# General > The Literature Network >  Say YES To Advanced Blog Customization!

## RoCKiTcZa

Hurray for 2008!!! Another year has come. What must we expect? New year, new beginning. Innovation. Improvements in the litnet blogging community. What do you think?  :Smile: 

I have always longed to blog regularly in litnet, then I would no longer have to visit other sites in order to blog the way I wish. Yet the only thing that disappoints me about the litnet blogging zone or, to be more specific, the Literature Network Blogs, is that users are unable to customize the look of their blogs or at least change the color or background image to suit their personalities. Personally, this is one of the features I always look for when in pursuit of an appropriate blog hosting site. I understand that adding an advanced blog customization feature might make the site more "complicated" and might cause several blogs to take on a more "complicated" look; moreover, it may also cause users to concentrate on the appearance of their blogs rather than the content, thus defeating the meaning of the reigning maxim in a serious literature-oriented online facility such as this one--"Don't judge a book by its cover." --as I have read in a certain book, wherein the author lamented his former addiction to changing the wallpaper of his PC and found out that he was no longer using his computer, instead, the computer was already using him. Yet perhaps you might also want to give it some consideration, seeing as several litnetters are now taking on more colorful personalities and deviating from the stereotype serene and straight-faced bookworms others often suspect us to be.

Bringing up this idea is a challenge, for I still do not know whether this new idea will be appreciated or not, or simply taken for granted. Nevertheless I have gathered the courage to speak up, and shall welcome honest opinions and explanations from you, fellow litnetters and mods alike. I cannot force the mods and the creator of this site to integrate this prospect, but altogether, as a team, we might be able to form a decision as to whether we should continue to bring this forward until it is finally noticed and hope--just hope--that it will be considered.

Thank you so much for your time.  :Cool:

----------


## BulletproofDork

Sounds good, Kit. I'd love to customize my blog.

----------


## RoCKiTcZa

Yep, I just hope the vBulletin software allows it. In the mean time, let's cross our fingers and hope...  :Wink:

----------


## Lily Adams

Sure, why not? If it's not too much trouble and it's allowed on the system.

----------


## RoCKiTcZa

Of course it wouldn't be so hard. Won't take long either.  :Smile:  Take livejournal and friendster (and myspace too, though I'm not so sure). You won't need to execute several complex commands; and you don't have to be an expert or be familiar with HTML encoding either (though you've got an advantage over most if you are).  :Wink:  Yeah, I'm really looking forward to the day we could finally show our true colors and be our real selves on the very skin of our blogs!  :Biggrin:

----------


## kiz_paws

Well personally, I just feel darn lucky to have the space that I already have to call a blog home, here at LitNet. I have friends who look me up there (yay you guys!), and its all good. If I want fancy stuff, well I could try LiveJournal, for starters.

I guess what I am saying is that I am totally satisfied with the blog I have been granted here. But that is not to say that your idea is not a good one, Kit, I'm just content with things as they are. Good luck, though!  :Smile:

----------


## RoCKiTcZa

> Well personally, I just feel darn lucky to have the space that I already have to call a blog home, here at LitNet. I have friends who look me up there (yay you guys!), and its all good. If I want fancy stuff, well I could try LiveJournal, for starters.
> 
> I guess what I am saying is that I am totally satisfied with the blog I have been granted here. But that is not to say that your idea is not a good one, Kit, I'm just content with things as they are. Good luck, though!


Hey there, kizzo. That's all right.  :Smile:  I have tried livejournal already, but it doesn't seem as exciting or heartwarming as litnet, where my great friends are. In fact I believe one of my classmates (and supposedly one of my friends) who is also a young writer closed made his blog entries private and refused to make me his LJ friend "due to a serious, life-threatening security breach"... in short, he probably believed _I_ was threatening him. I didn't like it. I'm pretty sure that nothing like _this_ would happen in litnet, though. Sure, I would do _everything_ in the world to keep on blogging here!  :Tongue:

----------


## SleepyWitch

grrrrrrr, I've just found out I can't list more than 5 favourite books  :Frown: . 

what does this mean



> Private Blog
> []Private Blog (Only buddies from your Blog Buddy List can see it)
> []Use Buddy List instead


"use buddy list instead" was checked. I've unchecked both of them. 
what do I have to do so that everyone can read my blog?




