Can you change the way my theme looks?
4
My theme doesn't look the way I want it to. Can you help me customize or change the look of my theme?
1
Themes are customizable by editing the code in the Appearance > Editor page of your wp-admin site. Example: www.mysite.com/wp-admin/theme-editor.php
Due to the large number of customers we have, modifying the colors, images, and layout of your theme (via HTML/CSS/PHP) are not services that are supported by the WPD support team unless a theme is clearly affecting the functionality of your site. In these cases we will attempt to make a fix, but may recommend that you choose a new theme.
If you do not feel comfortable with modifying the PHP files yourself and wish to have someone else customize your theme, these are usually available from sites such as eLance or Rent-a-coder.
We also recommend that you select a theme that has an Options Page, which allows you to customize the header and other aspects of your site's appearance. When browsing the Theme Gallery, there is a tag cloud on the right toolbar. Clicking on "Options Page" in the tag cloud will display only themes that have an options page built into them.
Due to the large number of customers we have, modifying the colors, images, and layout of your theme (via HTML/CSS/PHP) are not services that are supported by the WPD support team unless a theme is clearly affecting the functionality of your site. In these cases we will attempt to make a fix, but may recommend that you choose a new theme.
If you do not feel comfortable with modifying the PHP files yourself and wish to have someone else customize your theme, these are usually available from sites such as eLance or Rent-a-coder.
We also recommend that you select a theme that has an Options Page, which allows you to customize the header and other aspects of your site's appearance. When browsing the Theme Gallery, there is a tag cloud on the right toolbar. Clicking on "Options Page" in the tag cloud will display only themes that have an options page built into them.
1
First we need to determine what is wrong with the theme.
Changing the colors, images, and layout of your theme are not issues that are supported by WPDirect. We provide these themes as part of the service, but we do not provide theme customization or other HTML/CSS/PHP coding services of this type. If you wish to get such service, these are usually available from sites such as eLance or Rent-a-coder.
Sometimes the themes are busted by the script we have to run on them to enable our functionality. Sometimes, different browsers have errors displaying the themes. If your theme is in fact broken, you can place a request for the theme to be repaired. However, we cannot give you a timeframe for its completion. We will recommend that you switch to another theme while we repair it.
We need some major help with reviewing the themes. We just can't get to them all.
Can you guys help? If you find a theme that has a problem, click theme info in your Website Settings page or click the title of the theme in the theme gallery.
This will bring you to a page where you can comment and also report a broken theme. We'd really appreciate your feedback on themes!
Changing the colors, images, and layout of your theme are not issues that are supported by WPDirect. We provide these themes as part of the service, but we do not provide theme customization or other HTML/CSS/PHP coding services of this type. If you wish to get such service, these are usually available from sites such as eLance or Rent-a-coder.
Sometimes the themes are busted by the script we have to run on them to enable our functionality. Sometimes, different browsers have errors displaying the themes. If your theme is in fact broken, you can place a request for the theme to be repaired. However, we cannot give you a timeframe for its completion. We will recommend that you switch to another theme while we repair it.
We need some major help with reviewing the themes. We just can't get to them all.
Can you guys help? If you find a theme that has a problem, click theme info in your Website Settings page or click the title of the theme in the theme gallery.
This will bring you to a page where you can comment and also report a broken theme. We'd really appreciate your feedback on themes!
0
Jeffrey,
If you fix it does it automatically fix my website or do I need to reinstall.
If you fix it does it automatically fix my website or do I need to reinstall.
0
Tim, if you edit the theme files through wp-admin, it updates your website automatically.
If you edit the files on your local computer, you will need to upload them back to your directory before they update your website.
If you edit the files on your local computer, you will need to upload them back to your directory before they update your website.
