Answering a Blog Customization Question

Today, Su asked a couple of questions on my blog customization:

You have customized your WordPress blog with some pretty cool and funky features—the background, etc. from TCBOTB. I am relatively new to WordPress and can’t seem to figure out how to incorporate the background or buttons into my blog. Can you advise me on the process? Also, how were you able to add the My Stats counter? (I’ve been looking around for one of those.)

Well I started responding and then ended up having so much to say that I might as well create a new post out of it…especially considering I am running a little slow on blog post ideas 😉

So, Su…thanks for sending in the question. And here’s hoping that I am able to help you a little bit with your blog

First up, the background:

The older WordPress themes (the one you are currently using) do not support adding custom backgrounds. You can only do that if you pay and upgrade to the CSS option.

If you want a custom background for free, change your blog theme to one that supports it. Some really cool ones out there that support custom backgrounds are:

• Twenty Ten – A very neat, clean theme, which is very easy to set up.
• Structure – A really attractive theme (especially the dark option), however a tad bit tricky to set up satisfactorily. I played around with it for a few days and regretfully decided that it was not for me. Still, exceptionally attractive.
• And finally, we come to Bueno, which is my current favorite theme. It’s easy to set up, easy to customize, and generating questions regarding my blog, which I take as a compliment :).

There are a couple of other themes that also support backgrounds. Search for them using custom-background keyword in your WordPress themes dashboard. Once you have selected a theme, all you need to do is go to Appearances -> Background and then upload any background you like.

Some good sites to download background / header / button imagery are:

• Leelou blogs
• Shabby Blogs here and here
• And of course, some more sites that I have blogged about earlier here and here

You will need to play around and experiment a bit with combinations of themes and backgrounds till you are satisfied with the overall effect.

Using Buttons or Widgets:

I haven’t really used any buttons in my blog, but I have used a lot of widgets, and I think that is what the question is all about.

My Stats Counter widget is something I love, I never changed it since the time I added it, which is saying something considering how dynamic my theme’s appearance usually is. I selected mine from Amazing Counter. Just click on Create a Free Counter and choose from the various options available there. Fill up the form and then follow their instructions. It is a fairly straight-forward procedure.

Regarding the other widgets, they are pretty basic stuff – the standard WordPress widgets.

To find the widgets available for your theme, go to Appearance > Widgets. See WordPress widgets for information on how to use all the different widgets they support. Bookmark it, it’s one useful site!

Well, I guess this should be enough to get WordPress newbies up and running.

Hope this post was useful!