[Osbes]

Frequently Asked Questions

Question
My Icon (mostly the paperclip) looks like http://dl.dropbox.com/u/246391/Robin_result.png (it is stretched and vertical lines are added), what can i do?

Answer
I assume you use a GD Libary older than 2.0.36.

GD had a problem handling grayscale images with alpha channel correctly, which was fixed with GD 2.0.36 in the year 2007.

The solution is to update the GD-Libary to 2.0.36 (or later) or replace every file which uses "gray+alpha" with an version using "color RGBA".
I would advise to update the GD-Libary, cause there is also a serious security problem, that was fixed by Debian in the year 2009.

For the embed Version of GD within PHP, this issue is fixed since PHP 5.3.0.

Question
Does this addon works with CDNs?

Answer
Yes. This addon has one side support for CDNs. One side meaning we can't write the sprite on your external server (and never can). But it doesn't has any problems reading the icons out of your CDN and writing it to a local filepath where your CDN sync function can distribute it to your CDN.

Question
How to add custom icons into the sprite?

Answer
The addon has the option to include custom icons. Be warned it's meant for advanced users (and style designers). An explanation can be found here:
http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showp...&postcount=177

Question
I am using an Add-On for changing the forum icons (like www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=244351). When using CSS Sprites, my forum icons are reverted to the original state.

Answer
The feature to use forums custom icons is builtin in vBulletin 4. You can add to every forum an own imageprefix, so it will use forums custom icons. If you use the vBulletin imageprefix for your your forums, these icons will instantly added to the sprite.

An explanaition to this can be found in the vBulletin Manual (under Prefix for Forum Status Images):
https://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/...orum_add_forum

Question
Google pagespeed still tells me that i should combine icons into sprites.

Answer
Despite covering hundreds of icons our addon can't cover everything. Especially gradients can't be automatically replaced since they differ a lot in custom styles. But, we do offer a hook so you can add your own icons into the sprite, based on the needs your board has.
A longer answer why we can't include gradients and all custom icons can be found here
http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showp...2&postcount=49

To add the missing Icons yourself, please read: How to add custom icons into the sprite?

Question
Double background issue/ search icon dissapears

Answer
Some custom styles do include their own background, for example behind the search icon.
Since sprites replace the icons with the sprite background this gets in the way.
Solution: Modify your search icon to include both background and icon and refresh the sprite.

[Osbes]

Version 0.7.2 (06.08.2011)

• now supporting folders for forum prefixes
• sprite generation splittet to avoid timeouts on sites which a huge number of styles
• checks if the gd version is 2.0.36 or higher (experimental)

Version 0.7.1 (01.08.2011)

• added support for search.php pages including What's New
• some minor bugfixes

Version 0.7.0 (01.08.2011)

• full support for ltr/rtl
• forum sidebar support added
• FORUMDISPLAY support added

Version 0.6.3 (23.07.2011)

• Added the possibility to use TMS for automatic template modification.
• Icons can now be merged into different sprites and css rollups instead of one big sprite.
• Addon is now compatible with vBulletin 4.1.x

Version 0.6.2 (17.07.2011)

• Added support for http filepaths and therefore one-way support for CDNs
• Templates are now using the cache system
• clientscript/sprite_vbulletin_collapse.js removed.

Version 0.6.1 (17.07.2011)

• bug-fix: using alternative paths for post icons could cause that these are not includes in the sprite.

Version 0.6.0 (17.07.2011)

• possibility to add custom icons into the sprite via plugin-hook sprite_add_icon
• added log output during sprite generation in the acp
• option to deactivate using post icons in your sprite (default should be on)

Version 0.5.1 (12.07.2011)

• Added support php versions < 5.3.0. Addon now just requires php5 due to TypeHinting

Version 0.5.0 (12.07.2011)

• Add-On release
• FORUMHOME css-sprite support

[Jeff Ledger]

Let's say

The goal is good but it's hard for other forums using different styles than yours use it.

Sprite require the css must be 100% exactly, and if someone use custom icons they will need to make a different sprite also the css.

It takes even more time than the usually way to reedit sprite and css.

I prefer doing sprite css for every single style, means custom css and custom sprite png. This is more effective and useful than a product like that.

Btw nice mod. Keep up the good work

Jeff

[Mooff]

The goal of our Add on is to solve that problem. The Add on creates a different sprite for each style based on the used icons, their dimension (hight width) and vbulletin stylevars.

We are using 9 different styles (not counting our mobile styles) and it works without problems in all of them. Without additional refinement.


The intention is to create an addon where the board admin doesn't have to know anything about html or css and still can use sprites.

[Hornstar]

Originally Posted by Mooff

The goal of our Add on is to solve that problem. The Add on creates a different sprite for each style based on the used icons, their dimension (hight width) and vbulletin stylevars.

We are using 9 different styles (not counting our mobile styles) and it works without problems in all of them. Without additional refinement.


The intention is to create an addon where the board admin doesn't have to know anything about html or css and still can use sprites.

Awesome! Can't wait to test this then.

Thanks.

[Jeff Ledger]

The goal of our Add on is to solve that problem. The Add on creates a different sprite for each style based on the used icons, their dimension (hight width) and vbulletin stylevars.

We are using 9 different styles (not counting our mobile styles) and it works without problems in all of them. Without additional refinement.


The intention is to create an addon where the board admin doesn't have to know anything about html or css and still can use sprites.

Sounds promising, will test it and give you feedbacks.

Jeff

[final kaoss]

Yeah it sounds like it has some potential

[Barbaro]

guau 4.1.4?

gracias

[Mooff]

I guess you want to know whether it does work with 4.1.4?

We can't test it for ourselfs, since we are going to jump 4.1.4 and update with the release of 4.1.5.
BUT on the german ( www.vbulletin-germany.org ) modding site we received feedback that this addon does work well with 4.1.4


Regards Mooff

[Barbaro]

Exactly, it hurts, I will be pending for 4.1.5.

Good mod, thanks

regards

[cherylferraro]

Not working for me but I think this will be fantastic when it's fully functional. Thank you for working on it

[Mooff]

While posing a bug report please include
- vBulletin Version
- full bug description (what, where, whether you did the template edits ...)
(if possible link to your site where the addon is active)

so we can fix whatever the problem is.

[cherylferraro]

VB version 4.1.4 patch 1

Bug description: Uploaded the files and did the template edits on a test style. Set 777 permissions on sprite folder and refreshed CSS-Sprites via admincp. No sprites were generated, or if they were they were not added to the images/sprites folder. I can't find the sprites. I guess it goes without saying that the status icons were not displayed on forumhome.

I tried uninstalling and then reinstalling. It still didn't work.

Thanks again for your work on this mod. It will be a great addition to vb.

[Osbes]

Are you using the PHP GD Libary? This addon currently doens't support ImageMagick.
Which Version of the PHP GD Libary is installed?

If you are currently not using the PHP GD Libary or it is older than GD2, please install/update GD and try it agein.

If you are using GD2, please send me via PN the output of

Block Disabled:      (Update License Status)
Suspended or Unlicensed Members Cannot View Code.

and the output after refreshing the css-sprites via admincp.

If possible, please check your php error-logs if if some errors related to the sprite.php occurred.




Big Big Thanks for the nice feedback