Designing my blog theme

Image credit: http://uniquenetdesigns.com

This week, I edited the blog's layout and design, and selected a custom background for the overall theme. I also added my profile pic with a small biography about myself. Creating my blog on Blogger has been a unique experience to say the least. I have more experience using content management systems like WordPress and Joomla versus a simplified CMS system like Blogspot. I appreciate the intuitive nature of Blogspot's administration panel and settings, but I prefer more advanced options for adding customizing modules and other web coding. However, I'm in favor of the "drag and drop" approach to web design for novice bloggers. They also included a set of standard gadgets for adding content like most popular posts, blog statistics, additional web pages, and search functions.

Blogger also included other advanced gadgets for adding a custom contact form and daily calendar to help blog visitors interact with the blogger and see their scheduled events. You can also integrate content from other websites like daily quotes, jokes, or related stories to help blog visitors learn more about subjects they are interested in. One of my favorite gadgets is including Windows Live Messenger and Facebook chat to the blog. These interactive features enhances the blog's usability and gives visitors outlets for giving direct feedback to bloggers.

It will be interesting to see how the design I chose comes together after I add content. Including graphics and other visual elements will also make the blog's overall theme more enticing to blog visitors. While this is definitely an educational tool for our capstone course, it will also be an opportunity to showcase our research papers to larger audiences and garner their feedback about our profession.