Blogger Template Design

Blogger has a new feature available to let you design your own template and it's pretty cool. You access it through Blogger in Draft. Just go to this link and to get all the details and some hints. There is even a quick little video that shows you how it works (although it goes by rather quickly). Blogger in Draft is used by Blogger to release beta features that may be buggy but lets users try out new features they are working on. Eventually they incorporate the features into the regular Blogger but all Blogger users have access to Blogger in Draft.

Anyway, I created this cute jelly bean template pretty quickly. The advantage of this template designer is that you don't have to copy all of your gadgets to a text file and then incorporate them into a new template whenever you feel like changing to a new template. Go check it out.

New template (again)

Okay, here we go again. I couldn't fix the old template (which I loved) after checking with the site where I got it. Seems like there were lots of other people having the same problem (background image link broken).

So I spent an hour (it gets faster the more often I do this) and voila... here it is. Well, it's still fall, isnt' it? I found a winter template with snow but that was pushing it and it was depressing me. I hate winter and I'm not that fond of snow. In a month I'll probably change over to a Christmas theme (maybe). Sorry for the continually updating template. It gets confusing to all you bloggers to see something different everytime you visit. I will be tweaking it some since I think some of my blogger links may be broken and maybe add some new ones.

Blog messed up

Something seems to have gone wrong with my blog background. If I can't fix it I'll have to go find me a new template. *sigh* Dang it!

I hate when that happens. Well, I better go over to the source and see if I can fix it. Or else I'll have to find a new template.

New template

Here's my new look. Different configuration than my last one. Main-Sidebar-Sidebar, instead of Sidebar-Main-Sidebar. It's very plain and simple which is all I want for now. Let me know if you have problems loading it (like my last one) but I'm hoping this one will load faster.

Update: Hmmmm, I noticed I need a bit of padding between the main column and the sidebar over there ---->. Must go tweak some code.

Update2: Yup, that's better. Damn, I'm getting better at this :)

I credited the blog designer at the bottom, but I tweaked it with an different image and changed some text colors. Some of my 'widgets' may be lost temporarily but I backed them up so I will slowly be adding them back. Blogger needs to fix this issue because you cannot save some widgets like HTML/Java code and Link Lists and that's kinda irritating for non-programmers and programmers alike.

I found several websites to get free excellent blog header images. I found the image above at Dreamstime.com and cropped it to a reasonable header size using Paint.NET (love this free program - much better than MS Paint).

There are also lots of tutorials and information out there on creating and editing blog templates. If anyone wants me to share links to websites for free templates, blogger tips and tricks and free images, let me know and I will write a post on them.

What I have been doing in my spare time

Hi, I'm still alive.

In my last post I told you I was looking for a new blog template. Well, that set me off on a loooonnnnggg adventure in blogland. I found hundreds of free blogger templates but none of them were exactly right. Too dark, too narrow, only two columns, etc. Somewhere along the way I came up with the brilliant (?) idea of writing my own template. My revised plan was to find a simple template with the basic structure I wanted and revise the code to add a custom header and change fonts and colors.

After much searching I found a simple template that had three columns and was easy to widen. All of the templates out there required some math to widen each element of the blog structure (i.e., outer-wrapper, header, content-wrapper, sidebar-wrapper, etc.) and the more I delved into it the more complicated things got with all attributes that needed adjusting. But this new simple template only required adjusting one attribute. The rest of the elements had widths in percentages thereby keeping everything correctly proportioned automatically. Okay, I won't bore you with more technical details.

Anyway with this new template, I can swap out the header whenever I get the urge for change (which is often) to overhaul the look of my blog without a completely new template. I also discovered something else.... I really enjoy coding. I found several very helpful websites on learning how to create and change template CSS and XML code. I confess, I'm a geek. I got my degree in computer science about 10 years ago and loved computer programming. But since I test software now I get no time to write code.

My only complaint about my new template is that the two sidebar columns are both on the right side of the main post column, but one website with blogging tips says that having your posts on the left makes your blog much more 'searchable' by search engine robots.

So I have the template mostly tweaked with a pretty header and I will publish tomorrow.

Blogger Update News:
Scheduled post publishing has now been implemented in Blogger. Woohoo! I have been using this feature through Blogger in draft and it's really cool. You can publish a post for a future date and it will be published when that date arrives. This is great if you want to post while you are on vacation or can't get access to a computer. You can get a bunch of posts completed and pick the date in the future that you want them published.

