Help with my Blog, please.....

I just created my first blog and need input. What change??? What to kill???? etc. If some of you wouldn't mind taking a peek at it. thanks! I'll await your answers.

www.grammasreads@blogspot.com

I like the color combinations. The only suggestion would be to add pictures. The italics were a little hard to read for me (maybe just me). :)

I would also vote for ditching the italics, they're a bit hard to read. Personally, I would also ditch the Shelfari thing in place of a LibraryThing widget, but that is just LT-loyalty (LoyalTy?) talking.

I agree about the italics, they slow down the reading a lot. I think it's a lot of pink, but it's a good pink! I like it and you're off to a good start!

I'd recommend adding a subscribe / rss /atom button also.

I agree about getting rid of the italics and adding pictures.

Yes, get rid of the italics.

Also, find a way to separate the paragraphs. It is incredibly hard to read templates where the paragraphs are not separated because it is hard to find the paragraphs (I actually don't go back to blogs with this formatting problem and have tossed out a lot of templates for my own blog for the same reason).

It would be a good idea to start using tags, labels or categories if you are going to do more than just book reviews (which it seems you plan to do from the description on the sidebar).

I would ditch the subscribe to atom link altogether. The RSS icon shows up in the browser on any site that has a feed so it's not necessary to put a link on the page unless you have more than one feed (e.g. posts and comments), subscribe buttons for specific services (Google reader, Bloglines, etc) or an alternate e-mail subscription option. I suspect I'm guilty of violating my own advice ... I'll have to go check. :)

The italics must go! They're very hard to read -- and I don't bother to subscribe to blogs that I can't easily read :) Obviously your post content is the most important thing, but design is also crucial when it comes to attracting/retaining readers.

Also, that strange green colour that some of your text is in is quite difficult to read -- and a bit clash-y with the pink. It'd probably be better to echo a colour you've already got on the page, like the dark purple of your post titles. Keep everything simple!

Also -- never forget to proofread.

Good luck :)

another vote for getting rid of the italics.
another vote for needing paragraphs.
and a vote for calming down that pink border. you like pink, fine...just a little less pink... ;-)

if you look at a lot of blogs, you realize different people like different things. a lot of them would drive me nuts and a look that would drive me nuts is enough to keep me from reading a blog.
personally, i think it is better to aim for a clean, calm look, not too busy. the blog is about mood to a degree, and you have to create a mood you like and hopefully your visitors will like but mostly it is about what is written there.

aren't you happy you asked? lol

Well, you don't seem to have taken the advice, but I will add my comments anyway:

I strongly recommend you get rid of the italics.

The pink border is fine (if you like pink), but the pink border, the varying shades of pink text, the pink highlighting - very hard to read. It actually hurt my eyes after a very short period of time.

Pictures would be really helpful to break up the pink.

It's a good start - heaven knows I have fiddled with my layout and settings a dozen times. I hope you keep blogging.

She has taken some of the advice.

She dumped Shelfari.

The greenish lettering that was killing me has gone. And I think some of the pinks have been muted from what I remember originally.

Everything is a matter of personal choice, but pictures really do break up any monotony.

If you're dead-set on the italics, which you seem to be, you might want to experiment with different, darker, colors and perhaps bold. The italics don't bother me while I'm reading, but readjusting, as I'm typing this, is a strain on the eyes.

If you find yourself doing longer reviews, and either way if you keep the italics, you should definitly consider breaking up your paragraphs.

My two cents. I'm sure many would have improvement ideas for me too that I would ignore, and some have. And I have done exactly what I want for my blog.

hey, we can take a blog at a time and give advice! I will volunteer to be at the bottom of the list...lol

Well, if we're doing a blog at a time, I'm open to suggestions for mine:

http://shereadsbooks.org/

Sorry....can't say that I find anything I would change, looks wise. It's just the sort of look to a blog that I like...clean and neat.

But then I have a touch of OCD.

#12, I like the look of yours a lot just as it is. One tweak I'd want to make if it were mine and if I could figure out how, is to slide the sidebar over to the right so the edge is justified with the right edge of your banner. Then broaden the main section to eliminate some of the empty space along the side. But that's just my own personal preference--it looks very polished as it is.

And, well .... of course, I'd want to add Worducopia to the blogroll. ;-)

>14 Alirambles: Shameless!! And hey, I answered her first and I'm not on her blog roll either!

Not to suck up...because I AM already on your blog roll...but I very much like the look of your blog Ali. But then I favor blue.
I like the whole monochromatic thing going at the top there.
The only thing I would change in the white type on the top right...bothers my eyes a bit. but minor.

As to broadening the main section...well, I fooled around with my template a bit to do that and I widened it a bit but was afraid to go too far. Might screw the whole thing up. And I was concerned that too wide a column is harder for people to read too. But did not want to go the three column look either.

I can't say I am totally happy with my template but it seems like too much work to change now.
maybe someday I will pay someone to create one for me when I know what I would like. "see, a bit of this...and a bit of that...and see how this blog looks..and then this one..."

One thing I would suggest to anyone with a website is to run it through the Browser Shots website (free).

Basically it gives screenshots of what your site looks like on different browsers on different platforms. It can also check screen sizes. I use a 12" laptop and if your site makes me scroll sideways to read it, chances are I'm not coming back.
Another common issue is font size. I just went to the Pump Your Book blog and the font is illegible in Firefox 2. Now, I can make the font bigger, but I shouldn't have to do that the minute I get to a site (it also often breaks the template). This seems to be a common problem with certain Blogger templates because of the way some of them code font size -- it just doesn't translate well to a number of browsers.

