Blog Tutorial: Changing Minima Template for Wider 2-Column Layout

From the very beginning of my blog’s creation, I have liked the simplicity of Blogger’s Minima two-column template. This template version also allows the user to decorate the computer screen sides with one of the many pretty backgrounds available on the internet (or one of your own).

But I have longed for an overall format width the equivalent of a 3-column blog, so that I could have a wider main column. There are times that I want the flexibility to showcase special images in a larger format.

Look at the difference between the sizes of the first image versus the one below. As a reader, which size photo would you like to see? Would you like to change your blog format too? Well, read on to find out how I accomplished this task!

My personal photo, altered using multiple
textured image layers from Shadowhouse Creations.

Prepare a new picture insert for your header, with an image width of 900 pixels. If you use a web link to a decorative blog background, replace your background to one designed for 3 columns.

Go to Layout, Edit HTML tab. As a safety precaution, copy the entire template coding and save it in a Word file. (Or create a separate blog for format testing purposes. You can always delete it later.)

To widen the header width, look for this text in the html language:

#header-wrapper {
width:660px;
margin:0 auto 10px;
border:0px solid $bordercolor;
}

Change 660px to 900px.

To widen to outer wrapper, look for this text in the html language:

#outer-wrapper {
width: 660px;
margin:0 auto;
padding:10px;
text-align:$startSide;
font: $bodyfont;
}

Change 660px to 900px.

The next step is to change the main column width, so look for this text in the html language:

#main-wrapper {
width: 410px;
float: $startSide;
word-wrap: break-word; /* fix for long text breaking sidebar float in IE */
overflow: hidden; /* fix for long non-text content breaking IE sidebar float */
}

Change 410px to 660px.

The last change to make is to widen the footer, so look for this text in the html language:

#footer {
width:660px;
clear:both;
margin:0 auto;
padding-top:15px;
line-height: 1.6em;
text-transform:uppercase;
letter-spacing:.1em;
text-align: center;
}

Change 660px to 900px.

Preview your new template. If you are satisfied, then click on Save Template.

The last adjustment to make is to upload your new header picture with the wider format.

The revised template will now allow posting of images that are a maximum of 640 pixels by 640 pixels. (I found that to be the optimum size to go with the revised main column width of 660 pixels.) For these larger image sizes, upload your image on a photographic storage website like Photobucket. (You can adjust pixel sizes in Photobucket after file uploading, if you prefer.) Then insert the photo in your blog post via a direct link, rather than uploading it into your Picasa web album.

So there you go! The above steps are certainly not cast in stone. These are merely the adjustments that I recently made for my blog, thanks to some online research. If you want to tinker with the pixel sizes to suit your tastes, then give it a whirl! And, if you totally mess things up and want to go back to a standard 2-column Minima template, then reinsert the original html language that you copied earlier.

I welcome your feedback on these instructions!

Ta-Da! New Blog Look!

For those who have followed my blog for a while, can you see what I exciting changes I made today? After a little investigating and testing, I figured out how to widen my main column and make the total overall width equivalent to a three-column blog. Now I have the ability to show bigger photographs!

I could not figure out how to make Picasa uploaded pictures in a wider format than 400 by 400 pixels. So I’ll be posting bigger formats via Photobucket.

I hope you like this change!

Additional note: Some of you have expressed interest in getting a wider main column on your blog. In the next few days, I will work up a post for you that explains how I adjusted the html language.

Homebuilding - Ready, Set, Go!

Are you ready to see the beginning of our homebuilding adventure? Above is the streetlight that is on the corner of our property. And shown below is our lot! The villa section of the subdivision is located on a hill. Our little plot of land backs up to a beautiful wooded section of a common area. You might spot in the picture a band of silt fencing to prevent soil erosion down the hill during the construction phase. The two large trees in the middle were destined for removal because they were too close to the house footprint.

We knew that Builder Mike was getting serious when we saw the power pole onsite and waiting for installation on the day we signed the contract!

And as soon as there was a break in the weather, they got going on the clearing work!

Tree cutting was on the priority list.

A timber pile was placed near the front of the lot, ready for pickup and recycling.

Look at this huge stump! It is always sad to take down such beautiful trees, but it had to be done for the safety of our new home.

