The BIG F.A.Q. Page: starlingsby100

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The BIG F.A.Q. Page

Jun 19, 2006 17:05

LAST UPDATED: JUNE 18, 2006
Here is the FAQ page that used to be on my personal journal (under Dooped). I moved it here with all the layouts, since that makes more sense. All the layouts I post are for free and paid accounts. I have never tried them on the Sponsor + and can't help you with that. Hopefully this will help you if you are having any trouble. If you have other questions you can leave a comment. There is no guarantee that I will get back to you, but if I see the same stuff being asked over and over I'll add it to this FAQ. For more personal help I list some great communities below. Also READ THE INSTRUCTIONS ON THE ORIGINAL LAYOUT POST before you read this, it could help.

BIG F.A.Q. PAGE

F.A.Q.:

Introduction & How To Install:
Must read: There are 2 types of layouts that can be used on Live Journal. S1 and S2. All my overrides were initially created for FREE accounts. All of them work on FREE (and Paid of course) accounts... unless otherwise stated.

S1 LAYOUT: Old System
If you are using my layouts that use overrides then you are using an S1 layout. Those are copied and pasted in the overrides box on the modify page. You MUST specify a website in your userinfo for the overrides to work. Why? I don't know, it's LJ's little quirk I guess. All of my overrides work on the generator theme as well, so make sure those are all specified on the modify page.

S2 LAYOUT: New System
S2 layouts do NOT use overrides. They are customized on the customize page. These layouts are further customized by using CSS Stylesheets. If you are using one of my S2 layouts you have to right click and save as the CSS document. It must be a .css file. You then have to host it somewhere on the web because LJ doesn't host it for you. If you don't have a domain you can host it at somewhere like The File Hut. Once you have hosted it on the Customize page go to Step 1: Layout and select Flexible Squares. Press change. You can choose any theme you like (I use Chocolate Milkshake, although it shouldn't make a difference). Click change. Then hit Edit Customizations. Under the Presentation option scroll all the way to the bottom and check the box under External stylesheet URL and now a space has appeared where you can paste the URL of where your CSS Stylesheet is hosted. Then save and view your journal. If you know CSS before uploading the Stylesheet you can open it in TextEdit or Notepad and fiddle with it changing the colors and customizing it to your own liking.

You can use my overrides (both S1 and S2) as bases and customize them as much as you want or as they are.

The Questions & Answers:
Can I add an image header to your S1 overrides?
Yes you can! You'll have to go into the code and change what I've bolded manually:

body {
margin-top: 335px;
text-align: justify;
background-color: #555555;
background-image: url(http://yourheaderimageurlhere.jpg);
background-repeat: no-repeat;
background-position: top center;

Where it says "margin-top" it refers to the amount of space (in pixels) between the top of your page and where your entries begin (the space your header should take up). So if your header is 325px in height for example you'll want to start your entries about 335px. (If it isn't enough or too much go back and change it and re-fresh your lj). Make sure your header is set to be on the top of the page and centered. Also you don't want your header to repeat itself all over the background as a tiled image so make sure it's set to "no-repeat." Your header should also be hosted somewhere on the net with it's own url ending in .jpg, .gif, or .png.

If you want the width of your entries and header to match you can change the width of the entries in this tag:

/* change these numbers, must add up to 95% or less*/
table {
width: 60%;
margin-left: 10%;
margin-right: 10%;

Let's say your header is 600px wide you can change the 60% to 600. When you only leave the number and no % sign it will be read as pixels. If you want to change it in a percentage leave the % sign.

*Note: If you do it this way you cannot have a tiled background image AND a header at the same time. This is a kind of short cut.

Can I add an image header to a S1 SIDEBAR layout?
Yes. But it is very very complicated. Only because there are many different ways of adding a header. wooed did a fantastic job adding a header to this layout of mine. You can get those codes over here.

My second Sidebar Layout is a little bit more complicated to add a header to. I followed carriep63's tutorial here , a very good tutorial by the way, but it just messed the codes up more. It looked fine in one browser and then terrible in another. I leave you the link if you know html/css and want to give it a try. But I really don't recommend it. Sidebar's aren't meant for free accounts, although we try to cheat the system and try to squeeze in our own html it just makes it worse sometimes. However, there is still hope if you want a sidebar and have a free account. I suggest NOT using a S1 layout but an S2 layout instead (see below)...

