SilverThistle

 

There are many, many tutorials doing the rounds on BL this week , on how to jazz up the look of our pages and they're very, very useful and written by some very smart people and I thank them all for everything I've learned in a very short space of time by following what they teach.  However, they're dotted about via various users and if you don't follow those users (or their followers) you may miss a lot of it.  So, for my own benefit (and anyone else finding my page by mistake) I wanted to put everything I've learned in one place. Here, on my blog.  That way I can find them easily when I need them.

 

I know there are better tuts out there but this is fun for me to do and I'll hope someone will also find something of use here.

 

This one is going to be basic.  Very basic.  This is along the lines of what I needed when I started so if you have half a clue already of what you're doing...this isn't going to unlock any new mysteries for you.  :P  

 

I'm a 'monkey see, monkey do' kind of learner when it comes to techy stuff like this, and I like to be led by the hand to what I need to know (and I also love visuals...so there will be a LOT of those :) so this is for anyone who wants a true beginners guide.

 

I didn't know very much html when I started here and nothing at all about CSS so I'll be writing this as if I'm writing this for the me who knew zero when she got here and we'll see how it goes...

 

Anyhoo... part one.  This will be image heavy so it's all below the cut so as not to spam follower's feed...

 

Click 'READ MORE'  below if you'd like to....read more, I guess :D

 

So, first things first.

 

Where do I make all the changes? 

 

Everything is done via the Dashboard and the button for this is at the top right of your

page.

 

 

 

Clicking that takes you to this page....

 

 

The button to get you into the customizing menu is up at the top right, called 'settings'.  Clicking that will take you into the workings of the machine, where the magic happens ;P

 

This is the page where you can change your avatar pic, your email address, your name....whatever, but the bit we're looking for is the 'blog' button. 

 

 

Getting closer to the good stuff now!!  Just scroll down the page until you see 'customize', and you're in!!

 

 

In this new page you'll see the dark brown column on the left hand side.  Everything that you'll need to have a jazzy new BookLike's site is found in that column.  When you first open it it will look like there's not much to be done there...

 

But hover your mouse over the edge where it shows 'title' and a scroll bar will magically appear!!

 

 

This is your ticket to all the good stuff!  Scroll down as far as it will go and it will reveal much goodness :D

 

Now, the first thing I did was add a new header but so that this post doesn't get MAHOOSIVE I'll begin all that in Part 2, which I'll link here when I'm done. 

 

Not a lot to see here really but if I could go back in time this would have been exactly the sort of thing I was looking for....plus, making it is keeping me out of the fridge for 10 minutes :P

 

I found the easiest template to mess about with was the default one (the one I'm currently using) with the avatar circle in the top left corner so everything I do will be based on that template.  If you'd like to use that template and are not already using it you can change your look by choosing the 'Themes' button on the brown column at the top and selecting the first (default) option.  You'll know which one you have as your choice will be semi-transparent and have a big green tick on it.  Once you've made your choice click the green 'save' button and you're all set to go.  :)

 

Hope this helps someone :)

 

 

Part Two - Adding a new header

Part Three -  Changing your main page background colour

Part Four -  Moving follower buttons

Part Five - Changing the look of your follower buttons

Part Six - Changing the colour of your sidebar background