Okay, I changed my entire blog look. I am 99% satisfied with the result ... until, that is, I can really get in and change it again!

Doesn't it look better now?

Cleaner, crisper, nothing distracting.

I'm happy. But then again, I just came back from Starbucks, and that ALWAYS makes me happy!

Are you referring to the photograph in the background??? Those are bubbles. Coffee bubbles.

So, I should just lose the photo, right? I agree. I think I'm just going to go with a solid color in the background. I kinda liked the coffee bubbles, but they're too distracting.

But, it's 3 am here. I'm not able to sleep because the sidebar that is sitting in the wrong place is really bugging me and I can't sleep.

I'm thinking that it's just the "fixed" code that I can't change and that I need to change my theme. The sidebar works fine in other themes. My problem is that I really LOVE the really cool header I created and it only works well within this theme.

IF ONLY there were more themes!!! (I know, I know, not enough volunteers, too much work!!!)

I look at your background and on the right hand side I see a big turquoise/teal/blue/green jewel thingee. I look straight ahead and all I see is a lot of red. Would you consider replacing the red with a colour that is blended with the other colours you've got going like (1) one of the turquoise/teal/blue/green jewel thingee colours or (2) the gold colour in the background?

If you hate this suggestion then don't respond to it just pretend it didn't take place, ok.

It's looking pretty good right now. EXCEPT that my sidebars are in the wrong place. They were worse before I started tweaking it. They were off to the right totally.

But, I KNOW I will fix this darn thing or die trying. But, overall, I think it looks pretty good right now.

Thanks everyone! I'll keep reading and tweaking, and drinking enough coffee to make sure I can keep awake until it's PERFECT! PERFECT I TELL YOU! LOL LOL (evil laugh, too much coffee)!!!

You cannot add any old WordPress Theme styles to the CSS Editor. It will not work.

The style references in the Sandbox Theme are completely different from the standard format and references used in other WordPress Themes. COMPLETELY.

You have to compare the two and track down which means what where and change them to match the Sandbox Theme. I'll be writing more on this, but remember, this thing isn't more than a couple days old. Let those of us who are experts poke and prod at this and then we will write all the instructions you want. ;-) We're all volunteers here doing the best we can.

I get what you mean. Even though I finally got the background pic placed, NOW my blog links are out of alignment!!!

I have to admit, I sure am learning the hard way!

It will probably take me another day to fix it once I figure out where and how.

I can't wait to get my new book (released last month) which will probably help me a LOT!

Have a great day...I am reading your web site btw.

You can only ADD styles and maybe tweak them, but you can't overcome what's solidly done.

Though, as alunsalt described so beautifully, you can take their Theme's CSS and copy and paste it into the Sandbox Theme's NO CSS Then, and it "should" work, though it might not find all the embedded images depending upon how they were linked. Then you can dig into this fresh copy of the stylesheet and fix what you couldn't before.

Not easy, but doable.

I'm nominating you for Sainthood!

It works exactly like I had hoped for the last 3 days.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

It's perfect!

JJ

Glad that helped.

If you were here, I'd kiss the ground you walk on!

I did exactly as you said. The background pic finally showed up!

It's not big enough, but I'll tweak the pic and re-upload the new size. I don't like the look when I repeat it.

The columns are out of whack ... so I'll have to figure out how to fix that (I don't like where they are placed).

BUT, at least the style saved and the background pic is in place!

Thank you...thank you...thank you!

If you:
copy my sheet,<br /> activate Sandbox as the theme<br /> select the no CSS skin<br /> edit css<br /> paste my sheet into your css box<br /> click save stylesheet
then you'd have a copy of my site. Obviously you'd want to change colours and layout, but it'd give you a body declaration that works for the background image.

I have access to the images, because I assume they're stored as images for blog posts. I can only see them, I can't delete them.

What do you mean it's accessible to you? I thought I was the only one who had access to the files I uploaded? How is it possible that others have access to stuff I upload to my account?

Maybe I'm just not understanding you correctly. Could be, I'm only on my 2nd cup of coffee!!!

Thanks.

Your current theme is Connections so I can't see your style sheet right now to see the problem.

You wrote: Only with the new CSS editor can you make changes to the theme.

I have paid my $15. I paid it BEFORE I started this odessy. I have the new CSS editor. I have tried. NOTHING changes.

I have used Sandbox, picked a blank CSS Style, and STILL the style is there. It should have been blank, right? Well, it wasn't.

I have deleted entire sections in the style sheet shown for whatever theme I've selected and nothing changes. Nothing.

I have inputted every single suggestion of syntax people have given me here. Nothing changes.

I am NOT allowed to make any changes to the theme I have chosen????

