In a previous post I explained why I’m using Flatpress over Wordpress for my blog with step-by-step instructions on how to install it.
Ok, so your at the point where got your flatpress blog up and running and you should see a screen that looks something like this:
This is the default theme of Flatpress, you probably want to change it. You have a few options:
1. Get a new pre-built theme and install on your site
Sounds more complicated then it is.
There are a few (and I mean a very few) pre-built themes here.
And a few more here from other users.
Step one
Find a theme you like and download the files to your computer somewhere that’s handy (I usually save to my desktop so I can see the files right away).
Step two
Once the files are downloaded you need to put them on your site through your FTP program of choice (I use Fetch but any one will do).
Step three
Place all downloaded files into your public/blog (or flatpress)/fp-interface/themes folder.
Step four
Log into your admin area of your blog and click on “Themes” you should see what themes are now available to use. Here’s what mine looks like right now:
I wanted to try out a few so I have the Studiopress theme I’m using now as well as one called Deckay 3.0 and the default Leggero theme. All you have to do know is click the one you want to use and your blog should update automatically. Pretty Sweet!
2. Taking a pre-built theme and tweaking it to fit the rest of your site
Follow all steps above. Next comes the fun part. I’m assuming that you already know HTML and CSS at this point although I may go into those a little in the future. If you don’t your stuck with the pre-made stuff.
In your HTML editor of choice (I use Dreamweaver) you can open and edit any files that came with the theme. You’ll find them in:
public/blog (or flatpress)/fp-interface/(the theme folder that you downloaded)/
For example I used the Studiopress theme and edited the files header.tpl and footer.tpl and the css files found in the /res folder called globals.css to fit with the rst of my website. I also replaced some of the images.
Just re-upload said files, refresh and see what you get. If you really mess up you can always start over by re-downloading the theme and replacing the page with the original!