Title: Problem positioning Comment date
Last modified: August 19, 2016
---
# Problem positioning Comment date
* [valarcher](https://wordpress.org/support/users/valarcher/)
* (@valarcher)
* [16 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-positioning-comment-date/)
* Hi – I need to change the position + font of the date on Comments. I see here:
* [http://sewmyheadon.com/2009/wordpress-2-9-is-out/#comments](http://sewmyheadon.com/2009/wordpress-2-9-is-out/#comments)
* Eric has moved date to right + changed to caps, which I really like. His css
is:
* .commentlist p.metadate{clear:none;float:right;margin:0;width:40%;font-size:.
8em;text-align:right;text-transform:uppercase}
* But when I tried that, nothing happened. I’m guessing he has something in his
functions.php file?
* Be grateful for help – thank you! – Val
Viewing 10 replies - 1 through 10 (of 10 total)
* [esmi](https://wordpress.org/support/users/esmi/)
* (@esmi)
* [16 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-positioning-comment-date/#post-1411934)
* site url?
* [Eric Amundson](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sewmyheadon/)
* (@sewmyheadon)
* [16 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-positioning-comment-date/#post-1411962)
* Nope, nothing relevant to comment date in my functions.php file. It’s just straight
CSS with template tags.
* If you use Firebug to inspect the date element, you’ll see the cascade of other
styles affecting the date presentation.
* Here’s the markup:
* ```
```
* Here’s the relevant CSS:
* ```
.comment_info {
float:left;
margin-bottom:0.5em;
width:100%;
}
.comment_author {
float:left;
font-weight:bold;
width:50%;
}
#content p {
margin-bottom:1em;
}
.commentlist p.metadate {
clear:none;
float:right;
font-size:0.8em;
margin:0;
text-align:right;
text-transform:uppercase;
width:40%;
}
```
* Of course, there are other styles affecting these higher on up the chain, but
these are the guts. 🙂
* Thread Starter [valarcher](https://wordpress.org/support/users/valarcher/)
* (@valarcher)
* [16 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-positioning-comment-date/#post-1412164)
* Hi – thanks for replying! I don’t have a site URL, I’m doing it on my hard drive
with wamp.
* My problem is this in my comments.php file:
*
`: * ```
-
said:
comment_approved == '0') : ?>
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
``` * Thread Starter [valarcher](https://wordpress.org/support/users/valarcher/) * (@valarcher) * [16 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-positioning-comment-date/#post-1412175) * Hi Eric – oh I see! I got that from Tessa Blakely Silver’s book “WordPress Theme Design.” I didn’t know we could break it up as you have. * Now I can see where you’re getting your date from, thanks! * By accident I happened to be on a page – [http://sewmyheadon.com/2009/wordpress-2-9-is-out/#comments](http://sewmyheadon.com/2009/wordpress-2-9-is-out/#comments)– where every second comment was by you. So I thought you were coloring *your* comments in a different color, but it turns out you were simply alternating colors! * Anyway it led me to find .bypostauthor {background} * I’m struggling now with firebug showing: comment author’s name * It insists on displaying the name using my: em, i, cite {} rule for entire page. * I’ve tried to over-ride it with: .comment-author cite {} .vcard cite {} .comment- author .vcard cite {} .comment-author {} * But they don’t work. Do you know how I can define cite specifically for comment- author only? * In the comment itself, I want it to follow the page rule for em/i/cite. * thank you! – Val * Thread Starter [valarcher](https://wordpress.org/support/users/valarcher/) * (@valarcher) * [16 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-positioning-comment-date/#post-1412177) * Hi Eric – scratch the above! Using your code deleted the cite 🙂 * (1) This foreach php you use: * * does not seem to do anything. Can I safely delete it? I’m not alternating background color as you’ve done. * (2) In my Discussion Settings, I have newer post first, but after I entered your code above in full (then adapted it as below), it over-rode the settings so older post is now first (as it is on your site). * Please can you tell me what to delete in my latest html/css below so I keep newer post first? It’s *always* been set to first in discussion settings. * (3) x-browser, IE + Opera say “newer comments” for nav (thus recognizing older are first in display?) and FF says both “older comments” and “newer comments”– thus following the html which says to put both. * Is there a way to have a conditional statement so *only if* there are older or newer posts, it will display these links: * WordPress refuses to obey this: * “Break comments into pages with [2] top level comments per page and the [first] page displayed by default Comments should be displayed with the [newer] comments at the top of each page” * It’s displaying older comments first, and displaying *all* comments instead of just 2. As far as I know, all my comments are top-level, because I don’t have a “reply-to-this-comment-only” button beneath each comment. * It’s a real drag when wordpress gets corrupted like this and basically ignores the settings. It did the same for my sociable plugin. Is there a way to clear the corruption? It was working ok until I added your code above in full and then deleted what I didn’t need. Since then it’s been corrupted and won’t listen to what I say in “discussion settings.” * here’s my html:at
–>- ”>
comment_approved == ‘0’) : ?> _Your comment is awaiting moderation._
* –>
*
* here’s my css:
.commentlist {margin:0;padding:0} .comhead {float:left; margin-
bottom:5px; width:100%} .comauthor{float:left; width:50%; font-weight:bold} .
