Full Screen Cover Image

Customization Theme component
1
:information_source: Summary A Discourse theme component that displays a fullscreen cover image over the entire forum on page load.
:hammer_and_wrench: Repository GitHub - communiteq/discourse-tc-fullscreen-coverimage · GitHub
:question: Install Guide How to install a theme or theme component
:open_book: New to Discourse Themes? Beginner’s guide to using Discourse Themes

Install this theme component

A Discourse theme component that displays a fullscreen cover image over the entire forum on page load.

Originally developed for a government agency (“this site has been seized”), but generic enough for any use case — maintenance notices, splash screens, event announcements, etc.

image
image1280×720 223 KB

How it works

On page load the image is rendered centred on screen, scaled to fill as much of the viewport as possible while preserving its aspect ratio (object-fit: contain). The remaining area outside the image is filled with a configurable background colour.

The overlay disappears when either condition is met first:

  • the configured number of seconds has elapsed, or
  • the user has clicked the overlay the configured number of times.

Set either value to 0 to disable that dismissal method.

Settings

Setting Type Default Description
cover_image upload (none) The image to display fullscreen
trigger_after string (none) ISO-8601 UTC datetime after which the overlay activates, e.g. 2026-04-01T08:00:00Z
display_seconds integer 5 Seconds before auto-dismiss (0 = never)
dismiss_on_clicks integer 3 Clicks required to dismiss (0 = disabled)
background_color string #000000 CSS colour for the area outside the image

Cookie behaviour

Once a visitor dismisses the overlay (by timer or clicks), a cookie named tc_coverimage_seen is set recording the trigger_after value. The overlay will not show again until trigger_after is changed to a new value — which resets everyone’s seen state and causes it to show again on their next page navigation.

Example

Set trigger_after: "2026-04-01T00:00:00Z", display_seconds: 0, dismiss_on_clicks: 1 for a single-click splash that activates at midnight UTC on April 1st and each visitor only sees once.

Obviously this theme component was not developed for a government agency but for @WorldIsMine who kindly open sourced it :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

10 Likes
2

This is awesome. i am so doing this to my forum today :grin:

cool component. thanks! :slight_smile:

3 Likes
3

You can see it live (only today) on SWAPD EDIT: I turned it off as its EOD for me. I have to say this April Fools joke pushes the limits, it’s giving virtually every member a heart attack.

3 Likes
4

Now that I think of it, this will be useful down the road. For ensuring that EVERYONE sees what you want to announce.

3 Likes
5

Haha I love it hey guys nice joke

2 Likes
6

hahaha fantastic - a lot of my forum members fell for it too. one guy on vacation out of country lost it and was going to start burning documents until he remembered what date it is.

2 Likes
8

Same here. I don’t think I saw a single “I knew it” comment. This component made me realize how many people depend on our website, as we’ve received MANY comments like this:

I woke up, grabbed my phone, opened SWAPD… and my heart dropped. My first thought was: “wtf… are we this cooked?”
I just sat there staring at the ceiling for a few minutes, thinking:
Should I get a job?
Should I start selling drugs?
Should I go back to college?
None of that was even in my plans last night… but today, they felt real. I refreshed the page a few more times, hoping for a second chance… And thank God, it was back.

Now I’m here, eating pizza, scrolling through posts, and laughing at people who still think SWAPD is seized. Life is good

1 Like