Blog: How to change the theme

• Log in to blogger.

• Change the template to Scribe. Click Customize > Pick new template > Scribe > Save template.
• Click Preview, your blog will look like this:

• Click Customize > Edit HTML. You will see a box containing weird codes. Don’t be intimidated, just scroll down.

• You will find the following:

/* Defaults

----------------------------------------------- */

body {

margin:0;

padding:0;

font-size: small;

text-align:center;

color:$textColor;

line-height:1.3em;

background:#483521 url("http://www2.blogblog.com/scribe/bg.gif") repeat;

• Pay attention to the last line. Delete the color code (#483521) and replace the above link with the link to your picture in Photobucket. It will become:

background: url("http://i789.photobucket.com/albums/yy172/ephthera/Blogger%20%20Blueberry/bluebackground.jpg") repeat;

• Click Preview, and you will see the background has changed.

• Find the following in the Edit HTML box:

/* Layout

----------------------------------------------- */

#outer-wrapper {

background-color:#473624;

border-$startSide:1px solid #332A24;

border-$endSide:1px solid #332A24;

width:700px;

margin:0px auto;

padding:8px;

text-align:center;

font: $bodyFont;

• Outer wrapper means the lines that become the borders of the box in the blog. You can change the colors of the lines by changing the color codes.
• Look at the HTML color codes in Computer Hope. We want to change the thick lines into Royal Blue (#2554C7) and the thin lines white (#ffffff). The above code becomes:

background-color:# 2554C7;

border-$startSide:1px solid #ffffff;

border-$endSide:1px solid #ffffff;

• Now you see the lines with new colors.

• Scroll down and you will see this:

#main-top {

width:700px;

height:49px;

background:#FFF3DB url("http://www2.blogblog.com/scribe/bg_paper_top.jpg") no-repeat top $startSide;

margin:0px;

padding:0px;

display:block;

}

#main-bot {

width:700px;

height:81px;

background:#FFF3DB url("http://www.blogblog.com/scribe/bg_paper_bot.jpg") no-repeat top $startSide;

margin:0;

padding:0;

display:block;

}

#wrap2 {

width:700px;

background:#FFF3DB url("http://www1.blogblog.com/scribe/bg_paper_mid.jpg") repeat-y;

margin-top: -14px;

margin-$endSide: 0px;

margin-bottom: 0px;

margin-$startSide: 0px;

text-align:$startSide;

display:block;

• Main-top, main-bottom and wrap2 refer to the background inside the box. We will change the light brown color into light blue.
• Delete the URL, and replace the code written in bold above into this:
  

background: #BDEDFF

• Click preview and you will see this:

• Now everything is blue!
• Finally, you need to change the buttons. Originally they are in the form of flowers. Because our theme is blueberry, we need to change the buttons into blueberries, too.

• Find the following:

.post li {

line-height:1.5em;

list-style:none;

background:url("http://www.blogblog.com/scribe/list_icon.gif") no-repeat $startSide .3em;

vertical-align:top;

padding-top: 0;

padding-$endSide: 0;

padding-bottom: .6em;

padding-$startSide: 17px;

margin:0;

• Change the URL into the link in Photobucket so that it becomes:

background:url("http://i789.photobucket.com/albums/yy172/ephthera/Blogger%20%20Blueberry/button.jpg") no-repeat $startSide .3em;

• Here is a snapshot of the buttons before and after editing.

DONE! Any questions? Please write in the comment box below.

Blog: Assignment

Please create a blog in http://www.blogger.com using your Gmail account. Use the blog to post anything related to the teaching of English in your school. As you have learned how to change the theme of your blog (background picture, colors, etc.), please change the theme, too. Submit the results in the comment box below.

Multiply: Problem of posting

There's another problem in Multiply. Bu Kusaini reported this problem:

"I was going to post something in the blog of my multiply but after I finished writing and clicked 'save & publish' it wouldn't work, there was a notice says 'javascript/CSS not allowed'. What should I do?"

You probably copied and pasted something from another website in your blog entry. What you copied from another website might have contained Javascript or CSS (Remember CSS? It's the "language" you use to edit the theme of your Multiply.) Multiply does not allow Javascript because it could contain virus and might spread to other Multiply users.

To solve your problem, try this.

• If you still have the draft of your post, copy and paste the content of the draft into Notepad.
• To open Notepad, click Start > All Programs > Accessories > Notepad.

• If you no longer have the draft, type what you are going to post in Notepad first.
• Copy and paste it into Multiply.
• Click Save & Publish.

Hopefully this could solve your problem. If not, please let me know by writing in the comment box below.

Multiply: Problem in loggin in

Last week Pak Ali reported that he could not log in to his Multiply account, and just now Bu Kusaini reported the same problem. I have contacted the Customer Service of Multiply about this, and am still waiting for a reply from them. Hopefully this problem will be solved soon.

If this problem persists, I think we should think of the other social networking sites for the final project. You could use Facebook, for example, or Friendster.

Messengers: Emoticons

We tried to use Yahoo Messenger in the teaching of speaking and grammar last time, and we also had 'written conversation' about YM. While chatting, we often used emoticons, such as and . Here is a snapshot of our chat last time.


Do you know that YM has hidden emoticons? Hidden emoticons are emoticons that you cannot find in your YM software but can be used by writing the appropriate codes.

Click here to see the emoticons.
Click here to see the hidden emoticons.

I hope the emoticons can make learning using YM more motivating for your students.

Let's Multiply: Problems and Theme

Yesterday some of you reported that you had created an account in Multiply but had difficulties in logging in. One of you even "lost" your account.

After tracing back the procedures in creating the account, we concluded that the problem might lie in the confirmation. After creating any accounts in the internet, you should check your email because you are sent a confirmation email. In the email message, you will find a link which you must click in order to confirm that it is really you who create the account. Could you please try to create an account again in Multiply? This time, don't forget to check your email and click the confirmation link there. Hopefully this will solve your problem.

ooOoo

You were also curious about changing the theme of Multiply. You could do it the easy way or the hard way. To do it the easy way, simply click:

Customize my site
Choose a theme
The theme you want (e.g. Sandskrit, Pagoda, etc.)

If you wish to put you own theme there, please click:
Customize my site
Custom CSS
Then you put your CSS there and click 'save'.

In order to customize the CSS (i.e. use your own pictures for the background, change the color of the rails, change the size of the fonts, etc.) you have to learn about it first. Don't worry, I'll try to give you the simplest explanation about how to costumize CSS (after we finish discussing blogs). In the meantime, you could find some excellent themes that Multiply users have created in:

http://customizedthemes.multiply.com/photos

There are hundreds of themes there. Pick the one you're interested in.