As part of a currently ongoing redesign I'm doing of my blog I've been working in a test blog, but I am also making some changes in my blog here.
I've added a new background to my blog, replacing the plain background I used to have. Now it may not seem amazingly different or remarkable but, as part of the overall new design, it should look just right in the end.
I think it's important to remember that it's a
background and so is meant to be subtle and not draw attention away from the main point of any blog, which should be the content; what you write and the images you include.
For this
simple background change I’ve used the system Blogger has in place. And yes, this is
another how-to for Blogger. If you’re using
Wordpress then check
this tutorial
out, and for
Typepad look
here. For other platforms, do some googling, read through a
few tutorials, and always
back up your template before doing anything.
Here's how I started.
Finding a background image
After working through a design for how I want my blog to look, I did some hunting for a suitable
background image online. Yes, it is possible to
make your own image, but the resources available on the web are incredible, and it’s fun and
inspiring to look through them. Of course, I found lots of images I loved but I managed to be good and stick to my original plan...
Blogger itself offers images to use as backgrounds so if you don’t feel
confident enough to download images from the net then you can still change the
way your blog looks - see note 3 below for more information .
You can use an image that spans the width of your blog (or rather, the
screen size it’s displayed on) but do bear in mind that such a large file will will slow down the time your blog takes to load. If
you use a lot of photos/images on your blog anyway, it might be wiser to chose
a small image file that is repeated - this
tiling of images is commonly
used to allow a seamless background without a large file size. It makes
everyone happy.
The website
Subtle Patterns is a wonderful resource, has over 300 images available, and is a real goldmine for blog
backgrounds. They’re all free to use, although the site does like credit given, which is fair enough. This is where I found the image I’m
using at present. Browse around until something catches your eye and then
preview it to see what it looks like full screen. Do bear in mind the colour
and design of your own blog may make it look different when in situ.
Here's what I did, after downloading my image of choice.
Changing the background image
1. First, I backed up my template. Just in case... Then, in the Blogger dashboard, I went to
Template, and clicked on
Customize.
2. I clicked on
Background,
and then on the little downward pointing arrow set to the side of the
Background image box.
3. A pop-up then opened with a whole host of blogger backgrounds on offer -
you can use one of these if you'd prefer; just click on it, click
Done, then
Apply to Blog and that's it, it's your new background.
I had the image I'd downloaded from
Subtle Patterns already saved on my computer so I clicked on
Upload image.
4. I browsed to where I’d saved the image to on your computer. Make sure you
save it somewhere that’s simple to find, like your desktop - you can move it later. I then clicked on
Done and the image uploaded.
5. Check how the image looks on both the miniature in the screen preview shown
under the
Background image heading, and further down the
page, where a mock up of your blog is shown, with your new background.
The
Alignment button doesn’t
matter too much if your image is abstract and a small one. If it has a right
way up, then make sure it’s displaying that way, and adjust the alignment if you
need to by clicking on the tiny downward arrow next to the word.
My image was a small one that I wanted repeated/tiled so I chose
Tile to ensure it tiled across and down the entire background of my blog.
I’ve kept
Scroll with page checked
as I find background images that remain static while the content moves can be a little distracting, but
feel free to uncheck the box or to experiment and see what you prefer.
Scroll with page means the background will move as the page scrolls down.
It's as simple as that. Click on
Apply to Blog if you’re
happy, and check your blog out to see the finished effect.
I
experimented a little with some other background images to see how
much changing it can affect how a blog looks.
The green background image, below, was one I found on the wonderfully named
Squidfingers site -
The purple background image shown here, below, was created by me at
BGPatterns, which is a clever site allowing you to adjust colours, symbols and transparency, amongst other variables -
Both these backgrounds are small images that take very little time to
download from the net, and are used tiled.
As I say, I wanted something pretty neutral in both colour and pattern, but
it’s still fascinating to see how different images can alter what a blog looks like, and the perception of
what it’s about. So do experiment, but do back things
up so you know you can always go back if you need to!
And if you’re feeling adventurous, you can also
check out this tutorial about how to change the colour or transparency of images found at
subtle, to personalise them and make them suit your blog even more.
Blogger's own brief tutorial about backgrounds.
Let me know
if this has been any help, or you have any queries and I'll do my best to help. And do leave a comments if you follow the tutorial - I'd love to see your revamped blog!
