For those of you feeling confident with the basic WordPress.com tools!

If you want to make changes to the theme you’re using – such as changing the background colour or the type of font – you need to start tampering with the CSS (cascading style sheets).  CSS is the instruction for the way a web page looks.

You can’t do this in .com without paying a modest fee ($15).  However you can have a play about for free.  Go to Appearance > Edit CSS in the Dashboard.

In the large text box in the middle of the screen is a large chunk of text explaining about the pros and cons of editing CSS etc.  This text box is where you’ll doing your editing.  The easiest way to start is by experimenting with the CSS of your current theme.

Under the large text box are two radio (round) check boxes.  Choose the one that says “Add this to the <your theme> theme’s CSS stylesheet.  Now click on the link “view original stylesheet”.  This will show you all the coding for the theme – intimidating, isn’t it!  But don’t worry you can’t break anything.

Copy the whole sheet and paste into the large text box.  You can now make changes. Remember – this will only make changes on the view you can see. Any changes are temporary and are viewed as a preview only.

If this is completely new to you, it is difficult to know where to start.  One easy change with a big impact is changing the background colour.  Near the top of the coding instructions is the Body section – it’ll look something like this (taken from Tarski theme):

/* Main structure
----------------------------------------------- */
body {
	font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 76%;
	color: #545454; background: #fff;
	line-height: 120%;
	min-width: 760px;
	}

Try changing the background colour from #fff to #DFFFA5 (aka melon rind green!).  Now click on the preview button and see the change.  Lists of colours and their hexidecimal codes are easy to find on the web, try the Hex Hub website for starters.

There’s a lot about WordPress and CSS on the Support and Forum areas.  Also have a look at HTML Dog or CSS Tricks.

Good luck, have fun and don’t forget – using the free preview won’t make any permanent changes!