You can change your online diary template without losing your previous diary entries. Acquire a template from a designer, or design and write your own.
If you share your thoughts and images with friends through online diaries and journals, you probably know that most of the big sites offer a wide range of colorful templates, layouts, and designs. Most diaries are customizable, allowing the user to tweak the look, color, link texts, effects, of your diary page. Templates make dairy modifications easy. You plug them in to your diary console, make a few adjustments, and viola! Your diary has a new look.
So what happens if you want to change your existing template? Will you lose all your old diary entries? Do you have to start a new diary? Thank goodness, no! In most cases, you can change the look of your diary, while keeping your original text.
Make your own diary template, or acquire one from a template designer. Let's take a closer look at the options:
Template Tips
- If you are fairy skilled with HTML, you can write your own code. To get your creative juices flowing, make a list of templates that appeal to you, and try to recreate them with your own flair. If you have an idea that you'd like to try, get out a pen and paper, and do a basic sketch of what you'd like to see on your diary page. What colors will you use? Research color schemes to find colors that work harmoniously together.
- If you don't know HTML, use an online HTML generator, or a downloadable editor. Many basic HTML editors are freeware, available for use, free of charge. Some of the best editors show you a visual representation of your progress as you work. This can be very helpful!
- Use a pre-made template. Some designers sell them, and you may come across a few designers that will make a template for you in exchange for something else. You may have to take a number on a long waiting list. If you want a custom job, discuss this with the designer, clearly stating what you have in mind.
- Before acquiring a pre-made template, make sure you know what format it's in. Remember that some templates will have to be converted to HTML. You will have to do this manually.
- Compare your current template to one that you are considering. Can you fit all of the elements of your current diary in the new design? For example, do you have links to your favorite web sites on your diary page? If so, is there room for them in the new template?
- If you want custom graphics, photos, or images within your diary, you will have to find a place to host them. Some diary sites offer image hosting, for a fee. Many image hosting sites offer free services, however, it's likely that your bandwidth and storage space will be limited.
Conversion Tips
While you change your template, do the editing outside of your diary console. That way, if you delete or change something unknowingly, you will still have your previous template and design structure.
Here are instructions for changing your template without a hassle:
1) Place your new template in a plain text document, and save it. Use plain text to avoid any odd charters that can appear when you paste your new template into your diary console.
2) Open another blank text document. Paste your old code here, and save it. This will be your back up. If something goes wrong with your new template, restore your old template and start over from scratch.
3) Open a third blank text document. Combine the old info that you want to keep with your new template, here.
4) Save text document 3, and then paste it into your diary console. Test your new template, and if you are satisfied with the results, you're good to go! Keep all three text documents. You never know when they will come in handy.
