What can / can’t i do with css and wordpress?

  • mstachiw

    (@mstachiw)


    17 years, 7 months ago

    I’m working on the graphic design of my site and want to make sure what i design is doable in wordpress/css. Can you steer me in the right direction by giving YES/NO answers and perhaps point me in the right direction on the following (ex. YES, css align or YES, done in PHP):

    -Can I put a custom graphic of a border around this page (4 corner graphics, 4 sided border graphics)?

    -Can I customize the header, body, and footer graphics for each “section”?

    -Is each ‘section’ defined as a meta tag or somewhere else? (only exception to YES/NO answer)

    -Can i make rollover images appear at the left side of my textlink?

    -So I have a header, the body, and a footer. Can I have repeating patterned image in the background of the body?

    -I want to get a vertical pillar like graphic to overlap the background image of the body. Can I do that?

    -If so, can I get the vertical pillar to have a “top” image, a repeating center image, and a “bottom” image that starts at the bottom of the header and ends at the top of the footer?

    -Is Dreamweaver effective in designing a template for wordpress? (if not any brief recommendations)

    thanks

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)
  • jberghem

    (@jberghem)

    17 years, 7 months ago

    Short answer to what you can do with CSS in WordPress? Everything! WordPress manages the content of the site not the design.

    Long version.
    Recommendations on website design state that content and presentation should be kept separate. How is this done? simple! The content is the (X)HTML the presentation is done with CSS. The layout, design, background colors and images should all be done with CSS.

    So how does WordPress fit in? The main thing you’re going to do with WordPress is adding content to your site/blog. There are many themes you can download to change the look of your site/blog but if you don’t like any of them or want something unique you can do anything from customizing an existing theme to creating one from scratch. Most of this customizing or creating of new themes is done outside of WordPress with a program like Dreamweaver.

    If you scroll up and click on Docs in the linkbar you’ll find a wealth of info on how to design your own themes.

    -Can I put a custom graphic of a border around this page (4 corner graphics, 4 sided border graphics)?

    Yes – CSS

    -Can I customize the header, body, and footer graphics for each “section”?

    Yes – CSS

    -Is each ‘section’ defined as a meta tag or somewhere else?

    The header, content, sidebar and footer are separate PHP files that are used to generate a page. Most all themes have the parts split up with <div> tags with an ID ( <div id="header"> , <div id="footer"> , etc.)

    -Can i make rollover images appear at the left side of my textlink?

    Yes – CSS and/or WP plugin

    -So I have a header, the body, and a footer. Can I have repeating patterned image in the background of the body?

    -I want to get a vertical pillar like graphic to overlap the background image of the body. Can I do that?

    -If so, can I get the vertical pillar to have a “top” image, a repeating center image, and a “bottom” image that starts at the bottom of the header and ends at the top of the footer?

    Yes for all, with CSS. The question here is not if it can be done but, how well versed are you in CSS to do it?

    -Is Dreamweaver effective in designing a template for wordpress? (if not any brief recommendations)

    Yes, but nothing beats the amount of control than coding by hand (which you can do inside Dreamweaver) Remember that these programs are meant as tools, not as some magical software that create websites for you. Always check the code, use the built-in validation or the online validation on w3.org [ (X)HTML: http://validator.w3.org/ ] [ CSS: http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/ ]

    csleh

    (@csleh)

    17 years, 7 months ago

    Great answer above.

    Re: dreamweaver:
    I do all my initial designing in dreamweaver mostly in code view. It’s easy to work out all the html/css issues. Get a feel for “header” “body” “sidebar” and “footer” so divs can be placed in logical spots.

    When the design is ready I edit the default theme using my css and putting html in the appropriate php files. Then the php code is put in the right spots to call content, make the navigation, etc.

    Make sure to bookmark helpful pages when looking for wordpress help — chances are you’ll want to go back again!

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

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