I recently helped a pal with her blog redesign and it turned out great. Afterward, I realized that my contribution was mostly tech-related — I implemented her design in Blogger with additional CSS customizations. When people ask me for design help, I’ve learned that it doesn’t always mean “design” help — sometimes it means HTML/CSS help and other times it means help installing a plugin or pushing pixels around.
This is where Get Your Geek On — Blogging for Beginners comes in. These are free tutorials that emphasizes HTML, CSS, Blogger setup, and the freely available tools that help you customize your blog.
Design is important but it’s not the focus of this class. Before you can decorate your blog, you need to know and understand how to use certain tools. The goal of this e-Course is to walk you through the process of building your blog from start to finish by first understanding some basic web publishing principles.
By the time you finish these lessons, you will be empowered to change the minutest detail of your blog to meet your design aesthetic. Understanding the fundamentals will help you make better design decisions. And even if you hire a designer, you’ll understand what the work entails and how to tweak things yourself if necessary.
I will update the following list with links to the lessons as time goes by. Live lessons are denoted in pink.
Here’s what you learn:
Lesson 1: Design
- white space (let your content breathe)
- examples
Lesson 2: HTML (The Essentials)
- HTML basics: div, span, ul, ol, li, p, blockquote, img, a
Lesson 3: CSS (The Essentials)
- CSS basics: margin, padding, border, text-align, font-size, font-family, id, class, etc.
Lesson 4: Basic Blogger Design Settings
Lesson 5: How to customize with CSS
- Web Developer
- Firebug
- Validator
- examples: remove Blogger nav bar, footer attribution
Lesson 6: Images
- inserting and styling images with CSS (banners, posts)
- backgrounds: default bg color, patterns, horizontal/vertical repeat
- adding default signatures to posts
- inserting large images
- favicons
Lesson 7: Static Pages & Sidebars
- About, Blogroll, Buttons, and Contact and recommended placement
- Social Web (ie. Facebook Like Button, Twitter, Flickr, badges, etc.)
Lesson 8: Comments, Archives, & Search
- Archives: labels and categories and display alternatives
- Post titles and LinkWithin
- Disqus — threaded comments
- Linky Tools
Lesson 9: RSS, Newsletters, and Ads
- Feedburner RSS & email form
- Bloglovin
- Ads and Project Wonderful
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Eeee! How exciting! Can’t wait!
x
Wow Katrina, that sounds so neat. How did you get into all this techie stuff?
Sounds great! Is there going to be a charge for the course?
Oooh! Oooh! Sign me up (^•^) I need this course badly! Techie stuff is so important to learn. I can’t wait for more details. xoxo
I’m so exited about this! There is so much more to learn and
i want to learn it so bad! This is really a great idea Katrina :).
Wow, I’m really excited about this! I’ve messed up my blog numbers of times while trying to edit the HTML, can’t wait!
SO EXCITING!
I can’t wait. I’ve had a lot of questions and it’s going to be so nice to have them all answered in an one big organized way instead of searching and searching for tutorials that may or may not get the job done. Yay!!
Wow – That is nice specially when I am technically poor.
ohmy! this is some serious good stuff, you’re A-MA-ZING!
I can’t even tell you how excited I am about this! =D
Wow that sounds like fun!
Yay! One look at my blog and you’ll know how much I need this course.
Can’t wait.
will you do one for wordpress next?
So excited about this!!!
this looks great…i’ve been able to find help guides on what your first 4 lessons are teaching, but what i really need help with is Lesson 5! how am i ever gonna wait til january??
This sounds awesome! And the lessons start on my birthday. :)
Excellent!
I’d love to take it… but, is it for free? I live outside USA.
thanks katrina!
best,
Vicz
Wow! This sounds awesome. Thanks so much!
It’s about time you offered a class!!!! I’m so excited – you’re so great at this thing and making it easier for the rest of us! Would it be a class to take if I use WordPress? (or will you be doing that too!! :)
I am so excited!
This sounds like a blast! Will most of it be transferable to Typepad if I’m already a little proficient?
Ok this is DEFINITELY something I’m interested in and will have to sign up for :-)
Keep us posted!
yay! this is exciting news. :)
i have learned A LOT about the technical aspects of blog design by searching out tutorials online. however, this is a very time/labor intensive way to go about learning, and i know that i am only getting the tip of the iceberg.
it will be so great to take a class from someone with such a great design sense and who really knows what she is doing.
thanks, katrina!
really keen to sign up for this :)
Oh, this sounds like just what I need.
Lulu Letty
Most CSS and HTML stuff makes me break out in a cold sweat…
I’d love to actually understand what that “language” means.
I’ll look forward to your lessons ;)
I’m in – what a fantastic idea. I love that you are so willing to share your knowledge. A total gem x
YAY!!! This is so exciting!! I am in desperate need of a blog redesign, but I’m afraid to touch anything for fear of messing it up! I could definitely use this info for my personal blog and the photography blog!
Sounds very interesting! Will be signing up for sure! :)
xxx
http://gypsy-diaries.blogspot.com/
Hey Kat, you came just at the right moment. though Jan 2011 sounds a bit too far for me to get started on this course, I’ll sign up anyway! PLUS, I love what you do and your aesthetic so Yay! more power to this! um, where do I sign up? :)
<3, the other Kat Tan
I’m in the process of re-designing my blog right now, and trying to teach myself a lot of this stuff, but a lot of it seems like I will need some guidance at some point. I like the idea of having videos to help teach the material – I will definitely consider this!
Totally interested, sounds AMAZING! … Need to know if there are any class fees and if this is a scheduled class. I work full-time at an office daily.
Is this course ok for someone that is completely illiterate when it comes to blogging or do you have to have some knowledge? I would love to start my own blog and know what in the stinkin heck I’m doing.
:)
I am so in, I stumble across your blog today and I am glad I did. I am just about to launch into redesigning my blog (it is in desperate need) and although your course is not for a few months its probably gonna take me that long to figure it all out. ;-) I have so many ideas just never know how to put it into practice.
blimey do I need this! sign me up and I can’t wait till January :o)
I just watched the e-course preview video and can’t wait to get my hands on manipulating some code! Thanks for offering this Katrina :)
this is so very exciting! i’m relatively new to your blog, but i absolutely LOVE it.
This is so exciting! Thank you for offering this. Can’t wait to get started!
Warmth,
Danielle
i’m in the process of redesigning my blog (piece by piece) chomping at the bit to take your e-course. you’re my design (or not in this case?) heroine
do you have any pugly pixel badges to put on my page?