Core wordpress files/child theme alteration questions

[AnthonyC]

Hello everyone!

Brand new to Genesis, and using a child theme for wordpress also. I'm not super "technical" but can usually follow well written instructions. 🙂

My question is that I want to make some modifications to wordpress that I found on the wordpress support forums, and it's been drilled into my head NOT to touch core wordpress files when using a child theme (I'm using Genesis framework and Cobalt Apps' - Dynamik Website Builder as my child theme) - so how would I go about doing these two things?

I don't want to have to keep doing these each time wordpress/genesis/DWB gets updated (that's the whole point of a child theme, right?)

Here's the link to the first thing I want to do:
EDIT - apparently I'm not allowed to make links yet 🙁 Sorry you have to copy/paste and remove the spaces between wordpress, the . and org 🙁

wordpress . org/support/topic/way-to-modify-user-must-have-previously-approved-comment

--- I want to change it the same way, so that commenters must have 3 approved comments before future comments are automatically approved.

Here's the link to the second thing I want to do:

wordpress . org/support/topic/adding-a-static-welcome-message-before-posts-on-home-page

--- I would like to have my home page be my posts, but before the first post I want a welcome message box with info about what my site is about, and some handy links (to FAQ's etc) - I'd also like to help in how I can style this box so it stands out - sort of like how the "You may use these HTML tags and attributes:" box right below where you would type your reply (here on this forum) down below is!

Thanks in advance for the help, much appreciated!

[Bill Murray]

1) On your "3 comment" requirement, the right way to go about this would be to use some hook to modify core WP behavior, implemented as part of a custom plugin. There are a number of filters that can probably do this, but they'd require writing a custom function to connect to the WP comment system. My quick comment is that this is an intermediate-level project, and if you're not comfortable with PHP code, be prepared to spend a bit of time on it. This filter might get you headed in the right direction. It's also possible there is an existing plugin for this, but none comes to mind.

2) Your best for your welcome box is to add a widget area if your theme does not already have one, and then put a text widget there with your markup and content. You'd need to a) create the widget area, b) put it in your home page template, and c) update the CSS (including the responsive CSS) for it. The specifics will depend on your theme.

Hope that helps.

---

Web: https://wpperform.com or Twitter: @wpperform

We do managed WordPress hosting.

[Author]

Posts