comdate{clear:none; float:right; margin:0; width:40%; font-size:0.8em; text-align:
right} .avatar {float:right; margin:0 0 0 10px; background:white} .comtext {font-
size:1.05em} .commentlist li { margin:10px 0; /*space betw boxes*/ padding:10px;
list-style:none; border:1px solid green; background:white } .commentlist li.bypostauthor,.
commentlist li ul li.bypostauthor {background:#f2ffdf} .reply{clear:both;margin:
1em 0} .comnav {display:block; text-align:center; margin:10px}
* Another problem is since adding your code (then deleting/changing) it no longer
recogninzes:
.commentlist li.bypostauthor {background}
* (4) Before I entered your code, it was giving me a different background color
for comments by the writer of the post. Can you see why it’s no longer doing
this?
* It seems to me wordpress gets corrupted! Everything looks perfectly ok, but somehow
by adding your code in full, wordpress freaked out – it stopped giving me different
background for author, and stopped displaying the newer posts first.
* thank you! – Val
* Thread Starter [valarcher](https://wordpress.org/support/users/valarcher/)
* (@valarcher)
* [16 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-positioning-comment-date/#post-1412193)
* Hi Eric – it’s ok I found all the answers here:
* [http://codex.wordpress.org/Template_Tags/wp_list_comments](http://codex.wordpress.org/Template_Tags/wp_list_comments)
* Basically yours is the old pre- list_comments way of doing it, between those
2 tags
* They say to upgrade to wp_list_comments.
* (1) For minimal control, can use the list above that I found at [http://cdharrison.com/2008/12/03/threaded-comments/](http://cdharrison.com/2008/12/03/threaded-comments/)
* e.g.
.says {display:none} .commentlist li.bypostauthor, .commentlist li ul li.
bypostauthor {background:#f2ffdf} cite.fn {font-style:normal} .vcard {} /*author*/.
comment-meta {font-size:0.8em; padding:3px 0 10px} /*date*/ .comment-meta a {
text-decoration:none} .avatar {float:right; margin:0 0 5px 10px; background:white}.
commentlist li p {font-size:0.9em} /*comment body*/
* and (2) for more detailed control, e.g. floating date to right above avatar as
you have, can use list_comments callback function with functions.php as described
in the codex.
* So now my final problem is how to get website link of comment-author to open
in new window, because the default is to take visitor out of my site when it’s
clicked, but not to worry, I’m sure I can track how to do it using (1) or (2)
above.
* thanks! – Val
* Thread Starter [valarcher](https://wordpress.org/support/users/valarcher/)
* (@valarcher)
* [16 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-positioning-comment-date/#post-1412194)
* Hi – actaully for more detailed control of wp_list_comments, it’s quicker to
edit
wp-includes/comment-template.php directly. No need to create a functions.
php file, e.g.
* (1) To force comment-author URL to open in new window, I changed this in comment-
template.php:
$return = “[$author](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-positioning-comment-date/$url?output_format=md)“;
* to this:
$return = “[$author](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-positioning-comment-date/$url?output_format=md)“;
* (2) To get rid of cite – which displays text of comment_author using my rule – I changed this:
%s
* to this:
%s
* Now I have full control of the font of author’s name (without cite interfering)
in my css, viz.:
.vcard {} /*author*/
* Eric, thanks million for showing me how you floated date on right, with avatar
underneath. I see your basic structure is:
* width 100%
author float left
at
date float right, text-align right
get_avatar comment_text * Using this structure, I was easily able to change comment-template.php to do the job! * So now I have comments looking exactly the way I want, with minimal markup. * all the best, Val * Thread Starter [valarcher](https://wordpress.org/support/users/valarcher/) * (@valarcher) * [16 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-positioning-comment-date/#post-1412195) * To force comment-author URL to open in new window, it should look like this: * from: `$return = "$author ";` * change to this: `$return = "$author";` * The full answer is here: [http://www.programmingfacts.com/2010/01/25/open-comment-author-urllink-window/](http://www.programmingfacts.com/2010/01/25/open-comment-author-urllink-window/) * Thread Starter [valarcher](https://wordpress.org/support/users/valarcher/) * (@valarcher) * [16 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-positioning-comment-date/#post-1412196) Viewing 10 replies - 1 through 10 (of 10 total) The topic ‘Problem positioning Comment date’ is closed to new replies. * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/) * 10 replies * 3 participants * Last reply from: [valarcher](https://wordpress.org/support/users/valarcher/) * Last activity: [16 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-positioning-comment-date/#post-1412196) * Status: not resolved ## Topics ### Topics with no replies ### Non-support topics ### Resolved topics ### Unresolved topics ### All topics