Done blogging

It has been well over a year since my last post. I rarely check my emails for this account so I'm sorry to anyone that emailed and has not received a response. I just don't have time to keep up with this at all. Thank you for all of your support. I thought I would come back but it just isn't going to work. My hosting service will expire soon, which means my designs will disappear as well. I'm sorry about that. My tutorials will still be up. Good luck on your blogs!

Dani

Backgrounds Will Return Soon!

I am so sorry that my designs have disappeared! My hosting service is supposed to renew automatically but I received an email last month saying it failed to renew. So I logged in and renewed it myself, or so I thought. Well, I have been busy with my new little one and didn't check my email and blog until today and saw that my background was gone! I have been trying to make the payment on their site but the purchase button does nothing. I am very frustrated with it but I have sent a message to them and will call in the morning if it doesn't get fixed. Again I am so sorry that it all disappeared!

If you were wondering....my new little baby has arrived and is doing well. He was my speedy delivery and arrived less than an hour after I got to the hospital. He is adorable and so sweet but does not like to leave my arms, which is why I have not checked back on the blog. He is 7 weeks old now and is finally letting me get a few things done during the day. Once I get into a better routine with him and/or once my preschooler starts school in the fall, I will have more time for this but I am wondering how many of you would still follow my blog. I don't often get much feedback on my posts so I am wondering how helpful my blog is. Please let me know if you would like me to continue posting and/or if you would like my designs to continue.

~Dani

2014 Update

Hello everyone!

I have not blogged in so long and have been meaning to give you an update on what I've been up to and what my plans are for the future of this blog. Please keep reading and provide your feedback in the comments for this post.

So what have I been up to??

Hanging out with this little guy:

And getting ready for this little guy to come!!

Last fall I spent most of my time feeling sick and just trying to get through each day. In December, I was finally feeling better and tried to catch up on housework, get ready for Christmas and get ready for January when it was my turn to teach preschool for my son's co-op.

I must have overestimated how much I could handle because Christmas morning came and I started to feel a sore throat coming on. That sore throat turned into a horrible cough and cold, the kind of cough that makes your whole body ache from coughing so hard. And since I was pregnant, there wasn't much I could take to relieve the symptoms. My cough was so bad that it kept me up for hours every night. I wasn't getting any sleep and so it lasted for weeks and weeks and weeks with no sign of improvement. I went to the doctor but was told it was just a cold.

January came and it was my turn to teach preschool for my son's co-op preschool. (All of the moms teach a month.) All of my energy went into teaching and planning those lessons, all while still pretty sick. It was terribly exhausting but I survived and the kids had a lot of fun, I hope anyway. :)

By February, my cough finally started to calm down and I was finally getting sleep at night. I tried to relax and take care of myself but I also had so much to catch up on. During this time, my husband decided he wanted to go back to school. I totally support him in it and really think it's what he needs. But it means that we will have a major financial setback. So I thought to myself, I can't quit my blog completely. I've got to find a way to keep it going, add some ads, find a way to contribute to our income. That is when I posted my big news of coming back to my blog!!! Woohoo! Right?

But as much as I wanted to come back, I still have so little time for it. I replied to months worth of emails, but haven't gotten back to it since. I can't stay up late like I used to because my pregnant body just can't handle that anymore. And honestly, it is hard to get back into a blog like this. I don't really know where to start. However, here's what I came up with:

My future plans for this blog:

A. I want to continue posting, myself or with guest blogger contributors. I won't be able to post often. But I hope to have a post at least once a month from me and possibly once a week from guest bloggers to help to keep this blog up to date. This means I need 2 things from my readers:
    1. I need your ideas and suggestions. What tutorials do you want to see? What old tutorials do you want me to update? Do you want any more designs? Do you want to see posts about anything other than tutorials and designs?

    2. I need contributors. I was slow to reply to contributors that replied last time but I will ask again. Would you like to make a guest post with a blog design tutorial or other blog related topics? Send me an email to blogdesignsbydani@gmail.com.  Include your tutorial ideas as well as a sample of your writing. Feel free to email me with any questions.

