn't get far at all. Are you talking about the BV FTP Manager? I see nothing that shows a forum folder. Please help!
                            Thanks

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Tips on forum design &amp; creation.

                              Yes when you open your ftp manager and connect on the right find the the folder that has your forum is in, if you installed though cpanel the chances are it will be named phpBB, open and find the templates folder, open that if you are just using the subSilver skin open that, in that folder you will find the file you are looking for.

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