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Why can't I edit HTML in my Wordpress theme's PHP template files

There is barely any HTML in the main page.php template file. It's very unspecific and I can't edit individual elements and alter my webpage accurately. I'm able to delete things like entire headers, but I've seen other themes that have PHP template files that include most of the page structure, which gave me fine control over the web page.

<?php
/**
 * The header for our theme.
 *
 * Displays all of the <head> section and everything up till <div id="content">
 *
 * @package Nikkon
 */
global $woocommerce;
?><!DOCTYPE html>
<html <?php language_attributes(); ?>>
<head>
<meta charset="<?php bloginfo( 'charset' ); ?>">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<link rel="profile" href="http://gmpg.org/xfn/11">
<link rel="pingback" href="<?php bloginfo( 'pingback_url' ); ?>">

<?php wp_head(); ?>
</head>

<body <?php body_class(); ?>>

<div id="page" class="hfeed site <?php echo sanitize_html_class( get_theme_mod( 'nikkon-slider-type' ) ); ?>">

<?php echo ( get_theme_mod( 'nikkon-site-layout' ) == 'nikkon-site-boxed' ) ? '<div class="site-boxed">' : ''; ?>

    <?php if ( get_theme_mod( 'nikkon-header-layout' ) == 'nikkon-header-layout-three' ) : ?>

        <?php get_template_part( '/templates/header/header-layout-three' ); ?>

    <?php else : ?>

        <?php get_template_part( '/templates/header/header-layout-one' ); ?>

    <?php endif; ?>

    <?php if ( is_front_page() ) : ?>

        <?php get_template_part( '/templates/slider/homepage-slider' ); ?>

    <?php endif; ?>

    <div class="site-container <?php echo ( ! is_active_sidebar( 'sidebar-1' ) ) ? sanitize_html_class( 'content-no-sidebar' ) : sanitize_html_class( 'content-has-sidebar' ); ?>">
Solution

  • The file you are working in Is for Displays all of the <head> section and everything up till <div id="content"> It is the other theme files you want to be editing. example templates/header/header-layout-one and so on you might want to play around with a simpler theme first But start off with making your theme into a child theme follow the instructions here https://codex.wordpress.org/Child_Themes as to not break site or lose changes on update and then you can start editing the theme to suite your needs.