How do I change a column in Fjords 04?

functionalfitnessnyc · Member · Mar 30, 2011 at 9:02 pm
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So I know absolutely nothing about CSS and was wondering if someone could help me. I am using the theme Fjords 04 and I really love the layout… but I just have one issue with the left column where the actual posts appear. Because the columns are so narrow, the posts appear to be very long and you have to scroll very far down to read the whole thing (navigating completely away from the header and the sidebars). Is there anyway to put a cap on how far down the column goes and add a scroll bar to it or something? Or does anyone have any other suggestions? Thanks!

The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
timethief · Member · Mar 30, 2011 at 9:36 pm
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No, I’m sorry but there isn’t.
timethief · Member · Mar 30, 2011 at 9:38 pm
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OOPS! I’m sorry I misunderstood you and I apologize. As you do have the CSS editing upgrade then one of the two Volunteers who help with CSS will answer this thread when they can.
panaghiotisadam · Member · Mar 30, 2011 at 9:45 pm
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You just need to use the read-more tag.
http://en.support.wordpress.com/splitting-content/more-tag/
hallluke · Member · Mar 30, 2011 at 9:49 pm
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#content div.post {margin-top:20px; max-height:700px!important; overflow-y:auto!important;}
timethief · Member · Mar 30, 2011 at 9:49 pm
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@Panos
I tried that without success in my test blog and i still have it up so I confirmed again. When I click the read more link or the title link on any post I have the post displaying in the same narrow column format as it displays on the front page of the blog.
thesacredpath · Member · Mar 30, 2011 at 9:49 pm
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Fjords really isn’t a blog theme in the real sense of the word due to the very narrow content column I guess if all your posts were only a few short paragraphs it would work, but still it is pretty much useless in my opinion. Basically Fjords is three sidebars with a content area tossed in as an afterthought. You have to remember that people come for the content, not for what is in the sidebars.

You have three choices really:

1. Use the “read more” tag in your posts so that only a paragraph or two shows on the main page and then people can click on it to get to the rest of the post.

2. Widen the main content area a little, but this has to be done with regard to the overall width of the theme. You do not want to take it over about 990px in overall width (the wrapper is already at 970px wide so there is only 20px to work with which is hardly worth the effort), or you will end up causing people on lower resolution monitors to have to scroll horizontally to see the whole site, and that is one of the top ten things people dislike on the web.

3. Change to a theme that has a real content area.
thesacredpath · Member · Mar 30, 2011 at 9:53 pm
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And I see that @hallluke has a solution that produces a scroll bar.
timethief · Member · Mar 30, 2011 at 9:54 pm
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@TSP
Re:1
Unless my test blog is b0rked see what I said above about using “the more tag” please. https://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/how-do-i-change-a-column-in-fjords-04?replies=7#post-581877
functionalfitnessnyc · Member · Mar 30, 2011 at 11:22 pm
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Thank you to everyone for your help! I tried using the “more” tag and it didn’t work for me either. And I tried the solution @hallluke posted, but that didn’t work either. Is there something I’m missing?
functionalfitnessnyc · Member · Mar 30, 2011 at 11:25 pm
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Forgot to refresh the page… whoops! The “more” tag is working… but the code from @hallluke still doesn’t work :(
timethief · Member · Mar 30, 2011 at 11:36 pm
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The more tag does work in test blog on my posts. The point I was trying to make is that when we are using other wordpress.com themes and we click either the title link, read more link, or a comment link the post opens on it’s own page. In this theme when a post opens on it’s own page the width of the column is the same as it is on the front page of the blog. Sorry I didn’t state that clearly above.
thesacredpath · Member · Mar 31, 2011 at 12:48 am
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Ah, good point Timethief. I did not load fjords on a test blog.

One other option is to dump one of the sidebars and then expand the content area to take up that vacated space. The far right sidebar is 170px wide, so the main column could be increased to 440px in width from the 270px original width. Of course when you do that, the header blows up.
functionalfitnessnyc · Member · Mar 31, 2011 at 5:24 pm
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Yeah, I’m beginning to think that combining the first and second columns would be the best option to make the content area larger. How exactly is the header changed by doing this?? Also, does anyone have a code to combine the first two columns into one??? Thanks for all of your help!!
thesacredpath · Member · Mar 31, 2011 at 5:44 pm
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This widens the main column and gets rid of sidebar 3 (the one at far right) and I have repositioned the images in the three sections of the header so that they align properly. Give this a try and see what you think.
```
#content {
width: 440px;
}

#sidebar-3 {
display: none;
}

#sidebar-2 {
background-position: -670px 0;
}

#sidebar-1 {
background-position: -470px 0;
}
```
functionalfitnessnyc · Member · Mar 31, 2011 at 8:40 pm
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Beautiful! It works perfectly. Thank you so much!!!
thesacredpath · Member · Mar 31, 2011 at 9:44 pm
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You are welcome.

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