Making Changes to the Google Blogger Navbar

In this post, I talked about working on fixing up the navbar on my Google Blogger blog. It was going okay so far, and, now, I’ve actually finally finished fixing it. Well, at least until I decide to make a few more changes / modifications to it or something.

Remember that screenshot from the navbar post? Yeah, well, let’s just say that my navbar doesn’t really look like that anymore.

Forgot to get a screenshot, but I don’t think it even matters anymore since I might just end up changing my mind anyway (Update: yep, I did end up changing my mind. LOL. For instance, the Movies Meta blog doesn't even have a navbar anymore).

Currently, my navbar now has the following:

• Blog title
• The menu links (about, contact, categories)
• Search

So, I kept the title and the menu links, and they still look the same as in the screenshot. But I decided to remove the follow buttons and the “subscribe to the RSS” icon.

I decided that they shouldn’t be on the navbar anymore and will just place them somewhere else.

Transformation of the Google Blogger Search Box

As for the search - it’s no longer a search box. It now looks like one of the menu links that you can see on the screenshot.

There’s the search icon and then the word “search” beside it. When you click it, a modal shows up. This modal contains the search box that you can see on the screenshot.

Update: the search box has also changed. For instance, the Anime Meta Archives blog has a full-screen search feature. Once the search icon is clicked, the full-screen search bar will show up. 

Stop the Google Blogger Navbar from Looking Cluttered

I thought it was better that way so the navbar doesn’t look so cluttered and people will only see the search box when they actually want to use it.

So far, I think the Google Blogger navbar looks okay now, and I’m so totally done with it. At least, I really hope I’m done with it.

I dunno though. LOL. Who knows, I might decide to add the follow buttons and RSS icon there again or something.

Until then, I’m just gonna say that I’m done with the Google Blogger navbar and can now focus on the right sidebar.

*Notes:
- First image is by GraphBerry (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- This was previously published elsewhere on Sunday, January 1, 2017 at 11:42 AM

Fixing The Google Blogger Navbar

So- am still working on my Google Blogger blog. I’ve decided to focus on the navbar for now. So far, it’s going sort-of okay. Sort-of, but not really. What does that mean, you ask?

Google Blogger Navbar

I wanted a fixed navbar so that when you scroll down, you can still see the blog title and the menu links (plus whatever else you added to said navbar).

The fixed part is working a-okay on my Google Blogger blog already. It looks pretty nice too 😊. I’ve also got the blog title on the navbar in fancy-looking, but still readable font.

I’ve got some of the menu links listed already, and they even have icons (from Font Awesome, which is really awesome, by the way).

I’ve got follow buttons too (Pinterest and Twitter) as well as a “Subscribe to the RSS” icon though the links haven’t been inserted yet.

The buttons initially looked rather small (was using the default in Font Awesome), but I decided to make them bigger. I first tried fa-lg then fa-2x before finally settling with fa-3x.

I’ve got a search box too though it doesn’t really work yet. Currently, the entire navbar looks like this:

You can’t see the title with the fancy-looking font, but, yeah, it’s there. It’s to the left of the “About” link. What do you think about this navbar?

Some Problems / Issues with the Google Blogger Navbar

Well, the navbar looks nice on bigger screens, but I still need to fix the way it looks on smaller screens.

Am also planning to fix up the search box some more. I’m thinking of getting rid of the large textbox and just using the search icon.

Then, when the search button is clicked, that’s only when the search box will show up where people can type whatever they’re looking for.

It should make the navbar look less cluttered, and it should make its appearance on mobile screens much nicer.

Looking forward to finishing up with fixing the Google Blogger navbar so I can move on to the other parts of my blog that need fixing (that would be pretty much everything, unfortunately). Hopefully, I can start blogging there soon.

Update: have decided to forgo the fixed header navbar for all my Google Blogger blog themes. And, yes, as can be seen with this blog, I've started blogging on Blogger already. You can check out a list of my Blogger blogs here.

*Notes:
- First image is by GraphBerry (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- This was previously published elsewhere on Tuesday, December 20, 2016 at 11:40 AM

Google Blogger Blog Themes Basic Framework

Remember my last post about Google Blogger? Yeah, that one. I wasn’t exactly pleased with the aforementioned blogging platform when I wrote that.

But, right now, am feeling kind of pleased with it, and that’s totally awesome. What’s going on, you ask?

Creating a Theme on Google Blogger

So, I mentioned I was trying to make a theme on Google Blogger, and it wasn’t exactly working out, which was super frustrating.

But, now, it’s really kinda working out, so that’s really great. I mean, I still have a lot to do before having a finished blog template, but, at least at the moment, it’s going kinda well.

