MY BABY HAS A NEW LOOK

HEY DID YOU NOTICE THINGS LOOK A LIL DIFFERENT OVER HERE?

I hope so. I really do.

I’ve freshened things up. Switched ’em about. Made some changes. Because I realised one of the reasons I was feeling pretty uninspired when logging on to write a post was because I was bored of my old blog design. And I thought if I was bored, then you guys sure as hell are too.

I spent the first half of my Sunday breakfasting in Leigh-on-Sea, walking the mutts in the woods and buying hydrangeas (in both blue & pink, very ‘blogger’, I know). And then my second half of my Sunday has been consumed with figuring out how to install a new blog theme, wrestling with plug-ins and playing around with widgets.

(In case you were wondering, the third part of my Sunday is allllll about the roast dinner)

I’m feeling slightly smug. In the past, I’ve always left any major changes or technical bits ‘n’ bobs to a techy friend of mine (I’ve mentioned him here & here before). He puts up with my out of the blue messages for tech support and weird requests like ‘can you just put all the photos into bubbles, pretty please?’ Also, regular messages that consist of ‘WHY HAS MY MAILCHIMP STOPPED WORKING? MY BLOGS AREN’T BEING SENT? HELP’….’Oh wait sorry, it is working. Just misread it all. Sorry. Happy Sunday!’

But today I thought about giving things a whirl myself. I see all these other bloggers over on Twitter just casually updating their themes left, right & centre like the mega babes they are, so why the heck couldn’t I do that too? And if I don’t know how, then RN is as good a time as any to teach myself.

I have to say a huge thanks to Pipdig who actually made the whole process super duper straight forward. They’ve made it totally possible for a complete techy novice (oh hello) to upload a new design to a WordPress website. And then, if that isn’t enough, they talk you through all the features of the theme and tell you how to use them all, how to customize and get the most out of all the features.

TOP BROWNIE POINTS, TEN GOLD STARS & AN ICE CREAM FOR DINNER FOR YOU MY FRIEND.

Pipdig, you’ve made me feel less of a moron today. Ta bubs.

Here are a few pieces of advice to anyone installing a new theme to their self-hosted wordpress site for the first time:

• Find a good site to buy your theme from. Just to clarify, you don’t have to buy your theme – WordPress have a load that you can use for free. But if you’re looking to take your blog to the next level, then you might choose to go for something a bit sexier. I’ve only ever used Pish&Posh and Pipdig, both have been marvy. I found these guys through other bloggers – if you find a blog design that you love, scroll to the bottom and it should say where the design comes from. You can then visit their site and look at their whole range of designs. You’re welcome.
• Don’t skip steps. If you choose to do the install yourself (because there is the option for them to install it for you. I know, the luxury!) then take note of alllll the steps and don’t skip. I’ve learnt that with techy stuff. Nothing is there ‘just because’. The step is there because it makes something work.
• If you do come up against problems, google that sh*t. Okay so I couldn’t figure out why I couldn’t download a plugin that was required with the theme. All I kept getting was ‘computer says no’. I googled and googled and googled again until I nearly threw my laptop out the window. And then I found an answer for it. I mean it only took two hours but by golly I made it work in the end. Take note; there is so much info on the internet (some may say a little too much!) But it’s all there for your use. So if you come across problems, just google that sh*t. Don’t give up, you can do this.
• Don’t be afraid to try things out. I’ll admit, I’ve always been slightly scared of the left hand bar of stuff on my WordPress account. I worried that if I pressed things, my whole site might disappear into oblivion along with everything I’ve ever written. But actually, this weekend I had a play around. And I tried stuff. I solved problems. And guess what? I didn’t break anything or lose any posts. Be bold, it’s the only way you’ll learn.

 

So what do you think? This theme is called ‘Crystal’ and she cost £49.

And yes, I’ve still got a bit of work to do. And yes, it’s not THAT different to my old design as in, oh look it’s still black and white. But I’m a sucker for simplicity.

Have a look around. Tell me if anything doesn’t work pretty please.

Happy Hump Day you lovely lot.