[SOLVED] Help! Where to start?
 

I've made heaps of Atahualpa sites now and got to know it pretty well but clients are crying out for responsive themes.

So I've installed Montezuma on a test site and I am clueless! I know a little css and html but basic things like how to get a header image to show up are so far beyond me.

I've searched the forum and I was hoping for a sticky - is there a post somewhere that will set me off in the right direction please.

Oh, and when I try to edit the css at all I get sent to a page not found

Lisa

I tried to change the favicon and I can upload an image and add it to Montezuma but when I try to save the changes I get a page not found. Permissions are ok.
I think this is why none of it is making sense to me, nothing is actually saving.

Check to see (use FTP) if there is a folder 'wp-content/uploads/montezuma' and make sure the permissions are 755. That is where any change s to the CSS will be stored. If that folder is not there or is not writable, you will have a problem.

There are several ways to get a heaader image to show but each takes some changes.
1) you could add a widget area to the sub-template 'header.php' and then add a widget to display the heder iage
2) you could edit the sub-template 'header.php' and put in <img...> pointing at your image.
3) you could use CSS to add it as a background of the div#banner

all depends on what you want

Once you get the permissions issues solved, here are a few tips for getting started with Montezuma:

1) You should really get to know how to use CSS well. Mastering the theme will require you to understand how use the virtual template files and the virtual CSS files. There's a good beginning CSS tutorial here.

When modifying the CSS, there are a couple of different strategies you can use:
a) Look through the virtual CSS files for the CSS that you want to change, and change it there. Or,
b) Add an overriding CSS rule to the end of the various.css virtual CSS file. Since various.css will be one of the last virtual CSS files loaded, any rule which you place there that has the same selector as a previous rule will override that previous rule.

2) Learn how to use a web debugging tool like Firebug, which is a free extension for Firefox, or Chrome Developer Tools, which is built-in to Chrome. These tools will enable you to instantly see what CSS rules are affecting a particular element, i.e., all you need to do is right-click on an element on a site and select Inspect element to see everything about it.

3) Read the documentation within the theme itself by going to Appearance > Montezuma Options.
Under CSS Settings > Editing CSS, you'll see how the row and col# classes are used in the responsive grid. Important if you are thinking about changing the width of the sidebar, removing the sidebar altogether, moving the menu to a separate line, etc.
Under Main templates > About main templates and Sub templates > About sub templates are explanations about how the virtual template system works.

JuggleDad pointed out a few ways of incorporating a header image. Many Wordpress themes will set the background-image property of the header container (e.g., #banner or #banner-bg in Montezuma). It's very easy to do, but one problem with this approach is that the header image usually doesn't scale perfectly, but instead gets cropped on the sides on narrower screen widths (the Twenty Thirteen theme has this shortcoming, for example). This isn't a problem if the header image is mostly decorative in nature (i.e., it's just background window dressing), but it can be a problem for designers who like to incorporate a logo or graphical text within the image itself. If setting the background-image property of the header container doesn't work well for your needs and you need a scaleable header image that goes across the width of the page, you can take a look at this tutorial. Otherwise, as JuggleDad pointed out, you can also just add a logo-size image using an <img> tag, it just depends upon what exactly you are looking to do with the header image.

the folder and permissions are all there.
Shall I re-install it? Will that make any difference?
I'm really stuck if I can't make any changes :-)

Thanks for your tips on starting and on getting the header sorted. I learn by doing so it's all a bit hypothetical right now.

Can you post a link to your test site?

www.lactivist.co.uk

It's live but it's only a holding page for cafe press links so I can't really break it :-)

It looks OK at first glance, the style sheet is in the uploads folder, so it seems your folder permissions are OK.

So when you try to save a change to the CSS settings by clicking the SAVE Changes button down at the bottom, you get a Page Not Found error? I guess you can try a re-install. When you first installed it, did you go through Appearance > Themes > Install New or did you FTP the files up?

Changes to the style sheet are fine so the permissions are correct.

what exactly - are you doing that causes the 'not found' - step by step please.

thank you
I'm trying to change the css grid

choose css grid (default is responsive 960px no margin)

I click on button next to responsive 960 12px margin
I click on choose css grid
I click on save and I get the saving pop up (very nice) but then I go to page not found

Nothing Found

Apologies, but no results were found for the requested archive. Perhaps searching will help find a related post.

If I try to add a favicon the same happens - all is ok until I hit save

I reinstalled and the same thing is happening

ahhh the button 'choose_css_grid' with the curve arrow actually is the 'Reset this page back to it's defaults' button.

Try this - pick your grid then hit the 'SAVE Changes' button and see what happens

I suspected that so I tried with and without clicking the choose css grid button and the same thing happens.
It happens when I try to set a favicon too.

ok, I took a look and see what you mean. I then went and turned permalinks to the default (I set it back) and when I did I got
doing a google search indicates this is a problem with mod_security.

At tthis point I'd suggest you talk to your host and see if they can adjust the mod_security settings for you.

Thanks Juggledad, I'll get onto the host and see what can be done. I really appreciate your help and I can't wait to get my teeth into learning something new.

Yay! I'm in. Thank you so much! Now to get down to some serious learning!

If it helps anyone in the future this is what the host said :

"I found the log entry for the block and have modified the rules for your domain to allow that one through. The data being posted looked rather complicated so it may hit another rule, if so let us know and if possible if you can give an idea of the time I can quickly locate and modify the rules again for you."