Friday, February 10, 2006

Ch-Ch-Changes

Now that Divinities is a year old (and I've proved to myself that I'm going to stick with this whole "blogging" thing), I've been thinking about making some changes.

Namely, the design.

But I am clueless - CLUELESS, I tell you - when it comes to template changes, much less a whole redesign.

I clicked on some links from some of my favorite blogs (things that said "Design by:") and perused the templates and portfolios of a few people. But I'm not finding anything that blows me away. And, really, I don't quite understand it.

Do you tell these people what you want, and then they go to town designing something for you? Do you pick a few elements out of their portfolios? And what if you have no idea what you want your blog to ultimately look like? Do they help you? Do they look at your blog and give you ideas? And what if you don't like what they do? What then?

Also, I saw on one "Transferring of posts begins at $35.00" or something like that. What? Does that mean I have to pay to have all of my eighty billion posts transferred into a new template? Because that, to me, sounds like it could get expensive. I'm wordy. I post a lot. I'm not concise.

But I think Ol' Divinities looks pretty boring. Don't you? I mean, sure, it's alright, but I think we need some, I dunno, pizzaz around these parts.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Tips? Help? Advice?

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

It looks fine to me, Lauri. It's your words I come here to read. It doesn't matter at all in what setting those words are composed as long as you keep writing.

Still reading.
Paul

Laurie said...

Paul, that is so sweet. Thank you so much. :)

Anonymous said...

See, after Paul's comment, my request for more nude pics is going to be pretty shallow sounding. :)

-that guy from that place that's over near the other thing

Pandora Wilde said...

You can tell some designers what you want, then they work with you to make sure you like the results. My blog's not what I originally had in mind, but I like it anyhow, so it worked great for me. I did choose the basic colors.

Laurie said...

As far as the pictures go, I think that's a good idea...Maybe not nudes, per se, but pictures nonetheless. I got a digital camera for Christmas, and I've been snapping some photos, it's just a matter of figuring out how to hook the thing up to the computer...

But, what's the consensus on the template? Should it be changed?

Anonymous said...

If you want to just switch your look to one of the other templates available through Blogger you can do so through the dashboard then clicking on the Template tab then clicking Pick New. However by doing this you will blow away any custom settings (like links to favorites, other blogs etc...) but your archives and posts will remain intact. Also it could take a while for the change to occur due to your extensive posting habit. If you go this way... my advice would be to copy and paste the code for your links/favorites/etc... into a text document and re-paste them after you change your template so you don't have to re-enter everything individually again.

Blogger templates are built through CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and they do give you access to the HTML code so you would need somebody who is familiar with CSS and HTML to custom build a new site for you. My guess regarding the "Transferring of posts fee" is that since you will be having a template custom built externally they'll have to move all the archives into the new template as well. And your archives are pretty deep so I'm thinking you'll not only be beginning at $35.00 but surpassing that amount pretty quickly.

Hope this helps.

Kristi said...

i experimented in my template with codes and things that I know NOTHING aobut.
Just did whatever. Till I liked it.
I just did my photoblog too.

but Divinities looks fine. Change is you must, but I like it.

Anonymous said...

Here is what I have to say about chaning this blog...you are pretty big time now... like Bon Jovi...he always sings Living on a Prayer, Blaze of Glory, and all the rest...but each concert he has different pyrotechnics and lights and even different tight leather pants (I made that up). However, Paul and the picture guys were both right...more pictures would be great, but it is your words people came to read. SHIT!!! Now I have confused myself...don't know if you should change or not. Guess my point is your writing is wonderful, has been since you were a kid...so your mom tells me...but iot would be great to see a few more pictures, and a little flare...a little.
Good luck!