0
What if we use something like Thesis, which I've heard is very user-friendly, especially for those of us who aren't too familiar with php.
http://diythemes.com/?a_aid=atlasws (thesis website)
http://diythemes.com/?a_aid=atlasws (thesis website)
0
Leslie,
You are welcome to design your own themes with this product or any other, but we cannot guarantee that it will meet our requirements by being widget ready, etc. But please give it a shot and share your experiences with others here! Once you have created your theme you can upload it to WPD using the My Files feature.
Please see the following question for more information about My Files:
http://ask.wpdirect.com/question/410/
Thanks,
Peter Nowicki
Customer Support Manager
WPDirect.com
You are welcome to design your own themes with this product or any other, but we cannot guarantee that it will meet our requirements by being widget ready, etc. But please give it a shot and share your experiences with others here! Once you have created your theme you can upload it to WPD using the My Files feature.
Please see the following question for more information about My Files:
http://ask.wpdirect.com/question/410/
Thanks,
Peter Nowicki
Customer Support Manager
WPDirect.com
0
What are the requirements for atheme to support WPD?
You must have some details for this.
You must have some details for this.
0
Can we use themes such as Thesis - with WPD - to be honest I cannot find a theme here that attracts my attention. They all look like the ones from my old free collection
0
I choose a theme with the options page but I can't figure out how to edit it. How is this done?
11
I'm a bit of a newbie when it comes to websites, but I found a theme I really liked but I didn't like the font at all, so I decided to try changing the font myself even tho I really wasn't sure what I was doing, & it worked out fine. I then changed the colours of the fonts and the widths of various parts of the theme. I don't know how you would change the picture in a theme, but I have changed other things successfully, by trial & error and ensuring I can put it all back the way it was if I mess up.
You'll need to put something on your site first, like a blog post, as well as a blog title and blog tagline, so that you'll be able to see the effects of the changes you make & decide whether you like them.
Then you'll need to log into your wp-admin. If you've not done that before you'll need to first of all log into WPD and go into your Website Settings and make a note of the WordPress Username and WordPress Password that you'll find listed there about half way down.
Next, you log into your wp-admin by typing www.yoursitename/wp-admin into your browser's address bar. Then you type in the Username and Password that you just got.
Next, you'll see the word Appearance in the list on the left, & you want to click on that.
You'll now see the word Editor 3 lines below the word Appearance. Click on the word Editor.
Now you'll see the Stylesheet (style.css) in the middle, and other parts of the theme that you can meddle with are listed on the right.
Now this is the VERY IMPORTANT bit: highlight everything in the stylesheet (in Windows by clicking CtrlA) and copy it to your clipboard (in Windows by clicking Ctrl C). Now open up a text editor such as Notepad and paste in the whole stylesheet contents (in Windows by clicking CtrlV) and save it off as a .txt file. This ensures that you can change it back to what it was if you mess up.
Now have a good look at the code in the stylesheet and you'll notice that some bits of it make some sort of sense - like the words "font-size" and "color". This is where you need to decide which bit you're going to meddle with first. I think font size & color are the easiest to practise on. The font sizes are given as px, which means pixels. A font size of say 32 px is pretty big, & 8 px is pretty small. So first try changing one of the large font sizes mentioned in the stylesheet to something very small, & then click on "Update File" below the stylesheet.
Now go to your site. What do you see that is very different? Making a radical change to one thing at a time & then looking at your site is the easiest way to work out which bits of the stylesheet refer to which bits of your site.
That's how I mess about with my stylesheet, trial & error.
You can find out the font code for the colors you like by going to a site like http://html-color-codes.com/ (where each color is shown using 2 different kinds of code).
A word about font families. I didn't know that when you change a font you don't just change one font - you need to change the font family. What this means is that if someone's browser doesn't recognise your first choice of font then it will display in the next font in the family. So you might see something like:
font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;
in your stylesheet. If you don't like your theme's font, then the above font family is one that looks nice & is also easy to read IMO. You can see it at my website http://www.marketsamurai.bzblgs.com
It's also the only theme that I could find that had a white background & not much else. If you like it it's called "Winter Styled".
