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Thursday 13 February 2014

Tweaking the Blog

Hello!

Recently I have been putting more thought into my blog. I'm posting more regularly (or trying too!), I'm trying to think of different types of post other than 'look what I made' ones, and I'm thinking more about the design, structure and layout. 

I received this book for my Birthday 'Blogging for Creatives'.  





It is mostly aimed at people totally new to blogging. For example it goes into a fair bit of detail about which blogging platform would meet your requirements. However, it also goes into depth about what makes a good post, what makes a blog appealing etc which I found really interesting and useful. The Design Trust have actually written a full review if you are interested in finding out more about this fab book.

This book made me think a lot about my blog. I always worry that my blog doesn't look very professional....what with its pink background and silly title. Also, since getting a DSLR for Christmas my pictures have really improved and I wanted to showcase them more.

So, a couple of changes I made which I think have drastically improved my blog:

- Widened the screen so that I can show my pictures as XL

To adjust column widths:  in design mode, click 'template' on the sidebar. Then click 'customise'. Third option from the top is 'adjust widths'. click on this and use the slider to increase the size of the entire blog. Mine is currently set to 1080px, with each sidebar set to 180px. I think this worked pretty well as I now have enough space on the blog to display my pictures as XL (previously they went off the screen), and the sidebars are also wide enough to accommodate my badges etc. 

- Made a new header to incorporate my new logo (designed by Stephan Rhoades)

I had to do this in Photoshop. I then saved the file as a JPEG and used it as the header (using the 'instead of title' option).

I like the while header as I think it breaks up the pink- sometimes, there is a thing as too much pink. 

-Using 'labels' to tag my posts. 

I have added labels to all of my posts. You can find this option to the right of the screen when composing a post. I then added a gadget ('configure labels') to my left sidebar so that you can click through posts based on topic. 

- Keeping the pink

Maybe this is what makes the blog 'me'.......

What do you think of my little tweaks?! If you could suggest some improvements I would love to hear from you,

SSxx

p.s I'm still not 100% sure about the red text....what do you think? I know that if you are viewing this blog on your phone the text is black....maybe I should change it to black on the computer? I'm not sure it wouldn't be too harsh....grey perhaps?!


3 comments:

  1. I love the red on the pink, I think you should keep it. Your blog is looking fabulous!

    ReplyDelete
  2. There is an award for you waiting on my blog!

    Lisa

    ReplyDelete