Hi, I'm enjoying Montezuma so far. It was quite a shock when I went to make theme changes and was presented with the raw .css files, but I'm adjusting. This theme is generally more for web developers than bloggers.

The site I'm working on is here and I've done quite a bit of rewiring to the base theme as you can see, but there are a few things I can't figure out.

- I'd like the sidebar on the -left- rather than the right. Is this possible?

- I'd like to stop this half-color of titles thing. I can see it's not a simple comment-out, but my attempts to make the titles one color -and- change color on hover, have failed.

- I can't seem to set the font-weight of my article text. I've set it down to 200, which seems to come up when the page first loads, but then is overtaken by the bolding.

- Somehow the theme chooses a section of each article to present on the home page. Maybe it's the first 4 or 5 lines. Where is this decision made? .I'd like more lines, and I'd like to preserve my paragraphs; I have my <more> tag. And it seems to choose an arbitrary image from the article, which is usually squirrely and irrelevant to the title. Where is this decision made?

- How do I adjust the height of the header, where it says "Weblog..." I'd like to have more of the background image.

- I can't figure out where to put the background image for the article background. I've tried everywhere that makes sense and nothing works. I'd like this background also behind the sidebar, and I'd like to add a slight tint to the sidebar.

- Are there other choices for the format of the calendar widget?

And last I have a suggestion. I know it's not easy to wean off of Javascript, but the Tor Browser and other secure browsers can't do Javascript. That's the reason I'm moving to HTML5 and is why I'm here. Can maybe a view be taken to reducing the Javascript in successive releases? HTML5 should be able to cover everything.

- I'd like the sidebar on the -left- rather than the right. Is this possible?

MTO->Main Templates->Index.php move the 'widgetarea-one' <div>...</div> before the 'content' <div>...</div>

- I'd like to stop this half-color of titles thing. I can see it's not a simple comment-out, but my attempts to make the titles one color -and- change color on hover, have failed.

do a forum search, this has been answered before

- I can't seem to set the font-weight of my article text. I've set it down to 200, which seems to come up when the page first loads, but then is overtaken by the bolding.

go to MTO->CSS Files->posts.css and find the section

/*****************************************
POST BODYCOPY
******************************************
<div class="post-bodycopy cf"><div class="post-date"></div><a class="comment-bubble">13</a>
	<p>...</p><p>...</p>
</div>
******************************************/

.post-bodycopy { 
	/* text-align: 		justify; */ 
}

and add yout font-size there

- Somehow the theme chooses a section of each article to present on the home page. Maybe it's the first 4 or 5 lines. Where is this decision made? .I'd like more lines, and I'd like to preserve my paragraphs; I have my <more> tag. And it seems to choose an arbitrary image from the article, which is usually squirrely and irrelevant to the title. Where is this decision made?

MTO->->Sub Templates->postformat.php the line

		<?php bfa_excerpt( 55, ' ...' ); ?>

click the 'Limited PHP Code tab in the upper right to see the explanation

- How do I adjust the height of the header, where it says "Weblog..." I'd like to have more of the background image.

go use FireBug in Firefox, examine the code and see wjhat element and classes are in use, then add some CSS to increase the height

- I can't figure out where to put the background image for the article background. I've tried everywhere that makes sense and nothing works. I'd like this background also behind the sidebar, and I'd like to add a slight tint to the sidebar.

You can't have tried everything or you would have figured it out. Try .post-bodycopy

- Are there other choices for the format of the calendar widget?

the calendar widget is not part of the theme but you can style it by adding CSS in. I'd add any extra CSS to the end of MTO->CSS Files->various.css

Thanks.

Originally Posted by juggledad

MTO->Main Templates->Index.php move the 'widgetarea-one' <div>...</div> before the 'content' <div>...</div>

Oh my gosh. Well at least it wasn't a stupid question...

Originally Posted by juggledad

MTO->->Sub Templates->postformat.php the line

		<?php bfa_excerpt( 55, ' ...' ); ?>

click the 'Limited PHP Code tab in the upper right to see the explanation

This does seem to allow me to set the number of words from the article on the summary page.

But is there no way to stop it from eliminating my paragraph formatting, or let me choose where the breakpoint is, or keep it from randomly choosing pictures from the article? Those wrong pictures really mess up my weblog.

Originally Posted by juggledad

You can't have tried everything or you would have figured it out. Try .post-bodycopy

Doesn't work in posts.css|post-bodycopy or layout.css|#main or several other places I've tried. Maybe it's not so important.

But is there no way to stop it from eliminating my paragraph formatting, or let me choose where the breakpoint is, or keep it from randomly choosing pictures from the article? Those wrong pictures really mess up my weblog.

change the excerpt to the_content()

Doesn't work in posts.css|post-bodycopy or layout.css|#main or several other places I've tried.

where and what did you put in posts.css?

Originally Posted by juggledad

change the excerpt to the_content()

I'm lost with this. Just learned CSS yesterday.

Originally Posted by juggledad

Doesn't work in posts.css|post-bodycopy or layout.css|#main or several other places I've tried.

where and what did you put in posts.css?

