Fractal Images

I've been playing with fractals again. This time I've been trying to learn how to make good ones. I have a collection online, adding to it frequently. There are some available as wallpaper sized downloads. I can probably make a wallpaper of one if the option isn't there and you want it. Just write to me.

http://cmbs.cnc.net/galleries/

New Location for Blogger Fonts and Color Options

Blogger has moved the location of the fonts and color options from a "Fonts and Colors" page to their new "Template Designer" page. Click on "Advanced" to see the options written into your template.

Red and White Color Scheme, Plus Free Background Images

I made a new color scheme for this blog today, it's just two colors - red and white, with a matching background tile.

The colors I used in this scheme are:

#ffffff

#AF3030

Learn how to apply a background image to your blog.

You can get the background tile in red and seven other colors here.

If you use one on your website, I'd appreciate a link credit on your site. A copy and paste link is below, just copy and paste on your webpage where html is allowed.

Background image from <a href="http://cmbs.cnc.net/blogtemplates/index.html" target="_blank">Christine's Blog Templates</a>.

The tiles are all white with another color:

#AF6330

#AF3030

#AF2F76

#7830AF

#3052AF

#3098AF

#30AF3D

#9AAF30

Of course, you can use as many colors on your blog as you like, I was in a mood for two colors. Happy blog decorating!

Visitor Friendliness

Have you ever gone to a website and had to leave because the page took forever to load, the colors were headache inducing, the font was too small or the contrast not enough to read the letters? Have you ever seen a page that doesn't load correctly, is inconvenient because of faulty or slow badly working javascript? (A surprising number of big name sites have this problem.) Have you ever seen a page that extends way off the right edge of the screen? I've seen some where you literally have to scroll side to side to read a single sentence.

So many people seem oblivious to the concept of how their website looks to their visitors, or how easy their website is for others to use. The entire point of having a website is for other people to visit it, so I think it's pretty important to consider how your site looks to those who visit.

Some visitor friendly issues are already dealt with for you when you choose to use a Blogger blog, but others are not.

• Different people have different computer systems, different monitor resolutions, different bandwidths. Unless your blog is only for the rich urban crowd, it would be a mistake to assume everyone has the newest system and fastest bandwidth and build only for those people.


• People use different browsers, and it's their choice, not yours. Why would you build your site only for one browser to display correctly? Even if your website is about a specific browser, you want the people not using it to be able to read your site and learn how great your browser is.


• As people age, eyesight tends to get worse, lots of people need to enlarge text to read it more easily. Is your website only for people with perfect eyesight, or would you like to make it easy for everyone to read?

There is no reason to limit who can enjoy your website if you just think about user friendliness as you make your choices. All my blog templates are made to help you keep your blog user friendly. Read about the features I incorporate. I also have several tutorials on my website about different blog template related subjects, so look around.

I've added a couple of polls to this blog. I'd love some feedback on the subject in the polls and comments of this post. Why don't people think about visitor friendliness? Or is it really unimportant to most bloggers?

Pink and Green Color Scheme, Free Background Images

I have a new pink and green scheme on this blog.

I've been playing with fractals this evening, and was inspired to use one on this blog as the background image. It creates a nice generic geometric look. You can download it here. Please do not link directly to my image, download your own copy. I've put it as the background both for the body and the contentcontainer.

body {
margin:0px;
padding:0px;
background:#ffffff url(http://Pink-Green.JPG);
font:normal normal 85% Trebuchet, Trebuchet MS, Arial, sans-serif;
}

.contentcontainer {
margin:auto;
padding:10px 7px 7px 7px;
background:#ffffff url(http://Pink-Green.JPG);
border:1px solid #ffffff;
}

Colors I used in this scheme are:

#FFFFFF

#EEF3EB

#D6E2CD

#C27374

#391937

Here's the pink and green background, plus a few more color variations on the same background image, Download. Each image is 1280px by 1024px.



It's easy to use different colors on your blog for a change. Remember to save a copy of your current template before making any changes. Have fun!

BlogList Widget

Howdy Bloggers!

I am still alive over here, just haven't been doing much of anything regarding blog templates lately.

A customer wrote and asked about changing colors on the BlogList widget so I wrote some new code for you all to add to your blog if you're using that widget. Here's the link -

http://cmbs.cnc.net/blogtemplates/bloggerinst.html#bloglist

Any problems, let me know.

