Forum Discussion

caryn's avatar
caryn
Expert
14 years ago

Designating a custom layout for Forum Message/Thread pages

Hi all -- I'm hoping you can offer some suggestions or point me in the right direction. I'm creating some customized page templates for an exclusive area of our community that will have a different layout than the standard community page. I am able to easily do this at the category and forum levels, but at the message/thread level I don't see way to assign a Custom Page style to this page type. Essentially I would like it to be that if you go into threads/messages under Category A you will see the standard page layout, but if you access threads/messages under Category B, there will be a different layout. Is this possible?

 

Thanks!

 

-Caryn

  • KaelaC's avatar
    KaelaC
    14 years ago

    You can assign new message page layouts at the board level but not at the individual thread level.  What that means is that every thread in a particular board will need to share a page layout.  That sounds like it will fit your needs but I just want to be clear. 

     

    To do this you will need to create a new page layout, something like ForumTopicPage.Exclusive in studio. Then, in the admin, navigate to the board (or category) settings level and go to Page Layouts.  You should be able to set a custom topic page layout for all topic below that level. 

  • KaelaC's avatar
    KaelaC
    Lithium Alumni (Retired)
    14 years ago

    You can assign new message page layouts at the board level but not at the individual thread level.  What that means is that every thread in a particular board will need to share a page layout.  That sounds like it will fit your needs but I just want to be clear. 

     

    To do this you will need to create a new page layout, something like ForumTopicPage.Exclusive in studio. Then, in the admin, navigate to the board (or category) settings level and go to Page Layouts.  You should be able to set a custom topic page layout for all topic below that level. 

    • caryn's avatar
      caryn
      Expert
      14 years ago

      Thanks for the speedy answer, Kaela -- that's just what I was looking for!

    • brnomade's avatar
      brnomade
      Mentor
      12 years ago

       

      Hi,

       

      I am trying to apply the suggestion on a practical example but without much success.


      Can you please give a more step-by-step break down? I can't correlate your suggestion with the actual elements in Admin and Studio.

       

      Any help is appreciated.


      Thanks!

       

      • DougS's avatar
        DougS
        Khoros Oracle
        12 years ago

        I hope this helps:

         

        1. navigate to Lithium Studio -- you should land on the Pages tab
        2. create a new page witha name that starts with "ForumTopicPage." and ends with a unique name for your page -- something like ForumTopicPage.Exclusive
        3. Open the Forum Topic Page (click the "choose" link near the top and type "Forum Topic Page" and click on the link for the Forum Topic Page
        4. Click the XML tab
        5. Copy the XML
        6. Open the page you just created (in step 2)
        7. Click the XML tab
        8. Replace the contents with the XML you copied from the Forum Topic Page (in step 5)
        9. Go back to the canvas tab and make any additional changes you want to make for you page (add custom components, etc.)
        10. Save your page
        11. Navigate to the Lithium Admin
        12. Click on the "choose" link near the top of the page
        13. Choose the category you want to change the Forum Topic Page for
        14. Click on the Content tab
        15. Click on the "Custom Pages" sub-tab
        16. Select the drop-down for the "Forum Topic Page" -- you should see the custom page you created (in step 2) in the drop-down
        17. Select your custom page
        18. Save
        19. Go to any board in the category you switched for the "Forum Topic Page" for and you should see your custom page instead of the standard Forum Topic Page.