Blog Housekeeping

Welcome to the new and improved Bill and Ria blog! Being new to the blogosphere, I wanted to learn how to build a better blog. I found a wealth of information in a free e-book called Blogging in Pink: A Woman's Guide by Michelle Mitchell at Scribbit. I thought blogging would be mini get-away from household chores during the day but it turns out there is blog housekeeping to be done too. Oh well.

The most obvious change: a new header, which I custom designed myself on a website called Banner Fans. The best part: it was free! The worst part: figuring out how to edit html coding on my blog template in order to get in exactly the right spot on the page. I have a business and finance background and so to me, trying to understand the html code is akin to deciphering hieroglyphics. I didn't think it would that difficult. 3 or 4 frustrating hours later, I finally found a very helpful article simply titled Blog Banner at a website called Kenwooi. It specifically addressed the problem I was having. And here is my new header, perfectly centered at the top of the page. Ta-dah!

In case you don't remember the old header or are new to my blog, here is what it looked like:

Another improvement on my blog is the addition of a menu bar directly below the header. This did not come standard with the blog template that I chose. While it's not perfect, I'm pretty happy with how it works. Click on the "About" link and you will find more information about this blog and about our family. Click on the "Contact" link and you will be taken to a page with a form you can fill out to send a message directly to me, which will not appear anywhere on the blog. I was able to create the fancy contact form using WebFormDesigner. Click on the "Home" link and you will be taken to the latest published post.

So with my virtual housekeeping done for the day, I best direct my attention to some real housekeeping starting with the cheerios on the floor that Matthew had flung from his chair at the dining table. Or maybe we should get a yellow lab? hmmm.......NAH! (not yet).