Title: CSS editing and upgrading wordpress Last modified: August 21, 2016 --- # CSS editing and upgrading wordpress * [fapp](https://wordpress.org/support/users/fapp/) * (@fapp) * [12 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/css-editing-and-upgrading-wordpress/) * First of all my apologies for being a complete novice at this! * I’ve had my website for a couple of years now and have never updated it. I created the whole thing using the Brunelleschi template and editing the code, which I know nothing about but googled each thing I wanted to fix and gradually made it look the way I want. * I have just read something saying you shouldn’t do this, as when the template is updated it will all be lost. So I have a couple of questions.. * 1) If I don’t update the template, will it remain the same? 2) Is there a way of exporting all of my style sheets so I can use them if something goes wrong? 3) If I update wordpress will it all be lost? * I’ve been too scared to update wordpress as my host isn’t very good at doing things I ask, and I’m worried about whether things will get lost if he doesn’t back up properly. Is there a way I can back up and update myself and not have to rely on him? I just pay to use the server, not really his time. * I think that’s about it.. unless anyone can also let me know how to change the padding between my social media icons! * my website is [http://www.buttonsandbeeswax.com](http://www.buttonsandbeeswax.com) * Thanks 🙂 Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total) * [esmi](https://wordpress.org/support/users/esmi/) * (@esmi) * [12 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/css-editing-and-upgrading-wordpress/#post-4514218) * 1. Yes but you will miss out on any bug fixes and/or improvements. There’s also the possibility that your older version of the theme may not be compatible with future versions of WordPress. * 2. You could download a copy of your theme to your computer using FTP. * 3. No. Updates of WordPress itself (ie core updates) do not touch your theme. Or your plugins, for that matter. * > I’ve been too scared to update wordpress as my host isn’t very good at doing > things I ask * Were you aware that your site is currently running a very real risk of being hacked? Cleaning up after a hack is time-consuming, complicated and potentially very expensive. As you have such an old version of WordPress, you will now need to carry out a series of smaller manual upgrades. See [Upgrading_WordPress_Extended](http://codex.wordpress.org/Upgrading_WordPress_Extended) for the full details. None of this is dependant upon your hosts and you should really learn how to backup your database and update WordPress yourself. * > unless anyone can also let me know how to change the padding between my social > media icons! * Try using Firefox with the [Firebug add-on](http://getfirebug.com/) for this kind of CSS troubleshooting. Or use whatever developer tool is available in your web browser. * Thread Starter [fapp](https://wordpress.org/support/users/fapp/) * (@fapp) * [12 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/css-editing-and-upgrading-wordpress/#post-4514230) * Thank you for your speedy reply. I’m currently trying to get my head around the back up documentation, as I’m aware I need to upgrade soon. I have tried to download phpmyadmin to do it that way as suggested in the link, but it just seems to be a folder full of php files. * Thread Starter [fapp](https://wordpress.org/support/users/fapp/) * (@fapp) * [12 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/css-editing-and-upgrading-wordpress/#post-4514231) * Also I’ll add that I don’t have access to any of the files, so I can only use my own computer and the wordpress dashboard to upload to the website. * [esmi](https://wordpress.org/support/users/esmi/) * (@esmi) * [12 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/css-editing-and-upgrading-wordpress/#post-4514250) * > I have tried to download phpmyadmin to do it * No – your hosts have to have Phpmyadmin or a similar tool installed on the server. * Thread Starter [fapp](https://wordpress.org/support/users/fapp/) * (@fapp) * [12 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/css-editing-and-upgrading-wordpress/#post-4514255) * Thanks * So is there a way I can do it without the host? I’d like to sort it out and he’s usually hard to get hold of! * [esmi](https://wordpress.org/support/users/esmi/) * (@esmi) * [12 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/css-editing-and-upgrading-wordpress/#post-4514262) * For a good solid first database backup, you really need to use whatever database management tool your host provides. There are backup plugins out there but I couldn’t endorse any specific one. Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total) The topic ‘CSS editing and upgrading wordpress’ is closed to new replies. ## Tags * [back-up](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/back-up/) * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/) * 6 replies * 2 participants * Last reply from: [esmi](https://wordpress.org/support/users/esmi/) * Last activity: [12 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/css-editing-and-upgrading-wordpress/#post-4514262) * Status: not resolved ## Topics ### Topics with no replies ### Non-support topics ### Resolved topics ### Unresolved topics ### All topics