Yay! I have evolved… moving on. So much of trial and error, however I thank ‘Google’ and many other bloggers for all the tutorials I found.
So, if you're looking for a three column blogger template like I did, I am here sharing the codes that I used. You may want to save your existing template to your computer before you make any changes. You can do that at the top of the Edit HTML page where it says "BACKUP/RESTORE and Download Full Template". This will save it to your computer, where you tell it to store it.
Now to change your code:
* Go to Customize at the top of your blog screen.
* Then click on Layout
* Pick New Template and change your template to the basic "minima' template.
* Now click on Edit Template
* Delete the entire old template
* Copy and paste the full code shown below in the old templates place.
Please preview your blog before you save it, just to be sure that this is what you want. The button is there at the bottom. Once satisfied save it. You may receive a warning that HTML codes/Widgets and other gadgets will be deleted from your code. It will not remove the basics, like followers and about me; but may rid of the extras from your blog. If you choose to retain the extras, please opt for that. You will need to rearrange it under the layout.
I have adjusted my template and made it wider. The body and the left column has been made bigger meanwhile the right is slightly smaller.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html expr:dir='data:blog.languageDirection' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml' xmlns:b='http://www.google.com/2005/gml/b' xmlns:data='http://www.google.com/2005/gml/data' xmlns:expr='http://www.google.com/2005/gml/expr'>
<head>
<b:include data='blog' name='all-head-content'/>
<title><data:blog.pageTitle/></title>
<b:skin><![CDATA[/*
-----------------------------------------------
Blogger Template Style
Name: Minima
Designer: Douglas Bowman
URL: www.stopdesign.com
Date: 26 Feb 2004
Updated by: Blogger Team
----------------------------------------------- */
/* Variable definitions
====================
<Variable name="bgcolor" description="Page Background Color"
type="color" default="#fff" value="#ffffff">
<Variable name="textcolor" description="Text Color"
type="color" default="#333" value="#333333">
<Variable name="linkcolor" description="Link Color"
type="color" default="#58a" value="#5588aa">
<Variable name="pagetitlecolor" description="Blog Title Color"
type="color" default="#666" value="#ffffff">
<Variable name="descriptioncolor" description="Blog Description Color"
type="color" default="#999" value="#999999">
<Variable name="titlecolor" description="Post Title Color"
type="color" default="#c60" value="#341473">
<Variable name="bordercolor" description="Border Color"
type="color" default="#ccc" value="#ffffff">
<Variable name="sidebarcolor" description="Sidebar Title Color"
type="color" default="#999" value="#341473">
<Variable name="sidebartextcolor" description="Sidebar Text Color"
type="color" default="#666" value="#666666">
<Variable name="visitedlinkcolor" description="Visited Link Color"
type="color" default="#999" value="#cc0000">
<Variable name="bodyfont" description="Text Font"
type="font" default="normal normal 100% Georgia, Serif" value="normal normal 100% Verdana, sans-serif">
<Variable name="headerfont" description="Sidebar Title Font"
type="font"
default="normal normal 78% 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Arial,Verdana,Sans-serif" value="normal normal 78% Arial, sans-serif">
<Variable name="pagetitlefont" description="Blog Title Font"
type="font"
default="normal normal 200% Georgia, Serif" value="normal normal 200% Arial, sans-serif">
<Variable name="descriptionfont" description="Blog Description Font"
type="font"
default="normal normal 78% 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Arial, Verdana, Sans-serif" value="normal normal 78% 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Arial, Verdana, Sans-serif">
<Variable name="postfooterfont" description="Post Footer Font"
type="font"
default="normal normal 78% 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Arial, Verdana, Sans-serif" value="normal normal 78% Georgia, Times, serif">
