When I decided to have Susie over at Bluebird Blogs create a new skin for my blog I didn’t really consider what that would mean in regard to keeping up my blog. I was too excited about the new look to think about the details of maintaining it (LOL). Long story short it means I no longer have the click and go tools that blogger offers for managing your template and that means I have to do everything through my new template which is all written in HTML code.

I’m sure most of you won’t really care that I have figured out how to do anything with the HTML code, but I’m so excited to have figured out how to do a few things that I just have to share! I’ve now successfully figured out how to:

1. Add the little “*” thing which you see in front of the sidebar items that are underneath each of the main sidebar headings. I had noticed that some of my sidebar categories had them and some didn’t so I decided to look through the code until I figured out what was different about those categories that did or didn’t have them. I’m happy to say it only took a FEW minutes to figure it out and insert that code into the other sections. WHOOO HOO, I checked the preview and it WORKED now all of my sidebar categories have those little “*”s in front of them.

2. Add an icon that actually LINKS to somewhere. For those who use the blogger function buttons this might not seem like such a big deal because you upload the picture then type in the web address and it all works. Doing this in the HTML code means you have to write out all of the directions for where to find the picture and where you want it to link to when clicked, etc. I could *not* write one of these lines myself, but I have found a way to “cheat” (LOL). I copied an existing one that Susie had already put in my sidebar and figured out which parts to change for the picture location and destination website. I tried it a few times and it WORKS! One time I kept getting the image and I even figured out that I had an extra (img) code in there. I took it out and the picture I wanted was then centered perfectly without any there.

3. Add, change and delete the labels on my sidebar. Ok, deleting one was easy. I actually had three that needed to be deleted. I cleaned up my sidebar as much as I could before Susie started the makeover, but I didn’t notice a few things such as typos and labels that had nothing in them, until after she was done. So, I figured out how to delete those.

Adding one and making sure that it really went to the posts it was supposed to go to was more difficult. I still don’t really get exactly how or why this works, but I was very happy to figure out how to add the new label categories to my sidebar which link to the new labels I have added through blogger. That sounds confusing. When I write a post I can still add a new label through blogger the same as always. But, it won’t show up in the sidebar until I go into the code and add it…. as in add the name that you click on and the directions for where you’ll be directed after you click on it. Again, I couldn’t “write” this code myself, but I’ve gotten pretty good at “cheating” – copying from an existing one and figuring out what to change for the new one.

4. Adding a new sidebar category. This was my first “big” thing to try. Again, I “cheated.” I copied the code from an already existing side bar category and changed it to what I wanted for the new one! I was SO surprised that it worked… the color is right, the line is right, everything works!

I still have a list of things that I want to do and I’m slowly working through them. For me it’s like a game or a puzzle that one continues to work or play. It’s a never ending, on-going challenge (like a continuing game or puzzle that you work on a little here and there) that I actually find relaxing and FUN! It’s quite rewarding to know that I’m well on my way to conquering my fear of messing with the HTML code! FYI, I save a backup OFTEN! I always preview before saving. I take LOTS of precautions to make sure I don’t accidentally save something that will mess up anything else (LOL).

A few people have emailed me with questions about getting a new blog design for their blogs. I HIGHLY recommend Susie at Bluebird Blogs! She creates AWESOME blog skins. Just be aware that you will NOT be able to do things through blogger like you used to. You’ll want to either:

a) keep it simple and not mess much with the sidebar things (something I’m definitely NOT known to do) or
b) have some time to play around with it and be able to enjoy the process.

Now to figure out how to add one of those calendars where you can click the date and go to the posts for the day, add the music playlist that I’ve seen on other blogs, add the cascading blogroll boxes, fix my labels so they are all one line and won’t mess up the left justified margins, and a few other things!