Community Forums › Forums › Archived Forums › General Discussion › Executive Pro Child Theme & CSS, PHP, FTP Questions
- This topic has 4 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 9 years, 9 months ago by jonah.
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June 21, 2014 at 2:49 pm #110977jonahMember
I have recently purchased and installed the Genesis Studiopress Executive Pro Theme and uploaded the ‘demo’ as my ‘working domain’. Thought his would be the easiest way to learn and then re-configure this to my liking, which is what I am in the process of doing. It is for a forklift training business website.
However, after also watching a few Youtube video tutorials I am a little confused on the need for an FTP client account. Do I need this? If so, what for?
I was under the impression that if I purchased a child theme that it came pre-loaded with whatever files I would need if I wanted to change anything. Is that true?
I want to change the size of the original header area to full width (1140 x 200) and add into it my company logo – search bar – social media icons. Do I need to import any additional files into the child theme to do that or does the purchased download already hold those files?
I also want to change background colours and maybe alter the spacing’s between widget areas.
I also need to add an AWeber opt-in form.
When I go to Appearance – Editor the following list appears:-
Templates
This child theme inherits templates from a parent theme,
Genesis
archive-portfolio.php
front-page.php
Theme Functions
(functions.php)theme-defaults.php
Landing Page Template
(page_landing.php)single-portfolio.php
taxonomy-portfolio-type.php
Styles
Stylesheet
(style.css)Do I already have all the above within my child theme or do I only have the style.css?
If I do actually need to import/add files to my child theme to allow me to do what I need/want to do then can someone please direct me to the files that I need to add and the process for doing that. Thank you.
Cheers
Jonah
June 21, 2014 at 6:48 pm #110997nutsandboltsMemberHi Jonah,
Hopefully I can help clarify for you. While your child theme does come with the files you need, it's generally unsafe to edit them inside the WordPress editor. One typo, missing comma, or formatted quotation mark can bring down your entire site, leaving you no way to access your dashboard. For that reason, it's a best practice to use FTP to download the file, make changes, and upload it back to the site. That way, if something goes wrong you can easily open the file, remove your changes, and replace.
All that said, it's safe to edit style.css within Appearance > Editor. You can "break" your site with CSS, but not in the same way that you would when you edit PHP files. If you make a CSS error that makes the site look weird, you can still access your dashboard and take out the offending code.
Apart from that, you may want to create additional templates for your theme, depending on your level of comfort in editing PHP, so FTP would be needed to create any new files as well.
Hope that helps!
Andrea Whitmer, Owner/Developer, Nuts and Bolts Media
I provide development and training services for designers • Find me on Twitter and Google+June 21, 2014 at 7:30 pm #111006AnitaKeymasterHave you taken a look at the theme tutorial here? You may have to log in to your account to view the tutorial. The themes do not come preloaded - for example the Aweber. If you look at the tutorial, you will see that they recommend 3 plugins that you needed to install. One of them is the eNews Extended widget which you would configure with your Aweber account.
As for changing your header size, that would be in the functions.php file. There isn't a menu item that gives you settings you can change - you must modify the functions.php file and your CSS and then upload your header. However, I have recently been using a plugin called Genesis Simple Headers which has been working fairly well for me on client projects. Install that and see if it makes it easier for you to add it in there.
The search is already in your widget areas and your social media icons - if you want the demo ones, then you would follow the instructions in the tutorial.
Love coffee, chocolate and my Bella!
June 22, 2014 at 4:29 am #111031jonahMemberThank you Andrea, that does help greatly. FYI, I have been over to Brad Daltons site and read some of his tips/tricks here too but needed to clarify the FTP issue before I jumped in.
Thanks again, very much appreciated.
Cheers
Jonah
June 22, 2014 at 4:37 am #111032jonahMemberThank you Anita, Appreciate your time and will certainly look at the plugin your suggest.
What I meant by 'preloaded' had more to do with the function.php and the style .css being loaded already into the child theme. I wasn't sure if it was or if I needed to go through the FTP route to do it myself and watching too many video tutorials has frazzled my brain a little.
Thanks again.
Cheers
Jonah
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