Update the FAQ:




If you cannot find what you need here then please create a new topic in the support board and a member of out support team will assist you as soon as possible



A code has messed up my forum, how can I remove it?

I can't find my forum?

Can I add a login box to my website?

How do I add "Codes/Mods/Hacks" to my forum?

How can I create additional skins?

How many skins can I have?

Where can I upload images?

How do I make stuff bold/underline/italic (UBBC Code)

How do I use Smilies/Emoticons?

How do I change the ad position?

Why are my boards appearing in the wrong categories?

I can't login to my account

A code has messed up my forum, how can I remove it?

You can access your forum without anything in your headers or footers loading by using the "No Headers Trick". What this involves is adding noheaders/1 to the end of (almost) any URL. For example, to access the admin menu you would use

http://(YOUR FOURUMS URL)/action/admin/noheaders/1

Or if you need to be more specific and access the headers & footers themselves you'd use

http://(YOUR FORUMS URL)/action/admin/page/headers_footers/noheaders/1

When trying to load an invalid virtualforums URL you will be presented with a page giving some basic details of what's happened to the froum, if the forum ever existed. If you get a "Page cannot be displayed" error then either the server the forum is on is offline or you have typed the URL incorrectly.

If the page says the message board does not exist (error code 102) then double check that the URL is typed correctly. If possible, check your confirmation email sent when you registered for the correct URL to use.

If the page says the message board was deleted by the main admin (or somebody in the main admins account) then the forum can be restored to the state it was in before deletion. For this to happen, the main admin must start a new thread in the support board asking for the forum to be restored and providing the forums URL. Then, when requested, the main admin will need to send a PM to an Administrator (someone with a red name) containning the password used to create the forum. This is just so we can confirm that you are the real owner of the site before restoring it. We will not restore forums for anyone other than the forum owner.

If you get an error about corrupted files then again, post a new topic in the support board with a link to the forum and a member of staff will be able to fix it. Any member can post about corrupted files, it doesn't have to be the main administrator. However please ensure that nobody else has already reported the issue.

Can I add a login box to my website?

Absolutely. We provide this facility by means of some simple javascript. Just slot the following code into the body of your website, wherever you want the login box to appear.

Code:

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Code: JavaScriptSelect All 
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://your-forum-url/javascript/login.php?login_for=select&display_pm=1"><!--/* External Forum Login BoxRovided by virtualforums.co.ukFree Hosted Message Boards *///--></script><script type="text/javascript" src="http://your-forum-url/javascript/login.php?login_for=select&display_pm=[color=800080]1[/color]">
[color=ff0000]<!--[/color]/* External Forum Login Box
Rovided by <a href="http://virtualforums.co.uk" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">virtualforums.co.uk</a>
Free Hosted Message Boards */
[color=ff0000]//-->[/color] 
</script>

Code: JavaScriptSelect All {BR}<script type="text/javascript" src="http://your-forum-url/javascript/login.php?login_for=select&display_pm=1"><!--/* External Forum Login BoxRovided by <a href="http://virtualforums.co.ukFree" target="_blank">virtualforums.co.ukFree</a> Hosted Message Boards *///--></script><script type="text/javascript" src="http://your-forum-url/javascript/login.php?login_for=select&display_pm=[color=800080]1[/color]"> {BR}[color=ff0000]<!--[/color]/* External Forum Login Box {BR}Rovided by <a href="http://virtualforums.co.uk" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">virtualforums.co.uk</a> {BR}Free Hosted Message Boards */ {BR}[color=ff0000]//-->[/color] {BR}</script>

 

The only parts of the URL you need to edit are highlighted in different colors below with a brief description:

http://your-forum-url/javascript/login.php?login_for=select&display_pm=1

Forums Username: This is the basic URL you use to access your forum. For example: support.virtualforums.co.uk

Stay Logged In For: This can either be the number of minutes users should stay logged in for when logging in from your website or you can use "select" which will enable users to choose for themselves how long to stay logged in for.

Display PMs: If set to "1", users already logged into the forum will be shown the number of new PMs they have below their username/display name. If set to "0", the PM information won't show but the username/display name will.

How do I add "Codes/Mods/Hacks" to my forum?

For ease of use, we'll just refer to them as "Codes" however all 3 words mean the same thing,

A Code tells your message board how to look or behave. For example, it may tell the forum where to place certain information or what some text should look like.

Codes are placed into the "Headers and Footers" of your forum. The majority of codes placed into the Header or Footer will not be visible as they're just a set of instructions for the forum. However, for those which are visible, anything placed into the "Header" will appear below the menu bar but above the main forum. Anything placed into the footer will appear below the forum and info center but above the links at the bottom of the page.

Most codes available from the Hacks/Mods/Codes board will tell you which header or footer they need to be placed in. To access your headers & footers go to your "Admin" page, select the "Site Design" section and then the "Headers/Footers" link. From here, you can choose which header to modify and (if you have multiple skins/templates) which skin it should apply to. The "Global Header/Footer" applies to all pages of your forum, the "Main Header/Footer" to all non-board pages of your forum and the Board specific Headers/Footers apply to each individual board.

Some codes may need editing to suit your forum or needs. All codes should give specific details on what needs to be edited. But if you're unsure of what needs changing or if you've tried it and it's not working then you can always ask for someone to help.

How can I create additional skins?