B. To keep this blog going, I need advertisements to help pay my hosting fees. If you would like to advertise your blog or business in my sidebar, please send me an email at blogdesignsbydani@gmail.com. I will email you my current rates. (I will only allow advertisements for companies or blogs that are wholesome and clean as well as relevant to my readers and myself.

C. I would love to be able to help readers that have technical problems when following my tutorials. However, those requests are incredibly time consuming. I have to go through another person's code, try to figure out what they did, what they did wrong, try to fix the problem on my computer and then try to help that person to fix it on their blog. I love helping people with this but I just don't have that kind of time. In the future, if I am able to, I would like to do this, but I may need to charge a fee. Please tell me if this would interest any of you.

D. I need to update this blog. I know it could use some improvement. In terms of usability, what improvements would help you to better navigate this blog? Are there any improvements that would help you to get more out of this blog, besides more tutorials? 

E. Now, I am due in the middle of May and I do not anticipate getting back into things much before then. But once I get into a good routine with my new baby, I will try to work on what I mentioned above.

These are my thoughts for my blog. I hope that you'll leave a comment offering your ideas and suggestions. Thanks for still following me!!

~Dani

Posts, Contributors, Advertising...

Hello Everyone,

It sure has been a while since I last posted. As I have thought more about this blog, I have been realizing the importance of keeping it going to some degree. I do not have time to post regularly, but I would like to look into having contributors and making my own posts occasionally. I have had a few interested contributors that I will be contacting soon. (I have had a stressful last few months that will hopefully get better soon.) I also am looking into advertising to help me pay my hosting fees. My last donation has lasted for a long time but will be used up at the end of the month. If anyone would like to make another donation to help me pay my hosting fees until I get things running again, it would be greatly appreciated.

I have a few advertising ideas, but for those of you that have advertising on your blog, how do you manage it? I would love to get feedback on how to get good relevant advertising on my blog (other than Google ads).

Lastly, I do not have as much time for blog design but I do enjoy other projects and crafts. Would you be interested in posts other than blog design? For example, I am planning a Lego party for my son. Would anyone be interested in the projects I made for the party? If I make Christmas crafts or other sewing projects, would you be interested in reading about those? I would love to get your feedback!

Thank you to everyone who has still stuck around and supported my blog! I have been overwhelmed by the kind comments so many of you have shared since I stopped posting. Thank you so much!

Dani

Interested Contributors

I have been contemplating the idea of adding contributors to my blog so that I can keep it going without overwhelming myself. But I would like to know if there is any interest in this before I pursue it. If you are interested in becoming a contributor to my blog, please leave a comment on this post or email me at blogdesignsbydani[at]gmail[dot]com. Include your name and website in the comment or email.  By becoming a contributor, you would write blog design tutorials or tips for my readers. You would not be compensated but you would be able to advertise in your post(s) for your own personal blog or business. If there is enough interest, I will post again with an application for you to submit.

Easy Canvas Prints Giveaway!

THIS GIVEAWAY HAS CLOSED

Congratulations to Susan on your free 8x10 canvas print!

(Susan, you should have received an email with instructions on how to order your print.)

 I may be done posting designs and tutorials, but I can still offer giveaways! I'm excited to share this one with you. Enter below to win a free 8x10 canvas print from Easy Canvas Prints:

If you have never used Easy Canvas Prints before or never ordered a canvas print, you can read my review (from about 2 years ago) HERE. They were really easy to work with and I still love the print I received. The quality of the print is amazing. I have had several people ask me if my canvas print is a painting. Here is mine:

 So go ahead, enter the giveaway above and win a free 8x10 canvas print of your very own! 

 Giveaway runs from June 24 - July 5, 2013 at midnight.

 GOOD LUCK!

Hosting Renewed!

Many thanks to Kathy for her very generous donation! I will be able to renew my hosting and domain name through the end of the year. So, don't change your backgrounds just yet or if you have, come grab your old one. They will be good through December!