<Variable name="startSide" description="Side where text starts in blog language"
type="automatic" default="left" value="left">
<Variable name="endSide" description="Side where text ends in blog language"
type="automatic" default="right" value="right">
*/
/* Use this with templates/template-twocol.html */
body {
background:$bgcolor;
margin:0;
color:$textcolor;
font:x-small Georgia Serif;
font-size/* */:/**/small;
font-size: /**/small;
text-align: center;
}
a:link {
color:$linkcolor;
text-decoration:none;
}
a:visited {
color:$visitedlinkcolor;
text-decoration:none;
}
a:hover {
color:$titlecolor;
text-decoration:underline;
}
a img {
border-width:0;
}
*/
#header-wrapper {
width:360px;
margin:0 auto 10px;
border:1px solid $bordercolor;
}
#header-inner {
background-position: center;
margin-left: auto;
margin-right: auto;
}
#header {
margin: 5px;
border: 1px solid $bordercolor;
text-align: center;
color:$pagetitlecolor;
}
#header h1 {
margin:5px 5px 0;
padding:15px 20px .25em;
line-height:1.2em;
text-transform:uppercase;
letter-spacing:.2em;
font: $pagetitlefont;
}
#header a {
color:$pagetitlecolor;
text-decoration:none;
}
#header a:hover {
color:$pagetitlecolor;
}
#header .description {
margin:0 5px 5px;
padding:0 20px 15px;
max-width:360px;
text-transform:uppercase;
letter-spacing:.2em;
line-height: 1.4em;
font: $descriptionfont;
color: $descriptioncolor;
}
#header img {
margin-$startSide: auto;
margin-$endSide: auto;
}
/* Outer-Wrapper
----------------------------------------------- */
#outer-wrapper {
width: 980px;
margin:0 auto;
padding:10px;
text-align:$startSide;
font: $bodyfont;
}
#left-sidebar-wrapper {
width: 240px;
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 */
}
#main-wrapper {
width: 500px;
padding: 27px;
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 */
}
#sidebar-wrapper {
width: 180px;
float: $endSide;
word-wrap: break-word; /* fix for long text breaking sidebar float in IE */
overflow: hidden; /* fix for long non-text content breaking IE sidebar float */
}
/* Headings
----------------------------------------------- */
h2 {
margin:1.5em 0 .75em;
font:$headerfont;
line-height: 1.4em;
text-transform:uppercase;
letter-spacing:.2em;
color:$sidebarcolor;
}
/* Posts
-----------------------------------------------
*/
h2.date-header {
margin:1.5em 0 .5em;
}
.post {
margin:.5em 0 1.5em;
border-bottom:1px dotted $bordercolor;
padding-bottom:1.5em;
}
.post h3 {
margin:.25em 0 0;
padding:0 0 4px;
font-size:140%;
font-weight:normal;
line-height:1.4em;
color:$titlecolor;
}
.post h3 a, .post h3 a:visited, .post h3 strong {
display:block;
text-decoration:none;
color:$titlecolor;
font-weight:normal;
}
.post h3 strong, .post h3 a:hover {
color:$textcolor;
}
.post-body {
margin:0 0 .75em;
line-height:1.6em;
}
.post-body blockquote {
line-height:1.3em;
}
.post-footer {
margin: .75em 0;
color:$sidebarcolor;
text-transform:uppercase;
letter-spacing:.1em;
font: $postfooterfont;
line-height: 1.4em;
}
.comment-link {
margin-$startSide:.6em;
}
.post img {
padding:4px;
border:1px solid $bordercolor;
}
.post blockquote {
margin:1em 20px;
}
.post blockquote p {
margin:.75em 0;
}
/* Comments
----------------------------------------------- */
#comments h4 {
margin:1em 0;
font-weight: bold;
line-height: 1.4em;
text-transform:uppercase;
letter-spacing:.2em;
color: $sidebarcolor;
}
#comments-block {
margin:1em 0 1.5em;
line-height:1.6em;
}
#comments-block .comment-author {
margin:.5em 0;
}
#comments-block .comment-body {
margin:.25em 0 0;
}
#comments-block .comment-footer {
margin:-.25em 0 2em;
line-height: 1.4em;
text-transform:uppercase;
letter-spacing:.1em;
}
#comments-block .comment-body p {
margin:0 0 .75em;
}
.deleted-comment {
font-style:italic;
color:gray;
}
#blog-pager-newer-link {
float: $startSide;
}
#blog-pager-older-link {
float: $endSide;
}
#blog-pager {
text-align: center;
}
.feed-links {
clear: both;
line-height: 2.5em;
}
/* Sidebar Content
----------------------------------------------- */
.sidebar {
color: $sidebartextcolor;
line-height: 1.5em;
}
.sidebar ul {
list-style:none;
margin:0 0 0;
padding:0 0 0;
}
.sidebar li {
margin:0;
padding-top:0;
padding-$endSide:0;
padding-bottom:.25em;
padding-$startSide:15px;