Christmas 2008 Free Template

Hello Bloggers!

For Christmas I'm giving away this (Christmas 2008) template. It comes in only one variety: two column, side column on right, fluid width. It does have a full width banner section below the header and a full width footer section at the bottom into which you can place widgets if you want to use them. On the Fonts and Colors page, it does not allow any color changes, it does allow several font changes. If you decide to use it leave the credits in place, readable, with working links as they are when you get the template. That is my stipulation for use of the template. I'd also appreciate a note in the comments of this blog post with a link to your blog.

To use:

The first thing you should do is go to your Edit HTML page and download a copy of your current template so that after Christmas you can put it back on your blog.

I have instructions for applying the template on this page. I have included one of each widget type in the template, if you need to add more you should follow the instructions so you don't lose any widget content in the transition. If you want to delete some widgets or move them around, you can do so on the Page Elements page after you've saved the new template to your blog. Links to the images are already in place on the template, no need to add them. The images will be deleted after Christmas.

If you want to add a holiday greeting you can add a new widget to the header or banner section on the Page Elements page. The header section is not full width, it allows room for the Santa image on the side. The banner is full width.

If you want to add some space so that the Santa image is not covering your first blog post you can add an HTML/Javascript widget to the banner section and put some line breaks in there <br />. More line breaks for more space.

Ok, here is the template. Put your cursor in the text box below and right click to highlight all and copy, then paste to your text box on your Edit HTML page of your blog. Preview and save the template and you're ready to tweak on the Page Elements and Fonts and Colors pages.

DELETED-

I hope you enjoy this template :) Merry Christmas!

UPDATE JAN 2, 2009:
The Christmas template is removed from this blog, the images are deleted from the file host.

Able To Take Orders Again

Ok I am able to take template orders again. The relevent pages are back on my website.

No New Orders - Again

Well there is a hurricane headed right for where I live this morning, supposedly going to get bad sometime tonight or tomorrow morning. Last time I went without electricity at my house for over a week, so it seems wise to just delete the pages from my site again to prevent any new orders in case I can't fill them. The pages will be back where they belong when I am again able to fill orders. Please send some happy thoughts and prayers to the people of Louisiana and the gulf coast.

August 2008 Brown/Blue/Red Color Scheme

Here is another new color scheme, this one uses a background tile from citrusmoon. If you use an image from online, always be sure to read and adhere to the terms of use published on the website.

The colors I used in this scheme are:

#FFFFFF

#C0B284

#5C624F

#884A1F

#71542A

#5D4117

You don't need to use a background image to use these colors. To add a background image, first save a copy of your current template to your hard drive in case you need to go back to it. You must upload the image to an online image host. Then go to the Edit HTML page and replace this:

body {
margin:0px;
padding:0px;
background:$bgcolor;
font:$bodyfont;
}

with this, inserting the correct url to your background image in the appropriate place:

body {
margin:0px;
padding:0px;
background:$bgcolor url(http://url-to-image-goes-here.jpg);
font:$bodyfont;
}

If you use the free tile, show your appreciation and give a link back to citrusmoon on your blog. Copy and paste into an HTML/Javascript widget:

Background image courtesy of <a href="http://citrusmoon.typepad.com/">citrusmoon</a>.

Have fun changing the look of your blog!

Back in Business

My computer is back in fine working order and the web pages are back where they belong on my website. I can take template orders again now.

No New Template Orders For Now

I have lost internet access at my house due to lightening attacking my computer, and won't get it back for a week or more so I have deleted the pages on my template site which display the templates. This is my only option right now to stop people from placing orders. The pages will be back online when I have internet access from home again. I have refunded payments to those who have ordered templates and not received them, and they will receive their templates for free. I apologize for any trouble.

July 2008 Summer Color Scheme

Hello Bloggers!

Anyone in a mood for some bright summery colors? I've got lots for you here. Use them all or just a few, and have fun playing with your blog's color scheme!

#FFFFFF

#FCFAED

#F8F3D7

#EFE4A4

#F8E3D8

#D26226

#F8D8DD

#E77586

#EAF4FB

#2080B3

#DDF8D8

#C4F2BB

#EDF8D8

#6E9D1C

#F8D8ED

#DD2798

#4C4C4C

If you are inspired to change your color scheme, leave a link in the comments so I can have a look.

