Basically Theme – How to fix comment box's display

I believe you can correct your issues by adding this to the end of style.css:

#respond form p {
   float: left;
}
#respond .comment-form-comment label {
   display: block;
}
#respond .form-submit {
   clear: both;
}

Go to Admin->Appearance->Editor to open style.css for editing. Scroll to the end, paste in the lines from above, and click ‘Update File’.

You should create a Child theme to make your changes. If you do not, all of your changes will be lost if you update your theme.

Hello vtxyzzy,

Thank you VERY MUCH for that fix. It did work for Chrome. However, after refreshing the page in Internet Explorer, the word “Name” somehow got itself into the Email box, instead of staying outside of the “Name” box where it belongs. So if someone wanted to type in their email, the word “Name” is occupying the email box. And for the name box, there is no title, so people would have to just guess what goes in that first box. I know . . . it’s screwed up. I removed the fix because it’s not quite complete (or maybe it is; but my website is what the problem is).

But if you want to see how it looks in IE, just let me know and I’ll put your fix back into the template so that you can see it (if I’m here at the moment you reply). I should be around.

By the way, I think the problem goes deeper than your fix because I recently did a page validation here:

https://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http%3A%2F%2Frecipesfast.livesmartinfo.com%2Ftest-1%2F&charset=%28detect+automatically%29&doctype=Inline&group=0&ss=1&No200=1

and am just about ready to abandon this website because I do not know how to fix the errors after taking a look at them. Thank you.

Many of the errors came from the theme you are using. Most of the errors I saw should not interfere with your use of the theme. If you really are concerned, your best option is to find a theme that validates.

Please add the following to the end of style.css and leave it for me to see:

#respond label {
  display: inline-block;
   float: left;
}
#respond form p {
   float: left;
}
#respond .comment-form-comment label {
   display: block;
   float: none;
}
#respond .form-submit {
   clear: both;
}

Hello vtxyzzy,

Again, thank you for sticking with me on this. I just put your fix back into my style.css template so that you can see it now.

I was defragmenting my computer and had closed everything which is why I was not around for a little while. But now, in Internet Explorer, it’s fixed! I don’t know if it’s because my computer was bogged down somehow. Honestly, I KNEW it wasn’t your code. It had to be something else.

OH, BEFORE I FORGET – Can you please make the comment box twice the size that it is now? It’s too small. I want people to not feel confined to a tiny box when they write (could be just me).

Anyway, as far as I understand, without fixing those error messages, the search engines get bent out of shape and won’t do my webpage right, is that correct? From what you wrote, it sounds like it doesn’t matter. You know more about this stuff than I do, so does it matter to the search engines with all those errors?

ALSO, can you PLEASE give me suggestions as to which “free” WP themes “validates”? That is SO important for someone like me trying to get things looking the way I want them to and not being an HTML or CSS whiz. Is there a website I can peruse?

OR, what are the exact boxes I should tick to upload a new WP Theme when you click the option to see more themes other than TwentyEleven & TwentyTen? Please don’t tell me TwentyEleven because that theme has been my worst nightmare!!! I need a theme that’s wide enough to allow for a 300 x 250 Ad in the right sidebar. The TwentyEleven Theme SHRINKS it because its right sidebar is not wide enough by default. I tried everything I could think of to make it wider but it was just a pain in my backside. But it doesn’t matter now. I don’t want anything to do with the TwentyEleven Theme. So what are some “validation” ones? Thank you so much!!

Hi vtxyzzy,

Internet Explorer has gone to the back of the line when it comes to web browsers. I don’t know why they can’t keep up. Anyway, did you notice that on my home page (and the posts too) at:

https://recipesfast.livesmartinfo.com/ or https://recipesfast.livesmartinfo.com/hello-world/

the Amazon ad in the middle of the page has extra white space to the right of the ad widget? Perhaps it’s just an Amazon code thing; but I don’t think so because it only displays like that in IE. That extra white space at the right side doesn’t show up on “modern” browsers like FireFox and Chrome. So do you know if there’s a way to get rid of the white space on the right side of the ad in IE or it’s just an IE antequated thing that we have to live with? Thanks.

I KNEW it wasn’t your code.

Actually, I added a rule to the second posting that is probably what fixed IE.

Can you please make the comment box twice the size that it is now?

That is best done in the form itself where the number of columns is set for the textarea.

search engines get bent out of shape and won’t do my webpage right

I am not an SEO expert. Best to start a new thread to get an answer on this.

give me suggestions as to which “free” WP themes “validates”?

There are literally thousands of themes. Too many for me to even begin to suggest what you might like. All you can do is install ones that might fit and test them.

When you go to the WP Themes page, check out the most popular ones in the right column. I personally have used Suffusion, Weaver II, Atahualpa, among others.

extra white space to the right of the ad widget?

I don’t see that in IE9. Perhaps it is just in earlier versions of IE.

You can make CSS work much easier for yourself by using the Firefox browser with the Firebug addon.