~Dani

The Time Has Come to Say Goodbye!

If you have been keeping up with my blog, you've probably heard that I am quitting my blog. I have been contemplating this for months, maybe even a year, and finally have decided that I just don't have time for it. I love writing tutorials and helping people fix up their blogs, but it really sets me back in my family and personal life. I have posted my last tutorial and will no longer be posting designs or tutorials. Also, I will not be doing any more custom designs.

I have considered just leaving my blog as it is but there are a few problems with this. Without doing custom designs, I don't make any money on this blog. No big deal, except that this blog is not free for me. In order for me to offer background and design images for readers to put on their blogs, I have to store the images on the web. To do this costs money, about $10/month in addition to the yearly fee for my domain name (making my blog a .com instead of a .blogspot.com) and another fee to keep my personal info private through my hosting service. I have considered putting advertising on my blog, but I feel like if I am going to ask people to pay me for advertising then I should post regularly on my blog. Because I can't do that, I can't ask.


So, what does this mean for all of you? 

   1. My blog will stay on the web.
All of my tutorials will stay put. They may get outdated, but they will still be here as a resource. If I do not renew my domain name (blogdesignsbydani.com), then you will find my blog at http://blogdesignsbydani.blogspot.com.

   2. What about my backgrounds, headers and template? 
In order for me to make all of my designs accessible to you, I have had to upload them all to a web hosting service, as I mentioned above. I have renewed my hosting service through the beginning of June. So before that, nothing will change. I won't be posting any more designs, but all of my backgrounds, headers and templates will still be available for use through the beginning of June. Now, if enough of you are dying to still use my free designs and you are willing to donate to my blog, I can keep my hosting service. I pay 3 months at a time to get a good discount, so I would need 3 months worth (about $35 for 3 months of service). If that is not the case, then when the 3 months are up, all of my design images will be gone.

If people do donate, I will post updates on whether I have received enough to extend my hosting service as well as dates that the designs are still available.

If I end my hosting service, I will likely cancel my domain name when it expires in September. If that is the case, you will find my blog at http://blogdesignsbydani.blogspot.com. My designs will not be there but my tutorials will still be there.

Update: I received a generous donation to my blog allowing me to keep my hosting through the end of the year (2013). This means that my free designs (backgrounds, headers and templates) will be available through December of 2013. Thank you, thank you to a kind reader!

3. Open Comments
I have been moderating my comments because I really hate spam-like comments. Also, people are more careful about what they post when they know it will be moderated. I honestly haven't deleted any comments other than spam. (Not all spam is caught by Blogger.) But since I won't be reading comments regularly, I will not moderate comments in the future. This means that if someone posts a question and you know the answer, please answer it for me. Also, if anyone posts anything offensive or spam-like, please email me and I will delete it.

4. I will keep my Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest Accounts
I will keep these social networking accounts and I may post now and then if I find interesting things on the web. I am often on Pinterest, so you can definitely find my pins there. :)



A few last words of advice

I am very sad to quit this blog, but when I finally made the decision, I felt so strongly that it was the right thing to do. I want to thank all of you for your support. I have learned so much from this blog in the last few years. Before I go, I would like to offer a few final tips for designing your own blog:

  1. Always back-up your template before making any changes to your blog, even little ones. You never know when you might delete a semi-colon or a bracket by mistake and now your entire blog is a mess. Here is my tutorial on How to Back-up Your Template.

  2. Keep a journal of all the changes you make. Sometimes it takes a while for you to notice that one of your blog modifications is causing a lot of problems. If you don't know what you did or where you found the tutorial, you are going to have a very hard time fixing it. So record specific tutorial links along with a description of the changes you made with it.

  3. Before you alter the HTML/CSS of your blog, try to learn as much as you can so that you know what you are doing. When you post random codes onto your blog and then try to fix them, you may find an even bigger mess than you started with. Learn the basics of HTML and CSS. Creative Bloq has a list of the Top 20 Online Training Resources for anyone interested in learning more about web design. I have used #1 and 10 from that list and recommend those for beginners.