> Of course it wouldn't be so hard. Won't take long either.  Take livejournal and friendster (and *myspace* too, though I'm not so sure). You won't need to execute several complex commands; and you don't have to be an expert or be familiar with HTML encoding either (though you've got an advantage over most if you are).  Yeah, I'm really looking forward to the day we could finally show our true colors and be our real selves on the very skin of our blogs!


after I spent a couple of hours the other day fighting with myspace, I think Lit Net blogs had better stay the way they are than take myspace as a model. 
Seriously, I'd prefer having to learn some html or vB code to clicking about on myspace for ages and then the stupid thing can't save individual steps and everytime I want to change the colour of a heading I also need to re-do the colour of everything else, the background image, the colour of boxes and God knows what.  :Mad:

----------


## RoCKiTcZa

Sure, learning html is still the best option. I'm just so glad you didn't say no  :Tongue:  Just kidding!!! I really wouldn't mind a "no," if that's the only answer the person can give. After all, it _is_ a poll.  :Wink: 

I suppose I could teach you HTML if you want to learn. :Wink: 
And you could also do a skin on frontpage.

----------


## Logos

> grrrrrrr, I've just found out I can't list more than 5 favourite books . 
> 
> what does this mean
> 
> 
> "use buddy list instead" was checked. I've unchecked both of them. 
> what do I have to do so that everyone can read my blog?


It might have been just a bug that that box was checked Sleepy  :Smile:  You are correct, this version of vBlogetin allows for a max. of 5 in any of the Blocks categories. Everyone should be able to read your blog if you do *not* have those boxes checked.

When you click the box for "Private Blog" you can choose specifically who sees the entire blog, or you can also set specific blog entries to "Private" and use the Buddy List option so only they see Private entries.

RoCKiTcZa, I appreciate you bringing this up, and your enthusiasm for the site and blogs  :Biggrin:  and wanting to do more creatively with them. My personal opinion is that I think they integrate well with the rest of the site as is. Allowing people to edit and post their own design codes _could be_ problematic, not unlike myspace for instance where malicious hacks of all sorts appear. I'd hate to see that kind of abuse happen here although I'm sure 99.99&#37; of the members here would never do such things  :Smile:

----------


## Dori

I'm content with being able to change the skin of the website (from brown to orange and blue).

BTW, *Kiz_Paws*, I like your avatar.  :Smile:

----------


## Niamh

I think the blog section is nice as is. It is in keeping with the rest of the site which to me is the main thing as it is an extention of the site. myspace, bebo and all the other blog sites are just that, blog sites, this is a website that gives the members the opertunity of a blog, and many entries are extentions of things that are going on in the site.

----------


## kiz_paws

> BTW, *Kiz_Paws*, I like your avatar.


Merçi beaucoup, mon ami!  :Smile:

----------


## Dori

> I think the blog section is nice as is. It is in keeping with the rest of the site which to me is the main thing as it is an extention of the site. myspace, bebo and all the other blog sites are just that, blog sites, this is a website that gives the members the opertunity of a blog, and many entries are extentions of things that are going on in the site.


I completely agree.




> Merçi beaucoup, mon ami!


Parlez-vous français?  :Biggrin:

----------


## kiz_paws

> I completely agree.


I like how Niamh said it, totally agree with you!  :Smile:  




> Parlez-vous français?


 Mais oui, je parle un peu français. Et toi?

----------


## RoCKiTcZa

Hey guys.  :Smile: 




> I'm content with being able to change the skin of the website (from brown to orange and blue).
> 
> BTW, *Kiz_Paws*, I like your avatar.


_Blue?_ How do you do that? Why is it that only two color options are available here?  :Confused:

----------


## Dori

> I like how Niamh said it, totally agree with you!  
> 
> Mais oui, je parle un peu français. Et toi?


Moi aussi, je parle un peu français. 

(Not enough to converse much further than this.  :Tongue:  I'm much better at translating French to English than vice-versa.)

----------


## Dori

> Hey guys. 
> 
> 
> 
> _Blue?_ How do you do that? Why is it that only two color options are available here?


I meant orange and blue as one skin. Basically the orange one (there's a little blue).

----------


## RoCKiTcZa

Oh. I see. I thought there really was a blue skin.  :Blush:   :Frown:

----------


## stephofthenight

> Moi aussi, je parle un peu français. 
> 
> (Not enough to converse much further than this.  I'm much better at translating French to English than vice-versa.)




un autre speaker français, un amusement. De même petites conversations dans le français sont amusantes pas près comme l'amusement comme l'allemand, une langue que vous devriez examiner, mais félicitations sur ... français son été une longue période ainsi im désolé si c'est rouillé... Je realy dois revenir à mes études de langue

----------


## Bakiryu

I want to blind everyone with a rainbow-colored blog, ooooh, ooooh, and BRIGHT PINK letters! with hearts!  :FRlol:

----------


## RoCKiTcZa

> I want to blind everyone with a rainbow-colored blog, ooooh, ooooh, and BRIGHT PINK letters! with hearts!