Wedding Update: Last Saturday was the bridal shower! Very fun. I have pictures that I haven't downloaded. Must go look for my camera. I helped Angie finish stuffing wedding invitations in envelopes and putting on stamps. We are already getting the RSVP cards back. I still have to finish the favors. Time is running out.

Reading now: I got an ARC for a hot new book and it's good so far. I know lots of you get ARCs all the time, but I rarely get them so I'm excited.

What's a Widget?

Well, I think I'm done for now. I updated the sidebar and it was surprisingly easy using the blogger widgets. Oops, I just realized I left off my weather pixie and stat counter. Okay, tomorrow, since I can't keep my eyes open ... yikes it's 12:30 AM.

If you find any broken links, let me know.

So what's a widget?... Well, here is a link to a screencast that demonstrates how to customize your blogger header. Ignore that part, but pay attention to how she uses the widgets to move elements around in her template (just by using drag and drop). The DISADVANTAGE to doing this is you have to covert to the new blogger template layout (with the widgets) and my old template was not compatible with the new template layout. So I had to find a new template... which is why you see this one. The ADVANTAGE to using it is that you don't have to go into the code to made tweaks and adjustments to put things into your blog or change fonts and colors. I know how to do some of the coding but it's tedious for someone like me who's not an expert.

I still haven't figured out how to make the navbar at the top reappear but I probably don't need it anyway. Maybe some of you expert HTML coders can give me a hint.

The new template looks better in Firefox than IE. If you are one of those using IE... what are you waiting for? I like Firefox much better. Especially the bookmarks tool bar with all my favorite links at the top of the page.

Next up: Review of Visions of Heat by Nalini Singh

'scuse the mess

Trying out new blogger templates.

Update: This was a free template I found somewhere. Still fiddling with it. I lost the nav bar at the top somehow and can't figure out how to get it back. I'm using the new blogger template widget and the navbar shows up there. But not on my blog page. Anyone know how to fix that? It will probably involve changing the template code. I love using the widget for previewing fonts, colors and layout but it probably isn't compatible with this template. Let me know if I need to tweek colors or fonts to make it more readable.

Blogger is giving me headaches

I'm having problems saving.

And I'm trying to figure out the blogger hack of using expandable posts. I hope I don't screw up my whole blog.

Is it working?

I have a long post and I want to use this feature.

Author visits

Sorry I have been MIA for a while. I think I had writer's block or something (or maybe it's called blog block like Cindy said).

I just got a comment from another author who found one of my reviews. I re-read the review and kind of cringed a bit at first at my snarkiness. A bit harsh but not over the top, I think. My first instinct was to apologize all over the place but really I think it was an honest review based on my own interpretation so no apologies are necessary. Here's the link in case you want to read what I said.

In the review I mentioned the positive along with the negative and I also mentioned that I enjoyed her two previous books more than the book I was reviewing. I must say that the author's comments were very gracious and not defensive at all.

Sorry to read that "Honeymoon Suite" didn't work for you, but I appreciate your honest review. Not every book is every reader's cup of tea and I know that. I've taken a few headsmacks for "HS," mostly about Chase, but that's okay. I'm a big girl, I can take it. In hindsight, I wish I'd written an author's note warning readers that Chase McKay is the most real hero I've ever written -- most real in terms of being most like a real man -- so don't be too hard on him. But I didn't so there you are. You take your lumps and move on. I do appreciate you recommending "Mother of the Bride" and "Return Engagement." That's very nice of you, thanks. My next book, "Marriage By Design," comes out in July. Hopefully, you'll like that one better. I've enjoyed reading your blog and wish you the best. -- Lynn Michaels

Wasn't that nice? Makes me want to read her next one so I'll definitely be looking for it. I checked out her new blog and left her a comment thanking her for visiting.

This reminded me of all the discussion recently about a post at RTB from an author who quit writing reviews because she didn't want to review a book she didn't like and that reviewers were becoming too mean spirited like Simon on AI. I won't rehash that whole argument but I agreed with Tara Marie, Karen Scott, Mary Stella and others who disagreed with her. It was a lively discussion. I think reviewers can be honest about books we dislike without descending into personal attacks. Our purpose is to inform and entertain readers. If a writer can't stand criticism then they should find another profession IMHO. 'Nuf said.

Has anyone ever had an author visit your blog to make a comment about a book you disliked? Were they polite? How did you feel about them before and after their visit? Did it change your view of them?