Hi all,

I would like to reduce the huge white space on my "categories only" intro page. The excess white space is in the middle of the page.

Looks to be a nested table controlled by the value $TBT (table top, from public_common.pl) and is set at 100%. $TBT also controls other pages and cannot be fiddled with... I would suppose.

How can I reduce the header strip and the category links + forum totals row to 80%? Can I just add a new invisible cell on either end of the row to float the table closer to the center? Should I create a left and right sidebar beginning in this middle section?

The top part of the page is just fine. The bottom part only has the copywrite stuff which is already centered. Version Classic 6.7.2. Much thanks in advance.

From public_forum_summary.pl :

sub Cat_Row {
# Fixed for strict - 20030426
# standalone category row

my($color, $forum_count, $catarray) = @_;

my $desc = $catarray->[5] ? qq~ <font size="$vars_style{FDTextSize}" face="$vars_style{FontFace}" color="$vars_style{TextColor}">
$catarray->[5]</font>~ : "";

return qq~
<tr bgcolor="$color">
<td align="left">
<font size="$vars_style{TextSize}" face="$vars_style{FontFace}">
<a href="$ULTIMATEBB{"category=$catarray->[2]"}"><b>$catarray->[1]</b></a></font>
$desc
</td>
<td align="center">
<font size="$vars_style{TextSize}" face="$vars_style{FontFace}"><b>$forum_count</b></font>
</td></tr>
~;
} # end Cat_Row

Because of the use of TBT and TBB, as you noted, it becomes hard to make the table less than normal width. What you could do instead is fill the table with more information.

Could we get the URL to your site? That'll help us figure out what could be done with the page...

Hi Charles,

Thank you for looking at this. Others might find the solution to be of interest, too.

Screens and displays are larger than ever making this white space more prominent. Also, I want the main page to have a different feel than the other pages with their long lines of links and other data.

got:
http://www.housechurch.org/cgi-bin/ubbcgi_hc/ultimatebb.cgi

need:
http://www.housechurch.org/test.html

Darn. See, I was hoping I'd be able to suggest something obvious to fill up the space, like adding category descriptions, but you're already doing that.

I don't have a copy of the code with me, I'll check back in later...

You can change the top TBT to the actual code it spits out and reduce the width to 80% there. Would be found in public_forum_summary.pl

I don't have a copy of the code with me, I'll check back in later... We need a way of editing templates like threads has.

Unfortunately, it isn't that easy. The same template routine (PageTop in public_forum_summary) is used for both category-only mode and normal mode.

So, the change is going to be a little more complex.

First, remove the $TBT from PageTop, around line 55.

Then go find sub Cat_Table_Top, and just insert the modified TBT value in the HTML that it returns.

Finally, go find sub Normal_Table_Top, and insert a $TBT in the very first HTML block (my $Top = qq~...)

Charles and Allen,

That code was exactly what I was looking for. Thank you for caring about what might appear as something insignificant.

UBB's fantastic support make it a fantastic product. Again, thanks so very much for all you do to keep "classic" alive!