text-indent:-15px;
line-height:1.5em;
}
.sidebar .widget, .main .widget {
border-bottom:1px dotted $bordercolor;
margin:0 0 1.5em;
padding:0 0 1.5em;
}
.main .Blog {
border-bottom-width: 0;
}
/* Profile
----------------------------------------------- */
.profile-img {
float: $startSide;
margin-top: 0;
margin-$endSide: 5px;
margin-bottom: 5px;
margin-$startSide: 0;
padding: 4px;
border: 1px solid $bordercolor;
}
.profile-data {
margin:0;
text-transform:uppercase;
letter-spacing:.1em;
font: $postfooterfont;
color: $sidebarcolor;
font-weight: bold;
line-height: 1.6em;
}
.profile-datablock {
margin:.5em 0 .5em;
}
.profile-textblock {
margin: 0.5em 0;
line-height: 1.6em;
}
.profile-link {
font: $postfooterfont;
text-transform: uppercase;
letter-spacing: .1em;
}
/* Footer
----------------------------------------------- */
#footer {
width:980px;
clear:both;
margin:0 auto;
padding-top:15px;
line-height: 1.6em;
text-transform:uppercase;
letter-spacing:.1em;
text-align: center;
}
]]></b:skin>
</head>
<body>
<div id='outer-wrapper'><div id='wrap2'>
<!-- skip links for text browsers -->
<span id='skiplinks' style='display:none;'>
<a href='#main'>skip to main </a>
<a href='#sidebar'>skip to sidebar</a>
</span>
<div id='header-wrapper'>
<b:section class='header' id='header' maxwidgets='1' showaddelement='no'>
<b:widget id='Header1' locked='true' title='Pearlz of Tots (Header)' type='Header'/>
</b:section>
</div>
<div id='content-wrapper'>
<div id='crosscol-wrapper' style='text-align:center'>
<b:section class='crosscol' id='crosscol' showaddelement='no'/>
</div>
<div id='left-sidebar-wrapper'> <b:section class='sidebar' id='left-sidebar' preferred='yes'>
<b:widget id='PageList1' locked='false' title='Pages' type='PageList'/>
<b:widget id='HTML10' locked='false' title='Sharing is caring' type='HTML'/>
<b:widget id='Gadget3' locked='false' title='Cheeky Quotes' type='Gadget'/>
<b:widget id='HTML4' locked='false' title='' type='HTML'/>
<b:widget id='HTML8' locked='false' title='tag cloud' type='HTML'/>
<b:widget id='HTML13' locked='false' title='let's learn' type='HTML'/>
<b:widget id='BlogArchive2' locked='false' title='Blog Archive' type='BlogArchive'/>
<b:widget id='Label1' locked='false' title='Labels' type='Label'/>
<b:widget id='HTML14' locked='false' title='' type='HTML'/>
<b:widget id='HTML6' locked='false' title='since 12/11/2009' type='HTML'/>
</b:section> </div>
<div id='main-wrapper'>
<b:section class='main' id='main' showaddelement='no'>
<b:widget id='HTML3' locked='false' title='ADVERTISEMENT' type='HTML'/>
<b:widget id='Blog1' locked='true' title='Blog Posts' type='Blog'/>
<b:widget id='HTML1' locked='false' title='ADVERTISEMENT' type='HTML'/>
<b:widget id='HTML12' locked='false' title='' type='HTML'/>
<b:widget id='HTML5' locked='false' title='' type='HTML'/>
</b:section>
</div>
<div id='sidebar-wrapper'>
<b:section class='sidebar' id='sidebar' preferred='yes'>
<b:widget id='HTML2' locked='false' title='thank you for visiting, kindly do the survey before leaving...' type='HTML'/>
<b:widget id='AdSense1' locked='false' title='' type='AdSense'/>
<b:widget id='Gadget6' locked='false' title='' type='Gadget'/>
<b:widget id='HTML11' locked='false' title='' type='HTML'/>
<b:widget id='HTML9' locked='false' title='' type='HTML'/>
<b:widget id='HTML7' locked='false' title='since 12/10/2009' type='HTML'/>
</b:section>
</div>
<!-- spacer for skins that want sidebar and main to be the same height-->
<div class='clear'> </div>
</div> <!-- end content-wrapper -->
<div id='footer-wrapper'>
<b:section class='footer' id='footer'/>
</div>
</div></div> <!-- end outer-wrapper -->
</body>
</html>
HOW TO ADD BACKGROUND TO YOUR BLOG
So, once done… you can now look for a background that you like… to apply a background just simply…
1. Sign in to Blogger and go to your dashboard.
2. Click on Layout.
3. You are now in the 'Add and Arrange Page Elements' screen.
4. Click 'Add a Gadget'.
5. Scroll down to 'HTML/JavaScript' and click the (+) sign.
6. In the HTML/Javascript box, you will paste the entire code, with proper url address from the many background codes that you can find in the net.
7. Click 'Save'.
HAVE FUN TRYING!! don’t give up… try and try
