Blog Designs by Dani: January 2011

January 31, 2011

Pink Flowers

2-Column

3-Column

Design Elements by Crazy-4-Monograms
(from her kit called Still the One)

January 29, 2011

3 Column Code for 2 Column Templates

I have noticed recently that a lot of people have been using the Blogger Templates in their new "Template Designer". This is great for you guys because it is easier to adjust the width of your blog yourself. However, several blogs that I have visited recently all have the same problem. Their blogs have 2 columns but they have stretched it out so that those 2 columns are fairly wide. The problem with this is that they are still using the 2 column code that was made for skinnier columns.

So, if this is your case, please use the 3 column code. It doesn't really matter how many columns you have, the 2 column code is for skinny columns and the 3 column code is for wide columns. Using the 3 column code will not mess up your columns in any way.

To be more specific, the 2 column code is made for the entire blog (the post column and sidebar(s)) to have a width of 660 px. The 3 column code is made for the entire blog (the post column and sidebar(s)) to have a width of 900 px.

So if you have a blog that is more than 660 px, please us the 3 column code. Here is where you can look to see how wide your blog is:

Go to Design, then Template Designer, then Adjust Widths, and look here (click on the image to see closer):

This blog has a width of 850 px and should use the 3 column code even though it only has 2 columns.

(If you are using the Minima Template, you won't be able to see the screen above.)

Hope this helps!

January 28, 2011

Dotted Hearts

2-Column

3-Column

Design Elements by Just So Scrappy
(from her kit called Love Birds)

January 26, 2011

Lotsa Hearts

2-Column

3-Column

Design Elements by Summertime Designs
(from her kit called Dance With Me)

Love You

2-Column

3-Column

Design Elements by Just So Scrappy
(from her kit called Love Birds)

Matching Header

January 25, 2011

Overstock.com Discount

Hello Everyone!

I have great news. Overstock.com has agreed to give a 10% discount on their merchandise (excluding movies, books, and electronics). Do you guys use Overstock.com often? I buy a lot from Amazon, but I have noticed that Overstock.com has very comparable prices, sometimes better. If you have never been to Overstock.com, they are an online retailer offering anything from diamond rings to vacuums. They also offer $2.95 shipping for any item, regardless of the size of the order. I recently bought a home and am going to be looking for a good deal from Overstock.com on some furniture and lamps. Hope you find something good too!

Use the discount code 121745 at checkout to receive 10% off your purchase (excluding movies, books, and electronics). This code never expires, but can only be used once per email address.

Also, use code 202234 for free shipping on electronics.

All the ideas and opinions expressed are my own. No monetary compensation was received for doing this post, however, I was provided with a discount code.

January 21, 2011

Crinkled Flowers

2-Column

3-Column

Design Elements by Just So Scrappy
(from her kit called Memories)

Matching Header
Matching Header 2 (without frame)

January 20, 2011

Sweet Memories

2-Column

3-Column

Design Elements by Just So Scrappy
(from her kit called Memories)

Matching Header

January 19, 2011

Basic Blogger Instructions

I have been meaning to put together some really basic instructions on how to get started on blogger. I finally finished them and created a pdf file that you can download below. Here is an example of the first page. I included instructions on how to make a post, how to add an image, how to add gadgets, etc. This is for the real blogging beginners. Let me know if you think this is helpful. Also, leave me a comment if there is anything else you want help with.

(Click on the picture to take a closer look.)

Download

Do not redistribute this file. Send others back to my site to download, please.

Thanks!!

January 18, 2011

Love

2-Column

3-Column

Design Elements by Just So Scrappy
(from her kit called Love Me Sweetly)

Header Update

I have gone through all of my free headers and made them into png files. Are you wondering what a png file is? Well let me explain:

Most pictures are saved as jpg or jpeg files. (The file will be called something like image.jpg or image.jpeg on your computer.) The shape of the picture will always be a rectangle if it is a jpg file.

A png file does not have to be shaped like a rectangle. If you wanted a picture of a star but didn't want it to look like this (with the white background):

(a jpg file)

But instead wanted it to look like this (without any rectangular background):

(a png file)

You would have to save it as a png file.

