How to do simple Wordpress theme modifications?

by 7 replies
9
Hi Warriors,

Can anybody give me a hand on this real quick? Is there an easy way to do simple theme modifications?

For example, in the standard TwentyTen theme for Wordpress, how can I change the colour of the main menu under the header from black to another colour?

Also, is there a way to move the menu to the left or right?

Thanks in advance.
#website design #modifications #simple #theme #wordpress
  • Sometimes you get those options inside the theme options control panels. Sometimes you have to edit the CSS stylesheet to get the effect you want. In the case of TwentyTen, I think to do the things you're talking about doing, you probably have to fiddle with the stylesheet.

    The relevant lines in TwentyTen's style.css file are line 369 which looks like this:

    Code:
    #access {
background:none repeat scroll 0 0 #000000;
display:block;
float:left;
margin:0 auto;
width:940px;
}
    and line 387 which looks like this:

    Code:
    #access .menu-header li, div.menu li {
float:left;
position:relative;
}
    To change the color: In the first example, change #000000 to the hexadecimal value of the color you wish to use (#ABCDEF is a lovely light blue color, for example). To move the navigation links from left to right, in the second line change "float:left;" to "float:right;"

    Hope that helps.
    • [ 2 ] Thanks
  • Many thanks to you! I appreciate it!
  • This might not be quite what you're looking for but I recommend using 'Artisteer' to design and edit Wordpress (and Joomla) templates.

    You can't use it to edit non-artisteer created templates but you can create something quite impressive very quickly yourself.
    • [1] reply
    • Sorry, but thats by far the worst advice you could possibly get! Don't even consider Artisteer.

      Artisteer is to WordPress what FrontPage is to web development - a good idea that in practice produces awful results. And as Tim has posted they may not even be supporting the product anymore.

      Start at wordpress.org and read the excellent documentation about building themes, most of you r questions will be answered. A quick Google query will bring a wealth of resources, just make sure to read the date on the articles you find as you want instructions for editing modern widget-ready themes (so theme development articles from 2005 are probably out).

      Learn the proper method of building themes, stay away from Artisteer!

      Bill
  • Nick, if you are using firefox, install firebug plugin will easily help in modification of the code.
  • *I* recommend that you completely remove 'Artisteer' from your lexicon and forget you ever heard the word. That is, of course, unless you want bloated, non-semantic, slow-loading coding in your theme files. If that's the case, by all means use it.
    • [ 2 ] Thanks
    • [1] reply
    • Yes, Sadly Artisteer is broken, I even posted at their website, asking when they were going to fix the problems with artisteer, and no one even bothered to reply, I think they are defunk, (allegedly)
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