Basic Theme Framework

I kinda have the basic framework already. I have the:

• Navbar at the top

Update: have decided to forgo the navbar

• Blog posts on the left side
• Sidebar on the right

Update: currently, all my Google Blogger blogs, except Movies Meta, which doesn't have a sidebar, have this feature

• 3 column-footer at the bottom

Update: have decided to go with a 2-column footer instead

Hopefully, I can finish fixing this theme as soon as possible. I’m trying to make it as simple as possible and yet still make sure that it looks nice/to my liking so I can finally start blogging there.

Looking forward to it though it might take a while (unfortunately) unless things continue going well. Wish me luck?

Update: have finished a lot of Blogger blogs already, including this one. Am currently working on a few more.

*Notes:
- Image is by GraphBerry (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- This was previously published elsewhere on Thursday, December 8, 2016 at 11:38 AM

Problems With Google Blogger

Argh, mein gott, this is terrible. Uff, Google Blogger is seriously driving me crazy. I just wish it would work already. I do wanna blog there too, you know?

And, yeah, I totally mean that even though I have like more than enough blogs here on Tumblr as it is. Sigh. So, what’s going on? What’s up with Google Blogger?

Complications and More Complications

Yeah, it really is complicated. Like, really, super times infinity complicated. Which means it’s also a very long story.

I’ll expound on it more later on, but, for right now, I’ll just say that I’m trying to create my own Google Blogger theme.

Google Blogger Themes and Templates

Initially, I tried to look for Google Blogger themes that I could use. This takes a whole lot of time though ‘cause, not only are there like a million zillion templates out there, I also have my own preferences/opinions on what kind of theme I wanna use on my blog.

I’ve since stopped looking for blog templates though. Why? Lots of reasons actually. I’ll discuss that in another post. Right now, let me just say that it’s just not worth it anymore.

No to Themes With Encrypted Codes

Also, I wanna say that I don’t wanna use templates that have encrypted codes, not that I’m saying they’re bad or anything, but- that’s the point, isn’t it?

Since the codes are encrypted, how do you know that there isn’t anything malicious or bad hidden behind the encryption? How can you know for sure that your blog is perfectly safe and a-okay even with these encryption codes?

Creating Google Blogger Themes

So, anyway, thanks to all the reasons mentioned above and more, I’ve decided that I should just create or make my own Google Blogger theme. That’s totally easier said than done though. Sigh. The problem is- wait, scratch that.

Actually there are a lot of problems with this, but, probably the most important is simply the lack of time. I’ve other blogs and stuff to do, so I can’t fully focus on Google Blogger. And that’s why I’ve just decided to create a pretty simple theme.

There’s no need for all the bells and whistles and stuff. But, well- meh, the codes refuse to cooperate. It’s really not that easy. I’ll need more time to figure all this out. But I really wish I could just blog right away already.

Sometimes, I get/feel all frustrated and annoyed and think that eh, forget it. I’ll stick to Tumblr. But then I get all these ideas and think, argh, but I wanna blog on Blogger too. And I also wanna make Blogger themes. Sigh. Hopefully, all the issues will get resolved soon.

I really wish that Google Blogger offered some sort of customization documentation on how to create themes on their blogging platform. You know, kind of like what Tumblr does with their custom theme docs. Totally love and appreciate that, by the way.

Update: So far (yep, I've got plans to make more. LOL), I've managed to create the Blogging Sites Meta, Writing Archives (this blog), Anime Archives (Anime Meta), Movies Meta, and Writing Sites Meta blogs.

Have also started regularly writing and publishing articles on all of them. What can you say about their design and layout?

*Notes:
- First image is by GraphBerry (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- Second image is by GraphBerry (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- This was previously published elsewhere on Saturday, November 26, 2016 at 11:36 AM

Where Do You Get Your Free Google Blogger Templates Or Themes?

Do you have a Google Blogger blog? It's free to make one (or a lot, if you like), and there are a million (well, it seems that way anyway) free themes and templates that you can use for your blog.

If you use Google Blogger, or if you have a Google Blogger blog, are you using a free template? If so, where did you get your free theme? Which website did you use to download it?

I've seen and found lots of pretty awesome and cool themes (free, of course 😊), but it's hard to choose which one to go with. And they're all scattered around on various websites, so it can be hard to find them all.

It's unfortunate that Google Blogger isn't like Tumblr, which has a theme garden. It's got lots of other templates posted on other sites too, but Tumblr itself already offers a multitude of awesome free themes.

You don't even need to download anything. You just have to pick your chosen template while you're logged on to your Tumblr account and then click on the "install" button that they helpfully provide.

Unfortunately, Google Blogger isn't anything like that. The built-in or free themes it offers on its site are, well, let's just say they ain't awesome, okay?

Your Thoughts and Opinions

So, what about you? Have you found free Google Blogger themes? What website do you use? What kind of them do you like? Feel free and welcome to share your thoughts and opinions by leaving a comment below.

*Notes:
- Image is by GraphBerry (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- This was previously published elsewhere on Friday, October 21, 2016 at 11:30 AM