Thursday, March 11, 2010

New Template and other changes on Cornymans Money-Blog!

Coins and banknotes, two of the most common ph...Image via Wikipedia
The time has come that changes being made on my blog and that the focus gets back to the origin of this blog like i wrote way back in November 2008 in my first blog post.

To summarize it - it will be less about making the quick buck, it's much more about the practical advice

- how to invest your money,
- how to save your money,
- how to secure your finances and
- how to earn online some additional funds part-time or full-time with your blog, online or offline.

NEW TEMPLATE DESIGNER FROM BLOGGER

Changing my template was the first step because the first Blogger template was not optimized for long articles (the articles looked always much longer *lol*).
It was an easy step, it just took me around 1 hour because Google has decided to offer now a Template Designer inside of Blogger! When you look into the choices which Blogger's Template Designer offers, you will see that in the coming days and weeks most of the blogs will look more professional and get a touch of high quality look :)

You can access the new Template Designer from Blogger ONLY in their Blogger in draft section. Simply login in like you do usually and click on Layout. There you will see the new link (last link) for the Template Designer.

And this time the Layout is no more static, everything can be changed with one mouse click!

  • It's a good start with 15 available Templates and Google announced that more will be added in the coming weeks
Blogger's Template Designer
Blogger Template Designer - Choice of Templates

  • You can rearrange the width any column sidebars to the exact pixel,
  • You can make your template with 1, 2 or 3 columns,
  • You can choose how many columns your footer shall have,

Blogger's Template Designer - Layout
Blogger Template Designer - Layout choices

  • You can change the color themes
  • You have the choice of 100s of background pictures

Blogger's Template Designer - Background images
Blogger Template Designer - Background images

The best feature is you don't have to wait to watch out for the result. A preview of the changes is immediately visible as soon as choose one of the templates + background pictures + by customizing the columns. It will be only used for your blog when you click on the Apply Template-Button.

That means you can mess around with Blogger's Template Designer for hours and rearrange your widgets/gadgets, play with the color themes and so on, nothing will happen to your actual template (it's always better to download a backup of your template, just in case!)

I will be playing some more hours in the coming days with Blogger's Template Designer and for sure rearrange some items until i'm satisfied.

I hope some of you could give me additional advice:
-what doesn't appeal you on the template and what does appeal you-
-Can you read everything or are there some issues with different browsers-
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17 comments:

  1. I didn't notice that news! I look forward to some playing too, because I've been wanting to change things.

    I can read yours fine with Firefox 3.5

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  2. Hi Martin, I like the new look! :) I think it's always a good idea to "get back to basics". :) Looking forward to more posts on personal finance. Good luck and take care!

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  3. I can read it clearly enough, but for me it looks to dark. But hey that's just me, lol!

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  4. I updated three of my templates last night. The new designer makes it so easy :-)

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  5. @Sheila:

    Thanks for your input! I believe it's the easiest way to get a fantastic new template!

    @John - EZGreatLife:
    Thanks! New Post series will start soon :)

    @Jodi:
    You mean the black background for the blog post? It depends which background image i choose. I guess i will change it when there is a more suitable image for the Finance section available.

    @John Make Nothing Online:
    Too easy and we still could customize it with our own CSS-codes and modifications. Now there will be a lot more competition between Blogger and Wordpress because of the easy template choice in Blogger ;-)

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  6. I feel like changing MD's template too lol, anyway this one def looks more organized, although I think it loads a littlw slower than the last one.. I can't be sure tho..my conection not so stable tonite.. :)

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  7. Yes, it loads a litte slower and looks not complete in OPERA. Safari, Firefox, AVANT and Google are ok

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  8. Great new look Martin. I am happy to see your focus is back to what you originally started out to do. I think you will be very successful at it and know your new improved look will help with that. Have a great weekend!!

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  9. @Mariuca:

    It seems that the two sidebars makes loading slower :( perhaps have to reduce the amount of articles from 4 to 3 or 2 and balance the ads on both sides ;)

    @Herby:
    Thanks for the input about the browsers. At the moment only a minority uses Opera. Should be ok to leave the template that way. Just saw that the links in my Twitter widget can't be read (yellow on blue background).

    @ManOverBoard.com
    Hi Glenn, now the hard work will begin but when i see your success in the last two months, it should be possible ;)
    Thanks for your encouragement, Glenn!

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  10. thanks so much for the ec. I am also having a contest, maybe you can join too.
    http://www.melandriaromero.net/2010/03/organize-your-life-e-organizer-review.html

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  11. I'm trying to find the link in my layout tab and i can't find it...it would be so much easier to mess with margins and stuff without having to mess with the html. I hate messing with html. I'll do it if I have to, but am always willing to take an easier way :)

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  12. How did I miss this? Thank you so much for sharing!

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  13. Never mind...I figured it out. You have to be logged in in blogger draft :)

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  14. Great! It speaks more of your blog and theme now. :)

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  15. Happy St. Patrick's Day, my blogger friend ;]

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  16. Advice, not advise, in this case.

    I think it's a decent look, though I'd prefer you didn't use blogspot of course, then I might be able to visit you without using a VPN!

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  17. @Chinaren:

    Thanks for proof-reading :)
    I think you still can "visit" me on http://www.yousaytoo.com/cornyman
    without VPN ;-)

    @Alterity Button Jewelry:
    Did you already change your template? Long time no visit from me, only yesterday :(

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