When I originally made my headers, I saved them all as jpeg files. These headers still work great for adding pictures, but you have to make sure that your picture is the same size as the rectangle that I made on the header. For example, this header requires a picture the same size as the blue rectangle:

If you wanted your picture to be placed in the same spot but didn't want to have to trim your picture, you would have to use my new headers that I saved as png files. These files have the rectangular part (the part where a picture could go) cut out of them. For example:

To add your picture without having to trim it down to the right size, you could place it behind this frame and the header would cover up the extra space on your picture and the main part of your picture would show up through the hole I cut.

This is also especially helpful on frames like this where it would be hard to cut your picture down to an oval:

I will continue to save my headers as both jpg and png files because I know not everyone places pictures in these headers.

When you are trying to decide which image to use, remember that the first header I post will be a jpg (the rectangular one) and the second header will be a png (the cutout one).

For more detailed instructions on how to do this go to http://blogdesignsbydani.blogspot.com/2010/12/how-to-place-your-picture-in-header.html.

***If you want a header to go with one of my backgrounds, be sure to leave me a comment or email me. I'll make one and post it on the blog!

January 17, 2011

Cute Font Problems??

Did any of you add the cute font from the link I posted? This weekend I noticed that my blog was taking forever to load and when it did it wouldn't load the cute font. I went to Design, Edit HTML and found the code that I had entered:

I deleted this part. Now my blog does not have a cute font but it loads faster.

Did anyone else have the same problem? Anyone know what is wrong? I am guessing there is a problem with my webs.com account that I had to create to load the font.

January 12, 2011

Blue Snow

2-Column

3-Column

Design Elements by Just So Scrappy
(from her kit called Snow Buddies)

January 11, 2011

Winter Fun

2-Column

3-Column

Design Elements by Just So Scrappy
(from her kit called Snow Buddies)

January 10, 2011

Printer-Friendly Blog Posts

Have you ever tried to print a post from your blog but wasted tons of ink because it printed everything that you see on the web, including your background, header, sidebar, etc? A friend of mine asked me for help with this and sent me to this site: Create Printer Friendly Blog Pages . It gives instructions on how to edit your HTML so that when people print a post from your blog, they only print the information from that post. The instructions do require some knowledge of html/css.

Before you follow the instructions on that site, make sure you back-up your template first.

The instructions are kind of open, meaning you have to figure out what information to include and what not to include. I'm not a pro at this, but you can use the elements that I used and hopefully it will work for yours too. The list of elements below goes right before the {display: none;}

#header-wrapper, #sidebar-wrapper, #footer-wrapper, #comments, .comment-link, #navbar, .post-footer, #blog-pager-newer-link, #blog-pager-older-link, .feed-links, #blog-pager

You may need more or less than these elements for your blog, so just use mine as a guide or starting point.

Also, I deleted the line in the code that says this: #main a { text-decoration: underline; color: blue; }
I didn't think it was necessary.

The site also explains how to add a "Print" button at the bottom of posts. If you do not have an image for this part, you can delete the section of code that says: <img border="0" style="margin-right:5px" src="YourImageUrl"/>. Also, where it says "Print this article", you can change it to say whatever you like. i.e. Print this Recipe.

Hope it works!

January 6, 2011

Snow Bears

2-Column

3-Column

Design Elements by Just So Scrappy
(from her kit called Snow Buddies)

January 5, 2011

Unwrapping Snow

2-Column

3-Column

Design Elements by Just So Scrappy
(from her kit called Snow Buddies)

Purple Snow

2-Column

3-Column

Design Elements by Just So Scrappy
(from her kit called Snow Buddies)

January 31, 2011

January 29, 2011

January 28, 2011

January 26, 2011

January 25, 2011

January 21, 2011

January 20, 2011

January 19, 2011

January 18, 2011

January 17, 2011

January 12, 2011

January 11, 2011

January 10, 2011

January 6, 2011

January 5, 2011

Welcome!

How to Add a New Background

Connect

Free Backgrounds and more!

Search Blog Designs by Dani

Donations

Followers

Add my button

Copyright

Design Elements by:

Blogs Designed by Dani

Other Custom Designs

Blog Archive

Visitors