So now that we've installed our theme, made some layout changes, put in our widgets and configured our header, I'm going to show you some basic CSS styling options. This should get you started with CSS and the many ways you can use it to further customize your theme (this CSS tutorial is great if you're unfamiliar with CSS or need a little refresher course).
This will be the last post in this little mini-series of theme customization techniques. Tomorrow we'll move on with another topic in our Step-by-Step Guide to Starting a WordPress Blog from Scratch!
How to Customize Your Theme with Basic CSS
Can't see the video? Watch it here.
Thanks again Amy! I'm really looking forward to playing around with customization now.
Amy,
Help! I am not finding a "subscribe" on my page. How do I put this on my page? Must have missed it somewhere!!
Does this post help?
Hi Amy!
I have looked and looked and I cannot figure out how to change the color surrounding my blog posts (the background). I know it can be done, I just don't have a clue where in the options it is. Any help you can offer would be awesome!
I want to clarify, i don't want the background of my actual posts changed, but what surrounds the posts. The padding? The default color is like a light blue/gray. Your background is the braided/links design. That's what I want to change on mine. Thanks!
Oooh never mind!! I found it!! Woot!! In addition to that, I was able to change the font color on my links and post titles. It was an accident I happened upon the padding because I went to "Body, Text, and Links" and found the CSS for the padding. Yay! (I know, silly I'm so excited. But adding a light colored background that matched my header gave my blog some life).
Thank you for all your tuts. 
Woohoo! The best way to figure it out is to hunt — that's my motto…because you learn so much in the process!
Amy,
I have not been able to figure this one out, even with a lot of hunting around. When someone wants to leave a comment on my page, the following phrase comes up under the comment box. "You may use these HTML tags and attributes: "
Do you know how I can get rid of it? Here is the link so you can see what I'm talking about: http://theabundantwife.com/homemade-frappuccino/#comments
Anyhow, I'd appreciate your feedback. The maker of my theme appears to live in Italy, so I'm not sure they'll be able to help me in my own language.
Jess
You can hide that via CSS if you specify "display: none;" (without quotes). Looks like it might be .form-allowed-tags in your stylesheet. (If you don't see .form-allowed-tags there, try adding it to the bottom of your stylesheet. Dashboard–>Appearance–>Editor) It would look like this:
.form-allowed-tags {
display: none;
}
Don't forget to backup first!!
I tried it all, and looked around more on the Internet. It's still there. I can edit things around it at #commentform, but I can't seem to edit that phrase specifically. I can't find #form-allowed-tags or #respond anywhere.
I chose a 2008 Free WordPress Theme. Could it be that my theme is just too old to fix? I've been wondering if I shouldn't just switch to a more recent them so that I can find and organize things easier. I just didn't find any newer designs that I liked as much as this one.
You won't find #form-allowed-tags (because it's a class not a div) and if you make changes in the #commentform, it won't work either (it all has to do with the way CSS works and how things are named and classified). Copy and paste the following line of code (note the "." which is not "#") to the end of your stylesheet and see if it works:
.form-allowed-tags {display:none;}
Finally, it worked! Yeah!!!! Thanks Amy!
Woah, I don't know why my comment came out looking like that, but I think you can still understand my meaning.
Hi, I'm not sure if you can help me with this but i thought I'd give it a shot. I'm also having an issue with the You may use these HTML tags and attributes: , but my issue is when a link is posted to facebook. I hid it in the css..i actually thought i removed it from the comments.php file but its still showing up when we try to post a link to the article on facebook. Do you have any idea how i can make it so an excerpt of the article shows up instead of the You may use these HTML tags and attributes.. I really appreciate your help!
Thanks so much!
Kathy
Hi Kathy, I'm so sorry I don't think I'm trackin' with ya. Sounds like you edited your comments.php file incorrectly? You might try uploading just the comments.php file and starting over?
Wow, I need to learn HTML before I can even start that tutorial! I think it's going to take me forever to get the blog up and going! I knew it was going to be work, but I kind of thought I could just find at least a nice color/picture scheme to just stick on it at first! Nothing doing, it seems! I only paid for two years of hosting, it may be half gone by the time I learn all these codes!
Oh you'll get it quicker than you think I bet.
Hi. I'm using 2010 for now. But the screen you show to make customizations for Atahualpa- where do I find that screen for all WordPRess themes. I can't find that completely detailed section- like 2010 options on my dashboard?
That screen isn't available with TwentyTen or TwentyEleven. You can change the header and background from Appearance–>Header or Appearance–>Background.