Kippy_63

Dear GegeO,
You are welcome and glad you were able to conquer it or at least understand how to get to where you want it to be.
K.

Hi SherrieJames,

I actually learned how to customize a WordPress site thru the WordPress Tutorials on Lynda.com.

I also bought a book from Smashing Magazine called Smashing WordPress Themes, but do not recommend this for beginners. There are a lot of sources out there for working with WordPress. Being a visual learner myself, show me I get it, make me read it, I will muddle thru it… so Lynda.com was a great resource for me.

I am currently just getting ready to graduate from college in Multi-media/Web Design so while I am still a noob, I get the basics. Stick with it. If you like this kind of thing, take a few courses at a local college or even try befriending someone who will mentor you in a face to face environment… you would be amazed at what you can pick up.

I will say this, while I like the CMS aspect of WordPress, customizing a site template was no cake walk. My goal is to eventually write my own template. Learn CSS too. Its a huge piece of WP.

K.

Hi GegeO,
The images are actually what changes the black bar I believe.

I pulled this image into my local directory, and opened it in Photoshop and changed the colors there. Then I overwrote the existing image file in the same format, and then uploaded to the same directory.

You can find your master images in the remote directory:
wp-content/themes/graphene/images/

You will need an image editing program to change the image, and one with png write capabilities to avoid having to reassign the image format in the CSS. If you overwrite the existing image file in the same format (png), it will change it everywhere it appears in your site. If however you save it as a jpeg, you will have to locate the CSS rule and change it there as well.

Another trick too, is to hold your cursor over a blank area of the bar, right click and select “view background image” This will show you the image you are targeting.

You can then right click on that if your htaccess is not prohibiting all of this, and save it to your pc. The trick will be to note the url of the directory it is located in. You will then need to overwrite that same image in the same remote location.

Good luck and I hope this helps.
K.

Hi Ashlee,

Go to the Admin panel, select Pages, select the page you wish to disable comments on,Select Edit, untoggle Allow Comments.

Hope this helps.
K.

GeGeO,

If you use Firefox, install the Firebug plug-in and use that to find out which element you need to change exactly.

I use Graphene too, and with the exception of not being able to adjust my comments avatar, I like it. https://www.jackpinewebdesign.com

If I remember correctly, the black bar is a graphic. Change the graphic colors by editing it in a graphic program like Photoshop.

That firebug add in will tell you what element it is and what document it is located in. You will need access to the remote directories and to be able to pull them down for the editing of images. The CSS you can edit right in the admin panel.

Good Luck!
K.