Right and Left panels outside main panel... please help...

[FearlessFreap]

Hello,

I don't know what happened, but I am currently experiencing a problem and I need some assistance.

I am using TP with SMF 2.0.2  everything worked fine for months... then all of the sudden I had a problem with my right and left panels.

I use them to post advertising, but now the formatting is all messed up.  The panel does not post within the main part of the forum, but on the outside.  If the forum width is set at 100% it's now outside the screen.

I can't for the life of me figure out what happened or how to correct the issue.  You can see what I am experiencing here : My Favorite Cheerleader

I even wiped out everything and reloaded hoping that it would wipe out whatever setting changed, but it did not.  I am up and operating, but not back to where I was when I started over again... so please bear with me.

Link to my forum: http://www.myfavoritecheerleader.com
SMF version: SMF ver. 2.02
TP version: TP ver. 1.107
Default Forum Language: English
Theme name and version: default
Browser Name and Version: Firefox 18.0.1
Mods installed:
           TinyPortal                     1.107
           InLine Attachments    1.2.1    
           cbi, 1.0                            1.6.3    
           Thumbnail Topic Mod    1.2    
           Ad Managment            3.0.1
Related Error messages: none


Thanks,

-Steve

[ZarPrime]

Hello Steve,

Welcome to the TinyPortal Support Site.

I don't know what happened, but I am currently experiencing a problem and I need some assistance.

I am using TP with SMF 2.0.2  everything worked fine for months... then all of the sudden I had a problem with my right and left panels.

I use them to post advertising, but now the formatting is all messed up.  The panel does not post within the main part of the forum, but on the outside.  If the forum width is set at 100% it's now outside the screen.

I can't for the life of me figure out what happened or how to correct the issue.  You can see what I am experiencing here : My Favorite Cheerleader

I even wiped out everything and reloaded hoping that it would wipe out whatever setting changed, but it did not.  I am up and operating, but not back to where I was when I started over again... so please bear with me.

I have to admit that I have never seen this behavior.
Note to TP Team Members ▬▬► Have any of you ever seen this behavior?

However, I have a feeling that there is some javascript running, possibly with the code for the Ad on that right side, that is interfering with the proper execution of the TP code wrt the panels.  You said ...

I am using TP with SMF 2.0.2  everything worked fine for months... then all of the sudden I had a problem with my right and left panels.

When did this start happening?  Was it fine until you added a new SMF Mod or did it change when you added a TP block?  When you installed your Mods, did you have any errors?  It couldn't have just started "all of the sudden".  Something had to have happened to cause this behavior.

Here is what I am going to do.  Since you can't send me a PM here yet because you don't have enough posts, I am going to register on your site and then send you a PM on your site to have you make me an Admin so that I can see what's happening under the hood, so to speak.  At the same time, I am going to send you a PM here to let you know what username I am using on your site.  Once you have made me an Admin on your site, I will take a look inside to see if I can tell what is going on.

BTW, the latest version of SMF is 2.0.4 and the SMF Mod shown below is out of date but I don't think that would be causing any problems.  Please don't change anything until I have had a chance to look at your site as an Admin.

           cbi, 1.0                            1.6.3    

ZarPrime

[FearlessFreap]

OK,

You're set on the forum... let me try to answer your questions.

This started about 3 days ago.  Last thing I remember doing was changing a block to feature a photo of the day.  There was no script involved, I would manually change the photo each day.

The next thing I noticed was that the right panel was gone.  In that panel I had one or two blocks that both only featured advertising.  They had been that way for 6 months or more.  Again, everything ran fine until a couple of days ago.  I never used the left panel, but tried to move the advertising from one side to the other, same issue.  It appears to have affected both right and left panels.

There had been no mod updates or installations during this time.

I am trying to change some things on the index page and I'm having issues with what php file to use.  I thought BoardIndex.template.php was the correct one to alter the forum appearance.  Is that correct?

Hello Steve,

Welcome to the TinyPortal Support Site.

I don't know what happened, but I am currently experiencing a problem and I need some assistance.

I am using TP with SMF 2.0.2  everything worked fine for months... then all of the sudden I had a problem with my right and left panels.

I use them to post advertising, but now the formatting is all messed up.  The panel does not post within the main part of the forum, but on the outside.  If the forum width is set at 100% it's now outside the screen.

I can't for the life of me figure out what happened or how to correct the issue.  You can see what I am experiencing here : My Favorite Cheerleader

I even wiped out everything and reloaded hoping that it would wipe out whatever setting changed, but it did not.  I am up and operating, but not back to where I was when I started over again... so please bear with me.

I have to admit that I have never seen this behavior.
Note to TP Team Members ▬▬► Have any of you ever seen this behavior?

However, I have a feeling that there is some javascript running, possibly with the code for the Ad on that right side, that is interfering with the proper execution of the TP code wrt the panels.  You said ...

I am using TP with SMF 2.0.2  everything worked fine for months... then all of the sudden I had a problem with my right and left panels.

When did this start happening?  Was it fine until you added a new SMF Mod or did it change when you added a TP block?  When you installed your Mods, did you have any errors?  It couldn't have just started "all of the sudden".  Something had to have happened to cause this behavior.

