Can free themes be fully edited (incl. CSS) and customized in wp.ORG?

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  owim1 · Member · May 11, 2011 at 7:21 am

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  Hi! I’m still on wp.COM and planing transition to wp.ORG soon. Just a brief Q: will I be able to edit the theme I’m using, which I couldn’t do in wp.COM?

  For instance:
  – to have access to HEAD part of HTML
  – to add JavaScript
  – to edit and save CSS.

  Or, in one sentence, will I have full HTML source of my theme editable, in contrast to wp.COM?

  I’m still a novice, please don’t mind if asking a stupid Q :). My blog: owim1.wordpress.com, 30K hits in 2 months.

  The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)

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  thesacredpath · Member · May 11, 2011 at 8:13 am

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  Yes, you can edit the theme files and CSS, but remember that if you then update the theme with a new version that comes out, you have to add all those changes back into the new version. It is best to create and use child themes instead of modifying the original and that way your changes are not overwritten if you upgrade a theme (although the upgrade may break the child theme depending on the nature of the changes in the upgrade).

  WordPress themes are not written in HTML, they are written in PHP script since they have to be able to interface not only with the wordpress core software, but also with the MySQL database. PHP scripting is very powerful and with that power comes the ability to mess up on a massive scale. If you are not well versed in PHP script, you can introduce security holes that hackers can drive 18-wheelers through sideways, not to mention being able to completely kill your site all on your own.

  Basically with a self-hosted blog, you can change or add anything you want with all the “oh crap’s” that can come along with that.

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  thesacredpath · Member · May 11, 2011 at 8:23 am

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  And the more advance themes that use the latest wordpress features and theme development trends can mean that just to edit the index.php file (head section and such) requires you to edit several files and possibly even some major functions in functions.php. As an example, here is a index.php file for a newer state of the art theme.

  <?php
  get_header();
  foreach ($GLOBALS['opt']['theme_index_s'] as $key => $value) {
  if ( $GLOBALS['opt']['theme_index_s_'.$key.''] == 'true' ) {
  eval('them_'.$key.'(); ');
  }
  }
  get_footer();
  ?>

  The above is what produces the main home page. That is all that is in it. I’ve disguised some of the stuff since I don’t want anything identifiable in it.

  The above can be what you are going to be working with depending on your chosen theme.

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  owim1 · Member · May 12, 2011 at 7:31 pm

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  I think I’ll be fine with the suggestions you’ve made and I’m very thankful.

  This is now regarding wp.ORG:

  1. Since I do have wp.COM blog already, how to painlessly and smoothy transfer to wp.ORG **all my content**? I believe there is a guide online. Maybe some tips? ;)

  1.a. Is everything gonna be transferred, including comments, rates, categories, tags, links, media gallery, widgets used and their settings? (Some if it wouldn’t export-import even from wp.COM to wp.COM.)

  1.b. I have registered a domain and a host service. Haven’t downloaded wp.ORG software yet.

  2. Where to look for free themes I can use on wp.COM? I’m asking this since on wp.COM there was just one place, in Themes menu. ;)

  Again, thanks a lot, my fellow bloggers! ;)

  Ivan,
  2,5 months blogger ;)