New skins are created via the "Admin" -> "Site Design" -> "Create Skin" page. On this page, you can choose to make a new skin from scratch or import a pre-made skin from another site. When choosing to make a new skin, you must fill in all of the colors with 6 digit HEX codes. For more information on how to customize your forum colors and images, please refer to the Guide to Using Your Forum

How many skins can I have?

You can have an unlimited number of skins per forum. However bear in mind that if there's too many different skins available then most won't get used at all.

All images used on your forum, whether these be background images, icons or avatars, must be hosted somewhere on the Internet. We do not offer an image hosting service however many other sites do. Please note that when posting a message, there is an image uploader tool.

Universal Bulletin Board Code (or UBBC for short) is used to add a number of formatting options to your posts. There are two ways this can be used:

The first would be to highlight the text you wish to format by clicking and dragging your cursor over it. Then, click the corresponding UBBC button for whatever effect you wish to apply. For example, to make text bold you would use the button. When you hover over each button it should give you some idea of what it does.

More advanced users can also input the UBBC code directly into the text area. For example, to make some strike-throgh text I would type "", followed by the text to strike though before finishing with "".


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Some UBBC buttons require some more advanced editting than just wrapping the tags around the txt to affect. The most common of these are the hyperlink UBBC tags:

This tag can be used in 3 different ways, an example of each is as follows:

A standard clickable URL:
http://virtualforums.co.uk = http://virtualforums.co.uk

Clickable text to take you to a URL:
vForums Message Boards = vForums Message Boards

Clickable text to take you to a URL which opens in the same window:
vForums Message Boards = vForums Message Boards


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Other UBBC tags which include the =attribute portion include:

Font Size Size 3 Text
The number in blue dictates the font size and can be between 1 and 7
Text Color Pink text will be here
The part in blue here will dictate the color the text should be. This can be either a word such as "red" or "blue" or it could be a 6 digit HEX color code.
Font Face Comic Sans Text Here
The part in blue dictates the font family/face to use. For the user to see this font, it must be installed on their PC. If they do not have the font you specify, the text will use the default forum font.
Code

Code: HTML

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HTML code Here

HTML code Here

 

This will format whatever is placed between the [code] tags to use syntax highlighting appropriate for the language specified in blue. Supported formats are HTML, JS, CSS and PHP

How do I use smilies?

Smilies or Emoticons are the little faces that can be added to a post to help users express their feelings. You can add a smiley by either clicking on the image next to/above the post box or by typing the smiley code directly into your post, but these can be changed in the admin panel:


Smiley Code Output

Code:

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:)
;)
;D
B) or 8-)
:P
:(
::)
:'(
:-/
???
>:(
:o
:-*
:-x
:-[
:D

:) {BR};) {BR};D {BR}B) or 8-) {BR}:P {BR}:( {BR}::) {BR}:'( {BR}:-/ {BR}??? {BR}>:( {BR}:o {BR}:-* {BR}:-x {BR}:-[ {BR}:D

 

How do I change the ad position?

We have 6 positions available to you as to where the adverts should appear on your forum. These are:

Above the Welcome Table - Puts the ads at the very top of the page
Below the Welcome Table (Default) - Puts the ads between the welcome table and the main forums.
Floating Left Hand Side - The ads stick to the left hand side of the users screen. This format works best on slightly thinner forums otherwise the ads may cover up the start of the main forum on smaller screens.
Left Hand Column - The ads fit in a separate column next to the main forum. This makes the main forum slightly thinner than the welcome table.
Floating Right Hand Side - The ads stick to the right hand side of the users screen. This format works best on slightly thinner forums otherwise the ads may cover up the end of the main forum on smaller screens.
Right Hand Column - The ads fit in a seperate column after the main forum. This makes the main forum slightly thinner than the welcome table.

You can choose which format your forum uses via the "Ad-Free Settings" page found in the "Other Settings" section of your admin panel.

Why are my boards are appearing in the wrong categories?

If the boards on the main page appear to be in different categories to where you placed them then go to your Admin Panel, select "Reorder Categories", ensure the categories are in the desired order and then click "Save Changes". The boards should now appear in their correct positions.

Sometimes it can take a little while for emails to get from our server to your inbox. So try not to constantly request new keys or send to different email addresses. Give the email at least 10-15 minutes to arrive. If it still doesn't arrive then ensure you check your junk/spam mail. If it's not there either then try sending it to an alternative address, I find gmail.com addresses usually tend to let our emails through. Another tip for ensuring you receive our emails would be to add the following addresses to your allowed list/contacts:
communication@virtualforums.co.uk
noreply@virtualforums.co.uk
notification@virtualforums.co.uk

If you've tried all this then start a new topic with a link to the forum and the username in question. We can then request a new validation key which we will track through the email system to ensure it is sent.

I can't log into my account

If you're having trouble staying logged into forums then try the following suggestions:

1. Check that the date and time on your computer are correct. If they're wrong, it could make your computer think that the cookies (files which keep you logged in) have expired.

2. Follow the steps here to change your browsers cookie settings.
http://www.betfred.com/help/static/cookiehelp_ie.htm

3. Add virtualforums.co.uk and vforums.co.uk to your allowed sites list. To do this, follow the same instructions as suggestion 2 except when you get to the privacy tab select "Sites". Type the addresses in the input field and then click the "Allow" button.

What part needs updating. It would be easier if you stated what needed to be updated, instead of rewriting it all.

A lot of parts, thats why I redid it.