Column widths of left block column

[patvdv]

Hi,

I am using vbdrupal 5.6.0 with vBulletin 3.6.8 and using a left block column layout. When browsing the site with Opera 9.2 I noticed that the left block column was being stretched above the default 202px width for some pages. I wonder if Opera has a problem with the "col width=xxx" definition in the VDBRUPAL template:


<if condition="$blocks[left]"><col width="202" /><col width="10" /></if>
<col width="*" />
<if condition="$blocks[right]"><col width="10" /><col width="200" /></if>


I have switched to adding the actual width setting for the table columns to the individual "td" definitions and the problem went away:


<table border="0" width="100%" align="center" id="vbdrupalcontent" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
<tr valign="top">
<if condition="$blocks[left]">
<td width="202">$blocks[left]</td>
<td width="10"><!-- padding -->&nbsp;</td>
</if>
<td>
$blocks[content_top]

$statusmessages

<if condition="$show[pagetitle]">
<table class="tborder" cellpadding="$stylevar[cellpadding]" cellspacing="$stylevar[cellspacing]" border="0" width="100%"
<if condition="!$show['bottomborder']">style="border-bottom-width:0px"</if>>
<tr>
<td class="tcat" width="100%">
$pagetitle
</td>
<if condition="$show['voteform']">
<td class="vbmenu_control" id="voteform" nowrap="nowrap">
<a href="$show[nojs_link]#goto_voteform">$vbphrase[rate_entry]</a>
<if condition="$show['popups']"><script type="text/javascript"> vbmenu_register("voteform"); </script></if>
</td>
</if>
</tr>
</table>


Can anyone conform a similar behaviour with Opera browsers? Perhaps a suggestion for a future vbdrupal release to provide better browser compability?

Regards,

Pat.

[kompressaur]

Hello Pat i would like to make my left coloum thinner. Can you tell me if this is possible and if so mthen what template i should be editting? thanks

[kompressaur]

found the template. vbrupal template in vb. also the code is in my footer. When i try and change the 202px value though the size of the blocks dont get any thinner. anyone any idea why this could be? im checking it on firefox and ie and no change in the block width. thanks

[kompressaur]

Ok quick update. Ive found the vbdrupal_block template in vb and have managed to adjust the width from there. My forum has really horrible bullet points for each link. Is there any way i could get rid of them? Do i just add css to this vbdrupal_block template? Sorry for being a noob.

Oh! also is there a way i could add something ABOVE my left side blocks and then them below? Thanks

[Goddess]

My forum has really horrible bullet points for each link.

i'm not sure what you mean...can you show a pic or something? it's probably something in your vb skin, i'm guessing.

Oh! also is there a way i could add something ABOVE my left side blocks and then them below? Thanks

well, yeah. it's going to be in your vb templates. if you've done a layout table to add drupal content to your forum, add whatever you want to in the code you made to create the sidebars, wherever you want them.

is that what you're asking?

[kompressaur]

Sorry Goddess im slightly out my depth here a bit i think. Ive got left sidebars on in the forum from drupal with the code in the header and Footer as per your excellent instructions on another thread. I can leave the adding things above the sidebar for now as ive got so much on with it all but i will return to this in the next week or so. I would still love to be able to change all the css in the left sidebar modules. Sorry Goddess you can view my forum here-
http://www.thedailypunt.com/forum/

As you can see the sidebar isnt very nice. Its a big old brute too. if i could learn how to cusomise the style of the sidebar seperate from the forum styling then that would set me on a long road of filling up my sidebar with some great looking things. I understand that it is using the forum css just now. Any help would be appreciated as i might not know much i dont mind putting in some hard work to make it happen.

thanks

[Goddess]

well, using defaulttangy, the style of your sidebar is going to be inherited from your vb skin. you can alter the css on a per-item basis, yeah. probably the easiest way to identify what css to alter is to do a view source (or use the web dev pluings for firefox) to find the classes for the particular blocks you want to change css for.

to put something above or below the sidebar, if you're looking as straight html, you go back to the templates where you added the $drupal_blocks[left], and put the code above or below that. or alternatively, you can enable a block with the code that goes in your left sidebar, and alter it's position with block weight-heaviest at bottom, lightest at top.

and hey-getting in over your head is how you learn. :)

hth.

[kompressaur]

Just reading down as i go goddess. Aye i like that webdevelpoers tool on Firefox. Its been invaluable to my fumblings in the dark i must say. I can understand whats going on so far. the css from the sidebar seems to be coming from

/forum/clientscript/vbulletin_css/style-850d403e-00104.css

Various difffernat sections. this for example-

a:visited, body_avisited (line 14)

{

color: #515151;

}

a:hover, a:active, body_ahover (line 18)

{

color: #bd0404;

}

Im presuming i could just change this or add to it. Would this effect my whole forum's theme when i start tinkering with that? the names of my css thingies are-

td, th, p, li (line 27)
a:visited, body_avisited (line 14)

and the other. More interesting possibly is the main bit of the menu that comes up with a message 'no style information' Should i give it some style information to think about? I think im confusing myself again.

Thanks for that great info in the blocks Goddess. that last tip is making me see how great all this could be once i understand what i can do with it all. So in effect ...actually i better go see my nice menus thread first. My menus have no style. they need to get hip.