Wednesday, August 30, 2006
pretty blogs get all the attention
hello my pets.
I have been so busy with moving and cleaning and working and grad-school pre-spazzing that I haven't had much time (obviously) to post anything worthwhile let alone original. But I have had time to think about my blog (guiltily) and I've been thinking...maybe it's time to revamp the old girl.
When i started this whole shebang 45 years ago, I knew nothing about posting or site feeds or blogrolls or etiquette. In fact, the "internet" hadn't even been invented yet! I entered all my posts into my T-81 graphing calculator. Most of my blogging consisted of strings of 0's and 1's. Thank god Al Gore came along and invented the world wide web and I was able to write stuff with words instead of cosine functions.
Ok, seriously. I am not good at this. I was and am one of those people that old-school bloggers hate. I jumped on the bandwagon and I jumped on in a slapdash half-assed manner. It's the only way i know! I used the first blog tool I found (yay Google!) and the least garish template I could find....which is obviously the one with the eye-searing orange stripe across the top. It was amateur and sort of offensive to the eye...just like me!...so I was satisfied.
But as my blog reading continues to expand, I'm realzing pretty much everyone else has nice graphics, neatly arranged post categories and color combinations that don't cause grand mal seizures. That's the kind of site I want. (One that causes seizures that is, not the kind that looks put-together).
Ok I'm kidding. I want a classy site. Something with lots of pop-ups and pop-unders and pop-ins and popovers and pop-sicles. And a midi file of an Avril Lavigne song that plays in a loop. And some pointless flash intro that takes 5 minutes to complete and does nothing but swirl a bunch of letters around, without giving you the option to skip the intro. Oh yeah. That is the essence of internets, baby.
Well anyway, since this blog is really for the viewing pleasure of my loyal fans, I thought I'd ask for your opinions...Should I overhaul the site? What kind of changes would you suggest? All silly jokes aside, I'd really like to do a new blog title and template something maybe with a mustard bottle. I am totally ignorant about this kind of stuff...does anyone know what I could use to jazz up the site? What do you guys use?
Thanks in advance!
I have been so busy with moving and cleaning and working and grad-school pre-spazzing that I haven't had much time (obviously) to post anything worthwhile let alone original. But I have had time to think about my blog (guiltily) and I've been thinking...maybe it's time to revamp the old girl.
When i started this whole shebang 45 years ago, I knew nothing about posting or site feeds or blogrolls or etiquette. In fact, the "internet" hadn't even been invented yet! I entered all my posts into my T-81 graphing calculator. Most of my blogging consisted of strings of 0's and 1's. Thank god Al Gore came along and invented the world wide web and I was able to write stuff with words instead of cosine functions.
Ok, seriously. I am not good at this. I was and am one of those people that old-school bloggers hate. I jumped on the bandwagon and I jumped on in a slapdash half-assed manner. It's the only way i know! I used the first blog tool I found (yay Google!) and the least garish template I could find....which is obviously the one with the eye-searing orange stripe across the top. It was amateur and sort of offensive to the eye...just like me!...so I was satisfied.
But as my blog reading continues to expand, I'm realzing pretty much everyone else has nice graphics, neatly arranged post categories and color combinations that don't cause grand mal seizures. That's the kind of site I want. (One that causes seizures that is, not the kind that looks put-together).
Ok I'm kidding. I want a classy site. Something with lots of pop-ups and pop-unders and pop-ins and popovers and pop-sicles. And a midi file of an Avril Lavigne song that plays in a loop. And some pointless flash intro that takes 5 minutes to complete and does nothing but swirl a bunch of letters around, without giving you the option to skip the intro. Oh yeah. That is the essence of internets, baby.
Well anyway, since this blog is really for the viewing pleasure of my loyal fans, I thought I'd ask for your opinions...Should I overhaul the site? What kind of changes would you suggest? All silly jokes aside, I'd really like to do a new blog title and template something maybe with a mustard bottle. I am totally ignorant about this kind of stuff...does anyone know what I could use to jazz up the site? What do you guys use?
Thanks in advance!
# posted by yellow_mustard_girl : 11:48 AM
Comments:
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I think it's true that blogs with custom templates and flashy logos and stuff like that sometimes do get extra attention, whereas blogs without those things are unfairly overlooked by a lot of people.
