Title: Which file to edit
Last modified: August 18, 2016

---

# Which file to edit

 *  Resolved [geekgirl](https://wordpress.org/support/users/geekgirl/)
 * (@geekgirl)
 * [18 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/which-file-to-edit/)
 * I am currently trying to make my site validate, but I need to include the “alt
   tag” to my smileys in posts. When I hit “view source” on my site I can see where
   I need to edit, but when I look at my wordpress files, I can’t find that place.
   So what I am asking is which .php file do I open so that I can add the alt tag
   to my smileys. Thanks in advance.

Viewing 13 replies - 1 through 13 (of 13 total)

 *  Thread Starter [geekgirl](https://wordpress.org/support/users/geekgirl/)
 * (@geekgirl)
 * [18 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/which-file-to-edit/#post-656925)
 * I still can’t find which file to edit, does anyone know?
 *  [verabass](https://wordpress.org/support/users/verabass/)
 * (@verabass)
 * [18 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/which-file-to-edit/#post-656928)
 * I’m not a css expert, but can’t even look without a url.
 * Try posting a portion of the validation error message, your theme name, a url,
   etc. to give someone a clue?
 * I checked one of my own pages (which validates) with a smiley in comments and
   the tag looks like so:
    `wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif" alt=";)" class
   ="wp-smiley"`
 * The ancestors of my alt attribute are:
 *     ```
       html
           body
           div #page
           div #content .narrowcolumn
           ol .commentlist
           li #comment-xxx .alt
           p
       ```
   
 * The .alt is defined in the comments section of my stylesheet.
    The class=”wp-
   smiley” is defined somewhere in tinymce? (I think).
 *  Thread Starter [geekgirl](https://wordpress.org/support/users/geekgirl/)
 * (@geekgirl)
 * [18 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/which-file-to-edit/#post-656929)
 * thank u for responding, my site is located at lovelatoya.com…
    I’ve downloaded
   the custom smiley plugin from [http://qad.donationcoders.com/wp/custom-smileys](http://qad.donationcoders.com/wp/custom-smileys).
   the plugin works fine when used in my comments, but when I use one an a post,
   it fails valaidation by not including the alt tag. Here is an example of the 
   error..
 *     ```
       Line 47, Column 103: required attribute "alt" not specified.
       …oo/heartbeat.gif" class="wp-smiley" /> <img src="http://lovelatoya.com/wp-inc
       ```
   