Can I add an image header to a S2 layout? (This includes sidebar layouts as well)
Yes, it is very simple and guaranteed to work in all browsers (unlike the S1). Once you have downloaded my .css document
(like the one found on this page: a flexible squares style) open it up and scroll to the very bottom of the code. Here is where you insert the info of your header (which should already be hosted somewhere):

.headerimage {
position: relative;
width: 100%;
height: 250px;
margin-bottom: 5px;
background-image: url("http://urlofyourheader.jpg");
background-position: center;
background-repeat: no-repeat;
}

Let's say you want your header and text to be the same width and your header is 600px wide go into the body and change the width of your table (entry data) as well approx. the same value:

#content
{
width: 570px;

With a header you can still load a background image, this can be changed here:

body {
background-color: #f2f2f2;
background-image: url(http://bgimage.gif);

What if I want to keep my background image AND add a header to an S1 layout?
You'll have to add these to the overrides if they aren't already and tweak them up a bit:

LASTN_WEBSITE<=

<=LASTN_WEBSITE

LASTN_HEAD<=

<=LASTN_HEAD

Make sure you shift all your entries downward so the header isn't over your entries. You can move your entries table by changing the bolded value here:

body {
margin-top: 300px;

Why does another funny color appear behind my entries, navigation table, subject headers, etc.?
On the modify page under the caption Color Theme click on Custom Colors. Instead of the #rrggbb codes that are there, replace them with 'transparent'.

How do I change the number of entries on my main page?
S1: Find this in the override (if it isn't there paste it there in it's own tag NOT under the GLOBAL=> just paste it by itself):
LASTN_OPT_ITEMS=>3
Change the 3 to whatever number of entries you want to show up on your main page.

S2: For an S2 layout it would be under the "edit customizations" option on the Customize page.

Where can I host my images and CSS stylesheets?
You must SAVE everything on your own server. I will get really pissed if I catch you hotlinking (and trust me I always do). So once you have saved everything you should upload them to a host and edit the links in the CSS etc. to those links. If you have paid webspace you know what to do. If you do not there are free hosting services available. Such as:
Photobucket and Imageshack (for photos) and FileHut (not the best), Geocities, Box.net (pretty good) and AtSpace (for images and files such as CSS docs). Let me know if you know any other good hosts.

How do I add stuff to the sidebar using a CSS layout (Flexible Squares)?
FREE & PAID ACCOUNTS:
Go to the customize page and click on the "edit customizations" button. In there there will be tabs you can flip through those pages and insert a 'blurb' (a paragraph of writing about you that goes in the sidebar) you can edit your cal, etc. Even the order they appear in. You can also change the way the links in the header appear etc. Please read through the entire thing before you ask me more questions because 90% of the time it can be fixed or changed in this area. The links list however is not there. To add links go to the main customize page again and at the bottom click "link list" and add the links.

Free accounts are limited to how much they can add to the sidebar. Paid accounts are not. If you have a paid account and want more than what is offered above there is another way to customize your sidebar...

PAID ACCOUNTS:
The S2 Howto has a great tutorial on how to create a 'theme layer'. In the theme layer you can add all the html you want. As many fonts, pictures, links, tables, etc. as you like. Click here for the tutorial.

I can't see my CSS/Not working CSS, I get a plain page with bullet points
If you installed the CSS correctly and you see your journal as a white page with a plain default browser font (times etc.) and bullet points... no worries it's not broken and there is nothing wrong with the code. Your host sucks. Find a new one. Wherever your CSS doc is being hosted is unreachable by LJ and therefore since LJ can't contact it, you see a plain page by default. This isn't my problem guys, I give you the CSS you do what you want with it and host it where ever you can. I make some suggestions (on this page somewhere) of places but even if those don't work as well as they should it's your job to Google and hunt for a host.

When I'm browsing my friend's page (or a community) the icons of people are partially being blocked out by gray (or the color of your subject background) from the link below them. How do I change that?
Depending on the browser you use some see the links and icons above it and have no problems. Others may see their icons and links as hidden. This is due to the thick line above your journal entry subjects and the background behind them. What you can do is change the "border-top" to a smaller digit such as 5. Some say only changing the values under the date and time works, some change both. It's up to you.

