New blog background: Yay or Nay?

[HeatherAtHome]

I recently updated my blog. It was surprisingly easy and fun. I used to have that old brown Scribe backgroundlike this but decided I wanted something with a little more pizazz.

Now I have this:
What do you think?

Yes? No?

[pear-shaped]

I voted maybe something else but not because I think it looks bad, I just think you could refine it a little more. I love the colors in the background of the body, but I think they are rather strong and overwhelm the more delicate background of your posts a little. You could widen your posts and sidebar to create more balance. I would also make a thinner border around the main wrapper, but that's just my personal preference. (Though, honestly, I put a 1px border around my main body and I'm not happy with it, lol.)

[madsommer]

I also voted something else...though the colors are more pleasing, something about the format of it just looks "off" to me. Plus, at the top wehre you have your header-where you have your tag line I suppose-it's hard to read all the writing.

[fullofgrace]

I can't vote. I like it better than the previous one - both for it's color and sleeker look. My issue is that it doesn't seem to 'go' with the rest of your blog. Your body background is more of a vintage kind of look (the aged parchment, etc) while the page background is now more of a fresh, updated look.

Plus, at the top wehre you have your header-where you have your tag line I suppose-it's hard to read all the writing.

I agree with this, too. I LOVE knowing what your blog is about right off, but it's a tish long for a tagline. Can you trim the tagline to something succinct, and move the longer part of the 'about the blog' to the top of your left hand column?

Take my opinion with a grain of salt though -- I'm a big fan of very simple clean backgrounds behind text and then decorating all around the edges and with logos, etc.

Wow that got long. I hope it came across in the helpful way I intended.

[pear-shaped]

Looking again, I agree with what the pp have said.

If you really like what you have as your blog description, you could always put it in your sidebar, up at the top for visibility.

Another suggestion for the header would be to put some padding between the left border of the photo and the title.

[HeatherAtHome]

So you all said pretty much what I was already thinking.

Another suggestion for the header would be to put some padding between the left border of the photo and the title.

I wanted to do this but couldn't figure out how.

I guess my biggest problem is finding good backgrounds, both for the blog and behind the posts. The vintage look of the post background is left over from the Scribe template. I couldn't find anything else that I liked. I wanted to make this part of the blog wider, but then I had a seam where the scribe background started to repeat across the page.

I kind of like the green but it's not quite there yet. Any ideas on where I could find fun, free backgrounds?

[HeatherAtHome]

Ok, I made some changes. Feeling a bit better about it. I wish my header pic was bigger/reached across the top.

[pear-shaped]

I was going to suggest changing the parchment background to a similar color. I think it looks better now.

To give the title some padding, go to the section with the variable definitions (I think that's what it's called, not 100% sure) and look for this:

#header h1

That's the blog title. Try tinkering with the margin and padding values. I'm not sure what your default values are, or whether even more than one is given....but if you want to change the left margin, or add padding to the left, you need to change the fourth value. (I'm not sure if that's clear?)

For example, if you see something that looks like this:

margin: 5px 0 0 0;
padding:10px 0 0 0;

the left is the last zero, because the order is top margin, right margin, bottom margin, left margin

If it just gives one value, for example:

margin: 5px;

then add the other three values so that you can change the last one. Of course, you can tinker a bit with all the values and see if like the results.

I hope that helps. If any of it is unclear, let me know.

[lovebug]

looks good! LOVE the color its my fav!

[pear-shaped]

I just realized that I didn't mention how to change the margin of the description. It's a bit more self-evident because in the definitions section it appears as:

#header .description

Just fiddle with the margins and/or padding a little until you like the result.

[pear-shaped]

Can I make some more suggestions? (I've having trouble resolving a couple of issues with my own template and need a break from it. I'm finding it really helpful to look at other people's blogs in the meantime...if I get annoying, let me know.)

Put a border around the header image. Do you have photo editing software? I have a Mac and only have iPhoto, and it doesn't have that option, so when I've wanted to add borders to a header image, I've done it on Photobucket (which might be useful to you anyway if you want to do things like hyperlinks.) You could also resize your header image there if you don't have software to do it. There is a simpler way to put a border around an image, which is just to add something like this to the header definitions:

#header img {
border: 1px solid #7A0808;
}

but I think that in most templates, (perhaps because of default settings?), it's impossible to get the border centered around the image correctly. It becomes really evident in the Minima template, which is the one I have.

Get rid of the underlined links. Okay, I've just noticed that it's time for me to get dd ready for a party we have to go to today, so I have to go. If you're interested, I can post tomorrow about how you can change your link style.

[HeatherAtHome]

Love the suggestions, but I think I'll take a break for a bit. I tried making some of the changes suggested but either it wasn't working, or things dissappeared off my page causing me to gasp and hit "CLEAR EDITS"!!!:

I've been working on this too long. I'll leave it for now and try sometime soon when I've had a chance to clear my head.

[fullofgrace]

Originally Posted by HeatherAtHome

Any ideas on where I could find fun, free backgrounds?

I forgot to answer this. There are some places that have free themes and others with just free backgrounds, etc. Some are made specifically to work with blogger/blogspot.

Off the top of my head I can think of

http://www.shabbyblogs.com
http://www.cutestblogontheblock.com

They are more cute than clean though.

I love this site for getting color combo ideas -- http://www.colourlovers.com

I think I have more bookmarked. I'll look!

[pear-shaped]

Originally Posted by HeatherAtHome

Love the suggestions, but I think I'll take a break for a bit. I tried making some of the changes suggested but either it wasn't working, or things dissappeared off my page causing me to gasp and hit "CLEAR EDITS"!!!:

Yikes! that would cause me to freak out too. If it was your title that disappeared from the header, it was probably because there wasn't enough space for it and the padding put together...iirc that happened to me once and I was relieved to have the clear edits button. Since then I have a test blog where I try everything out first before modifying my real blog's template. Something to think about when you're ready to start modifying again.

[dearmama22]

I just looked- I like it! Very "fresh" easy to read looks great!