Simple and Easy Blog Layout Tips
#1) How To Customize Your Template: First and foremost, make sure to "Back Up" your template before making any changes. In the blogger dashboard, you'll see "Back Up/Restore" in the upper right hand corner of the screen. Click on that to back up your template.
Okay, so, you picked a cute layout but would like to change the color of the background, maybe the color of the header or maybe even the font? Well, it's really simpler than you think! You can tweak anything really, even the links. Okay, so here's how...
First, from your Blogger dashboard, click on "Template." It should be to your left on your computer screen. You should see:
Overview
Posts
Pages
Comments
Google+
Stats
Earnings
Layout
Template
Settings
After you click on "Template," you will see "Live on Blog" and "Mobile." Underneath "Live on Blog," you'll see an orange "Customize" button, click on that. Now this is where you choose your template, layout, background color theme, etc.
But this is also where you can tweak all of that when you're finished, if you choose to. You can pick a theme and color you like and still change a few things after that if you want. All you have to do is click on "Advanced."
You will now have the ability to change the background colors, font size, font color, title, links, tab text, etc. for your blog. You should now see all of your options. Once you make the changes that you're happy with, click the orange button in the upper right corner of your screen that says, "Apply to Blog."
#2) How to Center Your Blog Title Header: This is very simple and will be short and sweet. Follow all of the instructions above in Tip #1, and once you click on "Advanced," scroll down and look for "Add CSS." It should be at the very bottom of the list, at the top you will see "Page Text." Okay, so you've found the "Add CSS" section. Now all you have to do is add this code to center your title:
#header-inner {text-align: center ;}
If you want your title to be on the left, then this is the code you add:
#header-inner {text-align: left ;}
And last but not least, if you want your title to be on the right, then this is the code that you add:
#header-inner {text-align: right ;}
You will notice that the code is the same, with the exception of the word center, left or right. If you center it and later decide that you want it to the right, just go into the "Add CSS" and change the word center to right and walla, that's it! You're done! Always make sure to click the orange button in the upper right hand corner that says, "Apply to Blog," so that your changes are saved.
#3) How to Add a Picture to Your Blog Title: Now this part can be both simple and tricky, it all depends on what you are doing with the picture that you're adding. From the Blogger Template Designer, which is where we just centered your blog title and customized everything, you're going to now click on "Layout." You will see "Layout" above the "Advanced" option.
So, click on "Layout." Below the "Blogger Template Designer," you'll see your blog broken up into sections for you to edit. At the very top is your "Blog Title," click edit on that section. Now this is where you will add a picture to the background of your title if you choose to. You can use a picture instead of a title, you can place a picture behind the title.
Once in this screen, you can figure out which is best for you. After you've added your picture, you can then also decide if you need to re-do your title. Maybe you'll want it to the right now, and so on. What became complicated for me was that I wanted one picture for each side of my blog title. So I saved a picture to my computer that I liked and wanted to use in my title.
Then I downloaded
IrfanView for free, which is a program where you can basically play with photos. This was where I shrunk my photos and created an image with one to the left and one to the right. I also had to make sure the photo was the size of my blogger header when sizing it. Then I added the photo behind my title and I haven't changed it since. I think it's really cute.
#4) Before You Create Pages Using Labels: The first thing that you have to do before you get started is to decide where you want your labels to appear on your
home page. Do you want them off to the right or up on top? To make
that change, again go to your blogger dashboard.
Select "Layout" and
choose where you would like to add your Labels Gadget. Once you have added your Labels Gadget, you can leave it blank or you can give it a name. For example, you could call it "Pages." It's really that simple. Click to Save and you're done.
#5) How to Create Pages Using Labels: If you are here, then you have come to the realization that you can not add new posts to blogger pages and you would like to be able to do that. Well, you are not going to believe how very simple this is. Are you ready? All you do is this.
Suppose you just created a "New Post," in your new post before you make it live, you will see to the right of the screen a section titled "Labels." Click in there. Now this is where you add your key words that you want people to find you with in the search engines, but this is also where you can create a "page."
Suppose you want to make a page for "Blog Tips," so you would add "Blog Tips" to your "Labels" section that I just directed you to. Click "Done" and your label is now saved. Save the changes in your new blog post.
You will have to publish the post in order for it to show up in your new page that you have now created. But you're not done yet. There's a couple of more things that you have to do. Go back to your blogger dashboard where you again see:
Overview
Posts
Pages
Comments
Google+
Stats
Earnings
Layout
Template
Settings
Click on "Layout" this time. When you see the "Labels" section, click "Edit." Now you're in the "Configure Labels" screen, which is a little pop up box that should have just popped up in front of you. You will see "All Labels" and "Selected Labels," make sure that you have selected "Selected Labels" and not "All Labels."
Directly beneath "Selected Labels," you will see the number of labels that you have and you will also see the option to edit those labels. So click on "Edit." Now, remember we're imagining that we're creating a "Blog Tips" page/label, so in your selection of labels, you would check off "Blog Tips." Remember to only select labels that you want to create pages with.
Anything that you check off here, would show up on your home page and appear to be a page. Also check off "By Frequency" and "List," then uncheck the box that says, "Show number of posts per label." Okay, so directly beneath this list of labels that you are now done with, click on "Done." Always make sure to click on "Done" before you save, or else it won't save correctly. I've done this, so I know lol. And that's it, you've just created a page!
So, from then on out in the future when you wanted to add a post to this new page, this is what you would do... It's simple because you've already done the work to create the actual page. Go to the "New Post" screen again. You have finished your post and are ready to add it to your page, so off to the right hand section of your screen again where you see "Labels," you click on that.
Choose the page you are looking for, along with any other key words that you'd like to add. Again, let's say the page is "Blog Tips," you would select "Blog Tips," then save and publish your new post. Now when you click on "Blog Tips" from your home page, you will see all of your posts that are labeled "Blog Tips!"
#6) How to Create a Page That Automatically Redirects People to Another Web Address: In your blogger dashboard you will see this again:
Overview
Posts
Pages
Comments
Google+
Stats
Earnings
Layout
Template
Settings
Click on "Pages." Now, where you see the option of creating a "New Page," click on the arrow within that box and a little drop down menu should appear. You will have the choice of creating a "blank document" or a "web address" where you can send readers to another web address. Click on "web address."
Now you will have a little window open up where you have to add the "Page Title" and the "Web Address." The web address section is self explanatory, that's the website that you want readers to be redirected to.
In the page title section, choose a title that suits the website that you are directing them to. If it's a business, put the business name. If it's a place where people can learn more about you, put "About Me." The choice is yours, click save and voila, you're done!
I hope you find these blog layout tips to be helpful and best of luck with your blogs!
