I have a pet peeve I have been meaning to write about but haven't gotten around to yet. Thanks to Fred, who updated his site yesterday with a new, non blogger issue look, I'm getting around to it. I don't want to offend anybody, but I am putting it out on the table. It really bothers me that so many blogs look alike because they use the same ol' tired blogger templates. It really isn't that hard to customize them at all. Fred got a company to do it for him, but it isn't too difficult to do on one's own. My problem with this repetition is that it doesn't show much of the author's personality. I am a visual person and tend to recall blogs by what they look like. If they all look the same or very similar, it doesn't help me categorize them in my head!
If you can add a link to your blog, you can change the background color or the font and link colors. You can add an image. These are simple to do and I would like to put up a tutorial on how to do this, when I get time. There are many sites that offer free templates, some image free. Why don't people use these? I just find generic ones boring. I used to make lots and lots of linkware sets until I got bored with it. Granted, images will have to be hosted elsewhere and linked to, but that isn't a problem either; many free hosts can be found.
Again, I offer my services or advise to any who ask. I may not be the best designer, nor a graphic genius like some, but I'm not bad. That and I am free. Can't really beat that can you?
6 comments:
Here is blog template that I did a while ago: Story Book Man.
Do you remember back in the day when everyone had a Geocities homepage (WAY back in the day)? I remember that everyone used every trick there was out there....thousands of pop ups, those horrible black backgrounds with gray text, pictures that go blinky blinky blinky till you get a seizure.
I think templates helped a lot with that. You are uber talented at design and your things are so pretty and tasteful, but some people go ape-crazy with their blog designs. Which makes me want to 1) Not read their blog 2) Force them to use a template and 3) Scream.
That being said I do really like the original tasteful onces done...like yours, Fred's is neat, and Novel Experiment looks pretty too.
I was looking around for new template ideas and such myself, and had a hard time finding anything really good. If you ever write a tutorial - I'll be the first in line!!!
Katy, I had a Geocities site back then. It's hard to believe anyone stays over there. If they don't change their model, they're history.
And Dawn, you're right. Simple changes are easy. I kept tweaking my site until I needed professional help. What I couldn't do was the customized graphics; Julie did a great job for me. The Missus tell me it's a dead on copy of me. Scary.
Katy,
Oh god do I know! Those are so awful. I use geocities to host my other pages that blogger can't and it is so annoying, but I have had it is since 1999! Never had any blinkies though. I learned quick how to make coherent pages and then taught my self how to use paint shop pro to make my own. Templates are cleaner, they just bore me so much! There are many sites that offer templates, like Full Moon Graphics, Tart Graphics, Ann-S-thesia, Point Of Focus and Jolie's Web Graphics. These are a few of many quality sites that offer linkware or shareware templates or graphic sets.
Fred- yours looks really nice and it goes with the message of your blog. I like it.
Fred, I meant it goes with who you are and what you do, lol.
Ann's link didn't work so well. Try this one instead, ok?
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