Changing a color background to transparent

[lilacsinrain]

I have tried 5 different themes, but when I try to change the background image, it only shows the default color of that theme.  I can change the header to the image I want, but nothing else.  I haven't found a way to change the color to transparent, and need idiot-proof instructions for that.  I tried 6 different tutorials, but the only advanced code I'm seeing is for the specific color code, not the entire layout code. Any help would be so appreciated, thanks.

Comments

[matgb]

How are you changing the background image, and where?

Many themes have a built in way of doing that, if that's not working, it's a bug we need to fix.

But if you're trying to put the code in yourself, then the problem could be the way CSS works.

Essentially, if you tell the setup to make an image the background for the whole page, but then the theme developer told it to make colourX the background colour of lots of different bits of the page, then it will do both, but the bits will have their background override the main page, which is how it's supposed to work.

Essentially, you need to make sure your image is being applied instead of the theme instructions, but wihtout knowing what you've tried, and what themes you've tried, it's impossible to give details.

(and it appears we need to write much better how-tos on background images and stuff, to me doing it is so simple, but I've been watching the themes develop since before there were any themes so it's hard to figure out what isn't clear to new people)

[baggyeyes]

Sorry! Wr4ong reply clicky.

[baggyeyes]

Which background element do you want to change? The body, entry, header...?

[lilacsinrain]

I'm using 'Fluid Measure/Forest Green' as the theme. I changed the header by using the upload image under: Customize Your Theme: Style: Images: Header, but when I did the exact same thing to Page: Background, it stayed the default colors. I found a tutorial that said to go to the specific layer and theme, copy the raw source codes, and then change the background image to the URL of the image I want. I found both codes (Fluid Measure- http://www.dreamwidth.org/customize/advanced/layersource?id=80577) (Forest Green- http://www.dreamwidth.org/customize/advanced/layersource?id=174581), but have no idea what to change where. I read somewhere that you can change the background to transparent, but that I don't know how to do on DW.

[baggyeyes]

Do you want a solid color for the background?

[lilacsinrain]

No, a texture. I used the URL in both the header and page background image loader but only the header changed.

[baggyeyes]

According to this from FM layout, the background takes its color, and properties from color_module_border, and color_page_title

#top-color { position: fixed;
top: 0;
left: 0;
z-index: -1;
width: 100%;
height: 25em;
background-color: $*color_module_border;
border-bottom: .5em solid $*color_page_title; }


You can change the properties within the layer by removing that part, but you'll also lose the background color to the #header. For that, you can add in teh css box:
#header {
background:url("http://static2.grsites.com/archive/textures/dgren/dgren019.jpg") repeat scroll 0 0 transparent;
}

Does anybody else have any ideas?

[lilacsinrain]

I tried what you suggested, and this is what I got:

S2 Compiler Output at Tue Dec 21 01:14:48 2010
Error compiling layer:

Compile error: : Layer is declared layout but expecting a user layer
S2::Checker, S2/Checker.pm, 365
S2::Compiler, S2/Compiler.pm, 34


Ack.

[baggyeyes]

Hi,
It appears that you made a theme layer by mistake.

Create a top-level layer, choose layout in the dropdown, and keep the core version at 2.

I forgot you should also make a theme layer (Use Fluid Measure (######) where the set of characters are, you'll actually find your layout layer's number. It will be below the official layouts)

Paste in Forest Green's theme code and then you'll find the background is one solid color. Don't forget about the #header css in the css box.

[lilacsinrain]

I tried this, and all of the color disappeared. Thanks for your help, but at this point I'm done. I'll just be happy that the header changed.

[baggyeyes]

Did you go into http://www.dreamwidth.org/customize/?cat=custom and select your Forest Green theme? You can check out how it would look at my journal. I'll leave it up for a bit to give you time to see it.

[lilacsinrain]

This looks like mine does, except that I've been trying to get the background behind the entries to have the textured image as well. I don't know if you did that too, and my computer will only load the change made to the header and not the background as well. Thanks for all the coaching, but like I said, after a few weeks of this I'm done.