Friday, September 19, 2008

Blog Design for Dummies

So many fun blogs
Dazzle with their cute designs
My blog looks BORING

Sick of my header,
Color scheme, style and paper
Under construction?

I have been around visiting a lot of your blogs recently and noticed how absolutely flippin' adorable you all are! Then I came back to my blog and about fell asleep (not because of the writing... I am so stinkin' funny and adorable, right?!?).

Maybe it's a result of spending time with my sister this week learning to make cute digital scrapbook pages. It got me thinking that with some effort (ugh!) I could make my blog look much more attractive.

I guess I shouldn't be too hard on myself. I have only been blogging for a little over three months, and this is the blog design I started with. Now that I am such a veteran blogger, I can come up with something better, right?

I guess it's time for a change. Too bad I don't know exactly what I want to do! I guess I just need some ideas. What do you do to make your blog attractive? How often do you change up your blog design? How did you come up with your cute header, backgrounds, etc?

Post a comment and leave me some tips, oh ye wise bloggers! What do you like about your blog? I will come check out your blog to see what I like about you.

17 comments:

  1. I have always thought you had a cute blog! Lady, you don't know what you're talkin' about. But I understand wanting a change. I didn't change my header on my basic blog template for a long time....it was the same ol' thing for over a year. Then I finally started learning more about photoshop and created a new banner. However, I'm still using a blogger template......I need to start learning some HTML/CSS!

    Layers in photoshop are a good thing to know how to use if you want to add some dimension......

    Anyways, I LOVE your blog!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I KNOW - isn't everyone else so adorable!! I do like yours too!! I tried different styles - but then my eyes hurt looking too much, I needed plain jane color!

    ReplyDelete
  3. i rather like how your blog looks actually. :) my blog would look way boring if it were to sit beside yours. :O

    the way you have it laid out shows you have a good sense of structure. perhaps you're in the mood for a fresh look?

    you could google 'blogger beautiful templates.' some rather nice free ones out there. there's the risk though of a new template making a mess of things at first.

    also, a nice free alternative to photoshop is the gimp, if you'd like to create personalized images. and there are a lot of photoshop step by step tutorials available for free as well. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Well, I'm with wayfaring wanderer: I like your blog. But if you're ready for a change, I have a few suggestions: my (real-life) friends like "doodlebug designs" and "the cutest blog on the block." (You can probably find them with Google.) I found mine at ourblogtemplates.com. The code is really thick and complicated, so I just used the template. I know a little bit of HTML, so I went in and changed a few things, like font and column width. Mostly I like to play with the colors and links and stuff. :) But I really like Our Blogger Templates -- they look really good for being free (and that's saying something!).

    ReplyDelete
  5. I have always said that I must have been a nomad in a previous life because I don't like to stay in one place very long. That same thing translates to furniture arranging in my house which I move around every couple of months, and now applies to my blog. I have been blogging for about a year and a half and in that time have changed the layout colors and style 4 times. Granted one time was just to be funny while the Dutch were winning in the Eurocup and I changed the whole scheme to orange. But, yes, I love to swap things around. And it's not too hard once you get the hang of what you are looking for in the code. I say go for it, and if you don't like the new new look, then just do it again!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I like your design, to be honest. I hate my current one but it's still more "me" then the ones I had on Blogger. Eventually I'm going to hopefull have someone design a new look for me that's more personalized...once I get a decent job that is.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I've been blogging almost a year over at blogspot. I've only ventured out a little using only their templates. My daughter keeps telling me I need to redesign, find something more me. I keep saying "How". I really need a site for someone who knows nothing about this stuff HTML tags are so beyond me. :)
    Oh, and I like your blog design. :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. I think your blog design is very cute--I love the colors. Mine is pretty boring, and I'm not sure what to do with it either. But it's fun to explore new ideas. :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. I think your design is cute, but if you're up for a change get/use Photoshop and go to town :).

    ReplyDelete
  10. I think your blog is very cute. I don't know what to tell you about changing it. I myself have just played around with things and fell into discovering new things to do. My sister is a great source of info on new thing to try as well. Aren't sisters always like that?

    ReplyDelete
  11. i like your dots and circles---don't be too hard on yourself. my best advise is to darken the background up a little so you can see the posts better...not much tho

    ReplyDelete
  12. I like the way your blog looks as is! I totally understand wanting a change, though. I treated myself to a bloggy re-design as a gift to myself for consistently blogging about quitting smoking for a year. The link to Doodlebug Designs is on my blog if you like it - she's good, and her work is competitively priced. I wasn't sure what I wanted until we got started, and then it starts to come together. Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  13. That really is funny because when I see yours I think it's so cute and mine is boring! I'm using a blogger template with a header that I made. I'd love to self host and do my own thing, but I am WAY lost in the world of HTML. I'd have to spend time learning. Sigh...

    ReplyDelete
  14. I think your blog is cute! Change is always good though. If it wasn't so much work, I would change my blog designs once a month. ;P

    Karen of the MomDot Street Team
    www.MomDot.com

    ReplyDelete
  15. You are so stinkin funny and adorable, who even has time to notice what your blog looks like?

    I don't know very much CSS/HTML or whatever that stuff is, so I just look for premade freebies with a customizable header. Then I just use my pictures as header art. I have changed my layout twice since I started almost two years ago.

    Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  16. If you don't want to do it yourself (which you can, you know enough photoshop) Go to http://www.thecutestblogontheblock.com/ It really does have some UBER CUTE templates that anyone can use.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I LOVE YOUR blog and you are cute and adorable! You crack me up! My blog is nothing to do back flips over, but I have about 7 different blogs that I LOVE to play around with. My main family blog (private, but I'll give pretty much anyone an invite that's bored enough to want one, barring they are scary, lol) was a lot of fun to make. I haven't ever changed the template as I wanna print out my blog at the end of the year and get it bound (yes, there are companies that do this and it's awesome!) and then I may change it up a bit as my kiddos have grown a lot in the past year.
    As for my weight loss blog, the one you've seen, I came up with the header myself. I've also made quit a few headers/buttons/badges for people so I can practice :)
    For the template, I just used one from cutestblogontheblock.com (although I can make my own as well, I'm just lazy and too busy w/ 2 kiddos under 3) There are TONS there and she also has headers now for people that are just learning where you can literally drop in your photos and write what you want there and have it match her templates, etc. Perhaps somewhere to start.
    I also have some starter information on how to create your OWN template and implement it as well. I get most all my stuff from FREE digital scrapbooking sites and then play around with it in photoshop or photobucket (free and has lots of photoshopping tools there) til I like it for the time being.
    Alright, I'm leaving a friggin' novel, just my two or 99 cents for now!
    Feel free to ask any questions. . . although I'm still learning myself :)

    ReplyDelete