Pastel Green and White Color Scheme

Hi Everyone :)

I've got another color scheme for you. This is a simple four color scheme. I've used a blue-ish green with a purple for the link hover color, but you could use any colors you like.

#F7F9F8

#DFEAE4

#395747

#563848

Sign into your Blogger account, click on the Layouts tab and go to the Edit HTML page to save a copy of your current template before making any changes. Then go to the Fonts and Colors page to change the colors. Enter the six digit color codes in a box to the right that says "Edit color hex code" and press enter. Have fun changing your blog's look!

April 2008 Spring Color Combo

Hi Folks!

With Spring breaking out all around us I thought I'd make a new color combination for Spring and share it with you all.

This color scheme uses a background tile from Squid Fingers. It's not required, you could just use a plain background color instead. If you do use the free tile, be nice and give a link back to Squid Fingers on your page. Copy and paste into an HTML/Javascript widget:

Background image courtesy of <a href="http://www.squidfingers.com/patterns/4/">Squid Fingers</a>

To add a background image, first save a copy of your current template to your hard drive in case you need to go back to it. You must upload the image to an online image host. Then go to the Edit HTML page and replace this:

body {
margin:0px;
padding:0px;
background:$bgcolor;
font:$bodyfont;
}

with this, inserting the correct url to your background image in the appropriate place:

body {
margin:0px;
padding:0px;
background:$bgcolor url(http://url-to-image-goes-here.jpg);
font:$bodyfont;
}

Press the preview button and you should see the background image showing up. Save the template changes and go to your Fonts and Colors page to edit the colors.

These are the colors used in this scheme. You can see how I've used them on my blog. You can use them any way you like on your blog. Enter the six digit code in a box to the right of the color modification area on the Fonts and Colors page, then hit your Enter button to see the change in the window below.

#FFFFFF

#F7F4E8

#F0EBD2

#F2E6D9

#DCB5A1

#C8A08C

#D8DFCD

#AFB9AA

#475142

#000000

When you have it the way you like it, save the changes.

This project will probably take a couple of hours. Have fun with it! Leave a link in the comments so we can all see how yours came out :)

Consolidating RSS Feeds

I will now be doing all updates through Christine's Templates Blog. The updates will display through the RSS feed on my templates hompage, and both RSS feeds will now be the same. I think this will simplify things.

Subscribe to my templates News and Updates Feed

Blue and Gray Combination

Here is a nice blue and gray color combination you can use if you like.

dark blue - 38374A
dark gray - BEBEBE
light gray - DDDDDD

 

 

 

Bill the Lizard

The new template I started on the other day is called Bill the Lizard, named after a character in Alice in Wonderland. It's currently dressing this blog.

It is very similar to Widgetopia, with a slightly different look. The Blog Title and Blog Description are next to each other, the Date and Post Title are also next to each other, and there's a box containing all the widgets (in this color scheme, it's white). It has all the same font/color/page element functionality of Widgetopia, all the same 18 layout versions, and will be available in all the Widgetopia color schemes plus nine new ones.

It should be online in a few days.

Exciting October in Christine's Blog Template World

It was October 2006 when my current template website went online, so it's already a year old! Time flies.

I got a big burst of motivation and recently rewrote the Widgetopia, PhotoBlogger, and Newspaper templates. They all now have more font and color options, more places to put widgets, more pre-made color schemes, and no tables!

I was excited to get this done. The templates without tables load faster. The double width side column on Widgetopia gives a much larger space option for side content. There are many more color schemes for people to choose from, but there are also more font and color options for creating their own color schemes. PhotoBlogger has much more space for images. I created easy to modify color schemes with only a few colors in them. This is exciting stuff to me.

I also have made my descriptions of the templates on my website more detailed, so people can know exactly what they're getting before they buy.

I was recently looking at some of the free Blogger templates available. They looked nice, had nice graphics on them. When I put them on my blog, they fell way short. The author hadn't put a lot of time into the details, and it showed.

I put a lot of thought into my templates, I want them to be right in all the details, I want to provide a quality product.

I started working on a new one today, similar to Widgetopia, but with a slightly different look.