In the not-so-distant past, I accepted the self-imposed challenge to create "Thirty Posts in Thirty Days." While I may not have made the deadline, I still finished the race, and learned quite a bit from the adventure. First of all, I learned that in thirty days you really can develop a habit (or perhaps an addiction...) The challenge is over, yet here I am, blogging again. I also learned that blogging helps put a positive spin on life when bad things happen. After all, the roughest moments provide the juiciest material to write about. Finally, I learned that thirty is a really big number. (Boy, does that make me feel old!) The next time you think that a month isn't enough time to get something done, think again! A lot can happen over thirty days if you really put your mind to it.
So now that my blogging binge is over, I thought I'd turn some of the responsibility over to you, the readership, by posting thirty questions. After all, while I might have plenty to say, I have even more to learn.
So my first question is....
How do you make your blogs look so pretty?
Superficial as it may sound, I'm ready for a blog makeover. I confess that I've been doing some blog-stalking lately, and I've seen many really fun and awesome designs. Any suggestions on good places to go for templates, etc.? Any recommendations as to what the new design should look like? I'm open to any sort of input whatsoever. If you have any fabulous suggestions for a new blog name, let me know as well, since the name might get revamped in the makeover process too.
9 comments:
I'm not sure my blog is one of the pretty ones, but I wanted to add my suggestion that in making your blog pretty you make sure it's still legible. When there is a pattern under the words I often give up reading. Patterns are great and all, but not directly beneath text.
I'm not sure if mine is pretty, but I use cutestblogontheblock.com
There are a lot of cute templates there :)
Talk to Jackie. She's the queen. Offer her loads of babysitting or such and she just might do the makeover for you . . .
Congratulations on making it to the end of the race! It has been so fun reading about your adventures in France. I can't believe your girls are getting so big! Celeste Rushforth
Most people go to cutestblogontheblock.com, but then you risk having a blog that looks like everyone else's. I have been designing my own on photoshop- there are lots of free scrapbooking downloads available online that you can use and play with. Jackie uses powerpoint to do hers. I would be happy to design you a background if you tell me a color scheme, and give me an idea of what you are looking for... maybe something French?
Simple and predictable is still your best option in my view. Leave it alone, other than altering the color-scheme from time to time. Remember what happened when Coca Cola attempted to eliminate Coke in favor of "New Coke"? It was a disaster ... that bone-headed decision eventually led to a reversal and "Coca Cola Classic" emerged ... Tweak your blog site in very gradual increments if you must, but a whole new make-over is unlikely to be better.
I agree that the text must be a large, legible font and the entire blog needs to load as fast as possible, even on smartphones. One of the advantages of using a basic template is that the basic templates are typically optimized for speed and presentation on a wide range of browsers, and mobile devices, etc. "Pretty" is far less important than communication and functionality. Plenty of "white space" is a plus as well. Photo's of the grand children (with or without commentary) are wonderful regardless of the background (however, this is admittedly a biased viewpoint).
Be careful changing your blog name, unless you get people to change their settings, habits, redirects, etc. you could lose readership. "What's Up With The Wheelers" is fine. There likely is an automatic, behind the scenes re-direct available to handle such changes however ... again, so long as the speed is not compromised. If it is any slower, even a millisecond ... don't do it. Bye, Bye.
I'm with chou, offer me babysitting (I'd even settle for a pastry) and I'm all set...
If you are looking to make your own layout then maybe I can help but it isn't the most easiest way unless you are willing to dive into a little html. Like tweedlediva said, photoshop elements is awesome if you have it but you can get by without when you are as poor as I am. I put a small tutorial up on my blog under digital scrapbooking if you are interested.
Thank goodness for google searches for help on a lot of formats, widgets, tips I would have never thought of... I'm still in the learning process though!
We've been hoping you would drop that name so we could steal it... haha.
Thanks to everyone for all of the insight, advice, and especially the generous offers to help. I think we’re going to put Jason's artistic talent to work since we actually own photoshop. (Jackie, we’ll be sure to check out your tutorial on digital scrapbooking for helpful hints.)
It may be a while before the finished product appears since Jason doesn’t have his computer at the moment (a DD broke the screen…), but hopefully we’ll have something by the New Year. So anonymous father that I love, my apologies in advance if the new layout causes the page to load even a milli-second slower, but hey, I’m sure the photos of the grandkids will make it worth the wait.
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