Thursday, January 7, 2010

Bloggiesta 2010

While the official start to the January, 2010 Bloggiesta Challenge does not begin until tomorrow, I decided to take advantage of my snow day yesterday and get a jump start. I am SO excited at what I was able to accomplish.

First of all, I have desired to have tabs at the top of the header for about 8 months now. I think it is a professional way to allow readers easy access to useful information. I emailed a few fellow bloggers who have done this in the past, and they assured me that the process is relatively painless. I used the wonderfully helpful sites of Blog U and Exploding Boy and in about 90 minutes I had a look that I wanted. I am sure that I will continue to play around with the layout and perhaps tweak a few things, but for now I am thrilled to have this much accomplished.

The other blog enhancement that I have wanted to add is the feature that links readers to other related posts on the site. It took me a while, but I finally discovered that it is a downloadable widget called Link Within and it is incredibly simple to use. In less than 5 minutes I had updated my blog to include what I think is a very handy tool. I know that I have enjoyed following these links on other bloggers' websites, and I hope that it is an added benefit to my site as well.

No need to worry about the Bloggiesta weekend, however, as I still have plenty of items that I hope to accomplish:
  • I have a minimum of 4 book reviews that I need to write (and I hope I haven't waited too long and my short term memory has forgotten the necessary details).
  • I can also begin to organize my reviews in a manner that is easy to navigate. Ideally I would like to have one book review page that lists the books by title (and perhaps by author) rather than by the year that the book was read. I don't think the current system is very user-friendly.
  • I can also start to think of future posts and perhaps get a jump-start on writing them, as I know that my free-time will be greatly reduced once school is in full-swing.
I want to thank Natasha at Maw Books Blog for hosting this terrific challenge at such an opportune time. I think this is a great way to start a blogger's New Year on the right foot.

16 comments:

  1. Your improvements look fantastic! Good luck with the rest of your goals.

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  2. I've been wanting to add tabs for quite some time, too. Will try the links you've included. Wish me luck!
    Maybe I should sign up for Bloggiesta...

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  3. Looks great Molly. I've been wanting to try the tabs as well. I like the 3 column style as well. good job

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  4. Blog improvements, like housework, are never ending! Congratulations on the progress you've made.

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  5. The tabs look great. Good luck with the rest of the weekend!

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  6. I've got two reviews to do, and I would love to figure out tabs (scares me a little). But my weekends are totally insane, with kids' sports. Plus my parents are in town, plus we are celebrating my husband's birthday. So I'm not sure I will be Bloggiesta-ing with the rest of you. Good luck! Thanks for including those links - I may need them!

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  7. Sounds great! I've been wanting to add tabs and to expand to a three-column site. Generally, I've just added another Word Press blog to satisfy that urge! LOL.

    I've bookmarked your pages where you learned these things, though, for that moment when I might feel courageous enough! First of all, how does one "back up" the template?

    Probably something incredibly simple!

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  8. Ah, this is why I love bloggiesta! New tips on improving your blog! Like you, I've always wanted tabs, but never really knew how to put them in. Thank you so much for the tip.:)

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  9. Very nice tabs Molly. I'm joining in on Bloggiesta too. I have lots of housekeeping that needs to be done on my blog. It should be a time of fun too.

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  10. Everything looks great! I am so jealous of your tabs-I have wanted some for along time but I am just too chicken to try them on my own. I did follow your link and add the Link Within this morning and it worked! I have been wondering how to get that feature, so thanks a bunch for sharing! Sadly, I think this weekend will be spent taking down Christmas decorations and finishing unpacking from our trip rather than having fun with Bloggiesta for me. :( I am still not happy with my template background so I may play around with that today some. :)
    *smiles*

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  11. Looks like you got off to a good start!

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  12. Molly,

    We will have to chat more about Glee, it is absolutely the BEST thing on TV.
    Beth

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  13. Also, thank you for the Link Within post. I've been wanting to add that feature as well! And never knew how. Thanks!!!

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  14. Disregard my previous question ... you did link to where to do the tabs. I'm off to give it a go!

    And isn't LinkWithin easy and fun? I love it!

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  15. Thank you, Thank you for the tabs link - I added them to my blog and absolutely love them!!!

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