Haha! Splendid, Baki. Just like a real japanese girl  :Wink:  I want mine black with skulls. Or maybe... with the pic of my avvie as background! Yep, I really love that pic... got a 3MP version of that. I used it as background of one of the sites I made with HTML. It was great!  :Biggrin:  
(I'll share its URL with you once I finish uploading the files  :Smile: )

Thanks for your support by the way. Once more, those who have picked "Yes" outnumber the "No." Hooray for us! (Oh, will this "proposal" ever get any farther than this? *slyly* I suppose I should try to get myself a post as a moderator... but then I'd keep misplacing threads and doing duplicates of other things  :Tongue: ) Just kidding!  :Tongue:

----------


## Dori

> Thanks for your support by the way. Once more, those who have picked "Yes" outnumber the "No." Hooray for us! (Oh, will this "proposal" ever get any farther than this? *slyly* I suppose I should try to get myself a post as a moderator... but then I'd keep misplacing threads and doing duplicates of other things ) Just kidding!


Yes, but those who didn't choose "Yes" outnumber those who chose "Yes."  :Wink:  Unless you consider "It's OK" to be "Yes" also. I treated it like "indifferent" when I said "It's OK."

----------


## kilted exile

I voted no. I like to think (possibly deludedly, especially when my blog is used as an example) that the quality of the writing on the blogs here is of a higher quality than the dreaded MySpace & the like. MySpace is like the 50 year old whore - enough make up to look ok from a distance, but fails any close up examination. I would hate to see the blogs here go that way.

----------


## Niamh

I agree with that kilted.  :Nod:  The 50 year old whore bit and all.

----------


## RoCKiTcZa

> Yes, but those who didn't choose "Yes" outnumber those who chose "Yes."  Unless you consider "It's OK" to be "Yes" also. I treated it like "indifferent" when I said "It's OK."


When I last checked it out, I believe 7 people have already chosen "Yes" vs. 6 people who have picked no. Nevertheless, I'm not against those who say "No."  :Smile:

----------


## RoCKiTcZa

may I bump this? Please?  :Smile:

----------


## B-Mental

> I voted no. I like to think (possibly deludedly, especially when my blog is used as an example) that the quality of the writing on the blogs here is of a higher quality than the dreaded MySpace & the like. MySpace is like the 50 year old whore - enough make up to look ok from a distance, but fails any close up examination. I would hate to see the blogs here go that way.


Bump away, but I still agree with Kilted Exile on this one. Its not the bells and whistles I want in the car I buy, its the engine. I think your crusade while valiant, is stalled and not really going anywhere. Sorry. B

----------


## B-Mental

The other thing about it is there are people that really don't give a damn about learning how to make their blog pretty. Some people will come and look at the "pretty ones" say oh my this is great, and never look the plain ones. When I count I see 7 yes, 2 NO, and 6 Its Ok...thats still 7 to 8 in my opinion. Why not give it a rest?

----------


## Nightshade

Actually Id like to keep them as they are... in fact Id probably go further and say no more of this stretchy buisness either, but my reason is accessibility, all singing all dancing pages are just too 'busy', distracting and not everyone friendly  :Nod:   :Biggrin:

----------


## RoCKiTcZa

> Bump away, but I still agree with Kilted Exile on this one. Its not the bells and whistles I want in the car I buy, its the engine. I think your crusade while valiant, is stalled and not really going anywhere. Sorry. B


Hey there, B. I know you're a good debater, so I'll probably give up on this just this one time  :FRlol:  But yeah, I probably might.

After all, all I'm looking for is your opinions. (Hah--sourgraping. :Tongue: ) It seems I'm one of the few horribly vain people around litnet. I wonder what the cure is?

----------


## Admin

some of this is going to be available in the next version

http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=249460

See the member profile page customizations.

----------


## RoCKiTcZa

Hey, that's great!!! Thank you very much...

But wait--so you mean vBulletin is responsible for the encoding of this site, and you simply purchase the software from them?

Goodness, I love this!!!  :Biggrin:

----------


## Admin

yes, its a software product. The forums anyway.

----------


## andave_ya

That sounds really cool, Admin, thanks.

----------

