The Web Design Group

... Making the Web accessible to all.

Welcome Guest ( Log In | Register )

 
Reply to this topicStart new topic
> Cannot Find My Website's Code to Edit!
Lucas65
post Jul 2 2018, 05:35 PM
Post #1





Group: Members
Posts: 6
Joined: 26-June 18
Member No.: 26,664



My website is public, I am completing a rapid survey of W3C's edex.org clas "Introduction to HTML5 and CSS," I have spent much time examining menu items at the backend of my website at wordpress.org YET, to my shock (no exaggeration), I don't have a clue how I can find the complete and editable source code of my website. So without this, everything I have learned is useless. Although I have not quite finished my W3C class I am non-plussed that no lesson ever explained how to access a website and edit it. All exercises are experiments at codepen.io, for example.

The wp.org website even given that it is open-source and not proprietary like wordpress.com, offers merely a GUI window in which I can add HTML or CSS code but, without context, this is useles.

I am being wordy. Question recap: How do I access the complete source code of my website in a version that is editable?
User is offlinePM
Go to the top of the page
Toggle Multi-post QuotingQuote Post
pandy
post Jul 2 2018, 10:23 PM
Post #2


🌟Computer says no🌟
********

Group: WDG Moderators
Posts: 20,716
Joined: 9-August 06
Member No.: 6



I'm not sure I follow. wordpress.com offers WordPress for download, right? So I assume you have installed the software on your own server.

Any software like that, forums, blogs and so on, consists of a lot of template files that generate the actual web page. You can do a View Source at one of your pages and see the complete HTML, CSS and JS as the browser gets it, but there will be no such file on the server since the page is generated on the fly and there is no hard copy of it.

When you want to change something, say the design of your page head, you need to find the template that contains that bit. It will be a mix of HTML and PHP code and you have to be careful not to change the PHP as that will break you site.

I haven't used WP myself, but there ought to be some documentation to help you get around.
User is offlinePM
Go to the top of the page
Toggle Multi-post QuotingQuote Post
Christian J
post Jul 3 2018, 06:16 AM
Post #3


.
********

Group: WDG Moderators
Posts: 9,630
Joined: 10-August 06
Member No.: 7



QUOTE(Lucas65 @ Jul 3 2018, 12:35 AM) *

Question recap: How do I access the complete source code of my website in a version that is editable?

You can use an FTP program to transfer files to and from your server/webhost account. Filezilla FTP Client is a good free one: https://filezilla-project.org/

The login details are supplied by the web host, usually the host also offers instructions on how to configure the FTP program.
User is offlinePM
Go to the top of the page
Toggle Multi-post QuotingQuote Post
Lucas65
post Jul 3 2018, 09:57 AM
Post #4





Group: Members
Posts: 6
Joined: 26-June 18
Member No.: 26,664



QUOTE(Christian J @ Jul 3 2018, 07:16 AM) *

QUOTE(Lucas65 @ Jul 3 2018, 12:35 AM) *

Question recap: How do I access the complete source code of my website in a version that is editable?

You can use an FTP program to transfer files to and from your server/webhost account. Filezilla FTP Client is a good free one: https://filezilla-project.org/

The login details are supplied by the web host, usually the host also offers instructions on how to configure the FTP program.



I have no understanding of the meaning of your advice. If I go to my website < Inspect, I can see 244 lines of code and whitespace that constitute my website. But it is read only, so useless for making changes.

Can I get the same read and write? Can you be more specific about how I achieve this by listing some steps? When I go to the backend of my website the only changes I can make are my various GUI options. I have exhausted all those options. But there are a gazillion things I want to change via code on my website and this whole questions remains a black box, most frustrating that the code I have learned in my HTML class is useless because I don't know how to access my editable code.

Again, I need a simpler explanation and steps or procedures. I have no idea what "FTP program" and "transfer files" has to do with the code behind my website. My mind's a blank.
User is offlinePM
Go to the top of the page
Toggle Multi-post QuotingQuote Post
Lucas65
post Jul 3 2018, 10:07 AM
Post #5





Group: Members
Posts: 6
Joined: 26-June 18
Member No.: 26,664



QUOTE(pandy @ Jul 2 2018, 11:23 PM) *

I'm not sure I follow. wordpress.com offers WordPress for download, right? So I assume you have installed the software on your own server.

Any software like that, forums, blogs and so on, consists of a lot of template files that generates the actual web page. You can do a View Source at one of your pages and see the complete HTML, CSS and JS as the browser gets it, but there will be no such file on the server since the page is generated on the fly and there is no hard copy of it.

When you want to change something, say the design of your page head, you need to find the template that contains that bit. It will be a mix of HTML and PHP code and you have to be careful not to change the PHP as that will break you site.

