Top Header and Side Borders on Forum Home

I get asked a lot for my code on how to make a top header and side borders for a forum. You can see an example by going to: Yorkiechat.net - For The Crazy Dog People!. This assumes you have a Fixed Size of 800. You will notice in the Header and Footer the widths are 808. This is to compensate a 4px border we will add.

Another super simple Mod that really enhances the overall look of the forum. First off you'll need to adjust the header template.

Paste below and edit where needed:
Code:
<table cellpadding="$stylevar[cellpadding]" cellspacing="0" border="0" width="808" class="page" align="center">
<tr>
    
<td align="center" class="navheader"><a href="www.yourforum.com">Description Here</a></td>

<td align="center" class="navheader"><a href="www.yourforum.com">Description Here</a></td>

<td align="center" class="navheader"><a href="www.yourforum.com">Description Here</a></td>

<td align="center" class="navheader"><a href="www.yourforum.com">Description Here</a></td>
            
    </td>
</tr>
</table>
<!-- /logo -->

<!-- content table -->
$spacer_open

$_phpinclude_output

$ad_location[ad_header_end]
Next we'll need to edit the Footer

Code:
$ad_location[ad_footer_start]

<br />
<div align="center">
<div class="smallfont" align="center">$vbphrase[all_times_are_gmt_x_time_now_is_y]</div>
    <div class="smallfont" align="center">
    <!-- Do not remove this copyright notice -->
    $vbphrase[powered_by_vbulletin]
    <!-- Do not remove this copyright notice -->
    </div>

    <div class="smallfont" align="center">
    <!-- Do not remove $cronimage or your scheduled tasks will cease to function -->
    $cronimage
    <!-- Do not remove $cronimage or your scheduled tasks will cease to function -->

    $vboptions[copyrighttext]
    </div>
</div>
<br />

$spacer_close
<!-- /content area table -->

<form action="$vboptions[forumhome].php" method="get">

<table cellpadding="$stylevar[cellpadding]" cellspacing="0" border="0" width="808" class="page" align="center">
<tr>
    <if condition="$show['quickchooser']">
        <td class="tfoot">
            <select name="styleid" onchange="switch_id(this, 'style')">
                <optgroup label="$vbphrase[quick_style_chooser]">
                    $quickchooserbits
                </optgroup>
            </select>
        </td>
    </if>
    <if condition="$show['languagechooser']">
        <td class="tfoot">
            <select name="langid" onchange="switch_id(this, 'lang')">
                <optgroup label="$vbphrase[quick_language_chooser]">
                    $languagechooserbits
                </optgroup>
            </select>
        </td>
    </if>
    <td class="tfoot" align="$stylevar[align=right]" width="100%">
        <div class="smallfont">
            <strong>
                <if condition="$show['contactus']"><a href="$vboptions[contactuslink]" rel="nofollow" accesskey="9">$vbphrase[contact_us]</a> -</if>
                <if condition="$vboptions['hometitle']"><a href="$vboptions[homeurl]">$vboptions[hometitle]</a> -</if>
                <if condition="$show['admincplink']"><a href="$admincpdir/index.php$session[sessionurl_q]">$vbphrase[admin]</a> -</if>
                <if condition="$show['modcplink']"><a href="$modcpdir/index.php$session[sessionurl_q]">$vbphrase[mod]</a> -</if>
                <if condition="$vboptions['archiveenabled']"><a href="archive/index.php">$vbphrase[archive]</a> -</if>
                $template_hook[footer_links]
                <if condition="$vboptions[privacyurl]"><a href="$vboptions[privacyurl]">$vbphrase[privacy_statement]</a> -</if>
                <if condition="$vboptions[tosurl]"><a href="$vboptions[tosurl]">$vbphrase[terms_of_service]</a> -</if>
                <a href="#top" onclick="self.scrollTo(0, 0); return false;">$vbphrase[top]</a>
            </strong>
        </div>
    </td>
</tr>
</table>

</form>

$ad_location[ad_footer_end]

<if condition="$show['dst_correction']">
<!-- auto DST correction code -->
<form action="profile.php?do=dst" method="post" name="dstform">
    <input type="hidden" name="s" value="$session[sessionhash]" />
    <input type="hidden" name="securitytoken" value="$bbuserinfo[securitytoken]" />
    <input type="hidden" name="do" value="dst" />
</form>
<script type="text/javascript">
<!--
    var tzOffset = $bbuserinfo[timezoneoffset] + $bbuserinfo[dstonoff];
    var utcOffset = new Date().getTimezoneOffset() / 60;
    if (Math.abs(tzOffset + utcOffset) == 1)
    {    // Dst offset is 1 so its changed
        document.forms.dstform.submit();
    }
//-->
</script>
<!-- / auto DST correction code -->

</if>
<script type="text/javascript">
<!--
    // Main vBulletin Javascript Initialization
    vBulletin_init();
//-->
</script>
Now in the .page CSS area add this to the Extra CSS attributes. Change the color as necessary to fit your forum.

Code:
border-left: 4px solid #6895bf;
border-right: 4px solid #6895bf;
And finally add this to the Additional CSS area. Again change colors as needed to fit your forum.

Code:
.navheader
{
background: #d9dcdf url(http://yorkiechat.net/forum/images/misc/1.png);
color: #FFFFFF;
font: bold 8pt tahoma, verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif;
padding: 3px 6px 3px 6px;
white-space: nowrap;
}

.navheader a:link, .tfoot_alink
{
    color: #FFFFFF;
}
.navheader a:visited, .tfoot_avisited
{
    color: #FFFFFF;
}
.navheader a:hover, .tfoot a:active, .tfoot_ahover
{
    color: #40364D;
}
For those using vBadvanced
adv_portal template

Find:
Code:
<table align="center" class="page" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
Replace With:
Code:
<table align="center" class="portal" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
Add in Additional CSS Area
Code:
.portal { 
color: SAME AS .PAGE; 
background: SAME AS .PAGE;
font: SAME AS .PAGE;
}
And thats it! Cool little mod to make your site POP!
 
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