Delete all of the bold text in this tutorial once you have completed filling
in the following codes, then paste the remaining text into the CSS section of your
journal.

The normal black text is the template that you will need to keep... the bold text is the explanation.

Let’s start at the beginning… it may look a little daunting to begin with, but it’s really quite simple, just read all of the bold text carefully and by the end, you will have a new journal, and a basic understanding of CSS.

.journalbox {

border-color: #------; (The horizontal lines throughout this code is what you will need to change)

background-color: #------; (Keep an eye on them…)

background-image: url(‘image URL goes here’); (Do not remove the ‘ and ‘ - they need to remain on either side of your URL.  To get your image URL, you will need to upload your desired background image to an image hosting site like photobucket.com or imageshack.us. If you do not wish to use a background image in your journal, simply remove that part of the code (the background-image: url(‘image URL goes here’); ), along with my rambling. 

(Paste the DIRECT link that the image hosting site provides, in place of – image URL goes here) 

background-repeat:------; If you want your background image to repeat throughout your journal, replace the lines with the word - repeat. 
If you only want your image to show up once, change the lines to no repeat, including the space. If you chose not to use a background image, remove this part of the code along with the one above.

background-position:------; Where do you want your image? If you have your image on repeat, you want to replace the lines with - absolute. 
You can also choose to have it as a centered background image (by replacing the horizontal lines with the word - center), or you can choose from the following: left, right, left-top, right-top, left-bottom or right-bottom. 

border-style:------;
color: #------;
font-family: -----;
font-size:--px;
text-align: ----; 
font-variant: normal; 
font-weight: ----; 

}

The code above (all that follows .journalbox {) is for the main background and overall look of your 
journal. The only things you will need to change are the horizontal lines. DO NOT change anything else.

The border/background colors are pretty straight forward.

Open up a list of color codes, like this one - www.w3schools.com/css/css_colors.asp 
(You can also use Photoshop’s color picker)

To apply a color to each feature, replace the horizontal lines with the color code.

For example:

border-color: #000000; 

Each color has its own unique number for CSS and HTML purposes. #000000 is black. 

color: #------; this code (above) is for the color you want your journal text.

border style:-----; (above) Is for the style of your border, you can use the following:
 
solid
double
groove
dashed
inset
outset
ridge
hidden (simply replace the lines with your choice)

font-family: -----;  Is the font you want to use, so choose a font name e.g. Verdana, and change the horizontal lines to the font name of your choice.

font-size:--px;  You can delete this if you want to keep your font size at default, but if you want to change 
it, change the horizontal lines to a number, it should stay between 9-15 so that it isn’t obnoxiously large. 

text-align: ----; Is where you want your journal text to be lined up, you can change the lines to – center,
left, right or justify.

font-variant: normal;  You can leave this as normal, or change it to small-caps, which will make your journal font all small caps – this irritates some people, so I suggest making your font larger if you plan on using it. 

font-weight: ----;  This is for the thickness of your font, so change the lines to either of the following - normal, lighter, bold, bolder. 

If you want to keep any of those features as default, just remove the specified code. 


That’s the first part done. Let’s move on!

.journalbox .journaltop { This code begins the design of the top of your journal.
background-color:#------;
background-image: url(‘image URL goes here’);  Delete the background image code if you don’t want an image in the top of your journal. Refer back to the first code for instructions on how to use this and the following background image codes. 
background-repeat: ------;
background-position: ------; 
padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px; This one can be a little tricky, but with enough playing around you will have you header image and text in all the correct places. Basically each 0px refers to the distance you have between your image and the edges of your journal (top, left, right and bottom). Sometimes your image won’t show up at all until you play around with these values. 
So, to begin with, change each 0px to 100px (one at a time, previewing your journal each time) to see how much room you will need. 
If it doesn’t look correct upon previewing it, change the 100px to a different value until you get it the way you want it. 
The smaller the value, the less distance will remain between your image and journal edges. 

color:#------;
font-family: ------;
font-size:--px;
text-align: ------; 
font-variant: ------; 
font-weight: ------; 
}

Remember, this code is for the top of your journal, where your second heading is.

The color:#------; refers to the color you want your text, this will be the color of your second heading -  
Date and time of journal entry.

Try and choose a font size smaller than your first heading (Title of your journal, which is in the next part of the code
) 
I would recommend you use 10px for now, and experiment once you have previewed your journal.

For example:

font-size:10px;

Each of the codes are the same as the previous that I’ve explained, so you can use the same variables as before, or you can change them, I will list them below once more. 

Text-align variables - left, center, right, justify
Font-variant variables – normal, small-caps
Font-weight variables - normal, bold, bolder, lighter


Next part! You should now understand what you need to change and what your options are. This next part is for the main heading section of your journal. 

.journalbox .journaltop h2 {
background-color: #------; 
border-color:#------;
text-decoration:------;
color:#------;
font-family: ------;
font-size:--px;
text-align: ------; left, center, right, justify
font-variant: ------; normal, small-caps
font-weight: ------; normal, bold, bolder, and lighter }

The above code is for your main journal heading (Journal Title)
Border-color should be the same as your first border, but you can choose something else if you wish (just remember to preview your journal before submitting it, just incase it doesn’t look right)

text-decoration:none; gives you the option to change your journal heading, so you can change none to strong (for bold text) or, you can choose from:

line-through
overline;
underline;

Or just delete the code to keep it as default.

Again, the color:#------; is for the color of your text.


Neeeext.

.journalbox .journaltop img{display:none}

You have the option of deleting the journal image that displays next to your journal title (the little blue journal with a pen) If you wish to delete it, keep the above code in the CSS, otherwise, just delete it. 

