11th April 2011
I do not like ads. I realize they're a good way for a web presence to support itself somewhat, but I still don't like them. I especially don't like the big honkin' 300x300 squares smack in the middle of the page.
On my phpBB forum, I've had good luck running a mod called Advertising Management to place ads in the various places.
I've been running a 728x90 banner under the first post for years, but have come to the realization that folks just roll right past it as they browse the forum.
I recently set up a SimpleMachines board, and found an adsense mod that had the ad inside the first post. "Hmmm", says I. "Can't avoid that one."
So, off I go to the great Google, and found this: How to put Adsense in first post of phpBB3. I did not do it exactly as it says, but it did provide me a good starting place.
Instead of adding anything to the style sheet(s), I included the styling in the ad code block itself.
Here is the code I ended up with. For prosilver, it's pretty much as it goes on the linked page:
The guy has code that puts an ad both next to and below the post content, but I see no real reason for two ads in the first post.
I chose to use a 120x240 ad size, as this isn't huge and eyeburning, and doesn't make a single line post into some cumbersome thing that is full of empty space. You can see the ad in action in Subsilver2 and Prosilver
Want to discuss this? Have a comment for the author? Mosey on over to the Novarata Forums and let us know what you think.
On my phpBB forum, I've had good luck running a mod called Advertising Management to place ads in the various places.
I've been running a 728x90 banner under the first post for years, but have come to the realization that folks just roll right past it as they browse the forum.
I recently set up a SimpleMachines board, and found an adsense mod that had the ad inside the first post. "Hmmm", says I. "Can't avoid that one."
So, off I go to the great Google, and found this: How to put Adsense in first post of phpBB3. I did not do it exactly as it says, but it did provide me a good starting place.
Instead of adding anything to the style sheet(s), I included the styling in the ad code block itself.
Here is the code I ended up with. For prosilver, it's pretty much as it goes on the linked page:
<!-- IF postrow.S_FIRST_ROW --> <div style="float: right; margin: 3px 3px 3px 3px;"> <script type="text/javascript"><!-- google_ad_client = "YOUR-ADSENSE-CODE-GOES-HERE"; google_ad_width = 120; google_ad_height = 240; google_ad_format = "120x240_as"; google_ad_type = "text_image"; //--> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> </div> <br><br> <!-- ENDIF -->Now, for subsilver2, you'll need to find
<div class="postbody">{postrow.MESSAGE}</div>
in your $forumhome/styles/subsilver2/template/viewtopic_body.html and place the code in the appropriate place.
The guy has code that puts an ad both next to and below the post content, but I see no real reason for two ads in the first post.
I chose to use a 120x240 ad size, as this isn't huge and eyeburning, and doesn't make a single line post into some cumbersome thing that is full of empty space. You can see the ad in action in Subsilver2 and Prosilver
