All Things Fee: Blog How To

Showing posts with label Blog How To. Show all posts

Friday, January 9, 2015

{Blog Updates} New for 2015

As I am redesigning All Things Fee, I decided to go through my past posts to see what I had added (and now deleted, as I reset my template back to the basics!) Some of these are as easy as going into your blogger settings (on the left side of your blogger dashboard page). Others take a little more patience, and some codes that you can copy and paste from different tutorials (like the social media icons on the right! they took me an entire afternoon, because I had to keep tweeking the image in photoshop to make fit in my sidebar properly).

Since I started my redesign, I've done quite a bit of "behind the scenes" work, things you may not notice but definitely makes things flow a little better. It's pretty exciting to see it all coming together too. So far I have: reset to the Simple Template in blogger, changed all the fonts to be consistent with the graphics I've been designing (I think this unifies my posts and images), changed a lot of my background settings to transparent so that the background shows through without an edge, designed the header, shop header, my signature, a new "logo" for Calling All Crafters and my social media icons in photoshop too. Phew.

Next on my list, is to add a couple more pages. Currently, I've updated my About page, and added my Shop (Looking for Cupcake Toppers Printables? Check out the shop!) I've got a couple ideas of what else I want/need, so we will see what I can get accomplished.

Here's what I have added in the Past, and will be reviewing and added if needed. Some of it stayed, and I think some of it has since been added to the templates so it isn't necessary to add, it's already there. Here are two of the most important things I'm keeping in my "behind the scenes" work!

Installing Google Analytics (my full tutorial on how to install!)

Replying to comments

Looking for more updates? Here's everything I've done in the past and blogged about!

Have any advice for me? What do you have on your blog that you think makes your blog better?

I love any feedback you can give me too!

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Updates: Pin it Button over images!

Have you noticed the Pinterest update here on the blog?

You know, the one where when you hover over an image it gives you the Pin It option?

Well, I can't take all the credit.

Blogger Sentral had a super easy "tutorial", I don't know if I should even call it that!

Because it was as easy as copy and pasting!

I love when small changes make a huge impact!

Blogger Sentral advises you to paste the code after the </body> tag in your html.

I searched and didn't have that so I put it here:

Hope that helps if you don't have a </body> tag either!!

If you look at my code, I just put it after my <body tag. Then opened my blog in another window, to check to see if it worked, and it did! So, I kept it there. If it hadn't I would have moved it and tried somewhere else!

Be honest, love it or hate it?

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

How to Add "Pin it" button to Posts.

A while back I added the Pin It button to the bottom of my posts.

And there are actually two ways to do it! First the super simple way.

Go over to Pinterest.

Once your signed in, go to the About Tab, and Click Pin It Button.

You'll be at the Goodies page, scroll down until you see this:

Fill in your info:

Then highlight, and copy your code.

(It will update as you fill in your info)

Now to get it into ALL of your posts. Not just the one your working on.

Go to your blogger dashboard. Click Settings>Posts and Comments.

Now in the Post Template box, paste your code.

If you want it before your signature put the code at the top of the box,

if you want it under your signature scroll to the bottom.

Click Save Settings.

Now go start a new post and you will see your new Pin it Button!

(Now, in the post editor it looks just like a link, but when I clicked preview it was correct!)

Now, If you don't want to see the "Pin it" button in your posts, and want them underneath your going to have to take the code you copied from pinterest and add it to your html.

To edit your html in blogger you need to go to your dashboard, and have your code from pinterest ready.

Then click Template.

Then click, Edit HTML.

Then you will get a warning, and I will warn you too.

You can mess your blog up with the littlest error. Trust me. So copy and paste your entire html in a word document before you start editing, just in case something goes wrong!

I added my code to my html, and honestly, I don't even know where I put it! Ha!

But it's easy to find!

See the box next to Expand Widget Templates? Click it.

Using your keyboard hold down apple + f (so that you get the find option in your browser)

and look for:

post.body

Now paste your code beneath that!

Save your template, and check to see if it works. If not, get your code from the word document and try again!

Hope this helps you, if your looking to add a Pin it button!

If you know how to add a signature to your posts, then you can add the easy Pin it button!

The only reason I didn't add it in my posts was because I wanted the facebook like button, but I may be changing that too!

Make sure to either Pin this post, or comment here if this helps you out!

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Replying to comments!

It used to be so hard sometimes to reply to comments! Sometimes you could get the email address of the commenter and others you couldn't. Then sometimes I would want to reply on the blog to so that others with the same question or thought could see my answer too. Which made replying to every comment so much harder than it needed to be.

Well, not anymore!

I have to thank Jaimie from C.R.A.F.T for figuring it out! Blogger must have made an update and some blogs were just able to do it, while I couldn't. But with some investigating Jaimie figured it out!

(She shared over on Facebook! I love all the little updates she gives over there!)

(If you use blogger's old interface, go here, that's how Jaimie figured it out!)

With just one click (in the comments sections of your dashboard) and you will be on your way to easier reply's! Yay!

