Me and a friend are looking into editing wordpress themes. He has a bit of a backround in programming but has no experience in wordpress. But after studying the style sheet and footer etc in the theme editor, he is pretty confident he could get his head round it ok.

What I need to know for now is what files I need to make writable and how and where I can find them. How I make them writable. And then obviously, make them read only again afterwoods.

Can anybody help??

If you can alter the files in the theme editor, then what else would you need to have access to?

All the files required to design a theme are already located in the theme's folder within the directory:
/home/public_html/(your_site)/wp-content/themes/

Originally Posted by jamestl2

If you can alter the files in the theme editor, then what else would you need to have access to?

All the files required to design a theme are already located in the theme's folder within the directory:
/home/public_html/(your_site)/wp-content/themes/

I have done a little research on it but am still a little confused.. You can change the file permissions. You do this by changing numbers (0477, 0677, 0666 etc). These numbers are used to set the read and write properties of a file. In this case, to edit the style sheets and template files (php). This webpage explains it some, but I am still stuck..

http://codex.wordpress.org/Changing_File_Permissions

I have just this week installed a wordpress blog on my computer for a bit of practice. It is set as default so I can edit themes. But on the blogs which are online. The theme files have been set as read only. Which was done before I took over the sites. Previous owner has no idea as he has always used a programmer to do all maintenance on his sites..

1) you must edit the file CSS

blog(yousite)....../wp-content/themes/mytheme/style.css

you can pretty much change all the grafic you need from that file... i have totaly changed several blog css in order to be integrated in the rest of the website (if any)

2) of course the file CSS proprieties must be writable and it should be by default, it sound trange to me that you can not write the file.
anyway (in case) change the file proprieties and set them using chmod 777... you can use a FTP uploader like cuteftp or similar to change the chmod values

3) you can also help yourself and modify the PHP files inside /wp-content/themes/mytheme/ the of wordpress depending on how confident you are.... example I have modified this mainpage http://artphotoasia.net/blog/ and inserted the comment box directly in the mainpage....

OK thanks that sound like what I was after actually. Only trouble is now, I using a friends hosting and he's moved back to Poland. Now having trouble getting hold of him for passwords. But when I do I'll have a look..

Cheers

Originally Posted by Kwinzee

Yeah I have been doing that on the blog installed on my computer. But I am able to edit the css files and the php files in the wordpress admin theme editor.

With the blogs online, I am not able to do this. The update button under the editor sheet is not there and is replaced with a message----

"You need to make this file writable before you can save your changes. See the codex for more information."

I checked the wordpress codex page but am a bit stuck.

forget this kind of editor and:

1) edit the files itself offline.... using dreamweaver or similar..... or notepad........

save...

2) upload via FTP the updated file

Originally Posted by ArtphotoasiA

forget this kind of editor and:

1) edit the files itself offline.... using dreamweaver or similar..... or notepad........

save...

2) upload via FTP the updated file

Sorry mate edited last message.. Didn't understand properly at first and was getting distracted... What you are talking about should fix it and make it work in wordpress anyway.. Am slowly, bit by bit getting my head around it..

no problem, take your time..........

Just to say, I have sussed this problem out ok now. It was a lot easier then I thought. When I read the chmod instructions on the wordpress site I was a little bit bemused by it all.

Half the trouble was sharing my hosting with a friend who has since moved country. I had a nightmare contacting him for my ftp passwords, which I lost after having to wipe and re install my infected pc. But once I got Filezilla set up, I realised that the chmod function is quite simple to use.

I still don't fully understand what so many different chmod values do. But I know that 777 makes the file totally editable. Then I simply return the file back to the chmod value it was before.

Thanks ArtphotoasiA for the advice!!!

You are welcome....

happy that was not so hard afterall

Just alter template file.if you want to alter another file,you must tell wordpress developer.