The themes are shared on the WordPress Platform. If you were to make a change to the theme, then you would be affecting it for everybody using that theme and the same if someone else changed something on it. Only way around that is the new CSS style editor.

I can ONLY use the themes listed under Presentation????

Yes, this is explained in the FAQ at the top of the forums.

AND, the theme I have chosen will not allow me to make any changes to it????

Only with the new CSS editor can you make changes to the theme.

I think I may sign up with a host where I can use WordPress and actually be able to write my own style sheet.

Please remember that this is WordPress Multiuser that we're running here. There are differences between this platform and the normal WordPress software.

You may want to take a few minutes and read the FAQ posted at the head of the forums as it appears you have questions on what you can and can't do here.

Correct me if I'm wrong...

I am NOT allowed to make any changes to the theme I have chosen????

I can ONLY use the themes listed under Presentation????

AND, the theme I have chosen will not allow me to make any changes to it????

I still can't figure out why Lorelle sees a different parameters than I actually see on my screen in my CSS Style edit box.

I am only going to spend one more day (today) trying to figure this out. If I can't get the background image that I've uploaded to work, then I give up. I think I may sign up with a host where I can use WordPress and actually be able to write my own style sheet.

I don't want to install Firefox and then start dealing with a whole other list of issues. I don't think that's where the problem is ... I think the problem is that I was under the impression that I could upload any theme I wanted and use it. Such appears to NOT be the case ... from what I gather in scouring WordPress Forums is that the ONLY templates I can EVER use are the ones presented here at WordPress.

I could be wrong. Won't be the first time.

Javajabber: Get Firefox. Install the Firefox Web Developer Extension's EDIT CSS feature.

It will open a sidebar and there will be two tabs, one for stylesheet and the other for EMBEDDED STYLES. That's where the CSS Editor styles get put.

In the Edit CSS feature with Firefox, you can change your styles right in that sidebar window. That's how I found all the styles and how getting rid of the image in the body tab made the color go away and I could then change it to something else. I changed it to yellow. WEE!

This is all explained in Secrets of WordPress Theming with much more detail. Once you play around with the CSS in the sidebar of the Edit CSS Firefox Extension, copy the information to your CSS Editor in WordPress.com and see if it works for you.

If it doesn't, you might not be able to override that body code in the Theme you have chosen. Save your CSS in the CSS Editor and change Themes to find one that will allow you to override their styles.

This ain't easy, so take your time.

Oh, one last tip. If you view another web page in Firefox while working with the Edit CSS feature, you will lose all the edits you just made because it will load in the styles of the new page. Been there. Whined a lot. Don't do it. ;-)

Replace this line in your CSS file:

background-color: #454C67;

with the one above.

Currently it's using just a color generated by the browser instead of an image for a background.

Hope this helps,
-drmike

(OK, I know a little about CSS...)

Now I KNOW something isn't right...

"body { background: ..." and "body {padding-top: 28px;}..."

are NOT a part of my style sheet. I've gone through it line by line. So, I don't know
where you are seeing that, but it's not what I see at all. None of that is in my style sheet.

Somehow what you are seeing and what I actually have are totally different. I have NONE of the lines you put in your post.

Therein, I would suppose, is the answer to my problem. I just don't know how it's possible that we aren't seeing the same thing.

Thanks.

body { background: url("blah-blah/images/bg.jpg") repeat-x top center fixed; border: 0; }<br /> #header { background: url("blah-blah/images/header.jpg") no-repeat bottom center; border: none; }

And in another place you have:

body {padding-top: 28px;}<br /> #header {font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Sans-Serif;text-align: left; background: url(blah-blah/08/cropped-coffeecup22.jpg); width: 700px; height: 200px; margin: 0px;}<br /> #header * { display: none;}

This is just too much information. Use one or the other. But the fix is here:

body { background-color:blue;}

Get rid of all the other styles in the body tag, and the rest of the #header information is fine. I'd kill the top padding on the body tag. I know you want it to drop below the WordPress.com bar, but few people see that. But that's up to you.

If I take the header image and stretch it, it won't go any further than where it's at right now.

I'm beginning to think that the style sheet I am trying to modify just won't let me do it because I don't know enough about the code to figure out what is stopping me.

I have books now...maybe I'll figure it out on my own. I tried Wank's suggestion...it didn't work.

I KNOW the image I uploaded is there. I can access it on this side.

Thanks anyway folks.

JavaJabber

<br /> body { background-image: url ('http://javajabber.wordpress.com/files/2006/08/foamycoffee2.jpg') repeat;}<br />

That sets the background image and makes it tile over the entire page.

On my own blog it's the "body" tag for the page background. You'll need to have a look through the CSS file and see if that's available.

Collin