  4.  Keep your blog simple. Too many busy designs distract readers and make it hard to find what they are looking for. Create simple, easy to find navigation and always include contact information. Your navigation can be through Blogger's pages where you can create vertical and horizontal navigation bars or you can create a Drop-Down Navigation Bar. And if nothing else, at least use good labels for your posts that can be accessed through your sidebar.

5. Read the comments section of tutorials. Often readers have the same questions when they do a tutorial and the answers to those questions are often found in the comment section. Also if you, as a reader, know the answer to a question in a comment, don't be afraid to respond. It is hard for a blogger to respond to every question posted. Help each other out, especially now that I won't be responding to comments on this blog in the future.

If you have any other words of advice that you think should be added to the list, post it in the comments section.


Resources
 I know that there are a lot of blogs that are very similar to mine and I want to create a list of links to help you with your blog. If you have any to add to the list, please do so in the comments.

The following blogs offer free or custom designs and/or tutorials. Check them out:

Smitten Blog Designs  Free and Custom templates, Blogger and Wordpress, as well as other free printables
Designer Blogs  Custom and Pre-Made Blog Designs, Blogger and Wordpress
Makin' Cute Blogs  Free Backgrounds and Tutorials
Leelou Blogs  Free and Custom Blog and Social Networking Designs
A Mommy's Blog Design Custom and Pre-Made Blog Designs, Blogger and Wordpress plus a few useful resources for blogging
Hot Bliggity Blog  Free and Custom Blog Designs
The Cutest Blog on the Block  Free and Custom Blog Designs, Blogger and Wordpress
Shabby Blogs  Free Backgrounds and other Extras, Custom Designs, Tutorials
Kevin and Amanda Very diverse blog including Blog Tutorials, Photoshop Tutorials, etc. (see her right side bar for tutorials)


These sites have links to a number of blog designers. I have not been to most of them, but feel free to check it out:
Custom Blog Designers
Simply Blog it Backgrounds (Designers listed in sidebar)
Mama of 3 Munchkins


Thank you all again for following and supporting my blog! I wish you all the best of luck with your blogs!

~Dani

Making a Drop-Down Navigation Bar

I have received several comments asking for a tutorial on how to make a drop-down navigation bar like you see on my blog. This will be my last tutorial on this blog!

Now, I have to be honest. I created this tutorial 2-3 years ago and I struggled with it for a long time, trying to get it right. As I went back, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what I did in the first place and even ran into some of the same errors as I did the first time. For this navigation bar, I used HTML Dog for the main part of the tutorial and various other help forums to figure out some of the rest. While I can give good explanations for most of the tutorial, there are some parts that I don't completely understand. Also, I am not a professional web designer. Some of my modifications are probably not be the best practices for web design. But for a beginner, they get the job done.

If you don't know anything about HTML/CSS, this tutorial may be difficult for you. I have given some explanations and links that should get you through the tutorial, but if you need to make additional modifications, you may have trouble. Creative Bloq has a list of the Top 20 Online Training Resources for anyone interested in learning more about web design. I have used #1 and 10 from that list and recommend those for beginners.

For this tutorial, I created a new navigation bar, similar to the one on my blog. I am using the Blogger Simple template that was customized in my tutorial on How to Make Your Own Custom Blog Template. You can look at the actual navigation bar on my Practice Blog. Here is a preview:

Want the full tutorial? Keep reading!

Signing off soon, but first....

Hello everyone,

I have been contemplating for the LONGEST time what I should do with this blog. I have so little time for it and it is hard for me to spend all of my free time here. I haven't been posting very often but I think I may have to call it quits soon. I meant to post about this and tell everyone what that means in terms of all my free designs. I also wanted to give you a few last pointers on designing your blogs and offer links to other design blogs.

However, I have had a several requests for a tutorial on my drop-down navigation bar. I don't have a lot of time, so if this isn't something that a large audience will read, I may not post it. But, if I can get a lot of comments in favor of this tutorial, I will make this my last tutorial. And then I will offer my goodbyes and my last advice to help you with your blog.