I haven't used WP myself, but there ought to be some documentation to help you get around.



I am at wordpress.org not wordpress.com I am completely confused. At the backend of my website the only changes I can make to my output (website) are simple ones using GUI tools. But my website is not close to functioning or being the way I want it to be and there are no more changes I can make from the backend. Is there no way that I can see all my code as in Inspect and edit it? I am missing the big picture, my website is stuck where it is and I don't know how to proceed. It seems that the coding for different elements that I have learned in my HTML class are useless because I have no understanding of how I apply them in a granular way to my website.
User is offlinePM
Go to the top of the page
Toggle Multi-post QuotingQuote Post
Christian J
post Jul 4 2018, 03:29 PM
Post #6


.
********

Group: WDG Moderators
Posts: 9,630
Joined: 10-August 06
Member No.: 7



QUOTE(Lucas65 @ Jul 3 2018, 04:57 PM) *

When I go to the backend of my website the only changes I can make are my various GUI options. I have exhausted all those options. But there are a gazillion things I want to change via code on my website and this whole questions remains a black box, most frustrating that the code I have learned in my HTML class is useless because I don't know how to access my editable code.

Wordpress is probably not a good choice if you want to experiment writing your own HTML and CSS. The HTML and CSS code on Wordpress pages is generated by PHP scripts on the server, and most of the text content is stored in a database. That means you can't edit most of the content directly, like you would with a static web page (see below). You might install different Wordpress templates and plugins, and maybe even customize the templates, but doing so may require experience with PHP. There are Wordpress tutorials and support forums, but again I wouldn't start with Wordpress if you want to learn HTML.

QUOTE
Again, I need a simpler explanation and steps or procedures. I have no idea what "FTP program" and "transfer files" has to do with the code behind my website.

"FTP" means File Transfer Protocol, and an FTP program is for transfering files. The traditional way of making web pages is to create the files in a text editor on your own computer, then transfer the files to a web server with FTP.

If you just want to experiment with HTML and CSS by yourself, you don't need a web server (and thus no FTP). Instead you can edit and view pages directly from your local file system (though you may get security warnings if you run javascript in local HTML files nowadays). If you also want to learn PHP and SQL by yourself, you can install a local test server on your computer, such as XAMPP.

If you do want to publish your HTML pages on the web, you first of all need a web host account (it sounds like you already have that if you have Wordpress installed?). Next, download and install an FTP program (such as Filezilla) on your computer. Start the program and enter your web host account details (often web hosts have instructions on how to do this). Now you can login to your web host account's file system, and transfer HTML files etc from your own computer.
User is offlinePM
Go to the top of the page
Toggle Multi-post QuotingQuote Post
pandy
post Jul 5 2018, 01:14 AM
Post #7


🌟Computer says no🌟
********

Group: WDG Moderators
Posts: 20,716
Joined: 9-August 06
Member No.: 6



QUOTE(Lucas65 @ Jul 3 2018, 05:07 PM) *

I am at wordpress.org not wordpress.com I am completely confused. At the backend of my website the only changes I can make to my output (website) are simple ones using GUI tools. But my website is not close to functioning or being the way I want it to be and there are no more changes I can make from the backend. Is there no way that I can see all my code as in Inspect and edit it? I am missing the big picture, my website is stuck where it is and I don't know how to proceed. It seems that the coding for different elements that I have learned in my HTML class are useless because I have no understanding of how I apply them in a granular way to my website.


Yeah, sorry. I got that. .com was a typo. Anyway, wordpress.ORG offers the software for download. So, you must have installed it at a server, a web host.

It sounds like you access your stuff through some web interface. Is that something your host offers or does it come with WordPress? And what is this Inspect as you talk about? A browser feature or a feature of the online editor you use?

What I said still goes. You can't see and edit a normal HTML page whatever way you use. You must edit the individual templates. That means you have to deal with PHP. WordPress may offer easy access to some stuff though some kind of control panel you access with your browser, like maybe making changes to the heading. But I don't know if that is the case and even if it is you would only be able to change some things this way.

View Source at the very page we are on now here at the forum. You will see normal HTML. A lot of it. That page doesn't exist on the server as a file. It's generated each time it's requested by you, me, Christian or anyone else. It generated by a system of PHP templates and sent to the browser as a stream, similar to how your blog works.

I agree with Christian. If this mainly is a learning experience for you, stick with static pages for a while and wait a little with installing server side stuff.
User is offlinePM
Go to the top of the page
Toggle Multi-post QuotingQuote Post

Reply to this topicStart new topic
1 User(s) are reading this topic (1 Guests and 0 Anonymous Users)
0 Members:

 



- Lo-Fi Version Time is now: 29th March 2024 - 06:06 AM