Total Newbie to Blogging

  • Hi!

    I am totally new to all this and am frankly totally lost. I have installed the blog at https://www.computerincome.net/blog (or rather was done for me by host) and now I want to customise the blog more in line with my main site at https://www.computerincome.net, so manybe include my usual header etc. I have been through the admin area and seen how to post etc, but not sure at all how to customise the blog. Any help walking me through step by step would be much appreciated.

    Thanks

    Rachel

Viewing 10 replies - 1 through 10 (of 10 total)

  • https://codex.www.ads-software.com/Blog_Design_and_Layout

    Plenty of resources there to hopefully get you started.

    Rachel – What you want to do is first install another theme and fiddle with that. What I did was I looked for a nice basic setup in a theme and add first I altered some pictures and colors, from there on I learned more and more of the basics of WordPress ??

    If you got any Q’s you can also always mail [email protected] (thats me :P)

    Good luck blogging ??

    Hi, I’m lost too! Can one get to the HTML files that are being generated and specify one’s own and CSS in a simple manner? With just html and css skills and no other? On an ordinarily owned website, one can go into the html and css files and change things to one’s heart’s content… But it seems very tricky to do this with WordPress, there seems to be some sort of complex or rigid proprietory interface to do this? Are there any text files on my server that I can get at to change directly? Perhaps they reside somewhere that is different to the mass of WordPress php files? The php text files seem not to contain any html as I understand it? Hope someone can understand me ?? I realise that content is generated, but some is invariable and it is this that I want to get at directly. Where is it? Why is it hiding from me? It *must* be somewhere!

    dorayme

    In 1.5, the HTML resides in PHP template files, typically in a “theme”. Themes are stored in their own directories under wp-content/themes/. These files can be edited just like any HTML/text document, although due to the PHP elements within them, it’s suggested using a text editor as opposed to a WYSIWYG web development tool (as most are pretty ignorant about PHP).

    For more information follow the link ColdForged provided, and peruse the Templates and Themes section.

    Thanks, K. This helped me. I am beginning to see! I made an experiment and changed the title tag content from the fancy php stuff to a simple bit of ordinary text and it worked! <title>Exactly what I want to see</title> Basically I want to get as much of the php stuff OFF that I don’t need and have it only to do the complex job of managing the blogs… And I found out that the theme applied was in defaults! I can see some work ahead! Maybe I should just learn php! Thanks a lot and I am sure I will have lots more “damned fool questions” ?? (btw, I would not dream of using anything but a plain text editor… as you recommended) What worries me slightly is that in removing the php instructions from the title tag have I done anything to bugger anything else up? Does anything else use the title tag php stuff in the complex web of files? I dispensed with the code in the title : “<?php bloginfo(‘name’); ?> <?php if ( is_single() ) { ?> » Blog Archive <?php } ?> <?php wp_title(); ?>”.

    This might help:
    https://codex.www.ads-software.com/The_Loop_In_Action

    You don’t need to learn a lot of PHP. Learning a little will certainly help, but isn’t completely necessary.

    I am sure I will have lots more “damned fool questions”

    That’s what we’re here for. ;)

    “I would not dream of using anything but a plain text editor.

    Good to hear. I like a hearty soul. Not that there’s anything wrong with those “pretty” tools, but one learns a lot faster when forced to look at the inner workings.

    “What worries me slightly is that in removing the php instructions from the title tag have I done anything to bugger anything else up?

    Nope. The template tags are just there to display the various data from WordPress. If you don’t want something in your template, there’s nothing stopping you from removing it. If you want it back later but can’t recall exactly how to do that, you can always ask.

    Actually, I kept the original file (renamed with “original” after it) just in case I want it back … wobbly first steps on a tight rope and you keep an eye out on returning to the platform…. ??

    dorayme

    The title template tag that you removed could have been easily changed in the WordPress Admin > Options > General. By changing it there, you would never have had the fun of every looking at the PHP. That’s part of the fun of WordPress. By doing things the “easy” way, you don’t have to get into the code.

    There are some very good step by step instruction articles in the Getting Started With WordPress section, too. Some are simple, some will hold your hand through this entire process, like https://codex.www.ads-software.com/New_To_WordPress_-_Where_to_Start.

Viewing 10 replies - 1 through 10 (of 10 total)
  • The topic ‘Total Newbie to Blogging’ is closed to new replies.