That being said, I'll take a blog with awesome content (like yours) any day over a super-fancy site with no substance.
If you want to overhaul the visuals a little, though, you might try Googling for "blogger templates" or "free blogger templates." From there, if you find one that suits your needs, you can usually rework the colors and graphics a little to personalize it. That's basically what I did with my site;s design (even though it's Wordpress and not Blogger).
That being said, if I can help out in any way, let me know. I'm not an ace designer by any stretch of the imagination, but if you find something you like, I'd really be more than happy to help work up any graphics you need or help customize the template. Just let me know...
That being said, I'll take a blog with awesome content (like yours) any day over a super-fancy site with no substance.
If you want to overhaul the visuals a little, though, you might try Googling for "blogger templates" or "free blogger templates." From there, if you find one that suits your needs, you can usually rework the colors and graphics a little to personalize it. That's basically what I did with my site;s design (even though it's Wordpress and not Blogger).
That being said, if I can help out in any way, let me know. I'm not an ace designer by any stretch of the imagination, but if you find something you like, I'd really be more than happy to help work up any graphics you need or help customize the template. Just let me know...
# posted by 
: 1:12 PM
: 1:12 PM
Yeah, the graphics and craziness I'm not so good at, but I've got my HTML groove going on. When you figure out what things you want, I can help you piece it together all nice and pretty like. I'll come down to SD for it. We'll call it a weekend.
As for suggestions I think keeping it simple is good. but having everything kind of neat and organized is very important. I also get paid to say very similar things about whatever it is we build at our company.
As for suggestions I think keeping it simple is good. but having everything kind of neat and organized is very important. I also get paid to say very similar things about whatever it is we build at our company.
You put the 'log' in blog.
Kidding.
Only suggestion I would have is getting rid of the black text on white background. All that whitespace fries my retinas.
Do you know anything about playing with HTML code? Sounds like any 3 of us can help. I fidaddled with the template coding to get my 'format'.
Kidding.
Only suggestion I would have is getting rid of the black text on white background. All that whitespace fries my retinas.
Do you know anything about playing with HTML code? Sounds like any 3 of us can help. I fidaddled with the template coding to get my 'format'.
There's always the option of paying somebody to do a custom layout for you, as well (or buying a premade one). I don't know if that's something you'd be into, but it's an idea.
I've done a million searches for free templates for blogger and found a lot of.. well.. not spectacular ones :|
If you know basic coding though you can revamp a premade basic layout to suit your needs. I cheated with mine and messed around with a freeware layout :)
I've done a million searches for free templates for blogger and found a lot of.. well.. not spectacular ones :|
If you know basic coding though you can revamp a premade basic layout to suit your needs. I cheated with mine and messed around with a freeware layout :)
# posted by : 11:17 AM
: 11:17 AM
Hey everyone...
Thanks for the suggestions. Big Daddy, you put the "Blo" in blog. Haha, that wasn't funny.
I do actually have knowledge of HTML. I once had to code an entire website for a class using nothing but HTML and notepad. I also walked to school uphill both ways wearing kleenex boxes as shoes.
(That website was great by the way...it primarily featured Ralph eating a jar of paste)
The problem is...I don't even know where to start. I should probably sketch something out. As far as navigation and organizing...I have no clue. One look at my sock drawer evidences that I prefer the "scatter and confusion" method of organizing.
Did anyone have graphics drawn or created for their site? I keep envisioning a cartoon mustard bottle doing something...funny. Yeah. That's all I got.
PS. Katie, thanks for posting. Yay a new blog to read :)
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Thanks for the suggestions. Big Daddy, you put the "Blo" in blog. Haha, that wasn't funny.
I do actually have knowledge of HTML. I once had to code an entire website for a class using nothing but HTML and notepad. I also walked to school uphill both ways wearing kleenex boxes as shoes.
(That website was great by the way...it primarily featured Ralph eating a jar of paste)
The problem is...I don't even know where to start. I should probably sketch something out. As far as navigation and organizing...I have no clue. One look at my sock drawer evidences that I prefer the "scatter and confusion" method of organizing.
Did anyone have graphics drawn or created for their site? I keep envisioning a cartoon mustard bottle doing something...funny. Yeah. That's all I got.
PS. Katie, thanks for posting. Yay a new blog to read :)
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