Free Tips and Tricks

Re-size your photos

2010-03-20T13:52:00.000-07:00

Resizing your photos in a photo editing program will help make your page load much faster. If you don't have a editing program on your computer you can use picnik to do it on-line. It's easy and it's free. I usually size my photos to 800 pixels wide or tall. That makes them large enough to be easily viewed when clicked on but keep the page loading quickly.

Make that contact info available!

2010-03-15T16:58:00.000-07:00

Make sure when you set up your blog or even if you don't have a blog, (just a blogger account) that your profile or email address is made available for others to read. If you don't, it is very difficult (usually impossible) for others to contact you. This is especially important when you leave a comment and the blog owner would like to respond back. If you don't want to share your main email, you can set up an email account specifically for blogger.

Direct link to email

2010-03-15T12:57:00.000-07:00

If you would like to have a direct link to your email from your blog simply choose an image that you wish to use as a contact link. (Mine is the antique typewriter.) Go up to "design" and click on "Add a Gadget" then choose "Add a Picture" upload the image you are going to use. In the "Link" box, simply type... Mailto:youremailaddress and thats it!! Now all your blog friends can contact you anytime they want. This is especially nice when they want to leave you a message but they don't want to do it in the comment section of your blog.

Change that nasty Navigation Bar!!!

2010-03-15T12:53:00.000-07:00

Look up at the top of your blog... is the Navigation Bar Blue??? That is the default color for that bar. You can change the color to make it almost invisible.On your Navigation Bar click on customize . Click on the edit Navbar button at the top. Now choose Transparent Light if you have a light colored blog, or Transparent Dark if your blog is dark. Easy-Peasy.

Easy Photo Editing

2010-03-15T12:52:00.000-07:00

Many of you don't have Photoshop or a similar photo editing program. Picnik is a wonderful on-line editing program that is free! You can change the size of the photos, adjust hue and saturation and many other cool effects. In fact, I like it better than Photoshop for fixing color issues on a photo. It is so easy to navigate you don't have to be a computer wiz to use it!!!

Firefox rocks!!!!

2010-03-15T12:51:00.001-07:00

If you don't already use Firefox as your browser, I HIGHLY recommend it. It is free to download (just google Firefox) and I rarely have problems with it. (unlike Explorer) It is also a good idea to have a choice of 2 browsers, because surprisingly, many blogs look different depending on which browser you are using.

Make that browser window BIG!

2010-03-15T12:49:00.000-07:00

If you have a small computer screen, you will get the most enjoyment out of your blog hopping experience if you enlarge your browser window as large as it will go. Many blogs have really cool designs on the outer edges that you will miss if you keep your browser screen small.

Centering your header

2010-03-15T12:44:00.000-07:00

One of the issues I've seen a lot is problems with a header not centering on a blog. There is a very easy fix for this.Click on customize on your navigation bar and then click on the edit button for your header. Remove the picture that is there and then click on the box that says "shrink to fit" Now upload your header. It should fit right in the center of your blog now. If you want to make your header larger, drop me an email and I can fix it for you.

Leaving comments on your own post...

2010-03-15T12:34:00.000-07:00

I have seen some new bloggers leave comments on there own posts. If you are trying to leave a message for all the folks who will be leaving a comment after you, then that works great. However, if you are trying to respond to a comment already left, you may get better results by visiting that person on their blog and saying hi. Bloggers rarely go back to the post where they left their comment to see if there was any response. Especially if they leave a lot of comments!!!

Adding a png. file to your sidebar

2010-03-15T09:28:00.000-07:00

Do you know what the width of your sidebar is?? This is good information to know. To check, click on customize and choose "add a gadget" then click " add a picture". Now look at the bottom of the box that pops up. You should see something like "image will be shrunk to 220 pixels. That is the width of your sidebar. This is especially handy to know when you are adding a png file to the sidebar as opposed to a jpeg. A png file is usually a file where the background has been removed from an image. (Like my typewriter) If the typewriter image were a jpeg you would see a square white box surrounding the image. I don't like the white backgrounds behind my sidebar images so I always upload them as png files. You must however make sure your file is no wider than your sidebar and DO NOT click the shrink to fit button. This will ensure a perfect image on your sidebar. If this all seems to confusing.. email me and I can help.