I am so very sorry to have to quit this blog, but my family must come first.  :)

~Dani

7 Common Mistakes Link

While perusing Pinterest, I found the following article:

Seven Mistakes Even Nice-Looking Blogs Make

The mistakes aren't necessarily about visual designs as much as they are about how accessible your blog is to your readers. It's a good read. Go check it out!

How to Make Your Own Custom Blog Template

I have finally finished my tutorial on How to Create Your Own Custom Blog Template! (or at least customize the Simple Template with your own amazing design) This tutorial is based on the designs that I like to make where the header is placed above the body of the blog in such a way that it looks like it has been cut away from the background as shown below:

This tutorial is my most advanced tutorial in terms of both graphic design skills and HTML/CSS knowledge and is quite long. However, if you have had success with my previous tutorials, don't be afraid to give this one a try! 

An Update

I have gotten very behind on responding to comments but I wanted to let you know that I have responded to all those that posted questions, at least I hope I got them all! If I missed yours, please let me know. I have been very busy lately but I am working on a tutorial for How to Make Your Own Template. It's a long one but it should be good! Stay posted in the meantime!

Christmas Dream Template

By using this template, you agree to the terms of use.
Read here for instructions on how to add a template.

Click here for the HTML/CSS code

 This template includes:
  a wide 2-column layout
  a background
  a matching header
  a post icon (picture next to the post title)
  a post divider (picture in between each post)

You can add/change:

•   the Blog title and description shown on the header
•   the font colors
•   the font  Click here to learn how.  (This template allows you to alter the date, post title and sidebar titles with a different font for each one.)

   Don't forget to add my button to your sidebar. Here's the code:

<center><a href=http://www.blogdesignsbydani.com/><img src="http://bdbd.blogdesignsbydani.com/Dani Button.png"/></a></center>

Images copyright Katie Castillo
From her kit Heavenly Christmas

Photoshop Basic for Bloggers

When I was in high school, I took my first Graphic Design class. It was there that I was introduced to Photoshop and I fell in LOVE with it! Since then I have tried a lot of other design software and though many of them are good, they just don't compare in my eyes.

As bloggers, it is important to have great designs for your blog layout as well as for the images you post on your blog. Thus having software that can give you those great designs is so important! I know that Photoshop can be pricey (there is a really expensive version and a cheaper version). So if you are just starting out, there are a lot of decent options for graphic design software other than Photoshop and many of them free. But if you really want to move forward with your blog, I recommend starting with Photoshop Elements.

Now many of you may be intimidated by this program. If you have never used it before it really can be so confusing! But I have found a site that I wanted to share with everyone that offers Photoshop Basics for Bloggers. Suzie at The Accent Piece has put together 31 days days of Photoshop Basics for Bloggers. It is very basic, so if you are one of the many that are too scared to try it, check out her site!

The Accent Piece

How many of you use Photoshop?
What other software do you use?
What's your favorite?
What software do you prefer that I use in my tutorials?

My Memories Giveaway Winner

Congratulations to KAREN at Crafty Friends! 

You are the winner of a free copy of the My Memories Software Giveaway!

Please email me at blogdesignsbydani[at]gmail[dot]com to claim your prize!

Here is the random.org number generator that chose Karen:

Didn't win the giveaway? Don't worry, you can still purchase the software at a discounted price. If you use my discount code below, you can receive $10 off the retail price of $39.97. So you only pay $29.97. Also, you get $10 to use in their store to buy scrapbook kits, templates or anything you find there! 

Here's the code:

STMMMS20877

This code never expires and is posted in my sidebar. 

So head over to My Memories and get started with your first digital scrapbook!

(To see my review of the software, read my post HERE.) 

Thanks to everyone that entered the giveaway! 

My Memories Scrapbooking Software Giveaway!

Giveaway Closed

I am excited to announce an amazing Giveaway today!!
(and an awesome discount at the bottom of this post!)

Update: I am extending this giveaway to end on Tuesday, October 16, 2012 at midnight PST. Enter today!

