CTA Featured Threads & Portal [Paid] 2.17.0

[Paul B]

You can use redirection - see point 5 of the FAQ here: https://xenforo.com/community/threads/frequently-asked-questions.5183/#post-180455

It may not be straightforward due to it currently being installed in /forums, which is an XF route.

 

[PJK]

You can use redirection - see point 5 of the FAQ here: https://xenforo.com/community/threads/frequently-asked-questions.5183/#post-180455

It may not be straightforward due to it currently being installed in /forums, which is an XF route.

Perhaps it is better to just redirect domain.com to domain.com/forum/threads/featured then rather than the other way around?

I just went through and read the various links of this plugin, and a few questions I'm still looking to answer:
1) How do I remove "featured threads" title from showing on the portal?
2) Can I make threads stick to the top of the portal? I want to make a welcome thread that stays at the top of the portal, for example.
3) I notice the sidebar is inherited from the forum. Can I customize the portal sidebar so that it differs from the forum sidebar? I want to show a block on the portal but not on the forum home, for example.

Thanks.

 

[Paul B]

1 - That is controlled via Style Properties.

2 - There is no sticky function as such but you can achieve it by ordering by featured date and updating that featured thread date to make it the latest.

3 - Yes, the sidebar can be customized via Style Properties or by editing the template.

I would recommend reading all of the resource description and updates as most, if not all, questions are covered there.

 

[TeflonDon]

Brogan, where can I find a list of all the template hooks used by this addon?

 

[Paul B]

I'm not sure exactly what you're after but all of the custom templates are listed here: https://xenforo.com/community/resources/cta-featured-threads-portal.2599/update?update=13220

 

[TeflonDon]

I'm not sure exactly what you're after but all of the custom templates are listed here: https://xenforo.com/community/resources/cta-featured-threads-portal.2599/update?update=13220

Thanks

I was trying to add an ad to above the top breadcrumb and below the bottom breadcrumb on the portal using Sirup's Ad Manager. So he suggested I ask you for the template hooks used by the add-on. For example, to get an ad on the forum list, I have to specify that the content template is "forum_list".

 

[Paul B]

You can use the custom templates listed in the resource update to achieve that - the screenshots show where each template is on the home page.

Or you can use the main template which is cta_featuredthreads_featured.

 

[TeflonDon]

I also noticed a pretty significant load time increase with this addon enabled. I think it was actually the cron job to automatically feature as the slow downs seem to occur immediately after the scheduled times. I had most other addons disabled and found that disabling this one immediately fixed the problem.

 

[Paul B]

It's likely due to the permission checks.

The add-on respects all permissions, so when aggregating content from multiple forums on one page, it's going to require a lot more processing than a single forum.

 

[TeflonDon]

It's likely due to the permission checks.

The add-on respects all permissions, so when aggregating content from multiple forums on one page, it's going to require a lot more processing than a single forum.

Any suggestions to try and reduce that?

 

[Paul B]

Unfortunately not.

 

[PJK]

1 - That is controlled via Style Properties.

2 - There is no sticky function as such but you can achieve it by ordering by featured date and updating that featured thread date to make it the latest.

3 - Yes, the sidebar can be customized via Style Properties or by editing the template.

I would recommend reading all of the resource description and updates as most, if not all, questions are covered there.

I've read over the resource description several times before and after I've bought this, which shows which features are available, but I'm having a hard time figuring out how to actually use many of the features that it describes. There is little instruction on how to enable features, where stuff is located exactly, etc.

I have a few more questions that I can't find the answers to below.

On the updates page it shows:

This is a relatively small update (OK, I admit it, it's tiny) which fixes a few bugs but also adds a "New Posts" block to the page.

But it doesn't say how to add the New Posts block. How do I add a new posts block to the portal (I assume that is what is meant by "page")?

It says there is an archives page and I see the settings for the archives page, but what is the URL to the archives page so I can access it?

What is "On a block only" and "On a page only"? Is a block in the sidebar, and a "page" the forum view page, or the portal? I'm trying to play with the settings and can't quite figure it out what exactly these terms mean. Globally puts it on the portal homepage, the top of the forum home, and the forum view pages. I just set it to feature all threads from a specific forum automatically and globally, and I don't see any threads from that forum at all. I also just changed the manually featured thread from Globally to "On a page" and it still shows in all the locations above. As I'm typing this, I just noticed the changes are now in effect, about 15 minutes after I made the settings change. It may want to be mentioned that the updates don't take affect immediately to not confuse other users.

I've figured out how to add specific elements to just the portal sidebar using the cta sidebar position. How can I hide elements on the sidebar from just the portal page, while still showing them on the forum home page?

Thanks.

 

[Paul B]

Everything is set in the options or style properties, sometimes they work in tandem.

But it doesn't say how to add the New Posts block. How do I add a new posts block to the portal (I assume that is what is meant by "page")?

It does if you read the resource update: https://xenforo.com/community/resources/cta-featured-threads-portal.2599/update?update=16053

I recommend just enabling/disabling various options and features to see what they do.
I can't really explain every single function and feature in more detail than is already explained in all of the detailed updates.

 

[Freelancer]

How is the experience with UIX? Does it integrate seamlessly?

 

[Paul B]

As far as I am aware, it works the same with UI.X as the default style.

@Martok uses both this add-on and UI.X, as do many others.

 

[Martok]

@Martok uses both this add-on and UI.X, as do many others.

Indeed I do.

How is the experience with UIX? Does it integrate seamlessly?

Yes, integration is seamless, you can see it on my site.

 

[Freelancer]

Thank you both I am keen to buy soon.

 

[Bob_R]

I've changed this from Thread and Poll to Thread Only. But it's still displaying the thread and the poll. Is there a cron job to be run, etc.... for the change to take effect?

 

[Paul B]

Existing featured threads aren't affected by option changes.
You will need to manually update existing featured threads to remove polls.

 

[PJK]

Existing featured threads aren't affected by option changes.
You will need to manually update existing featured threads to remove polls.

If it was set to automatically feature all posts in a forum, if I revert that option to not automatically do it anymore, I have to manually go to each thread and un-feature them? Or is there a faster way to revert that? I'm been playing with stuff to test and want to undo that. Thanks.