A BandPress Theme is a collection of files that work together to produce a graphical interface with an underlying, unifying design for a website. BandPress currently has a very diverse collection of  themes (and we’re always adding more!) which you can easily preview and activate from the Appearance → Themes area of any website’s dashboard.

To view all of the themes available to you (as well as preview and activate them), you can access the Appearance → Themes menu option in your website’s dashboard. You can change themes at any time. If you do not see the Appearance menu option, this means that you are not an administrator on the website.

Uploading Your Header

Go to Appearance → Custom Image Header in your website’s dashboard. If you do not see the option, this means that your current theme does not support the use of a custom image header.

Browse for the file on your computer and click Upload. Only .jpeg, .gif, and .png files can be used. All cropped images will be converted to jpegs.

Important: Using an image of exactly the right size will produce the best results, and this is certainly recommended.

If you did not upload an image that matches the exact dimensions of your current theme’s header, you will need to crop it accordingly.

Click the Crop Header button, and you should receive a message that the upload was successful.

The image should appear immediately. If it does not, please contact Support with the issue. Be sure to provide a detailed description of the header image that you attempted to upload and/or attach the image file so that we can take a closer look.

Other Options
You also have a few other customization options available to you. If you wish to remove the blog title (and tagline, if it appears) from the header, you can click on the Hide Text button.

Once the text is removed, click Save Changes.

If you wish to maintain the blog title and tagline, you also have the option to change the text color. The Select a Text Color option will do the trick.

If you consider yourself to be CSS-savy, use our Custom CSS option, which allows you to edit the stylesheet of any BandPress theme.

As we are always looking to add new themes to BandPress, please feel free to request the addition of any theme. Drop a line in the Ideas Forum.

Please note that CSS can be a fairly tricky technical job. CSS can behave differently in different web browsers. See the CSS Help section for more information. You should have some knowledge of CSS before purchasing the upgrade – or at least a willingness to learn!

Does the Custom CSS let me edit HTML?
No. You can change the appearance of a theme, but not its HTML markup, PHP code, or content.

Can I use the Custom CSS to make minor visual changes to an existing theme?
Yes (within the limits of CSS, and your skill as a CSS designer, of course). You can choose to apply your CSS to an existing theme in addition to the standard stylesheet used by that theme. This makes it possible to make minor changes (such as color and font changes) with just a few lines of CSS.

How do I upload images for use with my CSS?
You can upload an image as an attachment to any Post or Page, then refer to it by its direct URL from within your CSS stylesheet. You’ll find the direct URL of each image on your Manage/Uploads tab. Here’s a simple example of how to use a background image in your stylesheet:

div#content {
background-image: url(http://example.files.bandpress.org/2007/08/example.jpg);
}

CSS Help
We do not offer CSS support or training directly, but there are a TON of great resources on the web to get you started into learning more about HTML and CSS. There is a learning curve, but CSS is a very valuable and reusable skill.

Here are a few tips we live by:

1. Be careful! Often Support staff aren’t able to help you reverse errors made in your CSS code.
2. Develop your stylesheets offline.
3. Use a validation service, like this one.
4. Use Firefox as your browser and download the Web Developer Toolbar add-on, which allows you to edit stylesheets on a live page.

Tutorials

• W3 Schools CSS tutorial
• Web Design Group guide to CSS
• WestCiv complete CSS guide
• Sitepoint CSS articles

References

• CSS 2.1 Specification
• CSS contents and browser compatibility
• Web Browser CSS Support

Forums and Mailing Lists

• Sitepoint web design forums
• CSS Discuss mailing list
  
• Webdesign-L mailing list
• WP.com CSS forum

Books — if you’re old-school

• Eric Meyer on CSS
• More Eric Meyer on CSS
• The Zen of CSS Design
• Web Standards Solutions
• Designing with Web Standards