|
|
| The Sitebuilder Toolbar |
|
|
| The customizable 'clean slate' template is used for this demonstration |
Sitebuilder- how to customize a page template
Click on "Change Look" in the Sitebuilder toolbar.
Not all templates are customizable, and if customizable, not all are equally so. If your current template does not allow design
changes or offers few choices, you can select a new template from the choose a new design option you'll be offered. Customizable
templates have a menu link of their own and can be found at the top of the choose a new design navigation menu. All customizable
designs will have a paint can in the lower right section of the template preview as shown in the image above. Click on the
paint can to see what can be customized on a particular template.
To choose a template, click on it's image in the template screen. You will able to try and preview many templates if your
first choice does not fit your needs. No changes will be made to your current site until you choose "done". Once satisfied
with your changes you will then have to publish (or re-publish) your site from the Sitebuilder toolbar so that the changes
take affect on your live site.
A simple and easy to customize template with many customizing options is "clean slate" which can be found on the first page
of customizable designs. The page you are viewing uses the untouched clean slate template set up for a small business website.
Once you've selected a template to try, you'll be given some design options and now the real fun begins.....
How to add a custom color and/or background image to your template
Expand the Page Background options by clicking on it's name in the Edit Design options list. The options for "clean slate"
look like the picture to the left. To add your own background image click the 'Picture Gallery' button. Select a previously
uploaded image from your picture gallery or upload a new image using the Picture Gallery upload link. To select an image,
click on the word 'choose' after it's name in Picture Gallery.
The new BG image will appear in your Edit Design, Page Background option panel. If you want the image to completely fill your
page then click the box to Repeat the image (tile). Remember that visitors will be viewing your site in many screen resolutions
and that your image will adapt to fit each screen. Be careful to select a BG image that will tile seamlessly or is wide enough
not to tile in the largest resolution you expect visitors to use. You can change your own monitor resolution to get an idea
of what some of your visitors might see. You will also want to watch file size in bytes. A background image should not consume
a lot of resources as it's purpose is to remain in the background. The smaller the file the faster it will load which is especially
important for visitors using modem.
Next choose a background color that closely matches your BG image. By most browser's design, the BG image will usually
load last after the rest of your page is displayed. A BG color on the other hand will load almost instantly. If your image
doesn't load or is slow to load, visitor's may have trouble reading your content if the text color you're using has little
contrast against the page BG color. (for instance, if you have a dark BG image and have chosen white text and have also left
the BG color to default to white. No one will see your text until the BG image loads.) Also, your BG image will seem to display
faster (an illusion) if the BG color it replaces closely matches it.
Next expand the design options for title area, main area, and navigation area, and click the radio button next to
the word 'transparent' in the background color section of each of the three areas. This allows the BG image to show through.
These areas can be recustomized with custom colors later, if desired.
 This picture shows how the design panel might look with a customized BG image and BG color chosen for the clean slate template.
The BG image used is a small file under 4KB....
Preview your changes using the preview button at the top of the design option frame. You can continue to make changes
and preview as many times as you need. When you're satisfied with the look, click done to save your changes. Or just click
cancel and no changes will be saved.
Here is the clean slate template customized with a BG image and matching BG color...
NEXT: How to add a corner logo image
Here we may display a picture of this month's special:
|
|
Here we may display a picture of this month's special:Running a business is never easy, but building an effective web site
can often make a huge difference in increasing sales, responsiveness, and customer satisfaction.
We'll use this site to provide the background for our business and explain the goods or services we have to offer. People
don't want to spend time figuring out what a business does, so our home page will highlight the most important features of
both our business and our web site. We'll think of the home page as a kind of portal, giving customers the information they
want at a glance, and offering lots of links to draw them in to the rest of the site.
For example, we might feature a different item on the home page each month, along with a link to our products page where you
can find more information on the product.
 |
bbbbb
Blank CDs: 20% off
|
