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Friday 20 May 2011

A Blog Spring Clean - Sorting Saturday

I enjoyed reading the posting in TechTuesday  last week from The Keogh Corner (http://keoughcorner.blogspot.com/)   about giving your blog "a spring clean".  I realise that the content is the important factor, but I am a great believer in the principle that "first impressions count" in encouraging readers to look further.  

The last thing I am is technologically minded, so I am not into fancy graphic designs and I don't understand a lot of the answers on Blogger Helpline.  With some trepidation I aimed to freshen up the site.  

I went into the Blogger Templates - Advanced  and spent ages trying out various layout options and font styles and colours.  I am happy with my label organisation  and left them alone. I must admit there was  panic at one point when the Preview showed the site looked a mess,  but I managed to get back to broadly what I wanted.  And I also managed to set the site to "printer friendly".

Some aspects will have to wait for a fresher mind i.e. I could not work out how to alter the text colour of my archives and labels listings,  and I still need to try  setting up Pages in Blogger.  

In my early days of blogging,  I had a brief flirtation with the deep rich red background which I felt showed up photographs very well, but I soon tired of the heavy colour.

My choice eventually fell on  the  calm  look of the Simple  blue and white screen, which I felt was easy on the eye, but perhaps it has got rather boring and dull, especially when the posting does not contain images to liven it up.   Also I must admit it did not quite reflect my blog title "Family History Fun" to illustrate the enjoyment I get from this absorbing hobby.

So  I have gone for a  more vibrant cosmetic change from Simple to a customised Ethereal template  where I can change the font colour of the Post Titles as well as the Blog Title and Description.   (Blogger Help  advice worked well  here).   

I feel the look is still clean, calming and simple but the different colours add interest, with the opportunity to make  seasonal colour changes - just to stop everyone getting bored1   

Has it been worth all that time spent on it - I leave you to judge!  Though you might well see more changes. 

4 comments:

  1. I like the new look Sue - well done.

    Mike

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  2. Many thanks, Mike, for your encouraging comment.

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  3. I like the new template too - simple and easy on the eye. I much prefer muted sites to multi-colour ones! Look forward to seeing your summer choice when it comes around too :-) Jo

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