This information is for OLD BLOGGER

Good luck with new blogger! This computer idiot hasn't even looked at it! ha

So, what I've done here is given directions for setting a new background and changing your colors, font, etc. You should start reading this blog from the bottom to the top.

I've also downloaded some pictures I thought were pretty and put them on the blog so you could get the address that way..saves you a step if you see one you like. If adding them made it take longer to load your page..sorry about that! And if you don't know what the hey I'm talking about, you will once you read thru this blog!

If you have any questions, leave them in the comments on this post and I'll do my best to help you!

Ok, Bye!!

pink and green 

yellow and green 

stained glass 

mosaic 

blue and orange 

gold and black 

spider web 

night light 

gold and red 

green 

brown and blue 

skin 

purple crayon 

hearts 

flower power 

red and green 

dead head 

lovely 

tiedye 

arabia3 

purple and blue 

pink green and blue 

pink and blue 

red and teal 

green flowers 

arabia2 

arabia 

green 

flower 

celtic 

blue 

pretty 

Just neat 

animals 

fish bones 

tan 

pretty 

nice and simple 

I like red and black 

orange and mustard 

black and red again 

black and red 

running out of things to type here 

hi 

great 

neat 

cool 

arabia 

Awesome! 

Bye! 

a 

nice one 

Last one! 

Here is the site where I found some really great (and free) background umm....thingys. (Yeah, can't believe I figured this much out either. ha ha)

If you get any help from my site, let me know and leave me your address so I can see your new blog!!! Best of luck!!! Sobia

Last step!

So, when you have your new blog looking how you like it, you find all your links in the old blog and copy and paste them into your new blog template in the same exact spot.

Go ahead and save it and make sure the links work because you will lose them all in the next step if you don't.


After you saved these changes, Copy your ENTIRE template in the new blog and paste it over your old blog template .

And TAAA-DAAAA you are finished!!

Your old posts are still there, you just gave it a facelift! :)

Change the color of font in heading, side bar, etc!

Question:

i have one last question please!!! how on earth did you make the background of the title maroon, the bit where u write pink, and the bit at the side green? I have substituted colors everywhere in the template but it only ever changes the text!?



Here's where:

That is at the top of your template above this
-----------------------------------------------
Blogger Template Style
Name: Minima Black
Designer: Douglas Bowman
URL: www.stopdesign.com
Date: 26 Feb 2004
----------------------------------------------- */

It will say main (where you write) & sidebar (the side part) and to change the heading (title) look for the word header in your template. My header looks like this in my template:

/* Header
----------------------------------------------- */
#header {
width:660px;
margin:0 auto 10px;
padding:20px 20px .25em;
border:0px solid #333;
background-image: url;
background-repeat: no-repeat;
background-position: top left;
text-align: center;
font-family: fantasy;
background-color:#B30000;
}


My main & sidebar is at the very top of my template and looks like this:


#main {
width:410px;
float:left;
background:#FF4D4D;
border:1px solid #000000;
padding:5px;
}
#sidebar {
width:220px;
float:right;
background:#008F00;
border:1px solid #000000;
padding:5px;
}

/*


There's where you can adjust the colors, etc.

Change the color & font!

Now comes the part where you get to be creative.

See all those little # signs in the code?

body {
background:url(yourimagehere)repeat;
margin:0;
padding:40px 20px;
font:x-small "Trebuchet MS",Trebuchet,Verdana,Sans-Serif;
text-align:center;
color:#ccc; LIKE RIGHT HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
font-size/* */:/**/small;
font-size: /**/small;
}

You can change them to make any color you want.

Now I used this site: http://wellstyled.com/tools/colorscheme2/index-en.html

It's great b/c it helps you pick out complimentary colors and stuff.

You just find the color you want, and on the right side of the square that shows the colors larger, will be some numbers that make the color you have selected.

So, your color:#ccc will change to color:#F354 or whatever.

You just change the numbers in your blog to the new color numbers you want.

Your template has each section divided up and labeled so you should be able to tell where it will change the colors. But always preview before you save. If you don't like the way it looks, change it again :) And make sure you save the changes each time you like it, so if you mess up something a few steps down, you won't lose all your changes.

