HOW DID YOU TWEAK THE SITE?
I’ve done a LOT of HTML’ing before, but it’s been about 4 years since I’ve played with an actual website (not including Blogger), so it’s always a learning curve when I want to update the site (that would be once a year, when I get the urge).
Blogger has a bit of a quirk with their HTML, it’s not like normal HTML sites because it uses widgets, and sometimes it can get confusing with all the codes, colours and the complex flexibility it offers.
I basically tweaked a simple Blogger template, added a Fixed Footer Disclaimer (scroll to the bottom of the page to see), Fixed Image/HTML to my sidebar, and Navigation bars.
WHERE DID YOU FIND THOSE BLOGGER TEMPLATES?
Here are some great resources I scoured before settling on the design that I have now.
Some of these sites have broken template links, so don’t get too attached to one.
Mashable and Blogger Buster have the best templates, but I thought I’d link to all.
WHAT ABOUT YOUR GRAPHICS?
As for the images and other graphics, I do them all by my lone self on Photoshop CS4, so I can’t help you in that respect, unless you want to commission me for a piece?
Email me at brokeinthecity at gmail dot com to discuss prices/what you want.
If you don’t want to pay anyone to do graphics for you, your best bet is to just search for graphics, and download Paint.net (the free, simpler version of Photoshop) and edit them yourself.
ERR..THAT SOUNDS LIKE A LOT OF WORK!
Kind of.
Took me a good 10-15 hours, I’d say from starting to look for a template, to finish.
But I’m picky so I kept changing my mind, adjusting here and there…
So if you want a quick update, I’d suggest you just change the background on your Blogger Template, and the text/link colours for your site.
It’s a cheap and easy facelift.
HOW ABOUT ON THE CHEAP (READ: FREE) ?
Backgrounds that come sexy and most importantly, free, in order of coolness:
- Citrus Moon (The Patterns are sorted by category here)
- Textura (If you’re into textured, tissue paper-like backgrounds)
- JannyPie
- SquidFingers Patterns (Very geometric)
- The Texture Warehouse (Kind of woodsy prints)
- Background Fairy
- Shelsscraps
- Blogaroozer
Can’t figure out colour schemes on the fly?
Well Styled has a Colour Scheme Generator ready for you.
BUT HOW DO I CHANGE MY BACKGROUND?
You’re going to have to learn a bit of HTML to do that, and a place like Picasa, Photobucket, own hosting site to store the image you’ve saved as your background.
Here’s the tutorial from Blogger Buster on how to do that.
If you want a tutorial from me, let me know by leaving a comment.
That’s about it!
Any other questions?
Just a girl trying to find a balance between being a Shopaholic and a Saver.
I cleared $60,000 in 18 months earning $65,000 gross/year.
Now I am self-employed, and you can read more about 
Thanks for the Love!
~Kat @ Blogaroozer.com
One thing you I would suggest to newbies is that they backup their existing template before changing it up.
Thanks for the very informative post.
Awesome resources! I have to update now even though I’ve been trying to keep the layout changes to a minimum. I love love love to play with this though!
I wrote on your blog Steve, but this was my answer:
I deleted my last comment because I realized that I don’t need to write a post for this.
The reason why that is happening like that is because Blogger thinks like this:
1. You go to the main URL, and it says “READ MORE”, you click on it, it fans out so you can read the entire post..
Or leave it, and keep reading short paragraphs of the other posts without having to scroll too much.
2. If you are clicking on the actual post header “It’s Monday.., what’s your gripe?”.. then you’re already IN the read more functionality, because you’re in the actual post URL itself..
Blogger thinks it’s moot to make a reader click on “read more” when they’re already in that specific post already (by definition, clicking on “read more” means you want to read the post) and it fans it out automatically.
Does that make sense?
wow. that was nice of you to share..
That was very nice of you to give folks these tips.
Good on your for doing it yourself. I know how expensive hiring someone can be, even us part-timers who work for peanuts.
i dig seeing other bloggers discuss html/css issues. thanks for serving it up in your fabulous FB style! 😀
i don’t know if you’ve dealt with this before, but here’s my question:
i’ve added a “Read More…” functionality to my Blogger template. i’ve noticed that when i go to my home page url: http://fluxlife.blogspot.com/, it shows up and works.
my problem is when i go to a specific post, e.g. : http://tinyurl.com/dbav3g, the “Read More…” does not show up in the post. so i want to correct this by making it show up when a specific post url is accessed as well as the home page url.
any ideas?
thanks in advance for any help you can offer!
-Steve @ fluxife
thank you fb!very good tips…:.)