basic noob css question

  • tspnyc

    (@tspnyc)


    11 years ago

    I am totally new to css and html.

    I find the html of my age just by clicking on the Text tab. But I do not see the “head” portion for meta tags.

    I want to add some basic keywords and description lines on my pages.

    I seemed to have found the custom css. But now I can no longer. At least I saw a Welcome to Custom CSS! notice. Was that just for the first time?

    When I go to Edit CSS am I now using Custom CSS? Or is that found some place else? I do not want to try editing CSS if it is not the Custom CSS everyone says to use.

    In that CSS editor it says it will by default use the template style sheet, so I just delete those instruction comments comments and put in the code I want.

    Only I am left with a blank page and no idea what to type.

    I do not even know WHAT page I am editing. If I go into a Page, and then hit edit CSS, am I editing it for just that page? Or is it the CSS for the entire theme??

    Should I also delete the */ and /* at either end of those instruction comments?

    Here is an example I saw on a how to website, should I be typing ALL of this to add the description and keyword lines in the “head” portion of the CSS?

    Or should I just start with <head>?

    <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<html>
 <head>
  <title>All our wooden furniture is water proof.</title>
  <meta name="keywords" content="wood, furniture, garden, garden-table, etc.">
  <meta name="description" content="Official dealer of wooden garden furniture.">
 </head>

    ThanksQ

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
  • RebeckaH

    (@rebeckah)

    11 years ago

    If you just want to add some meta tags, install an SEO plugin. That would provide you with the option to use different key words on each page or post or header.

    Thread Starter tspnyc

    (@tspnyc)

    11 years ago

    Thanks. That sounds much easier.

    I see there are a billion SEO plug-ins, I will start looking at reviews.

    Thread Starter tspnyc

    (@tspnyc)

    11 years ago

    Sorry, I got the WordPress SEO by Yost and it is currently worthless to me.

    Not only do I not understand how it is supposed to allow me to add tags to individual pages and posts…

    I cannot use it at all until I sign up for Google Webmaster.

    I cannot sign up for that until I verify my site with Google.

    I cannot verify my site until I can get into the <head> section of my home page and place an html tag for Google to verify.

    I cannot do that because Edit CSS is a BLANK PAGE now that I have activated Custom CSS.

    So, I am back to my original query. HOW can I get into the <head> section to place tags in individual pages, when a page doesn’t show anything but the main content?

    How am I supposed to know when I am in the head section if Custom CSS says just type your code in this blank page and we will add it to the template CSS????

    WPyogi

    (@wpyogi)

    11 years ago

    The head section of the page is in the header.php file – it has nothing to do with CSS at all. BUT, do not modify theme files – first create a child theme – so that your changes are not overwritten when the theme is updated.

    http://codex.wordpress.org/Child_Themes

    Thread Starter tspnyc

    (@tspnyc)

    11 years ago

    Thank you!

    I understand about the Child Themes, but I have asked for weeks how to get to CSS of the theme and no one will tell me. It is getting extremely frustrating when you ask how to do something and people just give you instructions on how to do something else.

    The instructions you provided on child themes say

    Create a directory by using FTP or whatever file management application your host provides. Put a properly formatted style.css file in it, and you have a child theme!

    What is a properly formatted style.css? How do you make one?

    Again, as with 100% of every instruction I have seen in the WP codex, they assume I know what things mean. They assume I already know how to get to the css. They assume I know how to go on a blank Edit CSS and type code that will do something. When I do not know any of that.

    Did that instruction mean I copy the theme’s style.css and paste it into this ftp directory? If so WHERE IS IT???????

    Or does it mean I create a blank one?

    I certainly do not know how to create one with code it, i do not know how to make code.

    Everything I read on WP and Google and everyplace else keeps saying edit your stylesheet and add tags to the <head> nothing said anything about it not being in the CSS.

    But I still cannot FIND the CSS anywhere anyway!

    When you search for “where to find CSS”, “how to find CSS”, you find codex pages that tell you how to find code IN your CSS, but they never say WHERE you go to find the CSS in the first place or how to open it to search in it.

    I have been a corporate software trainer for 25 years (but never dealt with code before) and I have never seen such poorly written instructions or help documents. They are like someone asking how to treat their painful ailment and the answer starts with “after you graduate from medical school and pass your boards…”

    I have never seen such a thing before. So much of the WordPress world and similar places is full of people who start their instructions on about step five, assuming the reader already knows how to open, enter and navigate places like the CSS.

    Thread Starter tspnyc

    (@tspnyc)

    11 years ago

    I found the css and header.php

    I had to be logged in as SuperAdmin.

    And then I have to go to Theme/Editor.

    But I use multisite and I have a different header image on each site. This implies I have a different header on each site, but I can only find the header.php under the main site.

    Not sure why no one will share this information, the forums are full of people asking the same questions and getting answers to questions they didn’t ask.

    I found one on WorldPress.com

    Same issue “trying to add Google Web Master meta tags. The instructions I’ve read are to go to Appearance/Themes/Header. Once I’m there, I can only make changes to the header image, header text and text colour – no access to code”

    The “answer” was: You don’t need to go in the header. And he is told to follow these instructions for putting putting in the Google verification tag.

    “To verify your site for Google Webmaster, paste the code in Tools -> Available Tools. You don’t need to paste it in the header.

    See here: http://en.support.wordpress.com/webmaster-tools/#google-webmaster-tools&#8221;

    Unfortunately, I do not have anything under Available Tools remotely like webmaster-tools.

    And one on here asked: The same question, how do you get to the header.php to edit it.

    The Answer was “its in appearances->editor”. Only he didn’t have appearance->editor and neither do I. So he was then told “well you can’t edit your themes then.”

    Super.

    WPyogi

    (@wpyogi)

    11 years ago

    WordPress.COM is not the same as self-hosted WordPress.ORG sites. You cannot use information there as applicable to your site. Many things are not the same on .COM and self-hosted sites. See this for the differences: http://en.support.wordpress.com/com-vs-org/

    If you are asking about using a SEO plugin (i.e. Yoast), the best place to get information is on the plugin’s sub-forum:

    http://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wordpress-seo

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
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