Stay tuned for more news as Builder Mike makes progress in the groundbreaking!

The Red Kettle

We are not taking on elf duties this Christmas season at our local Salvation Army’s distribution center. After all the packing and moving activities, more standing and walking would not be good for us. So we are putting extra money in the kettles this year, every time we pass them.

If you see a Salvation Army kettle in the days ahead, please consider putting some of your spare change or a few greenbacks in the bucket. This is a wonderful organization, and they provide services all year long within your community to those who need it most.

Thank you!

First Snow!

Look at what greeted us this morning! Our first snow of the new winter season! Here was the view from the deck of our temporary home. Temperatures have warmed up and it’s almost gone now, but it was pretty while it lasted.

Grey Havens - A New Beginning

Bilbo Baggins: “I think I’m quite ready
for another adventure.”
(Lord of the Rings Trilogy, The Return of the King)

Now that we have bought the lot for our villa home and signed the contract with “Builder Mike”, construction will commence!

Our new Grey Havens will be located within a recently developed subdivision and just a couple of miles away from our previous country cottage. It be in the villa section, where homeowners are not responsible for yard work. There are several floor plans and outside designs to choose for a villa home. The architect is Jonathan Miller, who specializes in charming traditional styles. Below is the architect’s conceptual drawing of the design we chose.

One of these home styles has been completed so far, and this is how it turned out.


Our cottage will have the garage located on the right-hand side. There will also be a walking trail built on one side of our lot, winding down off the hill to the entrance drive and clubhouse. With no basement, we will be adjusting to about 40% less space than our previous home. But it will be cozy and beautiful, situated on a lot that backs up to woodlands. It is the "retirement home" that we have been waiting for!

So get ready for news about our building activities and adventures in the weeks and months ahead!

December - A Look Ahead

This month is going to be zippy! And happy! Santa arrived early for us with the sale of our country cottage last month. Today, we purchase the lot and sign the contract with the builder for our new villa-style cottage! Construction will start immediately. If all goes well with the weather, our new “Grey Havens” will be finished by the end of May!

We are making appointments and meeting with various suppliers this month to pick out appliances, cabinets, lighting, etc. There are a lot of decisions to make, but we’re ready! We have wanted to get on with this phase of our lives for the past three years. So bring it on!

We are now comfortably settled into our rental home and recuperating from all the hard work of packing, moving, and unpacking essentials needed for the next six months. My knee is improving, but it has residual aches and pains associated with nerve damage and swelling. I greatly appreciate everyone's concern about my healing! I am getting around well, but I don’t break any speed records, LOL! I just take it slow and easy, making sure of my footing at all times. We’ll be getting back to the fitness center this month, and routine workouts will help me improve further.

Also on the health front, sweet hubby is going to have a routine colon test, and I will have a bone scan (for osteoporosis). We have a couple of other doctor checkups scheduled this month too. We are pretty healthy and intend to remain so!

We had a lovely short trip to middle Kentucky last month. No other journeys are planned for the near term. We intend to hit the traveling trail next spring. In the meantime, I will be immersing myself in self-taught photo editing lessons, in-between the oversight of our cottage building activities. And I will doing more blogging too!

A Dramatic Sky

This poor blog has been so neglected lately! So my blog greeter, Marty, suggested that I give you a little visual photo treat from our trip last week to middle Kentucky. Specifically, he challenged me to show you an artsy-fartsy one, instead of the usual “post card” type. Challenge accepted!

Sunshine lasted only a few short minutes after our arrival at Shaker Village, and clouds hung over us the rest of the day. The clouds got more interesting as the day wore on, and I took a hurried snapshot as I came outside one of the buildings. I have to admit that the original photo looks very dull. But I knew a captured image had some potential after a few adjustments in Photoshop CS4.

Below is the original image, with no editing. I filled in a little of the branches on the pine tree on the lower left, adjusted the levels, and then played with the RGB color curve. That’s it. I was done with the magic in a couple of minutes. If you don’t routinely use a photo editing program, hopefully the comparison of these two photos will help convince you that a computer can be a great friend to a photographer in this digital age!

I plan to get back into the blogging groove this month, now that our home-life situation has settled down a bit. I am also looking forward to learning and playing more with digital images in the days ahead and sharing them with you!