I confess it has been a long time since I have had to edit someone else’s code. Admittedly these days it is easier to build a site with customisable templates (themes, here on Wordpress) but it takes time to understand what another developer has written and immerse your vision into their code.
If it is straightforward HTML, it is quite easy. Remember, I’m a dinosaur. I use tables. Even on my Blogdrive blogs, I had handwritten my own code since they run from 3 files only. Now that I am on Wordpress, running on someone else’s CMS has forced me to adopt more CSS edits amidst a varied file structure with each theme which may contain numerous files.
Still it is a fun challenge. I’ve been fiddling with the pixel sizes in the padding, font sizes, margins, and letter-spacings. But ultimately, when all fails to nudge that text into alignment, the easiest solution is to reword the text. And so I have. 
Two windows open (stylesheet and header, in my case), click save twice, and press F5 to refresh the blog. Repeat till it looks right. (See “about” in top right header for final product.)
Deciphering a code written by another is almost like getting to know someone and learning to understand them. You click until you figure out the file structure, then you stare at the code till you get which tag represents which item.
Finally, when you’re ready, you move some lines around such that it makes more sense to you, neaten the code so that it is easier for you to edit, and finally tweak the code such that it represents what you had in mind. Hmm… that sounds like a relationship indeed.
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