How Can I Spice Up A Free Blog Template?
November 20, 2010 5:27 PM   Subscribe

How can I edit/import different fonts into a blog template like Blogger or Wordpress?

I want to start a new blog, and use one of the templates on the various free hosting sites, but don't know how to customize it to look like anything other than the template.

How can I import images/new fonts/graphics/banners into something like this? What are some good free font or logo-editing software for newbies?
posted by Lipstick Thespian to Computers & Internet (4 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
I'm not sure how newbie friendly it is, but The Gimp is free image software that should be usable for some non-professional fonts, and allow you access to your system fonts.

You can download some free fonts at Dafont.
posted by backwards guitar at 5:34 PM on November 20, 2010


Best answer: Some Wordpress templates have specific places where you're able to upload graphics of your own choice or creation. You have to make sure that the graphic is the right size and shape to work with the template.

Read the Wikipedia article on Web typography, which will give you a general handle on the subject. You can use any font you've got on graphic elements, but for the main body of the site you're still best off choosing fonts that are available on most platforms – Verdana and Georgia are among the best for legibility and aesthetics.

A recent innovation, TypeKit, will allow a wider selection of fonts to be represented on the web, but it's probably a few steps ahead of where you are now.
posted by zadcat at 5:43 PM on November 20, 2010


Another source of free fonts.
posted by special-k at 6:31 PM on November 20, 2010


Best answer: This is kind of an open-ended question, but you'll probably want to start by examining the HTML and CSS, figure out what rules in the CSS you want to change, and how the associated image assets (if any) are used.

The best thing to do is put up a copy you can experiment on live, and just dive in and break things. If you don't already know HTML & CSS, you'll need to learn, or be limited to those themes that give you appearance options through the blog's administrative view.
posted by adamrice at 7:04 PM on November 20, 2010


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