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1. Jasmin Young
   Member
   Posted 7 months ago #

   I am new to WP and have chosen the Twenty Ten theme, as it looked the most basic and there seems to be a lot written on it, but I have got stuck before I have even started really, and I have lots of question for anyone kind enough to help!

   Is it possible to change the colour of the text in the website title?
   And the colour of the text in the page title?

   They are both black which I find too dark.
   Also, can I change the heavy black background to the page menu?

   I was presuming that all these things were customisable. If they aren't, can anyone recommend a basic theme where I can customise all the colours used?

   Thanks,

   Also, I know nothing about code or css or any thing like that!

2. esmi
   Theme Diva & Forum Moderator
   Posted 7 months ago #

   Don't edit the Twenty Ten theme. Instead create a child theme for your changes. Once your child theme is active, we should be able to help with the customisation.

3. Jasmin Young
   Member
   Posted 7 months ago #

   Thanks esmi, that sounds possible, but do you have a link to a very basic step by step instruction of how to set up a child theme?

   The link you gave me says this: "Making a child theme is very simple. Create a directory, put a properly formatted style.css file in it, and you have a child theme! "

   How and where do I 'create a directory' ?
   and what is a 'properly formated style.css file' and where do I get one from? !!

   For example, further down on your link (when referring to a twenty eleven example) it says: "Make a new directory in wp-content/themes, and name it twentyeleven-child (or anything you like)."

   - where would I find the folder 'wp-content/themes'? Am I looking in wp itself, or will it be a folder on my hard drive? Or do I have to make it myself?

4. esmi
   Theme Diva & Forum Moderator
   Posted 7 months ago #

   You can download a basic twenty Ten child theme from here.

5. Jasmin Young
   Member
   Posted 7 months ago #

   Brilliant!
   That is done!

   Should it appear somewhere in my wp dashboard, or do I need to still do something to activate it?
   or other?

6. esmi
   Theme Diva & Forum Moderator
   Posted 7 months ago #

   Try looking in Appearance - > Themes. It should be listed as a new theme that you can activate.

7. Jasmin Young
   Member
   Posted 7 months ago #

   Not obviously apparent.

   But could I turn it into a zip file and upload it?

   Edit: Yes, that has worked.

   So, how would I get rid of all the black?

   There is the site title I would like to change,
   individual page titles,
   and the black background behind the menus,

   ....as a start!

8. esmi
   Theme Diva & Forum Moderator
   Posted 7 months ago #

   Site url?

9. skubby
   Member
   Posted 7 months ago #

   Well, so sorry to say I have been unable to follow this post. MAnaged to find the Child page but can't seem to download it and then dind it again after! I'll have to keep trying though as I want to up load a Logo into the top of my main page.

   Regards

   Andy

10. Jasmin Young
    Member
    Posted 7 months ago #

    The url is:
    http://c8802876.myzen.co.uk/

    The pictures and content will all change and be added, but for the moment I am trying to remove all the black, especially the black bar behind the menu, the black titles of al the headings, and the black line across the bottom. It can all stay but I want the control of changing the colours!

    Any advice will be appreciated!

11. esmi
    Theme Diva & Forum Moderator
    Posted 7 months ago #

    Try using Firefox with the Firebug add-on for this kind of work. It will help you identify which bits of CSS you need to rewrite in your child theme's style.css file.

12. Jasmin Young
    Member
    Posted 7 months ago #

    I don't use firefox, I use Safari.

    I have no idea how to rewrite CSS!

    I just want a plain basic site where I have control over ALL the colours!!
    I have previously used Dreamweaver which I found easy, and just recently iweb, which I found very easy - but wordpress just seems too complicated...

13. esmi
    Theme Diva & Forum Moderator
    Posted 7 months ago #

    Then I suggest you download Firefox & Firebug and use them as development tools. If you want to learn CSS (and that would be a good idea if you want to customise your themes), see:
    CSS Tutorials
    Learning CSS

14. Jasmin Young
    Member
    Posted 7 months ago #

    I really don't want to get involved in CSS, or downloading another web browser onto my space limited laptop!! I thought WordPress was all I needed to build a website, and that downloading 'child' would make it easy!?

    Is there a better theme which I can use within wordpress where I can chose all the colours myself? Or just have a blank white canvas? Surely there must be a basic plain theme somewhere? I don't have to use 2010, I just presumed it would be customisable.

    I don't have the time or the skills to keep downloading and learning stuff, it is probably going to take me a long time to add in all the content and then make it searchable.

    The only reason I am having to use wp is because the iweb site I have is not SEO friendly, unfortunately, as it took me weeks to build that!!

15. esmi
    Theme Diva & Forum Moderator
    Posted 7 months ago #

    Try http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/suffusion

16. Jasmin Young
    Member
    Posted 7 months ago #

    Ok!

    I will check it out over the weekend!

    Thanks!

17. Jasmin Young
    Member
    Posted 7 months ago #

    Also, if I choose Suffusion, do I need to get a child theme for that as well? Or do using child themes mean I need to learn css?

18. esmi
    Theme Diva & Forum Moderator
    Posted 7 months ago #

    No. It's highly customisable via its own interface.

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