You can see a list of font families at http://www.fonttester.com/help/list_of_web_safe_fonts.html but I don't think it matters to use a standard list.
I also changed some of the default wording that showed up on the site, for example in the 404 Template (404.php) I changed:
<h1>What you were looking for cannot be found.<br>Try again.</h1><br>
to:
<h1>Sorry - what you were looking for cannot be found.</h1><br>
If you have a go at changing a font size & a font color and perhaps font familey then you'll get to know whether or not messing around with a theme is for you or not. If you give it a good go & you have a horrid time & no results, then it's probably not for you. If you find it fun or at least rewarding when you have a bit of success, then carry on doing it.
Hope you find something useful in here. If you do, then please click on the up arrow just under the square face to the left of my name to vote it up - thanks!
You'll need to put something on your site first, like a blog post, as well as a blog title and blog tagline, so that you'll be able to see the effects of the changes you make & decide whether you like them.
Then you'll need to log into your wp-admin. If you've not done that before you'll need to first of all log into WPD and go into your Website Settings and make a note of the WordPress Username and WordPress Password that you'll find listed there about half way down.
Next, you log into your wp-admin by typing www.yoursitename/wp-admin into your browser's address bar. Then you type in the Username and Password that you just got.
Next, you'll see the word Appearance in the list on the left, & you want to click on that.
You'll now see the word Editor 3 lines below the word Appearance. Click on the word Editor.
Now you'll see the Stylesheet (style.css) in the middle, and other parts of the theme that you can meddle with are listed on the right.
Now this is the VERY IMPORTANT bit: highlight everything in the stylesheet (in Windows by clicking CtrlA) and copy it to your clipboard (in Windows by clicking Ctrl C). Now open up a text editor such as Notepad and paste in the whole stylesheet contents (in Windows by clicking CtrlV) and save it off as a .txt file. This ensures that you can change it back to what it was if you mess up.
Now have a good look at the code in the stylesheet and you'll notice that some bits of it make some sort of sense - like the words "font-size" and "color". This is where you need to decide which bit you're going to meddle with first. I think font size & color are the easiest to practise on. The font sizes are given as px, which means pixels. A font size of say 32 px is pretty big, & 8 px is pretty small. So first try changing one of the large font sizes mentioned in the stylesheet to something very small, & then click on "Update File" below the stylesheet.
Now go to your site. What do you see that is very different? Making a radical change to one thing at a time & then looking at your site is the easiest way to work out which bits of the stylesheet refer to which bits of your site.
That's how I mess about with my stylesheet, trial & error.
You can find out the font code for the colors you like by going to a site like http://html-color-codes.com/ (where each color is shown using 2 different kinds of code).
A word about font families. I didn't know that when you change a font you don't just change one font - you need to change the font family. What this means is that if someone's browser doesn't recognise your first choice of font then it will display in the next font in the family. So you might see something like:
font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;
in your stylesheet. If you don't like your theme's font, then the above font family is one that looks nice & is also easy to read IMO. You can see it at my website http://www.marketsamurai.bzblgs.com
It's also the only theme that I could find that had a white background & not much else. If you like it it's called "Winter Styled".
You can see a list of font families at http://www.fonttester.com/help/list_of_web_safe_fonts.html but I don't think it matters to use a standard list.
I also changed some of the default wording that showed up on the site, for example in the 404 Template (404.php) I changed:
<h1>What you were looking for cannot be found.<br>Try again.</h1><br>
to:
<h1>Sorry - what you were looking for cannot be found.</h1><br>
If you have a go at changing a font size & a font color and perhaps font familey then you'll get to know whether or not messing around with a theme is for you or not. If you give it a good go & you have a horrid time & no results, then it's probably not for you. If you find it fun or at least rewarding when you have a bit of success, then carry on doing it.
