Before you start editing a WordPress theme you need the right tools.
WordPress features a built-in editor for editing files from within your browser online. We don’t recommend using it on a live website, too many things can go wrong. The better and safer way is to edit files copied to your computer, and then upload them to your site.
In keeping with the spirit of WordPress, we recommend Komodo Edit. Komodo Edit is a free, open-source code editor for Windows, Mac, and Linux. Active State offers a paid premium program, Komodo IDE, but for our HTML & CSS workshop and for future use in editing website files, the free Komodo Edit version is more than sufficient.
Download Komodo Edit
Go to – http://www.activestate.com/komodo-edit/downloads And click on the download button
Install Komodo Edit and you’re ready to edit and modify files in an open-source code editor!
You’ll use Komodo Edit hand-in-hand with another brilliant open-source program called Filezilla.
Filezilla is used to transfer files between your personal computer and your hosting company’s servers. Komodo Edit is used to open and edit those files. Once you’ve made changes to the files, you’ll use Filezilla again to send the revised files back up to the hosting account.
We will use Komodo Edit as a source code editor to modify WordPress files during our HTML & CSS for WordPress Workshop. If the idea of editing the code of your WordPress website terrifies you, relax… we are really good at hand-holding.
Before editing any of your WordPress files, make sure you have a backup!
So once you’ve installed Komodo Edit, go and get Filezilla and take a backup of theme files down to your computer.
If you want to get a head-start before the next workshop, head over to read “How to Edit Your WordPress site with HTML & CSS“.
Extend your Learning…
If you liked this post, you’ll love our WordPress Made Easy Online Course. Perfect for WordPress website owners and users who want the skills and knowledge to create and manage a WordPress website.
