Can you edit a WordPress Template ?

whiz

Hi Guys
I am new to website design, I have a wordpress template on my site www.irishweddingvideos.com and I am trying to increase the width of the middle column i.e. where you post your comments and blog, I am wondering is this possible and how can this be done ? One of the reasons I want to do this is so that I can post larger pictures. Please note the template is made up of 3 columns and has a fixed width. Any comments are much appreciated

Encrypted Pigeon

You should be able to mess around with the style.css file, its usually located in wp-content > themes > whateverthemeyouareusing. If you use google chrome and "inspect element" (right click on page) you should be able to easily track down the element you need to modify (it will actually allow you to make changes interactively without making changes to css file so you will have an idea if it will work or not). Make sure you make a backup before you start.

whiz

thanks for the info, i tried to follow what you mention with by using the google tip, identified CSS stylesheet, I am not to sure to do next ? or is there any easier way to do this ?

Encrypted Pigeon

Ive highlighted the three relevant divs here as you can see on the right the corresponding width properties.






Your properties seem to be stored in screen.css, and you can see the arrows pointing to the relevant columns.
At the bottom of the picture, you see a little pencil with three dots, you can use this to make interactive changes (NOT permanent) to see the outcome of any changes before you edit the screen.css file.


edit_______^

whiz

thanks for the screen shots, I have identified the properties, but I am having difficulty in changing the width and height of the 3 columns, can you tell me how
I can do this in small steps or if there is an alternative way. If anyone else wants to jump in please feel free to do so.

PS I am using this template http://wordpressthemesgallery.org/livedemo/?theme=wp-camino

Encrypted Pigeon

Hey again, it can be a bit overwhelming getting used to css if you've never seen it before, hell it still confuses me at times.
inside in screen.css there is

.span-24, div.span-24 {width:950px;margin:0;} - it controls the width of the container for all three columns

.span-5 {width:190px;} - this controls the width of the two side columns

and

.span-14 {width:550px;} - this is the center column

I explained the chrome editing feature badly, sorry.



the reason it is tricky editing these is that its a balancing act, too much here will push something else out of the way. That is why I was trying to get you to use chrome so that you will know what works before editing the actual .css file and uploading it to your server.

Once you are happy with these changes, download the screen.css from your server (make a backup) make the changes and then re upload that file again to your server.

As for being an easier way, seeing that it is wordpress I believe that there is a plugin for editing css (not sure) that is meant for people not familiar with css but I think it will come at a cost.