Hope you find something useful in here. If you do, then please click on the up arrow just under the square face to the left of my name to vote it up - thanks!
0
In the theme of this thread: would I be able to move my current company site which I host on my own server (no hosting company), basically not using any template themes of WPD?
0
Marysia,
Thank you so much for taking the time to send me what seems to be a lot of very useful information on the subject. For some reason I was unable to gain excess to the admin site (tripple checked what I was typing in - www.mydomainname/wp-admin (that's the domain name of my site)). The message read "server can not be found - sorry does not exist, or not available". Just one frustration after another. Any how I'll be wasting more time as I work my way through this issue, before I can dive in to using those nice nuggets that you were kind enough to share with me.
Thanks again,
Thank you so much for taking the time to send me what seems to be a lot of very useful information on the subject. For some reason I was unable to gain excess to the admin site (tripple checked what I was typing in - www.mydomainname/wp-admin (that's the domain name of my site)). The message read "server can not be found - sorry does not exist, or not available". Just one frustration after another. Any how I'll be wasting more time as I work my way through this issue, before I can dive in to using those nice nuggets that you were kind enough to share with me.
Thanks again,
0
Hi Erik-
Could you clarify what you mean by moving your site? Is it a Wordpress site? Where do you want to move it to and why?
-Peter
Could you clarify what you mean by moving your site? Is it a Wordpress site? Where do you want to move it to and why?
-Peter
2
Hi Natalie,
I agree that Marysia had great details and loads of tidbits helpful to all, especially those that are new to the internet and building sites/blogs. Great stuff, truelly.
I just wanted to add for you Natalie: initially (and you may have already figured this out) you can go to your WPD "Manage My Sites" click on "show options" specific to whichever site (if you have more than one...then click on "Settings" and scroll down to :
Warning! Please don't change the following username and password for your WordPress site unless it is first changed in your wp-admin. You can login at http://www.yourdomain.com/wp-admin to modify them.
This will be in the middle of your settings page and you will want to make sure to click on that link which will be in bold black and will take you to a login screen where you must fill in the login that shows on your settings page listed under "Wordpress username" and "Wordpress password"
The details I wrote above are strictly for clarification. It truly is super simple to do it this way until you become more familiar. Also, be sure to hit "Remember me" and then each time you go back to login in your info is saved ....
Hope this helps...
;-) http://www.TanyaChadwick.com Hugs
I agree that Marysia had great details and loads of tidbits helpful to all, especially those that are new to the internet and building sites/blogs. Great stuff, truelly.
I just wanted to add for you Natalie: initially (and you may have already figured this out) you can go to your WPD "Manage My Sites" click on "show options" specific to whichever site (if you have more than one...then click on "Settings" and scroll down to :
Warning! Please don't change the following username and password for your WordPress site unless it is first changed in your wp-admin. You can login at http://www.yourdomain.com/wp-admin to modify them.
This will be in the middle of your settings page and you will want to make sure to click on that link which will be in bold black and will take you to a login screen where you must fill in the login that shows on your settings page listed under "Wordpress username" and "Wordpress password"
The details I wrote above are strictly for clarification. It truly is super simple to do it this way until you become more familiar. Also, be sure to hit "Remember me" and then each time you go back to login in your info is saved ....
Hope this helps...
;-) http://www.TanyaChadwick.com Hugs
0
Hi Marysia: Your explanation is brilliant! - so well thought out, clear and specific steps. Thank you so much! Also if I may add, Your site is fantastic, clean and very elegant.Love it, and I made it a favorite already because the topic is also great. Thanks again.
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Thanks to Tanya as well for helping clarify another option.
Vivian
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Thanks to Tanya as well for helping clarify another option.
Vivian
0
I have changed the theme of my WPD website. But I want to get back to the original theme that I earlier used. Can you please help me with that? How should I do that?
Thanks.
Uma
Thanks.
Uma