>16 anysia: thanks anysia, that is a very cool site. i will have to check that out further

Ditto caitemaire's thanks! Great site, anysia.

>16 anysia: Thanks Anysia, that's a great suggestion. If you look at my blog do you have to scroll over to see the full posts, or just the sidebar?

>15 caitemaire: I love the look of the blue background too but it's really hard to find colors that show up well on it. Maybe I should just switch the white for plain black.

>19 Alirambles: Actually I don't have to scroll over at all. You have a fluid width layout so it just rearranges itself to fit the screen size. It's the fixed-width layouts that create problems (it's rare to find one wider than my screen, but it does happen ... strangely I have more of a problem with this with author newsletters than with websites at the moment).

Now I'm waiting to see the screenshots of my blog!

>broaden the main section

This is a huge problem with blogger layouts, at least for me. I don't know why they insist on putting the text in a tiny little column down the center! I really need to learn a bit more html, so I can work on my format. The more I look at it, the more I would like a white background and something a little more modern looking. Perhaps someday, when I feel a little more confident playing with it.

When I first went to your blog (ages ago), I thought "Oh no, not that template!" as it began to load.

The reason is that one of my favourite blogs (not a book blog but a Canadian TV writer blog) switched to the same template and the headings for the items in his sidebar are miniscule and absolutely unreadable in Firefox (I suspect it looks fine in IE).

Your blog, however, is perfectly fine to read. So one of you fiddled with the defaults. That's why it pays to check with other browsers when you select a new template or make changes.

I like your format, LisaLynne. I'm using FF on a Mac, and everything's readable to me.

And I totally agree with you about the blogger templates. They consistently have way too much wasted space. You've changed your proportions, right?

#21--LisaLynne, that's the same template I use for my personal blog (alirambles.blogspot.com), except I futzed with it to give myself sidebars on either side. I'm not well versed in HTML at all, so it was quite the triumph to make it work! Let me know if you want me to hunt down the site I used that gave step by step instructions on reformatting blogger templates. I didn't bookmark it but I'm sure I could find it.

Ooh, very handy site, thanks anysia. Wish I'd known about when I was playing around with templates a week or two ago.

Thanks, everyone! (And anysia, I'm glad you hung around long enough to let it load!)

I have a friend whose husband is well-versed in html, and he was able to widen the center column for me. It turned into a real pain because the parchment piece is a specific size and he had to do a lot of fiddling with it. I'm hoping that some of the blog sites that made all those great classic templates start doing something new with the updated templates; then I will definitely update it. I will just never understand the obsession with that narrow center column.

ThePam, thanks very much - I was a little worried because on the site anysia linked, the page seemed to cut off in FF and there was no link at the bottom to go to older posts. Glad to know it looks okay.

Hey Folks! I'm trying to kill the italics but so far everytime I reset it it just goes back to the original. I'm not all that blog-savvy apparently. I do want to make some changes but time is always a factor for me. Thanks for all the comments and as soon as I can get the italics gone, I shall!

So - after reading the comments here, I think I will ditch the italics on my posts (I'll have to do it later, I've got an appt. this morning I need to get ready for) to make them more readable - if anyone has a moment, stop by my blog and let me know what else I should change. . . I'm new but learning a LOT! Any comments are greatly appreaciated!

http://wendisbookcorner.blogspot.com
wbarker (at) hotmail.com

Thanks for any suggestions!

Wendi, your italics look fine to me. You're only using them to demarcate specific areas and it's seems a bit easier on the eyes with your color combo.

Macygma, it looks like the template you're using might not allow a change in the print color but I don't know how it got stuck on italics. The sample shows normal printing. Perhaps you unknowingly set something up in the HTML code. I know too little to help out on that but maybe someone with more know-how will get back to you.

Wendi, I agree with 29. The problem comes when EVERYTHING is italics. The use of italics in certain sections, particularly when quoting something is fine. At least, I hope it is, because I almost always use it when quoting.

Yes, Wendi, leave in the occasional italics. They are perfect for emphasis, though I agree it's hard to read an entire post in italics. I also like your colors.

I'm pretty new at this blogging business, and I know I keep fiddling with mine, maybe too much. I'm not sure, but the one I started first (The Anything Blog) may be a bit too busy. The second one, Just One More Page, may actually be a bit bland, but I wanted the mood to be calm and conducive to thoughtful reading.

Please let me know what you think. Any comments on either of my blogs will be very much appreciated!

http://justonemorepageblog.blogspot.com/ (new blog for reviews, book giveaways, and other book-related stuff only)

http://storeetllrsanythingblog.blogspot.com/ (some book-related stuff but also with posts on other subjects)

TIA!

BTW, I haven't listed everyone's blogs on mine yet, but they are now all on my browser's Favorites list. So good to find new blogs to read!

#29/30/31 Thanks for the feedback - I didn't see a link in the original posts, but yes, could see how italics for the whole thing would be hard to read. :) THANK YOU!

#31 - I just went to your 1st blog, and I liked it. I've got a widescreen computer, and it filled the entire screen - I'm going to check out your other one shortly.

#32 ~ Thanks, wbarker! I really appreciate your taking the time to check them out and let me know what you think.

This is an old thread, but I need help too! I just finished a wordpress class. My blog looks fine if someone is using Google Chrome or Safari, but if someone is using Explorer the pictures become huge and grainy. Even the symbol for the RSS feed, which is tiny, becomes huge. What should I do?