Tuesday 8 May 2007

Let's take another tilt at this windmill . . .

I started the 'Sandbox' on the 29th April in response to questions on David McMahon's authorblog, about how to achieve simple picture displays.

In my haste I completely overlooked the fact that I was hosting my blog on my own server, and that editing it to achieve the results I was after was a bit 'geeky' and that it concentrated on editing HTML code. Not something everybody is familiar or comfortable with!

A comment on the Sandbox by 'papoosue', who has a blog called Random Blethers, gently reminded me that not everything I assumed was a simple task, was actually that 'simple'. I gulped, and decided that, to meet the needs of the visitors to David's superb blog, who come to him with many questions and varying degrees of ability, that any explanation needed to concentrate on how things are done using Blogger's excellent built-in system of 'editing'.

The ability to edit most of your display, especially by manipulating the template you've chosen, already exists within the Dashboard elements of Blogger, so why not give your site that 'unique' look?

You could even register another blog, not publish it, but use that as the 'testbed' for any changes you wish to introduce. That way you won't break your original, and when you're satisfied that you have achieved the design of your choice, then copy it across!

So, what are you waiting for?

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5 comments:

Papoosue said...

What am I waiting for indeed!! A good point made there, Terry. When I get all this studying finished, I have great plans to customise and generally do fantastically arty things to my blog!! I don't doubt I will be around for more advice then!

Fletch said...

You're welcome, lady! All in your own time.

It's supposed to be fun, so there isn't much point in rushing things.

Got a nice pic for your blog header? I've worked out how to do it without too much 'hair-pulling'.

phaseoutgirl said...

Hola Terry!

I see you could not keep away from blogspot either! Cool to know I have a tech expert to come to when I have a few problems, the more the merrier!

One quick question, how do I ut the copyright text under a photo on blogspot, without destroying the layout of my post (i.e. David has his under each photo, in the middle, dunno how its done!).

See, I have already sought advice!!

cheers,
Cecilia

Fletch said...

Hi Cecilia, thanks for dropping off a comment.

I started the 'Sandbox' as a place to offer 'help and advice' ( sounds a bit pretentious, but it was well-meant!), and then quickly realised that trying to offer help and advice about a Blogger blog when I was hosting the blog on my own server, really wasn't being helpful at all.

'Tweaks' to a blog page, to be of any help, need to be based on what the user is actually using. So we now have a 'Cauldron' (hosted on blogspot) into which we can all throw our own ingredients and turn it into a real stew!

I am intrigued by the clever solutions that others have discovered, and if they wish to share that knowledge here, all the better.

Fletch said...

Cecilia,

Your question answered with a 'tute'. I hope it is clear enough. If it isn't, just SHOUT.