See comment Location? Make sure that is on Embedded.

I clicked the ? just to make sure it was right, and there it is! Reply right on comment form!

I am so happy that I know can reply to you guys easier!

Thanks Jaimie for figuring it out!

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Changing up my signature!

While I updated my blog, I decided that I wanted my signature to be updated too!

Before Update:

After Update:

Want to update your signature?

Originally, I added my signature by using this tutorial.
(Wow, 2 years almost to the day I added my first signature!)

Here's how I updated it:

Created a signature image in Photoshop.

To do this I opened Photoshop, created a new document with the size of 75 pixels high by 150 pixels wide.

Then added my text and heart.

Saved my image as a .png file. ( I also saved it as a .psd for editing too)

Now to get it from my computer to my blog.

I signed into blogger, opened up a new post.

Added my image, and centered it ( so that I didn't have to center it everytime I wrote a blog post)

Clicked HTML.

Copied the entire HTML code.

Went back to my dashboard.

Clicked Settings, then Posts and Comments.

Pasted my html code into the Post Template box.

Don't forget to Save settings!

Now, go write a new post, publish and you'll see your new upgraded signature!

**Edited to Add**

If you have any drafts saved before you change your signature, your old signature will be on those.

You will have to manually change them, but any new posts will have the new signature!

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Creating a Facebook Username

So, I have had my facebook page for All Things Fee for a while now, and I just realized that I never made my username. So I thought why post abut how to do it.

Before my link to my facebook page was

www.facebook.com/AllThingsFee/(and a bunch of random numbers)

Leaving the link with all those random numbers didn't look nice or professional. Want to get rid of your numbers? Easy.

Sign into facebook. And get to your page. At the top you should see your name and Edit Info.

Click edit info, and you will be brought to your Basic Information page ( if not on the left sidebar you can click basic information)

Then find username and follow the remaining steps. Easy. Peasy! And looks much better!

Now, I can leave my html as this: https://www.facebook.com/AllThingsFee

Do you facebook? If so, let's be friends!

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Add Text to Photos with Preview

A while back I noticed that you could upload a photo to your blog post in blogger,

and then edit it in Picnik.

Good thing I didn't get used to that.

Because for some reason or another that option is gone.

Even though I love Photoshop, I didn't want to have to open it up just to add

I use iPhoto to adjust any color issues, fix any blemishes and crop my photos that I share here.

It's quick and easy.

While I know how to extensively fix photos in Photoshop,

and I know how to create an action to do it for me.

I just felt like there had to be an even quicker way.

And there is!

Did you know you can do more than just look at a photo in the application Preview?

Me neither.

I just did some searching and found how easy it is to add text using Preview.

I know. I can't believe it either!

If you are concerned that someone is taking your photos without permission, or just want to add a simple text to your image, or make sure credit is given to you. Here's how!

First, import your photos from your camera, cell phone, etc. ( Again I use iPhoto.)

Then do any adjusting in iPhoto. Color, cropping, etc. I then drag my edited photo to my desktop.

Then drag or open your image (just double click it) into Preview. This is what it will look like.

Look below your photo, is there a toolbar? No? That's okay you can add it.

Click the Annotate button.

Did the toolbar show up?

Now, you will see the letters Aa in a box. That's how you add your text box.

Click and drag it to create a square or rectangle big enough for you text.

Want to change the size, color or font? Click the Aa button ( without the box) and you will get windows to pop open to let you change your settings.

Once happy with text, do a File>Save. This will overwrite your initial photo that you dragged out of iPhoto. Your original photo without text is still in iPhoto, because when you dragged your photo out of iPhoto you created a copy on your desktop!

Easy, fast and Effective. Works for me! Hope it helps you! Now, to go back and add text to as many of my pictures as possible!

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Wish I knew then, what I know now...

What I am wishing I knew about then is Google Analytics.

I wish that I had correctly installed it the first day I began my blog. Then I would have a more accurate idea of what is working and what isn't here on All Things Fee.

I wish someone had told me this two years ago! Because when I look in Analytics it looks like I have no fans or visitors, because I just installed it!

But when I look in Blogger Stats ( its in your dashboard in the new interface),

it says I have 57,000 visitors since September 2009.

Even though I like to seeing that 57,000 number, Analytics is giving me a better idea of where people are looking and whats working.

So, if you are just starting out, or are thinking about starting out think about adding Google Analytics to your blog.

This was super easy, I had tried months ago with the old interface and struggled. So much so, I gave up. I even asked a friend who builds websites to help, and to no avail Analytics was not installed.

Until now.

To install Google Analytics in the New Blogger Interface you need to create your analytics account first. Go ahead, I'll wait for you!

Then you need to Add Website Profile:

Fill in your information, click Finish:

Then your code is generated, highlight this and copy it.

Okay, now you need to take your code from analytics and install it in Blogger. Before you used to have to find a very specific piece of code in your blog html and insert it, but that is not so now with Blogger's new interface!

In your Dashboard, go to Layout: