Wednesday, July 21, 2010
New Blog Design
7/21/2010 | Posted by
Sarah (My World of Books)
Hello Everyone,
My new blog design is live! I put it up on Sunday. I really love it. I spent so much time working on it these past two weeks.
My new blog design is live! I put it up on Sunday. I really love it. I spent so much time working on it these past two weeks.
I recently decided I want to learn html/css so I can learn how make my own blog template/background and make adjustments when needed. I bought Artisteer, a website design program, in January. I have been very happy with it, but I am confined to a limited number of options. My last design was made on Artisteer and I designed my header on Microsoft Powerpoint. While I love it, I think a basic knowledge of html/css can come in handy in my future.
I have been experimenting for a few weeks. I have been using GIMP to play around with scrapbook paper, elements, and all that jazz. I have to admit I have been very frustrated, but a lot of blog designers have tutorials on their site. I have been browsing trying to gain a better understanding on how everything works.
Some tutorials & elements I found:
How to make a scrapbook background by Amanda @ kevinandamanda.com: This is the first site I came across while searching the web. The instructions are easy, but I took a few tries to get it right. I ended up not using this, but this post is what got me started.
Tutorials @ April Showers Blog Design: I ended up using her tutorial on Make Your Own Background. She has a few other tutorials you can check out to make modifications to your blog.
Fall 2009 Scrapbook Kit by Amanda @ kevinandamanda.com: This is the kit I used for the site. Amanda is a very generous woman. She is giving this kit away for free! She also has Free fonts on her site. I am using Baby Boston.
Tutorials @ April Showers Blog Design: I ended up using her tutorial on Make Your Own Background. She has a few other tutorials you can check out to make modifications to your blog.
Fall 2009 Scrapbook Kit by Amanda @ kevinandamanda.com: This is the kit I used for the site. Amanda is a very generous woman. She is giving this kit away for free! She also has Free fonts on her site. I am using Baby Boston.
GIMP: I discovered GIMP, a free photo editing site, which is a great alternative if you don't want to pay for photoshop. Amanda pimped GIMP out on her blog and I immediately downloaded it. I had a few problems at first, but after playing around I was able to make my header, blog button, and signature. I still have to make post dividers, a twitter background, and maybe add some images to my sidebar.
Add a Signature to Every Blog Post: I used Amanda's tutorial to make and add my signature to every post. I had to adjust her tutorial since I have linkwithin and labels at the end of my blog, but I got it to work! Here are some other tutorials on her site!
There are more, but I didn't save them when I was making my site. If you have questions, just drop a comment and I will try to help!
7 comments:
I really love the new look. I'm a digi scrapper, so I can appreciate all the scrapbooking look. The color scheme works so well together, too. Good job!
Thanks! I tried several different papers and elements before i found the combination I loved! I think I might keep this for a long time.
It's soooo pretty! I got a book to learn the html/css but I haven't been able to read past the first chapter. lol. So yay! I'm happy you stuck through it! It gives new inspiration to the slackers (aka... me):D.
The new design looks great. Love it!
Sarah, you did a wonderful job and you should be very proud!! I know I will be doing this for my other blog since my book blog would never have happened if I didn't win it! It is confusing and does take a few tries, but it is awesome and you feel so proud when you do it! WTG girl :)
Paula
Tomes Devotee
@Amber: Thanks! I have been thinking about getting an html/css book!
@agirlreads: THanks
@Paula: I love your new layout! I would love if someone could do my site for me, but I don't have the money.
So the book I got was "Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML". (9780596101978). I saw it first at an art school and has great reviews, and so far, very easy to read and follow!
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