Are any of you digital scrapbookers? Are any of you regular scrapbookers trying to make the switch to digital but don't know how? Or do you just have tons of pictures filling up your computer and you have no idea what to do with them? Well this giveaway is for you!

Have you heard of the My Memories Suite before? It is the top rated digital scrapbooking software and it makes scrapbooking so easy! I've been given one copy of the software to try out for myself and one copy to give away to a lucky reader! Before I give you the giveaway details, let me tell you about the software and show you what it can do.

When I first downloaded the software, I was worried that I was going to have to purchase kits from their store in order to make my scrapbooks. I already have tons of digital scrapbooking kits for my blog designs and would hate to have to buy them all over again. Luckily, I was wrong. It is very easy to use kits you already own to make your layouts.

I am currently working on a scrapbook of my son's first year. Here is page of his first haircut that I made in My Memories:

Excuse the blurry faces. I like to keep my baby's face private. :)
I used a kit from Katie Castillo at Just So Scrappy called "Boys Will Be Boys" to make this page. 

I didn't use a template but it was still fairly easy to place the pictures and images wherever I chose. The design I did above was simple as far as figuring out how to use the program, but it did take me some time to put all of the elements together. If you are interested in putting together "Quick Pages", My Memories makes it really easy. Here is an example of a quick page I made:

(Image removed)

To make a quick page in My Memories, I simply added the photos and placed them behind the quick page image. It was SO easy. The only downside to the Quick Pages is that they are not very customizable. The photos have to fit in the frames provided. You can't resize anything.

Fortunately, My Memories has another feature that does is easy and customizable. By purchasing Templates from the My Memories store, you can create pages quickly and then customize them by moving around photo frames, changing the size and shape of those frames, and much more. The video below gives a basic overview of My Memories and shows how these template pages can be customized.

Now, My Memories is a great digital scrapbooking software program, but do not expect it to be a powerful photo/graphics editing program. It is built for scrapbooking first and editing second. But for $39.97 USD (retail price), this software really can't be beat. It does have some good photo effects like Crop, Red Eye, Sepia, Black and White, Sharpen, Blur and several more. One feature I really like is how easy it is to cut photos into the shape of your choice with just the click of a button.

Once you create your scrapbook albums, it is fairly easy to get them printed. You can either print them through My Memories or you can save the images as jpg's and upload them to the site where you would like to get them printed.If you don't want to print your albums you can keep them digital and view them as slideshows on your blog, your ipod, your computer or wherever. You can even add multimedia such as music and videos to your albums and burn the album with the embedded media onto a DVD.

For any software, the biggest test for me is how versatile it is. Can you do more than just scrapbooks with this software? The answer is yes! This week I needed to make an invitation for a church activity. I was able to put together a simple invitation quickly by making a custom project. Here is the invitation I made:

This invitation was made using Just So Scrappy's kit "I Toadally Love You". 

Another project that I made with My Memories was a Calendar. There is a great calendar feature that places the dates for the month or year that you choose and allows you to customize it with your own photos or design elements. Here is my calendar for October:

This calendar was made using Just So Scrappy's kit "Toil and Trouble".

My final test for My Memories was whether or not I could create blog design elements in the program. I found that I could create backgrounds like the one below:

This background was made using Just So Scrappy's kit "Abby".

This background is made following instructions similar to my tutorial on How to Make Your Own Blog Background with the Minima Template. However, I was not able to make a background using my simplified instructions on How to Make Your Own Blog Background with the Blogger Simple Template. 

 Update: Since I posted this, I have tried to upload the background image above to a blog and have not had success. The header image below worked great, but I cannot guarantee that the other design elements will work when created in My Memories.

 I was unable to make the simplified backgrounds because the documents in My Memories have to be at least 200pixels wide x 500pixels high. I also had a hard time cropping the image precisely so that it would repeat the pattern smoothly on my blog.

 My Memories will not save images as transparent png files so the final images will have to be rectangular.  Using this software I was able to make a nice rectangular header shown below:

This header was made using Just So Scrappy's kit "Abby".
You can follow instructions similar to my tutorial on How to Make Your Own Header to make a header similar to this.