/* display of date and time */
p .index {
font-size: 9pt;
color: #FFFFFF;
font-family: "Arial", sans-serif;
text-transform: uppercase;
text-align: right;
border-top: 5px #CCCCCC solid;
background: #CCCCCC;
}

/* subject of journal entries */
p table table td.caption {
font-family: "Century Gothic", sans-serif;
font-size: 15pt;
color: #FFFFFF;
text-transform: lowercase;
text-align: left;
letter-spacing: -1px;
border-top: 5px #CCCCCC solid;
background: #CCCCCC;
}

*This problem only applies to layouts such as this one, where there is added space over the subject of the entries.

How do I add images or change the text in my comments?
Click here for a full tutorial on this.

How do I revert back to LJ's default comment page? (Paid Accounts)
Thanks to wooed who explained this to me: Go to the customization wizard and select "use simple comment pages." I also found a second way, you can actually change this from the 'edit userinfo page.'

How do I add html (pics, more links) to my sidebar?
This is for the Flexible Squares layout and for Paid Accounts only. Free accounts are limited to what they can put into the sidebar. If you have a Paid Account and know HTML you can add whatever you want by following this tutorial in the S2HowTo.

S2HowTO: Adding and re-arranging sidebar boxes

If you have any trouble with this tutorial you can comment here and I'll try to help as much as I can, but so far it is the best tutorial I have seen.

How do I add more space between my entries and mood/music on S1?
Thanks to youtoldalie, in your HEAD override add:

table.entrybox table table{
margin-bottom:10px;
}

On very short entries my comments appear way below my entry under the sidebar. Can I fix this?
Yes. In the .box { delete the line that says:

clear: right;

On your layout without brackets around the date... my brackets still show up. Why?
Make sure under the GLOBAL_HEAD the date text color is the same as the background color. Then under the FRIENDS_DATE_FORMAT and the LASTN_DATE_FORMAT change the date text color to what you want it to appear as. Sometimes this isn't enough for IE users (and if you are an IE user please upgrade to Firefox). If that isn't enough you sometimes have to add a an !important; after the color code it will go away. Thanks to perforada for reminding me.

Can I use your overrides/CSS on other sites/Greatest Journal/etc.?
Yes.

How can I get my userpics to show up on every entry/post on my main entry page?
If you are using S1 you can't, sorry. LJ only allows this with S2 layouts, and yes free ones can do it too. Most of my flexible squares layouts have the pics already there some have them hidden and you can unhide them by going into the code and changing this part:

.userpic {
display: none;
}

Delete that and add: (You can customize the border, color etc.)

.userpic {
position: relative;
float: left;
padding: 5px;
margin: 10px;
text-align: center;
border-style: solid;
border-width: 1px;
border-color: #CCCCCC;
font-family: "arial", sans-serif;
font-size: 8pt;
z-index: 15;
}

How do I change the number of entries per page?
On S2 you would have to go into the "edit customizations" on the customize page.
On S1 change the number that appears next to: LASTN_OPT_ITEMS=>8 (this would set the number of entries on your main page to be 8).

My header/nav links (or userpics) are hidden... how do I hide or un-hide stuff?
Under the header it should say the following if it appears hidden:

#header {
display:none;
}

If your userpics are hidden then it would say that under the userpics tag. You can remove them to un-hide whatever is being hidden and replace it with custom commands such as:

#header {
padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
margin: 0px;
padding-top: 05px;
text-align: center;
font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;
font-size: 09px;
font-weight: bold;
letter-spacing: 2px;
text-transform: uppercase;
color: #CCCCCC;
line-height: 10px;
}

Again this can apply to ANYTHING you want hidden, nav links (header), userpics on your main page or friends page etc.

Can I email you my S1 Overrides/S2 Stylesheets if I have problems and questions?
Please don't. I AM NOT an expert! Nor do I ever claim to be one. I just enjoy making layouts for my own journal. And after people were always asking me for the codes I posted them. So they're pretty much made for people who know how to use them and edit them.

Can you make me a layout?
NO. I don't have the time. The layouts I post are actually all my own old layouts starting from early 2005. So some are better than others.

If you can't help me who can?
I suggest these communities with other experts who may be able to help you:
overridehelp, everything_lj, howto, s2styles, stylehelp, s2themes, ljstyles, ljstyleoverride, s2howto, s2flexisquares.

help, overrides, html, layouts, s2, s1, css, faq, f.a.q. page