You can also mess around with the box size of your heading or your post area, or even remove it.

And as for font, I found this site http://www.w3schools.com/css/css_font.asp
You can find some font names there. Some examples are script (used for my title at sometimes sobia) or fantasy (my title here).

Basically if you know some font style names, insert them and see what you think.

And if you aren't getting any help from me, there are people who really know what they are doing at www.bloggerforum.com

There is a newbie section there that I used a lot.

Change the background!

Now you will need to go back to the new blog you have created...the one's that's ok to mess up.

Go to the posting area and look for the tab TEMPLATE.

Click on it.

You should see an area with some dashes around it that says this:

-----------------------------------------------
Blogger Template Style
Name: Minima Black
Designer: Douglas Bowman
URL: www.stopdesign.com
Date: 26 Feb 2004
----------------------------------------------- */

Right below it is where you can insert your new background.

It should already look like this: (I've highlighted where we are going to change)

body {
background:#000;
margin:0;
padding:40px 20px;
font:x-small "Trebuchet MS",Trebuchet,Verdana,Sans-Serif;
text-align:center;
color:#ccc;
font-size/* */:/**/small;
font-size: /**/small;

Here is where you start to make changes. You are going to insert the address from your picture into this code.

Find where it says background and change it to look like this and be sure to add your pictures address in the parenthesis:

background : url(http://your picture's address here.jpg) repeat;



Make sure you give the command to repeat or it will just be a little square in the background.

Now you should preview the changes. Save it, republish.

Smart you created a new blog? Now let's get started!

Good for you! Now let's get started!

Have you found a background you want yet? (If not, check out some of the one's I've uploaded in the first few posts on this blog. )

If you have an image on a website you want to use as a background, download that picture by right clicking on it and selecting save. Name it something easy so you can find it quick. And save it as a jpeg.

Now that the picture is in your computer (or you already have a picture in your computer you want to use) upload it through your blog by clicking on the "Add image" icon (which looks like a sky and mountains in a square on the right side of your posting tool bar).

Here you have two options. I do the second option:

Once you've uploaded the picture, save your post as a draft, then click on the html tab (top right above the posting tool bar) to see the exact address of the picture

.....OR..............

you can post it to your blog and publish it. Once it's published, click on the picture to open it in it's own screen. Copy it's unique address in the address bar by highlighting the entire address and right clicking and selecting save. Once you have the address saved, you can go back and and delete the post from your blog.

You now have the unique address or html (whatever you chose) Don't lose it. We are about to use it!

Brave you wants to mess with your current blog?

If you are brave enough to mess around with your CURRENT blog, you'll open your blog for posting and then at the top you'll see some tabs for Posting, settings, template & viewing your blog. Click on template.

If you happen to screw up your template pretty bad and want to go back to your old template, YOU WILL LOSE ALL YOUR FAVORITES when changing. But more power to ya if you really want to mess with your current blog.

I've only used Minima Black. If you use another template, it might be different from what I'm about to explain. I don't know.

Let Sobia plead with you: I strongly suggest that you just create yourself a new blog. It really makes things easier and once you have finished your new look, we will transfer the new look onto your old blog. That way you lose nothing!

Make new friends (but keep the old) ha ha

First, make yourself a new blog so you won't completely screw up the one you use now. That way, if something goes wrong you can just delete the new blog (with no posts) and start again. Also, when you start messing around with your template, you can lose important things like your favorite list, or just make it so terrible that you can't read your posts or comments and you lose everything.

If you create a new blog to play with, you can take your new look to it! We will just copy and paste your new and improved template into the new blog! And you won't lose anything!

Ok, so first go and make a new blog. You do this by going into your dashboard. Under your blog names, there will be a bubble with CREATE A BLOG in it. Click on it, name it and choose your template. I use Minima Black.

Any Idiot Can do it!

If I made my own blog background, so can you. Trust me. Maybe there is an easier way than what I'm about to post, but like I said, I'm a computer idiot. So, here is how I made mine.