.post-bodycopy {
background: transparent url("https://quantum-sci.com/cacook/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Back-paper.jpg") -10px 0px repeat;
text-align: justify;
}

Also tried it in content.css under body { and several other places.

I find I need to edit breadcrumbs.php. (I want to change "Blog" to "WebLog") Other themes don't want you to modify the core files as they will only be replaced in an upgrade. Is there any protocol I should follow for this change, beside just making a note? (breadcrumbs.php is not in SubTemplates)

With the customization I've done with this theme, will MTO|Export back up all the .css files along with customization settings? The help file doesn't say. Is there a recommended method, other than just FTPing the theme from my blog?

With the customization I've done with this theme, will MTO|Export back up all the .css files along with customization settings? The help file doesn't say. Is there a recommended method, other than just FTPing the theme from my blog?

The theme options are stored in the database and will not be effected by theme updates.

If you have changed anything in the theme files, those changes will be wiped out during an upgrade.

one other thing - in the future open a seperate thread for each issue. This will allow others to benefit doing searches and it helps anyone trying to help you. there are somany issues in this thread that I'm not sure which have been answered and which haven't.

Maybe this is too much. There are so many things I can not fix. The help page for drop-down menus tells everything about everything except how to actually put something in a page dropdown menu! I try to add them in Wp or Montezuma, and they create an additional dropdown, not entries in a dropdown. How could the explanation have been overlooked on the drop-down help page? And most other help pages similarly lack such key, indispensible information. This requires being a college-educated coder.

The whole reason I started this blog is to show what I know, because I've been unemployed for three years and am just about out of money. I have spent days on this theme, but still can not find my way around and get things done. There's no explanation as to why some things are in php and some are in css, so I don't know where to look and focus in to analyze where I might have to put in an entry. I guess and try, but little works. I have problems with my site which look like they're going to take days and days of research and trial and error to resolve. But I must be looking for a job.

There's no explanation as to why some things are in php and some are in css

PHP is code CSS is styling (Cascading Style Sheets). If you haven't got a handle on that, then this theme might not be the one for you.

Saying that 'PHP is code and CSS is styling', is trying to make me out as a fool, given what you know of the significant changes I've made so far. Thank you very much for that. That is the attitude of a nasty person. But I won't return the favor, I'll try and educate you about the conveyance of information.

What role CSS and PHP play in this theme is convoluted and not documented anywhere. I would have to have complete knowledge of the whole theme in detail, to know this. In some cases we modify CSS code... and in some cases PHP, but there is no evident path for which or what or when, in any given circumstances. There is no overview or mapping of the system or what path to make intended changes. The CSS is a tangled mess.

I modify CSS for the post links, and changes turn up in part of the title. I modify CSS for the footer, and changes take place in the backlinks. (visited) I find to my horror that a state of coherence hasn't been reached.

In my blog entries I give clear instructions and perspective for everything. I am there to not just tell How -- but to Teach, so that my readers will come away with more than success. But being an Old Guy, it is clear that I am a dying breed. Confusion will reign as time goes on. I'm glad I'll be dead.

You, jugglodad, have been the only one to respond to my questions; and your responses have been curt, and in half the cases useless. You should have just stayed out of it and let me find out that there is no support for this theme. At least I wouldn't be left angry, as well as frustrated.

So maybe you're right. This theme is not for me.

I'm sorry you feel I've been curt, that was not my attempt. I attempt to get people to solve there own problems (look at my signature).

Saying that 'PHP is code and CSS is styling', is trying to make me out as a fool, given what you know of the significant changes I've made so far. Thank you very much for that. That is the attitude of a nasty person. But I won't return the favor, I'll try and educate you about the conveyance of information.

You state you are a Noob, you state that you just learned CSS yesterday. You post multiple questions in a single thread, when I tried to help you solve one, you respond with another question even when I requested that you open a new thread for each issue. Doing that allows each issue to be addressed and reduct the confusion.

This is a complicated but powerful theme, not something you can learn over night. Neithor is CSS. While there are different sections for CSS, any incorrectly structured CSS Selector can cause unexpected effects in any theme. It has taken me several years to gain the knowledge about CSS that I have and I will be the first to admit that I know only a subset of what CSS can do. But CSS is styling, it has nothing to do with PHP which is coding.

If you wanted to make modifications to the twenty fourteen, and change the style of the text in the posts you would have to modify the style.css file or create a child theme and put your CSS there. Montezuma allows you to change the styling in the theme options so you don't have to create (or edit a file) and FTP it to your host.

You made a comment about menu's

The help page for drop-down menus tells everything about everything except how to actually put something in a page dropdown menu!

The theme doesn't create the menu's YOU DO using the WordPress custom menus. Is it the task of a theme to document all of WordPress works?

As I said, this is a complicated and powerful theme which has been downloaded more than 230,000 times. But that doesn't mean it is for everyone.

Once again I'm sorry you feel my help hasn't been valuable and I wish you luck with what ever theme you choose and I hope you fine it's support more help.

This theme is not for me.

In that case I'll close this thread.