So what do you think? Is the My Memories Suite Software something that you could use to preserve your memories or to create your own miscellaneous designs? I think it's totally worth it! And one lucky reader will get a free copy of the software!

Here's how you can enter to win your own free copy:

You may comment once on this post for each of the items below. 

Each comment on this post is an entry for the giveaway.

1. Visit My Memories and find your favorite digital paper pack, layout or anything else you like. Then leave a comment on this post saying which kit, layout, etc. you found and what project you would make with it. 
2. Follow my blog and leave a comment on this post saying that you are a follower.
3. Follow the My Memories blog and leave a comment on this post saying that you are a follower.

This giveaway starts Tuesday, October 9, 2012 and ends Tuesday, October 16, 2012 at midnight PST. The winner will be chosen randomly using random.org and will be announced the following Wednesday, October 17, 2012.

Please be sure to check back to see if you won. If the winner does not respond within 24 hours, a new winner will be chosen.

This software is available worldwide. However, it is intended for English-language computers. Technical support is English-only.

And for anyone that is interested in purchasing the software, I have a discount for you!

If you purchase the My Memories Suite using the following discount code, you can receive a $10 discount on your software purchase (retail price is $39.97 USD before the discount). That means that for just under $30 USD, you can create beautiful digital scrapbooks and other digital designs!

In addition to this discount, you will receive a $10 coupon for the My Memories.com store, giving you a total savings of $20!

To use this discount, simply go to My Memories.com and enter the following discount code:

STMMMS20877

Out with the Old and in with the New

Most of you have been using Blogger's new interface for a while now and are hopefully getting used to the great new features. There are tons of new features to help you customize your blog without having to touch the html/css. However, there was one feature that I really loved about the old interface. The Minima template. This was a basic template that was so easy to alter to add custom design elements to your blog. For a while, even if you were using the new interface, you could switch back to the old interface, add the Minima template to your blog, and then switch back. Unfortunately, Blogger has finally gotten rid of the old interface. The option to switch back is no longer available.

You may remember that my Free Backgrounds required the use of the Minima template. Don't worry, I have updated my instructions to help you add my Free Backgrounds using the newer Blogger templates. You can read these instructions here:

How to Add a Free Background

If you still want to use the Minima template, you can use either of my 2 modified versions. Below are links to a Wide 2-Column template and a 3-Column template. You can use the 3-Column background code for either of these templates.

Wide 2-Column Template

3-Column Template

With the new Blogger templates, you may want a few of these tutorials as well:

How to Center Your Header Image

and 

How to Center Your Header Text

Remember, to use any of my designs you must link back to my blog with my button in your sidebar (unless my "designs by dani" tag shows up on your Free Background). Here is a link to my button with instructions:

How to Add My Blog Button

Please let me know if you have any questions about my tutorials. 

Thanks for visiting my blog and using my designs!!

Dani

Updated Templates

Some of you may have noticed that my free templates have been acting weird. The Blogger navigation bar that you see at the top (with the links to write a new post or edit the design of your blog) suddenly jumped to the sidebar. Blogger may have changed a few settings causing the template to malfunction. Fortunately, I figured out how to fix it by just adding a few extra lines of code to the template. So, if you currently have one of my templates, please go back to my Free Templates, find the html code and copy/paste the template again. If you have forgotten how, please read through the instructions and ALWAYS backup your old template before adding a new one.

Free Templates

Thanks!

Dani 

Keep It Simple

I recently received an email from Longhornleads.com sharing with me a great article titled, 10 Reasons Your Site Needs to be Obvious for Users. I started this blog with the hopes of helping bloggers to create blogs that were more pleasing to the eye. Since then I have discovered many ways to make a blog really stand out and to make it easier for readers to find the information they are looking for. Read through Longhornleads' article to learn how to keep it simple and attract more readers to your blog. Then read through my Design Secrets to find the tutorials you need to help attract more readers.