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Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Blog Tips

I so appreciate all the folks who take the time to share the little discoveries they've made to improve their blogs and websites with the rest of us. Some of them are professional designers, and others are "learn as they go", like me =D

It is easy to get into the trap of being "guarded" about sharing. I've gotten so many questions over the years, and at times I want to say "I scoured the internet for hours, days, months... to find this information. It takes soooo much time and energy. The information is out there if you just put the effort into finding it. So go search like I did".

But... then again... If it weren't for the generosity of those who shared what they knew in the first place, I never would have found it no matter how much I searched, huh? AND I have always been all the more thankful for my online friends who have shared links to tech sites with HTML and other helpful information that took hours off of those searches.

So, I'd like to share some of the helpful tips I've discovered along the way, as well. Few of these were my own technical discoveries. I'll always share the links to the amazing folks who help us all make our web "homes" a little nicer.

Not all of the tips and tricks will be technical. Some may be related to house and home, art, or other business aspects.

Today I'd like to share a very simple solution to a problem I see A LOT of in the blog world these days. It seems to be more prevelent since the new template designer came out. Why they don't automatically center the header, I don't understand. But have you noticed that most of the headers are off to the left? Mine was. My original solution was to make my banner so huge that even all the way to the left, it was still centered... LOL.

Then... I found this link:

Where it says to add this code: #Header1 {width:800px;margin:0 auto} I did, and had to tweak it a bit. Mine is set at 900px now, and is centered pretty well.

Another blog "problem" I see a lot of... Folks who I know want a very professional look for their site, and go to a lot of effort to buy or create gorgeous graphics and headers, only to be stuck with the border outline on their headers that just "break up" the overall look... or don't even stretch with the header, thus resulting in a bit of a mixmatch look.

My "fly by the seat of my pants" solution was to go into the fonts and colors section of the design page and change the border color to the closest possible color of my background. It didn't always work well. The only time it "really" works is if your background is black, and you change the border color to black... or... if your background color is white, and you change the border color to white.

BUT... Halleluia! I found this link:

Ahhh... Now, that's better!!!

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I do have to ask that you don't take up your time, or mine addressing any technical questions here. I AM NOT an expert in this area, and it is all trial and error in the wee hours of the morning. I would suggest that everyone open a "test" blog as well as their actual blog, so that all the trial and error occurs on a test blog rather than your actual blog. Just set the test blog to private so that folks don't see all your follies... LOL.

For folks who have NO knowlege of HTML or CSS at all, I would suggest using one of the many blogger templates which perfectly match your taste, so that you don't have to alter anything. OR... there are many designers online who will create the perfect blog template to fit your artistic expression.

But if you like to personalize and "fiddle" there are so many resources to help if you just google whatever you're looking for... "how to add fancy fonts", "how to add a new background", etc. etc. etc.

And I will keep sharing what I find right here :)

"Happy Blogging"
*Note: Both of the tips I shared today are for blogger blogs. There are many tip sites out there for typepad and others. Believe me... I know. Can't tell you how many times I've searched for help, and can only find info for typepad. For instance.... "Does anyone out there know how to add the feature where you can respond directly to a specific comment post on blogger?" I can only find that info for typepad. ~but I'm still searching ;)

 
 
 

1 comment:

AuntKaysHandmades said...

Linda I'm like you learn as I go and I know you've guided me to a few blog helpers and Thank you so much for that and for sharing more of your tips :)
Kaela

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