Changes

[curiousb]

I keep feeling that it's about time my LJ had a new look. The problem is, I remember it being a complete pain in the neck to get it looking even halfway how I wanted it to in the first place, and I'm not sure I want to go through that pain again!

Ideally, I would like it to look more like my DW, but I really don't know how to go about this on LJ.

Comments

[engram_au]

You should be able to achieve a very similar effect with just a basic Flexible Squares layout. You'd just need to edit the colours and add the header pic using some custom CSS that you could steal from any custom Flexi Squares layout. I'm pretty sure that you can do just that and not have to worry about using custom CSS for EVERYTHING.

Flexi Squares layouts

ETA: I managed to create a similar effect to what you have on DW here, which is my layout test journal. I just used one of the basic flexi squares layouts and custom CSS to add the header. You could make the header bigger and give it the same grey background as the main body to bring it even closer to what you have on DW.

[curiousb]

That's really kind of you to try it out for me - thank you!

I'm slightly embarrassed to admit that my current layout is already based on Flexible Squares, but I had a friend help me with the CSS and it is still all a bit of a mystery to me.

So, sorry for the daft question, but please could you tell me how I find the CSS you used to place the header picture?

[engram_au]

This is the header CSS I used

.headerimage {
position: relative;
width: 650px;
height: 366px;
margin-left: auto;
margin-right: auto;
margin-bottom: 20px;
background-image: url("http://i756.photobucket.com/albums/xx206/Engram_au2/Layouts/Placeholderheader.jpg");
background-repeat: no-repeat;
}

That is literally all that is in the Custom CSS box. The rest of the look of the journal was simply a case of copying the hex for the colours on your DW and throwing it into the appropriate boxes. I'm sure that someone has probably made something similar to your DW layout but if you don't mind the default flexi squares layout then it's probably easier to edit than a whole heap of custom CSS.

[curiousb]

Thank you again for your help - I really appreciate it!

[mswn]

Here's a super helpful CSS guide for Flexible Squares that shows what code goes with what part of the layout. It was a total lifesaver when I was trying to figure things out for myself.

[curiousb]

Oh, thank you, that is indeed a handy reference!

[goodbye_sun]

If you do decide to go a bit adventurous, there are some nice layouts on mintyapple. I can highly recommend fruitstyle as well, the layouts there come with very easy instructions, including how to add a header if its possible.

[curiousb]

Thank you! I will definitely take a look when I get the time to tinker with my layout. :)