.journalbox .list {
background-color:#------;
color:#------;
font-family: ------;
font-size:--px;
text-align: ------; 
font-variant: ------; 
font-weight: ------;
}

The above code is for the box that your moods are in. You should now know the basics of your options now, but scroll up if you can’t remember what goes where.

.journalbox .list .a {
background-color:#------;
color:#------;
font-family: ------;
font-size:--px;
text-align: ------; 
font-variant: ------; 
font-weight: ------; 
}

The above is for the darker colored lines of the mood section. The lines are normal, darker, normal, darker…the above is for the darker lines. (Make sense? I hope so) 


.journalbox .list strong {
font-family: ------;
font-size:--px;
text-align: ------; 
font-variant: ------; 
font-weight: ------; 
}

The above is for the bold words in your mood box, Mood: Reading: Listening to: etc
Same variables as above.

.journalbox .journaltext {
font-family: ------;
font-size:--px;
text-align: ------;
font-variant: ------; 
font-weight: ------;
}

The above is for your journal text, the main text. You have already chosen the color on the first part of the code, so now you must be more specific.
 Same variables as above. 

.journalbox .journaltext A:link {
color:#------;
font-family: ------;
font-size:--px;
font-variant: ------;
font-weight: ------; 
text-decoration: ------; 
}

The above code is for the links that appear inside your journal, the way they will look when not hovered or clicked.  I will list the variables once more.

font-variant: ------; - normal, small-caps
font-weight: ------; - normal, bold, bolder, lighter
text-decoration: ------; - underline, overline, line-through, blink, none

.journalbox .journaltext A:active {
text-decoration: ------;
color:#------;
font-family: ------;
font-size:--px;
font-variant: ------;
font-weight: ------; 
}

The above is for links that appear in your journal that are active and not previously clicked. Yes, I’m sorry, you need to do it again. Don’t hurt me!



.journalbox .journaltext A:hover {
color:#------;
font-family: ------;
font-size:--px;
font-variant: ------; 
font-weight: ------;
text-decoration: ------; 
}

The above is for the appearance of links in your journal when they’re hovered over with a cursor. 

.journalbox .journaltext A:visited {
color:#------;
font-family: ------;
font-size:--px;
font-variant: ------; 
font-weight: ------; 
text-decoration: ------; 
}

And that one is for the appearance of links that have been visited. 

.journalbox .journalbottom {
background-color:#------;
font-family: ------;
font-size:--px;
text-align: ------; 
font-variant: ------; 
font-weight: ------; 
}

That one is for the bottom of your journal, where the links for previous journal entries and comments are shown. 

.journalbox .journalbottom A:link {
text-decoration: ------; 
font-family: ------;
font-size:--px;
font-variant: ------; 
font-weight: ------; 
}

And the above is for the appearance of the links themselves. (Comments and Previous Journal Entries)

.journalbox .journalbottom A:visited {
text-decoration: ------; 
font-family: ------;
font-size:--px;
font-variant: ------; 
font-weight: ------; 
}
The above is for the appearance of the bottom links after they are visited.

.journalbox .journalbottom A:hover {
font-family: ------;
font-size:--px;
font-variant: ------;
font-weight: ------; 
text-decoration: ------;
}

Bottom links hovered. 

.journalbox .journalbottom A:active {
font-family: ------;
font-size:--px;
font-variant: ------;
font-weight: ------; 
text-decoration: ------;
}

Bottom links active. 

.journalbox .commentslink {
background-color:#------;
color:#------;
font-family: ------;
font-size:--px;
text-align: ------; 
font-variant: ------;
font-weight: ------; 
}

This is for the Comments link. You may like to have them look different, or positioned differently. 

.journalbox .prevlink {
background-color:#------;
color:#------;
font-family: ------;
font-size:--px;
text-align: ------; 
font-variant: ------; 
font-weight: ------; 
}

Previous Journal link. 



Alriiight, we’re almost there. Continue reading for additional stuff. 

Additional Features:

To create an extra box around some text in your journal, you can use this:
 
<div class="smallbox">YOU TEXT HERE</div> 

(That goes in your normal journal text area, not the CSS part)

To activate your box/es you will need to include the following code into your CSS section:

.smallbox{
background:#------ !important;
padding:6px !important;
border:none !important;
margin:.5em !important;
}

To change the color of the box, change the horizontal lines to a color code.
To change the border type, change border:none to border:dotted, or your choice of style:

solid
double
groove
dashed
inset
outset
ridge
hidden

You can also change the margin, and padding, to your liking.


You can add a scroll box that you can feature thumbs in. I will give you a basic code for this. 

This code goes into your normal journal text area where you want your box to appear:

<div class="deviationsbox">
:THUMB000000: :THUMB000000:
:THUMB000000: THUMB000000:
OR
:SHOP000000: :SHOP000000: 
</div>

And this one goes into the CSS section:

.deviationsbox {
height:400px;
width:200px;
overflow:auto;
}

You can change the height and width, depending on how you want it to look. Play around with the sizes until it suits your liking.


You can also have a hover menu for links, which can save you some space in your journal. 
The code that goes into your normal journal text area is:

<div class="links">
Hover here for link menu 
Your link here
Your link here
Your link here
</div>

And this one goes into the CSS section:

div.links {
height:120px;
}

div.links a {
display:none;
background:none;
}

div.links:hover a {
display:block;
background-color:#------;
}

div.links:hover {
display:block;
background-color:#------;
height:auto;
}

You can change the background color under hover, to whatever, but it’s probably best to keep it the same as the background of your journal. This is only a very basic code, you can probably find some information on more complex codes elsewhere.
You can change the height as well.

OMG, you’re done! Give yourself a pat on the back for reading all of that nonsense. I hope it helps.


Delete all of the bold text before putting the code into your journal.
Also preview your journal before you submit it, so you can get an idea of what it will look like, and see if you need to make any changes.