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Forgive my asking a silly question, but if a free template says it has a custom background feature, is that feature available for the free blogs or just the blogs with the CSS upgrade? I'm seriously thinking about changing my theme and I'd like to be sure on that point.
Yes, I read the FAQ, but I'm still a bit confused.
Thanks!
The blog I need help with is arizonad.wordpress.com.
hello there,
Many free themes gave custom backgrounds. http://theme.wordpress.com/themes/features/custom-background/
Thanks, though I already knew some free themes have custom backgrounds. What I was wondering if free blogs can use that feature. In the Support pages, the Custom Header section of explicitly says I don't need to purchase the upgrade (http://en.support.wordpress.com/themes/custom-header-image/). The Custom Background section says nothing either way (http://en.support.wordpress.com/themes/custom-backgrounds/).
Hope this clears things up.
What I was wondering if free blogs can use that feature.
Hi there,
I'm clear on this.
Many free themes have custom backgrounds.
http://theme.wordpress.com/themes/features/custom-background/
If the theme is coded to allow for a custom background then after you activate it here > Appearance > Themes that feature is found on the > Appearance > Background page.
If you activate the theme and go here > Appearance > Theme Options and that option does not exist, then there is only one possible means of adding a cuatom background and that's by purchasing a custom design upgrade and doing the required CSS editing.
Many free themes have custom headers. http://theme.wordpress.com/themes/features/custom-header/
If the theme is coded to allow for a custom header then after you activate it here > Appearance > Themes that feature is found on the > Appearance > Header page.
If you activate a theme and go here > Appearance > Theme Options and that option does not exist, then there is only one possible means of adding a cuatom background and that's by purchasing a custom design upgrade and doing the required CSS editing.
http://en.support.wordpress.com/custom-design/
http://en.support.wordpress.com/custom-design/editing-css/
Edit: The last paragraph above should have read:
If you activate a theme and go here > Appearance > Header and that option does not exist, then there is only one possible means of adding a custom header and that's by purchasing a custom design upgrade and doing the required CSS editing
I get it now. Thanks, Timethief!
This "feature" may not be as useful as you hope. Using a custom background may destroy formatting of sidebars. In the Liquorice theme, for example, if you set either a background color OR a background image, the formatting for your sidebar elements is destroyed. That means instead of getting a visible separation showing up the sidebar as a separate container from the content, it just fades into the background - literally since you can't change fonts, colors, or anything else in those widgets. Your next/last post links will also disappear into the background if you choose a background image or color that includes much orange or red in it. The background image extends across the entire page without regard to container boundaries - and the only place you can change it is in the content body itself. And that you will have to do with in-line CSS on every single post/page. You don't have any option whatsoever to modify formatting of the post/page title nor can you choose link colors.
I spend more time trying to work around WordPress and/or correcting its deficiencies than it would take me to code a template from scratch. Needless to say I'm looking for a self-hosting site - and it won't be WP.com because having tried to use the "free" service has given me plenty of evidence for why paid hosting here would be an even worse idea.
Before you pay for hosting, you need to freshen up on the differences between WordPress.COM and WordPress.ORG. Particularly with CSS, they work very differently.
Wow, care to summarise those differences?
New ground to me.
Ther are found here > WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org
Just to add a little more. The themes we have here that can also be found at WordPress.org are not exactly the same because they have been adapted to run on our WordPress.com multiuser software.
And it's easy to theme hack at WP.org, whereas it's quite difficult here. The obstacles that are frustrating you don't even exist with an independently-hosted blog.
OK thanks I'm new so this is good info for me, many thanks.
Al
Hmm. Looks like I'll need to choose a background carefully. Or possibly several backgrounds and see which one works best with the template.
Just did an expirement in live preview with Liquorice and some other templates I liked. I can see what kitchenbarbarian means. If you add a background to Liquorice, the background shows up behind the content. Looks like I'll have to choose a template carefully, too.
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arizonad
kitchenbarbarian
alangent