Is Your Blog In need of a Makeover?

Recently I have been considering a make-over for my main Blog, as it as been looking, just a little ragged in places. I am not bored with it, I just want to tweak a few elements of it.
I started by decluttering the side bars, left it for about a month and was still not quite happy.
I have concluded that I neeeed an extreme makeover. I have been been toying with the idea of changing to the Wordpress platform, but is it worth it.


Maryta over at Writing Happiness has written an 18 action step plan titled :-

Give Your Blog a Complete Makeover

I am busy going through her steps,  while I make up m,y mind about changing platforms.

Check it out, if you too are thinking of revamping your Blog, Mrytashares some great tips.

Revealed: Two Unique Ways Of Using Powerpoint In Your Blog

Thanks to Keisha over at We Blog Better, I have just discovered that Microsoft Powerpoint 2010,  has many useful features that can be used  creatively within any blog.

Check out her article: Camera Shy? Create a Video with PowerPoint 2010 which will also point you to one of her many guest articles:  How to Create Eye-Catching Images With Microsoft PowerPoint

Powerpoint also offers 1,000's of free quality images.

Royalty Free Images and Graphics

It can be so time consuming trying to find that special picture that fits post content.

Here is a squidoo lens that points you to many useful links for your website.

They are ccollection of Royalty Free Images and Graphics.

Have fun!!


An extra site just found: 123RF with Free Images

Great Sites To Help With Blogger Plugins

Blogger has been unveiling quite a few new features which have really enhanced my blog.

To save you time looking for good sites that have up to date info re blogger plugins, I will include those I come across in this post.

Blogger Sentral is a great site and I love how the site writer explains HTML changes to follow, in a clear and precise way.

Great News - More Font Choice At Blogger

Great news Blogger have introduced more font choices.
There are now a total of 77 fonts. About tim, I always found the choices very limiting.

Simply go into the Advanced tab of the Blogger Template Designer, select the type of text you’d like to change and off you go.

Great stuff, I am off to have a play with the Fonts on my other Blogger Blogs.
The Faith lounge and The Inspired Dove

Header Graphics For Website Designers

Free Web Page Headers.com

This site really excites me as there are so many fantastic headers and they are all free. Whatever subject matter your website covers, you will find a header here.
There are all of excellent quality. Provided under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 License. You can view/download their headers, without logging in; however, you'll need to be logged in to post a comment, rate a photo, or upload your own images.

Beautiful blog headers.blogspot.com

If you would like to splash out and purchase a customized header, this is the place to visit.

The site owner is a talented photographer who has a huge database of photographs which are used to create headers - Not to be missed . The prices are extremly reasonable, for the quality headers created

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Blogger Plugins

If you would like to change the PAGE Link List in your navigation bar to a LINK list.
A website called Blooger Plugins will give you the step by step solution

It also has the answer to a nuber of problems which have been raised on the Blogger Platform and it is worth lstopping by.

Blog Templates

I know Wordpress  is loved by one and all, but in my opinion and experience, for a quick entry  into the Blogging world,  Blogger  is the best platform, especially, if you want to use adsense, straight away.  
I found that I had to be very creative with Blogger templates selected, as the offering was rather limited. The limited choice and colourways, did however, give me a great  opportunity to dabble with HTML code, as it appeared to be quite easy to 'tinker' with.

Caution - Always back up your template before changing the HTML code. That is obvious, really!
    

It took me quite sometime to find a site that offers the best blogger templates, all in one place. No matter how long I spent  surfing the net for a suitable design for my subject, I found that invariably, I returned to Blogger.


I may change to Wordpress sometime, when I need all the fancy plug ins etc. Until then I am qite happy with Blogger. Besides, I don't have the time at the moment to switch over!

One final word of warning - No matter how many templates a designer has produced, it doesn't guarantee that the templates they design are easy to work with.  Some may look extremely professional and just what you require, however when you attempt to add specific gadgets or need to add your own logo to a header, that can be the time your frustration level is tested.

Always, always check that all functionality within the layout works and also ensure that you are 100% happy, before commencing to launch your blog to the world.

Oftentimes,  if you have a question or problem about the non function of part of the design, it can take quite a time, before you obtain a response from the designer.
      
Check out free Blogger templates at:- 
Btemplates which is a gallery that shows, describes and ranks the best templates for Google’s platform for blogs. It produced the first blogger templates gallery in March 2008 and currently has the largest collection of templates. The majority of bloggers who promote templates for blogger, I have found tend to include many templates from Btemplates.

HTML Colour Code

I am not an expert on HTML code, but I have picked up a little of it, by interogating HTML code as and when I have had to 'tweak' my blog template(s).

Colour Hope  is great for helping you select specific colours you require.
You will find the code for any colour under the sun .

Colour Combo is another useful link, but it can take a little time to find to colour you require.

Free online HTML Course - There are many free online courses. This is a link to an excellent tutorial.

W3schools.com is another free place for excellent tution on HTML and CSS. It also offers, courses on all aspects of web development technologies