Blog overhaul

21 March 2011

You may have noticed....
.(and thanks for the kind comments already..)
that I have a new look blog page.

I had been feeling I wanted a change for a while...
my blog was originally built using the old blogger template Minima..
all the customisations had to be in the html code....

Nowadays blogger have some wonderful ...easy to use...and customise templates...
I felt it was time I made the change over....so that in future I can make any tweaks a lot easier.

So I began a little search to find some new blog wear...
and began to play.

I had never realised before.....and I'm keen to share in case it helps anyone else....
but...there is a place....called 'Blogger in draft'
where you can play safely with your blog....make any changes you like...
and then when you are happy....save it as your new blog.
Before I began anything....I saved my entire existing template.....
(which is easily done with the simple click of a button at the top of the  'edit html' page)
That way.....if I was really unhappy with changes....
or accidentally lost anything....I knew I had a back up sitting there.

The only draw back with the 'Blogger in Draft' is that I couldn't see where you could save your changes and come back later......
so once I began playing.....I either needed to finish all my tweaks and save it as my blog....
or close and lose it all...and start from, scratch next time.

Possibly for me that was a good thing.... I'm such a procrastinator.....its possible I would never have clicked that 'save as blog' button.....
Id have been worried that perhaps it wasn't quite ready.....or that I wouldn't like it.
but once I had spent a few hours working on it....I couldn't just abandon all my hard work....so I took the plunge....and made the change.

Do a google search and you will have endless pages of free blog prettiness...
.... but I found these were excellent...
and easy to understand / apply.

The background fairy - where I found my lovely aqua background.
Shabby Blogs - gorgeous backgrounds....buttons...blinkies...
Kevin and Amanda - they have some great tutorials...and free fonts...

So there you have it...
the story of my blog overhaul.... I'm working on my tabbed pages now.
..it seems silly having tabs that go no-where.

3 comments

  1. Your new look blog looks fabulous Mardi!! Love your group of pics in your header. I've been thinking about re-doing mine for ages but just haven't found the time yet. Thanks for the tips!

    Sheree xx

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  2. Hey Mardi...
    Love the new look of your blog. I did the same thing recently and I am actually enjoying blogging again - maybe thanks to my new fresh blog look...lol.
    Hope you're well.
    xx
    PS: Tell Mitch that I think he should take his invention to that ABC show 'Inventors' - I think he could be onto a winner!! :P

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  3. Love the new look, Mardi!

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