Hand holding for Theme tweaking

  • daktari

    (@daktari)


    18 years, 11 months ago

    Another newbie to WordPress and Blogs in Genereal but I am having a hell of a time modifying the theme to my needs.

    I have tried following the links in this forum and on the WP site ( like http://codex.wordpress.org/Using_Themes ) that relate to themes but most of them seem to still be dealing with the pre-version 1.5, or how to download pre-made themes and select them. In the link above, it goes into great detail about moving from 1.2 to 1.5 but nothing about modifying a 1.5 theme.

    Am I missing something or is there not ONE file that I can go into and tweak or do I have to go into Header.php, Style.css, index.php etc etc to make the changes?

    Is there a WYSIWYG application that I am not finding?

    Thanks, in advance

    Greg

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
  • Michael Bishop

    (@miklb)

    18 years, 11 months ago

    Correct, each “template” is needed to be tweaked. As far as WYSIWG, I’m not a aware of anything for theme manipulation. You can physically change the code right in the admin panel via the presentation–>theme-editor. There you can access each section, and alter the code.
    What types of changes are you looking to make?

    dss

    (@dss)

    18 years, 11 months ago

    Hey,

    I came to WordPress about a year and a half ago. I knew absolutely nothing about css or php when i arrived and was immediately overwhelmed.

    My ambitions were those of a person who was accustomed to coding each page, each link, and every little change by hand… So i wanted to redo or change up everything all at once in much the way i previously approached html design.

    Now it’s true, you can create an html page, make a box, and then stick the loop into that box and rename the page with a .php extension and thrive. But that’s selling WordPRess short…

    What helped me a lot was to begin with a theme i liked, and start with one type of change.

    the colors:
    examine the css style sheet, make a backup, change things, see what happens. Work it until you are happy with the colors.

    the type:
    same thing…

    etc…

    soon your site will be so amazing and so personalized that you will begin to feel you understand something about php and css.

    and then you’ll try to get it to validate…

    omg.

    see you then.

    F.

    AdrianB

    (@adrianb)

    18 years, 11 months ago

    Just a note: When experimenting with CSS I find the Firefox extension Web Developer and its “Edit CSS” function complete invaluable.

    Lorelle

    (@lorelle)

    18 years, 11 months ago

    daktari: The WordPress Codex is totally dedicated to 1.5+. The Using Themes article features information about moving from 1.2 to 1.5, but it also includes information on Themes in general. Here are a few more resources that should help:

    Template Files
    Template Tags
    Using WordPress Themes
    Developing WordPress Themes
    WordPress Design Sandbox Article
    Working On CSS and the WordPress Theme (using a sandbox)
    Template Tag Layout in simple to read form
    The Loop in Action

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
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