Layout & Template
You have a great amount of control over the structure and style of your Web site (the skeleton and skin, so to speak), but to get you started, I'm going to give you a starter teacher Web site layout (skeleton) and template (skin).
1. Click the link below, and then download both files you see there. Take note of where you save each file.
Starter layout and template for teacher Web site
(download Blogger teacher site.xml and Blogger teacher template.xml)
2. On your site's Dashboard, click "Settings" and then "Other."3. Under Blog Tools click "Import blog," then select the file you downloaded that is called "Blogger teacher site.xml," prove you are not a robot by typing the security text, and then click the "Import Blog" button. This brings in some starter pages for your teacher Web site. Later in the "Heart & Muscles" part of your training, you will modify these pages to make your site your own.
4. Now that your site has a skeleton, it's time to change its skin. On your site's Dashboard, click "Template."
5. Click the "Backup/Restore" button in the upper right corner.
6. You are going to upload the template you downloaded earlier by choosing the "Blogger teacher template.xml" and then clicking "Upload." This alters the look of your site from the basic template.
7. Feel free at this point to click the "Customize" button and alter the look of your site further to match your design preferences and style. When you are done, be sure to click the "Apply to Blog" button.
Be sure to keep strong contrast between text and backgrounds. Use light on dark or dark on light for each element of your site to make it easy to read for parents and students. Do not be afraid to modify things heavily--even if you mess things up, you can easily start over by repeating the steps above to restore your site back to the template I shared with you.
You can find some extra help and tips on template design on Atomic Learning at http://www.atomiclearning.com/k12/la_tip_blog_gblg
You are now ready to strengthen the heart and muscles of your site....
No comments:
Post a Comment