The previous look of my blog and the current look.
I have no idea how folks actually make a blogger template a day - but I went from trying to make a flamboyant vector transparency blog template to customizing a template in which I would settle for getting the search button icon aligned with my textbox !! You would think that this would be a no-brainer ! But no the textbox and search button icon don't align themselves horizontally without some tweaks ! :) Ofcourse I was always slow at front-end coding but .... :)
So here are my lessons ....
- First if you can get away with not changing your blogger template - do so !!! :) Ha ha ha but yeah this hardly makes sense if you want your blog to look unique
- Don't start to create a blogger template from scratch - it is easier(???) to customize an existing one. Unless ofcourse you enjoy CSS and those pixel alignments ! :))
- There are hundreds of readily available navigation codes on the net - can use them. ( I have not used any - have kept it simple )
- If possible search for a template that you can use without requiring any tweaks other than just adding your widgets
- The holy grail of blogger template change - backup your existing template !!!
- Just as an additional step - backup your blog posts too
- Note any specific HTML scripts that you have put in your blog template that is not part of the widgets
- SEO type meta tags
- Google Analytics code etc
- Contemplate using a test blog if you want to first check how your website will look before making any permanent changes [Create a test blog]. You can use this test blog to even try out new widgets/script that you plan to add.
- Can use this link to keep your widgets safe. I found it did the trick
- Upload the new template
- Reposition the widgets
- Add the HTML/javascripts that were not part of the widgets
- Add any other new widgets / scripts that you want
- Keep your fingers crossed ..... and check how your blog looks after the changes! :)