 * I know i need to manually insert the alt tag but im not sure where…here’s my 
   portion of the css file…
 *     ```
       .wp-smiley {
       	border: 0pt none;
       	margin: 0px;
       	padding: 0px;
       	vertical-align: middle;
       }
       ```
   
 *  [verabass](https://wordpress.org/support/users/verabass/)
 * (@verabass)
 * [18 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/which-file-to-edit/#post-656930)
 * alt is an attribute used for images content. It requires a value. wp-smiley is
   an image class.
    So you’d have the image/url, its class, and the content value
   drawn together from different places. That’s the best I can explain it from my
   own studying to date.
 * You need to work out how you have the css hierarchy laid out in order to define
   all these things in the appropriate place.
 * `Line 47, Column 103:` of whatever file that refers to is also a place to start
   for tracking down the error origination point.
 *  Thread Starter [geekgirl](https://wordpress.org/support/users/geekgirl/)
 * (@geekgirl)
 * [18 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/which-file-to-edit/#post-656951)
 * Yes, I know that’s where I need to start..which goes back to my original question…
   which file in wordpress is “line 47 column 103” on?…I can clearly see it when
   I view my page source in firefox. But i cant find it in my wordpress files so
   that I can edit it. Am I sounding confusing? Please let me know so I can try 
   and explain it better.
 *  [Rok](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rok/)
 * (@rok)
 * [18 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/which-file-to-edit/#post-656952)
 * Here’s your porblem:
 * 1. You’ve a post here : [http://lovelatoya.com/2007/11/12/29/](http://lovelatoya.com/2007/11/12/29/)
   
   2. open this post in WordPress Editor or XMLRPC Desktop Client’s (WLW), which
   ever way you create post. 3. Enter alt=”” or alt=”xxx” either ways on all the
   three icons. a. You can leave alt=”” attribute as blank. b. Or you can enter 
   alt=”xxx”, replace xxx with some description.
 * Once you enters alt, save your post/publish and re-validate.
 * Your site validates 100% thereafter.
 * Note: 1. Always enter **alt** im images, else you’ll keep getting validation 
   errors.
    2. Whenever you need help, write down the complete error, that’s helps.
   3. Always give your site address, that helps in getting further info.
 *  Thread Starter [geekgirl](https://wordpress.org/support/users/geekgirl/)
 * (@geekgirl)
 * [18 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/which-file-to-edit/#post-656957)
 * Thanks for responding. I opened the post in the wordpress editor and just added
   alt=”xxx”, but nothing happened it just added the words “alt=”xxx”” to my post.
   Am I doing this wrong?
 * Again, if I was using and outside editor like cuteftp, etc…Which file would I
   open to edit the post? That’s basically what I need to know.
 *  [moshu](https://wordpress.org/support/users/moshu/)
 * (@moshu)
 * [18 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/which-file-to-edit/#post-656958)
 * If it is in a post – there is no file you can edit.
    All content (posts, Pages,
   comments, settings) are stored in the database – that’s what they tried to explain.
 * On the other hand: you add the alt=”whatever” INSIDE the image tag (img)!
 * Next. Talk to the plugin author: the plugin should place by itself the alt tag
   in the image code. If it doesn’t… ditch it, or give up validating.
 *  Thread Starter [geekgirl](https://wordpress.org/support/users/geekgirl/)
 * (@geekgirl)
 * [18 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/which-file-to-edit/#post-656959)
 * Ok thanks, so is there a way to edit it there? (the database i mean) and if not,
   there’s no way to make this validate right? Sorry I know this sounds crazy, but
   I seriously don’t know.
 *  [moshu](https://wordpress.org/support/users/moshu/)
 * (@moshu)
 * [18 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/which-file-to-edit/#post-656960)
 * No, you need to re-write the plugin.
    See the plugin author’s comment: [http://qad.donationcoders.com/wp/custom-smileys/#comment-1441](http://qad.donationcoders.com/wp/custom-smileys/#comment-1441)(
   that page has also more than 900 validation errors 🙂
 *  [Rok](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rok/)
 * (@rok)
 * [18 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/which-file-to-edit/#post-656961)
 * > I opened the post in the wordpress editor and just added alt=”xxx”, but nothing
   > happened it just added the words “alt=”xxx”” to my post. Am I doing this wrong?
 * 1. I cann’t see **alt** anywhere on your post. Moshu had said everything. Eventhough,
   if you want to continue using same plugin, you’ll have to make sure to manually
   enter **alt** on every smiley that you enter.
 * Here’s your post source, which I’ve edited for your with **alt** attribute. Open
   your post in WordPress editor and click on “_code_“, if you’re using WYSIWYG 
   and replace the entire block with under posted.
 * **Your site upto this post will validate.**
 * `<p><img src="http://lovelatoya.com/wp-includes/images/yahoo/heartbeat.gif" alt
   ="" class="wp-smiley" /> <img src="http://lovelatoya.com/wp-includes/images/yahoo/
   coffee.gif" alt="" class="wp-smiley" /> alt=”xxx”<img src="http://lovelatoya.
   com/wp-includes/images/yahoo/icon_sad.gif" alt="" class="wp-smiley" /></p>`
 * 1a. Whenever, you post image, make sure to enter **Alt** attribute in either 
   form as written in my above post.
 * If you use lots of smileys, ditch this plugin, as there’re 100’s of validation
   errors. See Moshu’s last post.
 * I hope all your query’s answered.
 *  [skeezicks](https://wordpress.org/support/users/skeezicks/)
 * (@skeezicks)
 * [18 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/which-file-to-edit/#post-656963)
 * Geekgirl,
 * To answer your question, yes, you can edit post text directly in the database
   by using phpMyAdmin but I don’t see why anybody would do that. WP the WPAdmin
   Panel for managing (editing) posts – that’s what it’s there for and by using 
   it you won’t inadvertently muck up your database.
 * Actually, either way appears (to me, anyway) to be putting a bandaid on the problem
   rather than fixing it once and for all. To do that, probably best to follow Moshu’s
   suggestion.
 *  Thread Starter [geekgirl](https://wordpress.org/support/users/geekgirl/)
 * (@geekgirl)
 * [18 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/which-file-to-edit/#post-656966)
 * Thank you so much Rok, you answered the question that I have been asking. It 
   works perfectly.

Viewing 13 replies - 1 through 13 (of 13 total)

The topic ‘Which file to edit’ is closed to new replies.

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 13 replies
 * 5 participants
 * Last reply from: [geekgirl](https://wordpress.org/support/users/geekgirl/)
 * Last activity: [18 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/which-file-to-edit/#post-656966)
 * Status: resolved

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