» Basic Design

This topic might be for the more advanced users out there, but there is now a way to transfer your PSD (Photoshop) files into a Wordpress Theme. While many of us can use Photoshop, it’s always been an increadible challenge to transfer your PSD file into a readable Wordpress theme file. Unless you have a very advanced knowledge of both software platforms along with CSS and HTML, it literally just wasn’t possible to the average Joe blogger. In fact, there are many companies out there that will do this for you….for a couple thousand dollars. No, I’m not joking. It’s a very profitable business as it takes a special and unique talent to do.

However, thanks to the good guys at the Divine-Project, we average Joe bloggers now have the ability to do it our self. They’ve released a very impressive piece of software that will now allow you to covert your PSD Photoshop files into workable Wordpress Themes, for free. Yep! For free! Now, I should note it’s currently in beta so you might run across a bug or two and it is only available for Windows computers (sorry Mac’s!), but with all that said it’s very much worth the download.

I’ve seen a few people who’ve used the product and they’ve fallen in love with it. They report that it’s functionality is incredibly easy to use and so far, they’ve ran into no problems with bugs or glitches.

To visit the Divine-Project website, click here.

To download the program, click here.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a novice blogger or an advanced one, a problem almost all of us run into is the design of your blog. Thankfully, there are a lot of talented and non-greedy web designers out there that spend hours creating blog templates/themes for free, allowing us to spice up our blogs with the click of a button.

But, as you advance into your blogging, there might be a time when you’re desiring more for your blog other than a “standard” blog theme/template. So, what do you do then? It takes a special and unique talent to be a web designer, a talent many of simply don’t have. Sure, we can try to teach ourselves but the amount of time required simply might not be worth it to many. In this situation, we need to look for some professional web designers, especially those that specialize in blog designs.

Below, I have listed a a few awesome web design teams that will put your blog on the right track to perfection for a pretty small price, in many situations less than $100 dollars. To visit the site, simply click the name:

The Blog Studio - This website is very professional and makes very professional themes, some that are pretty pricey if you’re just blogging for fun. However, if you own a business, this is a place you need to check out.

Moxie - A very interesting website that has a collection of amazing pieces in their portfolio. While they do customize any blog style, the majority of work does point more towards female related blogs, such as “Mom blogs”, etc.

Unique Blog Designs - UBD is one of the most popular, if not the most popular custom blog design website on the net. With a vast portfolio of work, you’ll be amazed with their work in a few moments.

Radiiate - When you visit the Radiiate website, you’ll be taken back by the creative designs this self proclaimed “Wordpress Rockstar” has created. If you’re looking for something a little different, a little off the wall, and something that could never be replicated, he’s your man.

One thing you also need to look into when creating a custom blog design is creating your own unique logo. Many, if not all custom blog design companies will create a custom blog logo for a small fee, so make sure you ask about this as it’s vitally important for such a small fee.

When it comes to blogging, there are a variety of ways you can publish your work. Many people use the default text editors in the platforms that they use (Wordpress, Blogger, Typepad, etc), but many people aren’t aware that you can actually publish your blog postings from a variety of e-mail providers (such as Hotmail.com) as well as from programs such as Microsoft Word.

The really neat and interesting thing about publishing your work from Microsoft Word and e-mail clients is that you can get a bit more fancy with your text. I’m not sure if you’ve visited any text websites lately, but the advancement in text has come a long way from the typical Arial and Times New Roman fonts we’re accustom to.

Below I’ve included a few of my favorite font websites which allow you to download thousands upon thousands of fonts to spice up your blog postings. You can find famous fonts (for example, Disney, McDonalds, Coca-Cola) as well as many “Wingdings” (fonts that are graphic based) along with themed fonts that will allow you to theme your blog postings for specific holidays, etc.

It’s really an easy way to improve the look of your blog without creating a lot of work.

Here is a list of some popular font websites (click the name of the site):

DaFont.com

1001 Free Fonts

FontFreak.com

Urban Fonts

Between those four above sites, you could spend hours upon hours looking for new and neat fonts to use on your blog postings (or any other documents you might want to spice up).

For those of you not sure how to install fonts, here is a simple step by step procedure.

First, find the font you want to download and proceed to download it.

Next, extract it using WinZip or WinRar (click either program name to download it)

Thirdly, go to the folder you just extracted the file to and copy it.

Lately, go to your Windows Control Panel, and then select “fonts”. Paste the file you just copied two steps above and that’s it. Next time you start Microsoft Word, it will work.

One of the things that makes the Wordpress.org self hosted platform more beneficial than the standard Wordpress.com platform is the flexibility. Well, that is, in most cases.

Today as I was searching a few sites, I found a great post about a new plugin that is only available for Wordpress.com users. The new plugin is called the “Gravatar Widget” which is a very advanced, easy, and updated version of the “About Me” section that you find on all Wordpress.com blogs. But before we break down the neat features of this “Gravatar Widget” plugin, let us actually discuss what a “gravatar” is. A “gravatar”, or globally recognized avatar, is quite simply an image that follows you from site to site appearing beside your name when you do things. Think of it as your blogging identification card. You only need to sign up once, and as long as you use compatible software, it will work universally - personally, I think it’s awesome.

So, back to the plugin now. The “Gravatar Widget” is a drag and drop widget that you will put into your sidebar, but unlike the default “About Me” section, you do not need to edit your template file to update your “About Me” section with this new “Gravatar Widget”. In addition to that, it obviously includes your “gravatar” image that you select when you set up your gravatar profile. I should add, this will now replace the old “About Me” section on Wordpress.com (you do not need to download or install this…it’s already been done).

Below, I have an included an image that displays how easy it is for you to update your information:

This is one of the first plugins/widgets that I’ve seen that outshine any similar ones on the Wordpress.org platform. So, if you’re using a Wordpress.com blog, I’m not sure what you’re waiting for -go use this awesome little tool! It is now the default “About Me” area in all Wordpress.com blogs.

To sign up (for free) for a Gravatar profile, click here.