15June

Customizing Your Blog

Posted by admin and filed under Blog Design

Finding a blog theme to fit your personality is fun. There are hundreds available. You can change your theme at any time so you can blog now and your blog entries will be updated as you change your theme. Once you find your theme we have to upload it to our site. You can begin by looking for a theme here.

When you find a theme put your request in the comments below. Include the theme name and URL so we can upload it to our site. You’ll be able to change it from your admin panel.

Once you are familiar with how WordPress works, it’s time to get creative and start customizing. You can do whatever you want, adding and subtracting, perfecting and scrambling your site at will. The amount of effort you put into the site is now up to you. You can work with the two WordPress Themes that came with the installation, or seek out another Theme that better meets your needs. You can totally customize all the links and information, or get serious and completely re-design the entire site to do whatever you want. You have the basics, the rest is up to your imagination.

Finding a WordPress Theme
Look for one that better suits the look you desire on your site.
Customizing the Look
When you are ready to plunge into the code, you can customize the look and layout of the site through CSS and modifing the Themes (or create your own).
Enhance Your Site with Plugins
Plugins add function and sometimes fun to your site. There are hundreds of different plugins from adding custom links like related articles to your sidebar to adding weather reports.

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WordPress Themes

There are hundreds of WordPress Themes to choose from. All do basically the same thing but graphically present the information in a myriad of ways. Choose a few that look interesting to you, and meet your audience’s needs and your desires, and then test drive them following the test drive instructions above. Click through the whole site, the categories and archives as well as the individual posts to see how the Theme handles each one. The look may be nice on the front page, but if it handles things in a way you don’t like on the single post, then you will have to dig into the code and make changes. Not ready for that, try another theme.

If you run into problems, check out the Codex’s Troubleshooting Themes article.

Customizing The Look

If you are familiar with CSS, HTML, and even PHP and MySQL, consider customizing the Theme to your own needs. This is not for the timid, and it is for the informed and experienced. If you want to expand your web page design and development skills, WordPress can help:

 

WordPress Plugins

 

Plugin Panel

 

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Plugin Panel

WordPress Plugins are also known as add-ons or extensions. They are software scripts that add functions and events to your website. They cover the gamut from up-to-date weather reports to simple organization of your posts and categories. Plugins are designed by volunteer contributors and enthusiasts who like challenges and problem solving. They are usually fairly simple to install through the WordPress Admin Plugin panel, just follow the instructions provided by the plugin author. Remember, these are free and non-essential. If you have any problems with plugins, contact the plugin author’s website or plugin source first, then search the Internet for help with that specific plugin, and if you haven’t found a solution, then visit the WordPress forums for more help.

Above and Beyond the Basics

The exciting thing about WordPress is that there are few limits. Thousands of people are using WordPress for blogging and for running their websites. All have a different look and different functions on their sites.

What you do from here is up to you, but here are a few places to take that first step beyond the basics:

Robin Sampson

One Response

  1. laura Says:
    June 17th, 2007 at 10:18 pm

    DIGITAL GRASS
    http://themes.wordpress.net/other/widget-ready/3711/digitalgrass-10/

    CORNER GREEN 1.0
    http://themes.wordpress.net/other/right-sidebar/3703/cornergreen-10/

    BLUEBIRD
    http://themes.wordpress.net/other/right-sidebar/3919/bluebird-10

    GREEN VALLEY
    http://themes.wordpress.net/other/rounded-corners/3323/green-valley-10/

    BLUE DREAM
    http://themes.wordpress.net/other/right-sidebar/3940/bluedream

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