Important. Please read this first.
I decided to write a category of pages for those who, like me, enjoy personalizing their pages but didn't know enough about HTML or CSS to achieve what they'd like to. These pages are here to give some examples, hints, tips, and tricks, that I have picked up along the way.
Terapad is relatively new so if you cannot find the theme that you love (I found mine - UPDATED: I now use the theme titled 'Almost Paradise') just be patient as they will be adding new themes in the future. These things take time and, having used several blogging platforms over the past couple of years, I have to say that Terapad is the best and easiest to use that I have found, and the most enjoyable particularly if you have a creative urge. It isn't as difficult as it at first might appear, as you shall see. But there are a number of ground rules you need to be aware of.
- It's very important that whatever changes you make to your template, you view them in both IE7 and Firefox. They are not the same, with IE7 allowing some laxity on the CSS users part, whilst Firefox tends to be rather stricter. So whatever changes you make might not show up in Firefox if you use IE7, and vice versa. Each browser has its pros and cons. UPDATE: The new Firefox browser 3.01 is actually far better than its predecessor, so customizations should now be easier.
- I have a 1280x1024 resolution screen so, because of eyesight problems I tend to view via IE7 a lot, as it gives a clearer image particularly where text is concerned. If you have a lower res screen the difference might not be much. But as IE7 and Firefox are the most popular browsers around it makes sense to make sure your effects are suited to both those browsers. If you want to make it compliant with every browser in the world then you've set yourself a full-time job. I'd leave that the Terapad team and the others who are professionals and know what they're doing - I hope, lol.
- Don't worry if you mess the whole thing up. It's perfectly easy to simply go back to 'Layout', and reset everything. It might also be a good idea to back your template up now and again if you've done a lot of work on it, just to be on the safe side. Right-click in the template area, choose 'Select all' then 'Copy'. Then go to a word programme and simply click 'Paste' and 'Save as'. Done. With it saved you can can simply 'copy and paste' it back into the template area.
- These instructions are aimed at people like me, who are relative beginners in CSS etc. but who love to make a page reflect themselves and who they are. So don't expect any specially customized theme templates with three columns and that do everything except make your coffee in the morning or anything like that. There are some limitations, neither can I write your blog for you, you have to do that. CSS is about style not content. These instructions are just so that people can have a bit of fun adding to their page and making it more personal, giving it some flair.
- Although their is a lot of uniformity between each Terapad theme, they do all have their own little differences, but there are workarounds for each of them depending upon what you want to do. Many of my ideas will be from the perspective of my own theme, but if you have problems getting them i.e. your ideas, to work in yours or aren't sure where to start then just let me know and we'll sort it out.
- Last but not least, after making changes refresh the page several times when you view it from the front in order to make sure you can view the changes you have made properly.
I've had a lot of enjoyment making this site, as well as a few headaches, but with the above in mind I can now start to write some pages giving a bit of assistance. These pages are presented 'as is' and work perfectly well on my page, so if you screw your own page up then please don't blame me, lol. If anyone else has any useful ideas please let me know, and I will add it, giving suitable credit of course. Again, if you have any problems then please let me know.
Terapad is very new, and as a consequence there was nothing in the way of tutorials with regard customizing a Terapad site. So I sat down, taught myself how to customize the pages myself spending hours, days, and even weeks doing so, and then provided these tutorials showing other people how to do this. There are a number of workarounds that I worked out myself and that you cannot find elsewhere. These pages are freely available to all.
