My Blogging Journey: Part Two

Last time, I talked about Blogger and some of the features I like about it.  Today, I thought I'd talk about the design side of blogging, and how I made my blog look the way it does.

First of all, let me say that my blog is an ongoing project.  I'm always adding and changing things, and I always have more to learn about how to do it.  But I love playing around with the design of my blog, so I thought I'd share a few tips today.

The first tip is: templates.  If you're going to have a blog, you need a template you like.  It makes all the difference!  There are lots of options when it comes to templates, including Blogger's template designer.  There are some fine templates to be found there, so take a peek.  However, I find that the templates from Our Blogger Templates suit my style a little better.  It's nothing against the template designer by any means - I think it's a fabulous tool.  I just found a template that I loved elsewhere and stuck with it.  My template is called Shush, and here's the sample photo from Our Blogger Templates.  Do you see the the similarities to my blog?

I've played around with some things like color, etc., but I mostly kept the template the way it was because I liked it so much.

Next... image maps.  This is a fun area of blog design that I'm just getting into.  It's what I used for my freebie section, and I learned how to make image maps from this tutorial on Pugly Pixel.  I highly recommend it!  I've also made use of image maps in a couple of my blog posts, but I don't use them all the time because they are slightly time-intensive.  They're helpful and fun, though.

Third, I want to talk about blog headers.  I think blog headers are important, because they're the first thing that a reader sees when they open up your page!

Finding the right blog header is a constant process for me, and there are times when I make a blog  header and don't put it up because it just doesn't look right.  It's definitely a challenge to get the right one.  Here are a few tips and guidelines that might help, though:

• Make it match or compliment the rest of your blog color-wise, and even font-wise if possible.
• Think about what kind of statement you want to make to your readers.  Do you want them to think "oh, that's pleasant," or "wow, that's some header!" or "that's...unique"...?  There are endless options, and sometimes it helps to step away for a few minutes and think about your blog based on what other people see when they see it.
• If you use a photo, make sure that the text doesn't interfere with it.  One option with Blogger is to upload a photo and put the title of your blog on top.  This is fine, but just make sure a word isn't running through someone's head.  That's not what you want people to see when they first open up your web page.
• As a secondary photo-related tip, see if you can make the photo you use (if you use one) roughly coordinate with the color scheme of your blog.  The colors in my photo on my header right now are mostly red and blue, so it blends even though the colors aren't exact.

And now, a word about gadgets.  There are zillions of things you can put on your sidebar or at the bottom of your blog, and the question is: which ones?  There's no right or wrong answer, but there are a few that are really helpful for your readers.  Here are my favorites:

1. Search box.  Blogger has one on their gadget menu, and it's really helpful to be able to search a blog!  I don't know how often people use mine, but I like having the ability to search other sites, so I put one on my blog.
2. Archives.  In my mind, this one is almost non-negotiable.  People like to be able to see your past posts without having to click "older posts" for half an eternity to get to the end.  It's also neat to see how many posts a month are made with just a glance at the archives.
3. Blog buttons.  This an entirely optional category, but I thought I would share my philosophy for whose blog buttons I put up on my blog.  I don't have a fancy advertising system; I just put buttons up for the things I like.  That makes it simple, and it lets my readers know that if they click on a blog button on the sidebar, they're going to a site I actually personally have visited and enjoyed.

So, those are just some things I've noticed as I've been blogging, and I hope they're helpful or at least interesting to you.  What are your thoughts about blog design?  I'd love to hear.