the design blog

This is a site containing free Diaryland and Movable Type templates. My newest design is below; the rest are at the left organised by category. But first read this!

You may use my designs freely, changing them to add extra links (e.g. an e-mail address, your 'favourites' list etc.) However, I do ask that you Use the Comments (aka "Steal This Look!" ) to let me know you've used a design. I used to maintain a list of bloggers using my design. Unfortunately it became too difficult to keep up-to-date because people sometimes only use the design for a while, or they no longer update their blog. However, when you sign the guestbook, a link to your front page is generated on my front page.

You can change the design slightly so that you can add your own link pages (Guestbook, etc.) But you must leave intact the linkback to this page. Since all these designs are free, it is the only thing I ask in return.

If you DON'T do this, I CAN tell where people are accessing my images from. I will take them down, and that will spoil it for everyone.

Posted by hilary at 07:39 PM | Permalink

Please note - This site is somewhat dormant, so I am unlikely to be doing very many designs. Also, I do not make MYSPACE designs. Why? Because I find myspace an inherently ugly platform; also, it's owned by Fox. I don't why that bothers me, but it does. I recommend Blogger, TypePad, or Diaryland instead.

Got a design idea you'd like to see happen? Let me know by writing below and if it sounds cool, I'll make it. A note of caution though, if you are asking me to do a design of a celebrity, please include a link to a site where I can find high-resolution images of said persona. I can't do anything without the proper picture and often the only pics I find are watermarked, way too small, or of bad quality (scans from a magazine do not make for a good design.) If I haven't done your idea below, then that maybe why.

Please note, I have absolutely no intention of making a "pro-ana" design. Anorexia is a disease that can cause serious health problems, including serious brain damage and death. If you are suffering from this devastating disease, please visit Anad.org (U.S.) or NEDIC (Canada). I wish you all the best and hope you can find help.

Posted by hilary at 03:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (112) | TrackBacks (0)

This is even easier than Movable Type. First off, you have to have a Diaryland diary set up. Please note, all my screenshots are shown with a screen resolution of 1024 x 768 and the designs look best in this resolution. I check that they're okay in 800 x 600 too, though I notice that on a Mac, they sometimes look different than they do on P.C.s.

After logging in, go to "Change Your Template" in the menu along the left. There it has four options.

It says:

click here to change how each of your entry pages look.

click here to change how your older.html archive page looks.

click here to change how each entry on your older.html page looks.

click here to change how each of your individual entries looks if you're using the weblog-style diary (huh?).

The last one is not applicable for this, so ignore it. (If you do have a weblog-style Diaryland diary click here for designs available in weblog format - more on this below.)

To change entry pages, older.html files and how each entry appears, click on the appropriate link, which will take you to a place with all sorts of HTML. Replace ALL the HTML with the coding I provide on my design page.

Remember, you can play around with the design, but you MUST leave the link back to my design page intact.

Also, I prefer if you download images onto your own server. I will provide instructions as necessary. (You can leave the items as are, and not download the pictures, but if I rearrange my site, or have to clean-up due to bandwidth/server size limitations, they may disappear leaving red exes on your site. So at the very least, you should be saving them on your computer just in case.)

For people with weblog-style Diaryland diaries, I am slowly converting these so they can be applicable for both. Both How your older.html archive page looks and How each entry on your older.html page looks stay the same.

But How each of your entries pages will look and How each of your individual entries looks if you're using the weblog-style diary will also change. If you see one that is not converted, and you would like it to be, let me know, I will put it up.

Be sure to read Diaryland's instructions on this matter. I take care of step 1 in my templates, so most important for you is to follow Step 2 on those instructions. Also, note that entries that weren't weblog format don't become weblog format, so you have to have at least 2 entries that have been done since you converted the diary to weblog format before it shows up. For support on those matters, contact Diaryland directly. For support on my templates contact me after reading the troubleshooting page!

Posted by hilary at 03:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBacks (0)

There are five easy steps for installing these Movable Type designs.

1. You must have Movable Type installed on your server. For more information, visit their website, and you must have created a blog using Movable Type.

2. On the blog, change your index templates. Replace them by copying the code from each design page into your index templates. From the main page of your Movable Type click "Manage Blog." Then from the menu on the left, click templates. Select the templates you want to change (In some cases, I provided index and archive templates. In some cases just the stylesheet needs replacing.) Save, and "rebuild" the entire site (This is the second from the bottom the menu at the left.)

3. Go through the code and make sure that you make any changes. I will specify on each design page what, if anything, you need to change. Most common would be putting in your own e-mail address and things like that.

4. Ensure that you have uploaded any and all pictures onto your own server. Do this by right-clicking on the pictures on the design page and saving them on your own computer. Then from the main menu of the Movable Type console, choose "Upload File." (It's the second from the top.) Browse to find the picture from your hard drive. Where it says "Choose a destination" leave it pointing to .

Also, on your Blog Config page (on the menu on the left, under Manage), under 'Core Setup,' the URL of your archives section should be yourwebsite/archives/, which is the default. If your archives are in another file, you will have to go through the code and change 'archives' to whatever the file is, and that will be kind of a pain.

5. Leave me a comment so that I know you've used my template and make sure you leave the link to this site.

There, now that wasn't so hard was it?

Posted by hilary at 03:40 PM | Permalink

I downloaded your stylesheet, but it doesn't look any different on my site!

If you're sure that you saved, and rebuilt the site, then the problem is probably that you need to empty your cache. Try refreshing or reloading the page first. Sometimes your browser will memorise the old stylesheet and won't check for a new one every time. If refreshing doesn't work then empty your cache. If using Internet Explorer 6 for PC go to Tools: Internet Options, then while you're on the General Tab under where it says "Temporary Internet files" hit "Delete Files." For instruction in Netscape or AOL hit here. For Mac users using IE instructions are here. Others, type 'empty cache' and the name of the browser you're using into Google.

The design looks weird, things are in the wrong places, the entry appears twice etc.

Ensure that you deleted EVERYTHING when you replaced the text. Your best bet is to go and delete the template entirely (scrolling down to ensure that there is nothing left in the box. Then recut and paste the entry as desired.

I tried to add my buddylist, a graphic, etc. and it got all screwed up.

Positions are placed using values identified in .css, so if you don't have a basic knowledge of stylesheets or at the very least,