Joomla Template Tutorial - Changing File Permissions

There may be times when you would like to edit your Joomla template files and this can be done either from within Joomla itself or by editing the file on your computer. For this example let's imagine we want to edit the template.css file of the beez template that comes with Joomla.

Editing Joomla Templates from inside Joomla:

Login to your Administrator area of Joomla

The Control Panel will show

Click Extensions/Template Manager from the Menu bar

The Template Manager will show

Choose the Template you wish to edit i.e beez

The Template Edit page will display

Let's picture you wish to edit the template.css file

Select Edit.css

The Template CSS Editor page will display listing all the css files that are linked with your Joomla web web site

Notice that in most cases all the files will be unwritable.

To amend these files you will need to amend the permissions so that you can change the coding

This is where it becomes a little more complicated especially if you are not familiar with FTP (File Transfer Program)

You will need an FTP product to change the permissions such as Filezilla or you could download a 30 day trial of Dreamweaver

Whichever program you choose, login to your server where you will see a list of files intended for your joomla site

Navigate to the Template folder and then to the folder of the template you wish to change. For this example let's use beez

Select the beez folder and you will notice a folder called css

Choose the css folder and you will see the template.css

If you are using Dreamweaver, right click on the template.css

The Microsoft Windows pop up display will display and you will notice an option called Set Permissions

In support of other programs you will need to read the manual

Choose the Set Permissions option

The File Access Properties screen will display and you will see that the file is set to 755 in other terms it can be read and executed by everyone but not except for the owner of the file

Change the permission to 777 which will give everybody access to read, write and execute the file

Be aware that this file is now vulnerable so you want to alter it back as quickly as you can to 755

Open up your Template Edit Page in Joomla

You may want to refresh the page plus you will now see that your template.css file is writeable

Click template.css and click the edit button

The Template Manager page will display and you can make your amendments

Click the Save button when you have finished your changes

Confirm that your changes have been reflected in your web site

You might need to close the browser and open it once more for you to be able to notice the amendments

Return to your FTP application and set the permissions back to 755 so that your file cannot be written to

The second way of editing your template.css file is to download the file to your PC:

With your FTP application login to your server

Go to to the Template folder and then to the folder of the template you wish to edit. For this example let's use beez

Choose the beez folder and you will notice a folder called css

Click the css folder and you will see the template.css

Download the file to your PC

In Dreamweaver you are able to simply double click on the file

You will not have to worry about permissions

I suggest you create a copy of this file incase you make a mistake so name it something similar to templateBACKUP.css

Open the file and make your amendments

Upload the file back to the original folder. This will overwrite the first file

Refresh your browser and see your amendments.

For further information and tutorials on Joomla check out http://www.joomlainformation.com and for Joomla Templates check out http://www.joomlainformation.com/joomlar-templates.html

Changing the Look of Your Blogger Site Using Templates

When you set up a new Blogger site, you can select from among sixteen default different templates, the majority of which have more than one theme variation you can select. When I first started blogging, I often tried two or three of the default templates before I settled on one that fit the theme of my site okay. You can use one of the following methods to change your existing template.

Picking a New Blogger Default Template

After you set up your blog, you may decide that you don't like the template so much, or you might just want to give it a fresh look. There are a couple of ways you can change your template. The easiest way is to simply switch to one of the other default templates provided by Blogger. You can switch templates by going to Layout -> Pick New Template from your Blogger account dashboard. You can pick a new template as simply as you selected your initial one. All the information (posts, pictures, and videos) you have already placed on your blog will be retained. Blogger's system separates the actual information (your posts and media) presented on a blog from the way in which the information is presented - your blog's theme.

When you change your template by choosing Pick New Template, Blogger's system is intelligent enough to preserve the gadgets you currently have set up. For instance, if you have added some gadgets using the Add a Gadget link on the Layout -> Page Elements page, those gadgets will be preserved in your new template design. I'll discuss later a method for changing your template design that requires more caution.

Editing Your Template's XML Code

Another way that you can customize your template is by editing the blog's template file. You can access the template file by going to Layout -> Edit HTML. Blogger would probably be more accurate naming the link "Edit XML", since that's what you're actually editing. What you'll find in the template file are some variable definitions, some CSS style definitions, and finally the body of the blog page, which contains a bunch of XML tags that look something like this:

In order to effectively edit your template beyond simply changing fonts and colors in the variable definition section, you'll need to know (or be willing to learn) some things about CSS and the Blogger XML schema. It will likely take some studying of the existing XML setup and some experimenting to make the improvements you're looking for. As you make changes, you might want to keep a backup copy of your last working template so you don't have to go back to work from the original template file if you mess something up.

Installing a Third-party Blogger Template

The third way to change your blog's theme is to download and install a Blogger template created by a designer. There are many free Blogger templates available for download all over the Internet.

To install a third-party Blogger template, save the template XML file to your computer. Then, from the Layout -> Edit HTML page, click Browse..., and find the template file on your computer. Then click Open to return to the Edit HTML page. Click Upload to upload the new template.

Something to keep in mind if you are using a third-party blog template is that if you have added gadgets to your blog (e.g. Followers, Poll, Labels, etc.), you need to be careful when using a third-party template to avoid removing those gadgets. If you download and install a template that doesn't support your custom gadgets, they will be deleted when the new template is saved.

If your new template does have gadget discrepancies, you will receive the following message when you click the Upload button.

Widgets are about to be deleted

Please confirm that the following widgets should be deleted. All the widgets' configuration data will be lost.

The warning message will then list those gadgets that will be deleted if you proceed with uploading the new template. To avoid losing your existing gadgets, you'll need to find the XML tags that represent those gadgets in your current template, and merge those tags into the template you want to upload. Doing so may be a little tricky. You might be able to get some help from the original template designer.

Each of these three methods of changing your existing themes has advantages and disadvantages. Hopefully this article has helped you understand the issues involved so you can make an informed decision. Happy blogging!

Richard Robbins is one of the founders of WebsiteTemplateDatabase.com, a resource for blogger templates and website templates.