Beginning a Redesign of Your Blog

At the heart of every website, there is a design. No matter how large, small, or complex the website, there is some type of coding on the back-end of the system that determines how the page is rendered in browsers – what the user sees. As a website or blog owner and someone that is concerned how your readers react to changes on your site, it is impartial to think that design doesn’t matter because it does.

Getting started with a redesign can be a huge step, especially if you’ve never delved into coding or design before and don’t know what makes up a good blog design.

The Steps to Design a Great Blog

When you start out with a (re)design, you want to be aware that your readers all have different expectations when they visit your site. Some want a clean, organized site, while others would rather see it packed full of content and images. In addition, some prefer an overall look that appeals to their sense of design and style versus yours. Therefore, there are thousands of different options and venues that you have to explore as you begin coding/choosing a design.

After you have decided on an overall look and feel to your new theme, it is time to begin implementing the changes. Before you begin doing this, it is a good idea to backup all your files – any that are associated with your theme, images, and code involved in what users see. Most likely, you’ll also need to jot down some general settings and elements of the previous design that you did enjoy. Once you have converted the theme over to your new design, you might not have any way to save or revert back to the original settings.

Option A – Coding the Theme Yourself

Because there is a wide variety of themes available on the market, you have more options as to how your theme looks and is displayed. However, some people still can’t decide on any one theme from other designers, so they seek to design their own theme – a variation of different themes.

Going down this path, you’ll find that it becomes much easier to code your own template after the first several attempts. In other words, your first design might have errors for some users in different browsers, but you’ll learn how to correct them and further improve your design.

Now, you could always start with a theme framework – there are many great examples, but many blog platforms do not have them developed yet. At this time, WordPress has several that have made strides to improve the way themes are built. This could be a good option if you don’t know the ins and outs of coding a theme from scratch.

Don’t hesitate to “use” some code for other themes. Much of what is included in themes isn’t technically licensed to the original owner, as it is widely used on the web. As long as the final product doesn’t resemble the original design, you shouldn’t see any major problems. Just to be sure, request permission from the designer and/or include attribution on your blog.

A good idea at this stage would be to a) read tutorials on your blog system and general HTML and CSS coding, b) looking at design trends of other blogs, and c) thinking about what you truly want to see implemented on your site.

Begin exploring software solutions that allow you to more easily see your code represented visually, through different colors. They might not be that advanced, but better for you in the long term than the raw code editor included with your blog.

Option B – “Hacking” a Pre-Existing Theme

As previously mentioned, there are thousands already at your disposal. You could easily transform one of these themes to your own work through some coding.

Note: When using this method, it is recommended that you keep the original designer’s link in your theme, providing credit where it is due.

Begin with a theme that has some traits that you like. Then, build upon them with your own variation, using your own styles bringing the flavor that you would bring if you had the time and/or background in designing the template/theme.

Core Elements of Every Blog

Remember that not every design has to have the “standard” features. You can deviate from the traditional blog and add your own personal touches to your theme – there is nobody stopping you from doing this. However, you have to think about the basics, which have been listed below.

• Comment Functionality – People want to leave thoughts on your site, so you shouldn’t hesitate when building a site with this “feature.”
• Sidebar/Widget Flexibility – In more than one way, your design should be flexible. People should be able to use multiple browsers and see very little errors. In the other direction, you should be able to easily configure and change your theme to evolve with your blog, meaning that you are able to configure elements in your sidebar (if not hard-coded into the back-end).
• Header and Footer – These two areas of the site are considered some of the most crucial areas, as they help new readers lead into and out of your site. Anything from popular articles to copyright information can be placed in these areas.
• Sidebar/Elements – Think about sites that you visit on a regular basis. You’ll notice that all of them have a different format for how their site is laid out. Some have a structure that is based on a lot of content in sidebars, while some place more emphasis on the body content area. Base your design around what works and what areas readers/visitors want to see first.
• Typography and Spacing (The Details) – Don’t forget typography and other minute details in your design process. Choose something both readable and elegant, but not to any extremes. Add CSS-based images to various areas of your site, such as the sidebar lists or post details.

Conclusion

The best advice to getting started working with a theme is learning what goes where and how the process of design works. Without the fundamentals down, you will find it extremely difficult to start and generate the results that you desire.