Here is what I am going to do.  Since you can't send me a PM here yet because you don't have enough posts, I am going to register on your site and then send you a PM on your site to have you make me an Admin so that I can see what's happening under the hood, so to speak.  At the same time, I am going to send you a PM here to let you know what username I am using on your site.  Once you have made me an Admin on your site, I will take a look inside to see if I can tell what is going on.

BTW, the latest version of SMF is 2.0.4 and the SMF Mod shown below is out of date but I don't think that would be causing any problems.  Please don't change anything until I have had a chance to look at your site as an Admin.

           cbi, 1.0                            1.6.3    

ZarPrime

[ZarPrime]

I am trying to change some things on the index page and I'm having issues with what php file to use.  I thought BoardIndex.template.php was the correct one to alter the forum appearance.  Is that correct?

What are you trying to change on the index page?  You probably shouldn't be trying to do something like that with the default (curve) theme.  If you actually want to work on something with that theme, it's best to make a copy of the theme to use for your edits.  Did you actually make any edits to the BoardIndex.template.php or to any other files?

Give me a couple of minutes to look around.  I'll be back in a few.

ZarPrime

[ZarPrime]

• For the left and right panel, in the panel settings (http://www.myfavoritecheerleader.com/index.php?action=tpadmin;sa=panels), for the "Width of this panel:", you don't have to write XXXpx.  "px" is assumed so instead of "170px", just use "170".  This was the real issue.  I removed the "px" for both and that fixed the issue.


• In the left and right panel, it's recommended that you "Display the blocks vertically".  Only use "Display the blocks horizontally" in very special circumstances.  I have set the blocks to display vertically in those panels.


• Finally, in panel settings (http://www.myfavoritecheerleader.com/index.php?action=tpadmin;sa=panels), it is recommended that you set "Hide panels when in admin section?" to "No", at least until you know that none of the blocks have an error in the code.  If the panels are turned on in the Admin section, and the code in a block is bad, this can sometimes keep you from being able to access the Admin section.  I have left it on for now but you should turn it off.

Oh, one other thing that I found out.  There is something wrong with the code for the "Texas Tower Right" block.  I have turned that one off.  I don't know whether the problem is with the actual code or whether the javascript in that block is interfering with one or both of the other 2 blocks that are showing.

Hmmm, wait, I just tested that code on a test site and it works.  Let me try redoing that block.

OK, I redid the block and deleted your original and it should work fine now.

ZarPrime

[ZarPrime]

OK, one other rather undocumented feature that you might like to use.  For your blocks that show the title, you can center that title, if you want.  For instance, instead of using "Cheerleader of the Week" you could use "<center>Cheerleader of the Week</center>" instead.

ZarPrime

[FearlessFreap]

Thank you so much for helping me with this issue.  I was nervous that I might have to handle this on my own, but you guys came through with flying colors.

I thought you had to differentiate the pixel from the percentage, I guess that's one thing that threw me off.

The blocks vertically was only a small attempt to make them visible... normally I leave them along in this type of usage.

All other notes are now taken care of...  Again... you guys rock.  Thanks!

[IchBin]

Probably wouldn't hurt to see if it could be specified as a percent or by pixels. Glad you caught the cause Zar!

[ZarPrime]

At first I didn't think about the 170px being the cause of the problem because I had never seen this issue come up for anyone.  For that reason, I didn't even look at the panel widths at the beginning.  Nothing made sense and then I opened Firebug to look at it and saw the style for the tprightbarcontainer (I believe) was "width: 170pxpx" and that's what kicked the old noggin into gear and I figured it out.

Probably wouldn't hurt to see if it could be specified as a percent or by pixels. Glad you caught the cause Zar!

Brad, I'm not so sure that percent is such a good idea for the left and right panel widths with our current mindset on how the code is written.  Pixels (px) or even points (pt), if you want a finer adjustment, would probably work OK because, as I said, the mindset on the panel width has really always been a static versus a dynamic setting.  Percent (%) or even ems (em) works good, or even best, for the container width of the entire forum since it's dynamic and tends to make the entire Forum show up correctly in any browser width or monitor resolution.  A dynamic setting for the panel width, like % or em might eventually be the way to go for possibly a future version of TP since, at that point, we could start considering how to handle panels for Android phones and tablets.  That's because those settings are dynamic and thus scalable.  Anyway, that is something to talk about for the future perhaps.

Oh, here is something else to consider.  Oftentimes, percent and ems works fine with text only but if there are images or even ads in the panels, like Steve has on his site, pixels or points is a much better choice.  Here is a site that discusses the differences between the 4 units if anyone is interested ▬▬► http://kyleschaeffer.com/user-experience/css-font-size-em-vs-px-vs-pt-vs/

Topic marked solved.

ZarPrime

[ZarPrime]

OK, so I did a little bit of experimentation with Firebug, here and on a few other Forums, and I think I have changed my mind.  All 4 of those units (pixels=px, points=pts, ems=em, and percent=%) all work well for the panels.  It's just a matter of understanding the difference between them and how they work.  Now, I am going to do a little more experimentation with it but I'm thinking you are right Brad, percent or even ems would work good with the panels since they are both dynamic.

Just wondering, does anyone else have any thoughts on this?

ZP