How do I customize the look of my journal or community? What are S1 and S2?
Customize your journal with the Journal Display area. On this page, you can also see and change your journal's style system, because this style system determines your possible customization methods.
Style System 1 (S1), LiveJournal's original style system, uses overrides and the Edit Style page to customize your journal. Style System 2 (S2) has a simple and easy-to-use "wizard" interface that is an easy and flexible way to customize your journal. Additionally, S2 allows in-depth, advanced customization as a LiveJournal-specific programming language. When you switch your journal between S1 and S2, each style system's settings are saved so you can try the other style system without losing the settings for your current one.
Customizing with Style System 1
Style System 1 (S1) has three main customization options: Look and Feel, overrides, and custom styles. You should use the S1 system if you're familiar with HTML and CSS, but you don't want to learn the S2 layout language.
- Select your journal style and select colors for your journal on the "Look and Feel" tab.
- Type overrides on the "Custom Options" tab.
→ More information on customizing in S1
→ Advanced S1 customization
→ The
howto journal→ The Style System 1 FAQ category
Customizing with Style System 2
Style System 2 (S2) has two main customization methods: wizards and layer creation. S2, unlike S1, does not use overrides.
If you're unfamiliar with HTML and CSS, or only want to alter small parts of your journal's appearance, the S2 customization wizards will walk you customizing your journal.
- Select your layout, language, and themes from the "Look and Feel" tab.
- Customize individual layout options on the "Custom Options" tab.
- Theme Layers: Create Theme layers to customize existing layouts
- Layout Layers: Create Layout layers for new layouts and entirely new custom styles.
→ Advanced S2 customization
→ The
s2howto journal→ The Style System 2 FAQ category
Community Customization
All the options described above for customizing your journal also apply to customizing any community you maintain. In each case, once you are in the appropriate page or section, select your community from the Work as user: box and click Switch before making changes. If a certain customization requires a Paid Account, the community account itself must be paid.