Vanilla Labs - Vanilla Success
<main> <article class="userContent"> <h2 data-id="overview">Overview</h2><p>Since the introduction of our new <a href="https://success.vanillaforums.com/kb/theme-guide" rel="nofollow noreferrer ugc">Foundation Theming</a> editor, Vanilla has been hard at work adding new components and widgets that are designed to work seamlessly. </p><p>As of Release 2021.008, Vanilla has a new Labs page within the Dashboard settings. Using this new Vanilla Labs feature, you can enable and test out new Vanilla features, pages, or components when they become available without fully switching to Foundation. </p><h2 data-id="who-is-it-for">Who is it for?</h2><p>Vanilla Labs is meant for customers using custom or legacy themes who are looking to start integrating some of our newest components and pages into their existing themes. If you are already using the Foundation theme, these features and components will be enabled by default and enabling them via Vanilla Labs is not necessary.</p><h2 data-id="vanilla-labs-features">Vanilla Labs Features</h2><ul><li>Our new customizable <a href="https://success.vanillaforums.com/kb/articles/365-customizing-the-quick-links-menu" rel="nofollow noreferrer ugc">Quick Links menu</a></li><li>Our new <a href="https://success.vanillaforums.com/kb/articles/322-user-cards" rel="nofollow noreferrer ugc">User Cards</a></li><li>Our new <a href="https://success.vanillaforums.com/kb/articles/396-elastic-search" rel="nofollow noreferrer ugc">Search Page</a></li></ul><p>These pages and components are enabled by default in Foundation-based themes, and can optionally be integrated into custom or legacy theme templates. </p><p>We will be continuing to add features to this page, keep an eye on the<a href="https://success.vanillaforums.com/kb/articles/126-release-notes-overview" rel="nofollow noreferrer ugc"> release notes</a> or speak to your CSM to find out more!</p><h2 data-id="using-vanilla-labs">Using Vanilla Labs</h2><p>To enable features in Vanilla Labs, go to your forum’s Dashboard, then Settings and Navigate to Vanilla Labs </p><p> </p><div class="embedExternal embedImage display-large float-none"> <div class="embedExternal-content"> <a class="embedImage-link" href="https://us.v-cdn.net/6030677/uploads/Y015FJULNVP1/image.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener ugc" target="_blank"> <img class="embedImage-img" src="https://us.v-cdn.net/6030677/uploads/Y015FJULNVP1/image.png" alt="image.png" height="446" width="849" loading="lazy"></img></a> </div> </div> <p>From here you can toggle on any of the features -- if your site is already live it is strongly recommended to do this on staging first to see if any theme tweaks will be necessary. </p><p>Once toggled, you can test them out right away. </p><p>If the toggles are on and greyed out, this means you are already using a Foundation theme which uses these features by default.</p><h2 data-id="theming">Theming </h2><p>If you need to customize or tweak the look and feel of Vanilla Labs features,<a href="https://success.vanillaforums.com/kb/articles/384-integrate-foundation-pages-components-with-legacy-or-custom-themes" rel="nofollow noreferrer ugc"> see main article on Integrating Foundation Components and Pages into your theme.</a></p> </article> </main>