Edit your WordPress Theme Using HTML

Jan 12
03:52

2021

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For most of the people who have just started customizing and editing a WordPress site, it's so easy to theme the HTML code section and work on it. Even the idea of editing like a developer right away might be exiting, seconds after opening the template file and seeing only PHP codes there you might wish that you had never to come here again. Take a deep breath and slow down, it's not so bad as it looks like. With some practice and a little time, you will understand all the basic stuff that you need to manage your WordPress theme.

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Understanding the basics of WordPress

WordPress is a big name in this industry at it might be intimidating at first,Edit your WordPress Theme Using HTML Articles but on the contrary, isn't that hard, and it's pretty straightforward. The programming language that WordPress uses is PHP. If you open your site directory and go to /wp-content/themes/yourthemename and open the header.php file, you can notice the code contains the PHP command from which it calls for the site name. . This is line 37 where you can change your site name. So in easy words, WordPress uses PHP to call or retrieve the data that HTML will display on your WordPress site.

 

Before putting your hands in, make a child theme

Child themed is very important to protect the original theme files before messing up with the code. Working on the child version will be faster than working on the original. Also since you are making changes to the HTML code theme you will need a child theme anyway in order to not lose your work when the theme updates.  

 

Editing a theme through the HTML code

If you haven't visited your editor workspace before go to Appearance > Editor. Then from your dashboard choose the child version of the theme you want to edit. Now when opened, inside the child theme you will see the style.css and the funcions.php files. The template files are missing and this is completely normal. The next thing you need to do is copying the template files inside the child theme. Unfortunately, you can not do this without an FTP application. The FTP is simple terms is like an explorer for your site. You can find a free version and use it, it's perfectly fine. Now after this is all done choose the file you want to edit for example header.php. Through your FTP copy, the file to your computer then copies it back to the child theme. Now go back to your dashboard and again go to appearance > editor, select your child theme, and then next to your file (header.php). After you have done the changes you need to do, press the Update File button on the down left of this page. If you don't see the button it means that you administrator authorization. You can fix this simply by right-clicking on your FTP application and changing the permissions.

Even if you have not been used to edit HTML codes, it's not as hard as most people imagine. By performing simple tasks regularly and seeing the results you will learn them quickly. Try different things as much as you can, because working in the child theme is safe and you can always revert to the original theme version. Have fun customizing your site. Regards