Ugh. You know how it is... You love your computer until something goes wrong with it? Well same thing applies to blogs. I love my blog and often tell people how great Blogger is, and how they should take up blogging too. The picture above is what my blog would look like using the default template. To make it look blue and pink and cute all over takes a lot of work. Well this was not a failing on the part of Blogger. Nope, this was human error all the way. What began as a modification to my blog turned into a full blown "Blogtastrophe" the likes of which I had never encountered before.
I've been wanting to add a menu bar to the top of my blog, just like the one on The Flirty Guide so visitors could more easily click over to visit the TFG website. My super sweet hubby went ahead and implemented the menu for me last night. But it was wider than the layout of my blog. The obvious solution was to widen the width of the layout right? Wrong! Oh my gosh!
What happened next was a domino effect of poor choices compounded by utter cornfusion. LOL. Instead of watching Law and Order last night? We had a mini-drama courtesy of Murphy's Law. Dare I say it was a Murphy's Law marathon that lasted well into the evening.
Mistake #1: I did not back up my template before launching into the "minor" revision. Total rookie move. Always back up.
Mistake #2: Naively believing that by reading tutorials online I could demystify the Blogger widgets and make the needed adjustments to my blog. Now I know I am simply a mere mortal who shouldn't expect to be able to learn everything I need to know by typing questions into Google. Though I will say this approach works 95% of the time.
In the end I simply scrapped my entire template and reinstalled it, then had to rebuild it all over again. If you're a brilliant coder you can probably rebuild a template blindfolded with one arm tied behind your back and you eat widgets for breakfast. But I am not a brilliant coder. I am a simple "can do" kind of gal who usually skips breakfast and just kinda jumps in head first to learn new things. My blogging degree was awarded to me by the University of Sink or Swim aka USS as we grads like to call it.
After a bit more time I had my blog not only restored but slightly improved, minus the afore mentioned menu bar. For now I've added the "home" page image with link to the top righthand side bar. Maybe I'll tackle the entire horizontal menu project again someday. But not today.
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Hi, I need your help!!
Where should I start to make my blog looks as pretty as yours? I am not very good with computers
:(. I used to be a wedding planner in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. And recently got married, I can´t continue working full time at a wedding company so I decide to create a blog to help the brides to be to plan a beautiful wedding in Cabo with the best vendors at the best price. my blog looks horrible! I need some help. www.loscabosgweddingguide.com
Thanks, Shearim
Hi Shearim,
My best advice would be to find someone you can hire to customize your blog. The fee they charge to do this should be less then what a website would cost. A good way would be to find people who have blogs you like the look of on Blogger and ask them if they could refer you to the web developer who customized their template for them. If it's someone familiar with Blogger they will be able to do it faster, which translates to less expensive for you.
At the moment I am not taking new clients for web design jobs but if you are not able to find anyone and can wait a few months, drop me an email and I may be able to help you.
I can email you more details if you are interested.
Stacie
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