Before you ask, no, the blog hasn't been hacked.
And no, I don't believe this is the end point either.
I tried to put a background together, but Blogger just did not like the dimensions of my uploaded graphics, so I've got to come up with something that works.
But yes, after 2012 (roughly) I'm starting to make major changes to the blog design.
Back when black was edgy, the blog looked roughly current. But now, in the Age of Covid, it just looks like a funeral. And I've been to enough funerals this year.
So this is what I've got so far.
It's.... okay. Serviceable, brighter than before, and something I can work with for the time being while I clean stuff up. I've never been able to get a GIF that I liked for the title graphic because it costs money to buy a product that allows me longer frame times, so I'm going to have to pick something out of my screenshots and run with it.
And, truth be told, I need to clean up the sheer size of the sidebars and make it a bit more PC friendly rather than it looking like a MySpace page.
But hey, the black is gone, and that's fine with me.
I didn't mind the old colour scheme, but white is pretty timeless. Just need to change that header already! :P
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's a constant reminder of the expac that for me broke WoW, and I need to change it.
DeleteWhat would you want for the header if you could have it? I feel so lazy now. I HATE the teeny weeny size of the text for my blog list, I should do something about my hostage images at photo bucket and I should turn my youtube videos back on cause I'd like to see them lol. But nope, I just keep talking to myself about it but don't do anything!
ReplyDeleteOriginally I was going to take different graphics from toons I've played in the various MMOs and have a gif slide show, but unless I bought software it wasn't working right. Need that smooth fade, as well as more time than 2 seconds.
DeleteBut with this color scheme I've got to come up with something else, such as maybe head shots and tie them together or something. I'm not sure about any of this, because I'm still working my way through what I should do, exactly.
The white background is far easier to read. On the other hand, everyone is using white backgrounds these days and it's already starting to feel dated. You might be moving from one outmoded look to another. Then again, as Shintar says, black text on a white field is always going to be timeless, so maybe not.
ReplyDeleteWhat seems like eons ago I borrowed a custome script that I didn't understand from somewhere on the web and used it to break Blogger's dimension rules. Consequently, I don't dare change anything because if I break that script I have no idea how to fix it. Luckily I've been happy with how my blog looks since I got that script working so I don't plan on changing anything until the inevitable moment when something Blogger does breaks it for good.
If I start a second blog, though, as I'm thinking of doing, it will look very different.
Well, it may end up being a washed out version of whatever graphic I choose to put behind it, so white is kind of temporary. Still, it is easier on the eyes than white characters on black background. (At least from my experience.)
DeleteI also need to work on tabs and links at the top of the blog, to make items clearer to find. But for me, the most annoying thing about Blogger is the sheer lack of tools and widgets out there. Oh, you can theoretically create the widget you want, but some pretty basic ones (such as livestream links to Twitch or other streams) simply aren't there. Again, you could build it yourself, but I don't want to spend all of my time figuring this stuff out when there isn't a really good toolkit you can work with. You'd think that Google --of all people-- could figure this out, but I guess not.
It's like working with the Chromecast capability to play music on your laptop to a Chromecast audio device: it should be a no brainer, but it isn't. There is Plex, but I'm not talking about turning your PC into a Plex server, just pulling up an app and streaming your local files to the Chromecast Audio.
(Perhaps that's why Google stopped production of Chromecast Audio: there was no easy option to stream your local files, and Google wanted you to use Google Play Music and now Youtube Music. For more money, obviously.)