CSS isn't too hard really. It all comes down to seeing the relationship between the XHTML markup (view source) and the CSS. The actual declarations and such are easily found on the web when you need some clarification on what something does and what the options are for values.

I can't help you with the CSS since I barely can get around my own theme, but that info will help others help you!

Sorry on the read more link: http://en.support.wordpress.com/splitting-content/more-tag/ .

On the mentioned blog, she actually has a blue box with lines (makes it look like a notepad) that her recipes are on so that it stands out.

Also, the link to "read more tag" in your reply linked back to her blog.

Thanks so much.

I'm not seeing any box on the recipes on http://trissalicious.com/ .

Is there any way I can change the CSS so that I display only excerpts + featured image on the main page?
(i.e. like what can be done w/ the Grisaille theme @ http://grisailledemo.wordpress.com/)

Also, I would like to know how I can add a box over my recipes like this blog:
http://trissalicious.com/

I'm so sorry for sounding like such a dinosaur, but I really can't seem to understand any of the CSS tutorials that I have been Googling online. :(

Thank you.

-M. Alexandria-

@thesacredpath:
I have now been trying your solution for the date stamp, but for some reason it is not working. Whenever I enter a new font size or style, no change occurs when I preview. Any ideas what I may be doing wrong? I've copied your code exactly into the CSS.

I have also just customized the fonts, could this be a factor?

Day (number)

.post-date strong {
    font-size: 4.9em;
    font-weight: normal;
    letter-spacing: -0.1em;
}

Day (name)

.post-date em {
font-size: 1.9em;
}

M/Y

.post-date span {
font-size: 1.1em;
font-variant: small-caps;
}

General

.post-date {
font-family: "Adobe Garamond Pro",Garamond,Palatino,"Palatino Linotype",Times,"Times New Roman",Georgia,serif;
font-style: italic;
}

Might I trouble you for one more?
I'd like to modify the font and font size for the date stamp... how would that look? :)

.post-entry a {
color: #990000;
}

.post-entry a:hover {
color: #000000;
}

Menu text would be these:

#menu a {
color: #999999;
}

#menu a:hover {
color: #000000;
}

Yes, once you purchase the upgrade, make sure that "add to existing..." is selected and then click save stylesheet and your changes and additions will override the existing stuff in the CSS.

I would like to change the colour of the links within posts, and also the colour of the menu headers. Since I know so little about coding in general, I've just been trying to identify these bits and pieces within the original CSS, and then copying/pasting/modifying. But I'm having trouble locating these in particular, and I still find it a bit hard to write lines of code from scratch - can you help?

Have just been testing things out so far in the Design upgrade preview. Once I purchase the upgrade, if I just add in my changes, will they then just override the original styling?

I live on Hawai'i Island, on the west side.

I do have some other styling changes I'd like to try, and there's a very good chance I may need some additional help, so I will definitely post back here over the next few days. Would be super grateful if you could keep your eye on it, as you've been incredibly helpful :)

PS. In the middle of the Pacific.... curious where you are located?

.recipe {
border: 2px solid #CC0000;
padding: 8px 10px 0 10px;
margin-bottom: 25px;
}

You can edit the color and also the padding. The padding values are top, right, bottom, left.

After adding this to the CSS, you would add this at the beginning of the first line of the recipe in the HTML tab in the editor:

<div class="recipe">

and then add the closing div tag to the end of the last line:

</div>

Any questions, or additional styling you want to do, or if you have a problem, just post back here and I'll keep an eye on this thread.

http://themuffintest4.wordpress.com/2012/05/25/mostly-whole-wheat-no-knead-pizza-dough/

The recipe starts at the 3rd paragraph.

Thanks!!

@sacredpath: I am planning to get the Custom Design Upgrade, so could you help me with the specifics of the CSS solution? The recipes tend to be quite long with multiple paragraphs, so would be great not to have to tinker with too much code everytime I post. Thanks!

<div style="border:3px solid blue;padding:1em;"><p style="margin-top:5px;margin-bottom:5px;">your text here</p></div>

Just my opinion, but yes you are right. You can carve it into the post HTML each time you add a recipe.

BTW, missing ending "p" tag in your example. Oh and also, if you have 10 paragraphs in your recipe, you have to add the opening p styling to each of those paragraphs individually. Far more work than a single class declaration in the opening div tag as I suggested.

<div style="border:3px solid blue;padding:1em;"><p style="margin-top:5px;margin-bottom:5px;">your text here</div>

You can tinker with the color of the border, its thickness, and even the style (it can be dotted, for example), and the padding (space between border and text).