NaBloPoMo, Day 5
As some of you have already noticed, I shook things up on the blog last night by giving it a makeover, because it’s not like I had anything else I really needed to be doing.
Thanks for the early thumbs up, friends. I wish I could take credit for the new look but I simply plugged my stuff in to a new template. While poking around on the Typepad site, I discovered a few new (beta) themes that piqued my interest and started playing around. I like what I’ve got so far, but it’s very much a work in progress. There are a number of kinks in the template that need to be worked out; it’s by far the buggiest new toy in the TypePad toolbox that I’ve played with in a quite a while.
I like that this design maintains the crisp, clean look that I prefer, while punching it up with some color. Best of all, it allows me to create a banner using my photography. (I’d given up on having a unique banner, acknowledging I have neither the time nor patience to try and design myself a banner in Photoshop. Finally, TypePad has made it as simple as uploading a photo to create an original banner.) The nifty thing about this theme in particular is how it serves up a complimentary color scheme based on the photo used. (They actually give you three palettes to choose from.) So, as I change the banner, I’ll be freshening up the entire look of the site all at once.
My least favorite aspect of the new design is the TypePad profile junk that’s currently stuck at the top of the left column. In their quest to incorporate social media, they’ve got this follower/following thing that’s exclusive to the TypePad community; with Twitter and my own RSS blog reader, I don’t need nor use the TypePad version, especially because it is so insular. Hopefully there will be a way for me to remove this block and replace it with Recent Comments, a much more interesting and dynamic section of the page.
I also removed the “Link Within” related posts that appeared with each post. They weren’t used all that often by visitors on the site and with this new design they just added to the clutter. Finally, I’ve removed the ads. In all the time they’ve been there, even if I combined the pennies I’ve generated from Google and Amazon, it hasn’t been enough to get me a check for the minimum payout. I’m just too small potatoes.
2 Things @ Once 
I’m scared to death to change my free blogger template. I’m just sure I’ll lose everything. I’m always so happy for people who actually can play with the html, css or whatever it is that you have to do. I like this new layout.
Enjoy!
Kristin – The Goat
What fun to find your family is from here. I live in Sea Colony up by the High School in a little gerrymandered bit that’s OB. Templates. Blogger only has X number, and I want my photos or drawings to be more important than there template. I vary my photo at the top too. It took me a long time to get a size that fit.
I’ll be back often…..And I too am NoJoMo-ing.
It looks nice! I’m supposed to have a new banner from a local graphic designer (I did some copy editing for him a few months ago) but I don’t think it’s ever going to happen. So I might check out some of the Typepad templates.
I agree with you on the following/follower thing!
Thanks all. I learned from TypePad that this template isn’t as customizable as most others (it’s part of a new product roll out they’re about to roll out) but I’ve decided to live with it for a while and hope they provide a work around. In the meantime, comments will be duplicated and I’ll live with the follower/following gibberish.
The ability to easily create a banner and color scheme based on my own photograph are super features and I’m sure they’ll roll out more templates with this functionality. So, for now, Alison and MageB, I’ve added you as followers so my stats in the profile box don’t look so pathetic. 😛 As soon as I can ditch it, I probably will.