Easy Question on CSS

[heatherdiane]

Ok, I hope I don't tick anyone off here as I'm sure this is addressed somewhere but I have been browsing and cannot find it :-(

I'm brand new to Smugmug, CSS and HTML but have been doing a ton of reading and can't wait to get really creative and design a 'steeped' website! My question is this - should I be building my HTML and CSS sheets outside of Smugmug and then somehow linking them or should all of my designs happen on the customization pages of Smugmug?? In other words (in case I'm not explaining myself well - can I create webpages outside of smugmug and then somehow link them?) Hope that makes sense!!

Any advice is much appreciated!

Diane

[Andy]

:wave hi diane

your css goes in the "stylesheet" section of your co-branding, which you find under control panel>customize.

here's a start: http://www.smugmug.com/help/custom-colors

and there's loads of help coming your way - just ask specific questions and the experts usually chime in very fast!

[Mike Lane]

You can link to external stylesheets but it is not necessary. If you're just looking to update your site and make it look nice (a la www.pristine-light.com, www.moonriverphotography, www.choicphotos.com, bigwebguy.smugmug.com, etc etc) you don't need to use external stylesheets.

If on the other hand you're going to be doing some fancy stylesheet switching or you're in to building css modules for your pages or whatever, then you may need to link to your stylesheet externally.

If you're just getting started or are new to all of this (or have no idea what I'm talking about), just click on your control panel and then click customize and you can do all that you need to do in there.

Hope this helps!

[heatherdiane]

You guys are awesome!! Thanks so much! One more quick question, is it possible to customize each gallery (have a different color background, look, etc) .... I assume that's done with templates??

Keep smiling everyone!

[jfriend]

You guys are awesome!! Thanks so much! One more quick question, is it possible to customize each gallery (have a different color background, look, etc) .... I assume that's done with templates??

Keep smiling everyone!
It is possible. In the body tag is a class name that is a derivative of the gallery name or category name that is being displayed (you can just do View Source and look at one of yours to see how it works). If you set a style for the class name it will only take effect when that gallery or category is displayed. That means you can tweak the style for a particular gallery including the things you asked about.

--John

[Mike Lane]

It is possible. In the body tag is a class name that is a derivative of the gallery name or category name that is being displayed (you can just do View Source and look at one of yours to see how it works). If you set a style for the class name it will only take effect when that gallery or category is displayed. That means you can tweak the style for a particular gallery including the things you asked about.

--John
:agree

Additionally, this is a subject I intend to cover in my Customization for Dummies threads.

[heatherdiane]

:agree

Additionally, this is a subject I intend to cover in my Customization for Dummies threads.

I've been reading the Customization for Dummies - great job!! Look forward to learning all I can from them!

Thanks again everyone!!