Out of the Box

A few things before we start:

• This is a picture-heavy tutorial. As such, I'm afraid that users with sight disabilities will very likely not benefit from it. Apologies.


• I'm using a customised layout/style from dreamwidthlayouts. I've tried to not make the layouts/styles I'm using as examples to be immediately identifiable, but I will give credits.


• I am not a CSS or layout/styles whiz. I learned from research and trial and error just like most other laypersons. Please don't ask me how to change font sizes etc. -- this is a rough and ready tutorial for users who just want to change their layouts/styles right now.


• I use "layout" and "style" interchangeably. Please see this post for helpful notes on terminology.


• I am not affiliated with any of DW staff or volunteers.


• This is not a place for you to whine about DW layouts/styles. What would be helpful for developers is to explain what's missing or not working well for you and how they can fix it. At, for example, getting_started or dw_suggestions.


• This tutorial assumes that its user knows how to upload graphics onto a photo-sharing site such Photobucket and how to link to graphics uploaded there; and if not, that its user will care enough to find out how on hir own.


• This tutorial also assumes that its user knows how to use the FAQ.


• The only piece of advice I can give to absolute newbies is this: tinker. The sky will not fall, the server will not explode, and if you fail once, try and try again. Unlike life in general, you can always revert back to your original journal layout/style. In any case, Support in these parts is among the friendliest I've ever encountered.


• If you can bold or italicise your text, there is no reason you cannot do this. Learning is not scary. As with everything else, it's a give and take: you get as much from this as you're willing to put work in -- this tutorial can't possibly cover everything, and it's up to you to find the rest of what you need. style_system is where to go to for more help.

Okay, let's get started.

( Graphics-heavy tutorial )