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Who Spilled the Paint Too? ActiveRain Gets Even More Colorful

In my last post Who Spilled the Paint? - I highlighted some of the new custom blogs on ActiveRain. The site has become rather colorful lately, and I'm not talking salty language.

All this fun is due to Brad Carroll and his AR Custom Blog Builder.

The AR community has been busy using this new tool, and fresh blog designs are coming out fast and furious! I have a feeling this is going to become one of the most popular tools/features on the site once word spreads.

Here's the second round up of new designs:

custom blogs

The blogs featured above were customized by:

Kevin Tomlinson & Veena Grover
Leslie Prest & Steven Odierno
Dorene Shirley & Doug Garner
Kris Wales & Brad Andersohn
Jonathan Washburn & Jeff Turner
Maureen Henry & Gina Landis
Cindy Bryant & Alan Kirkpatrick

Special mention to Julie Neerings - she got a new background, and made my old screen shot obsolete. These customizers work fast!

custom blogs

Special Thanks to Brad Carroll for sharing this knowledge with the community, and then taking it to the next level by making the process automatic so everyone can have fun.

I've been spending all my time checking out all the new designs, so I guess it's time to get going on my new header image.

Got a new design on your blog? Post it in the comments.

HOT UPDATE! Get on the list while can!

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Posted by Jason Todd on 04/08/2008 05:30 PM

Comments (39)

activerain, blogs, custom blogs, activeraincustomizer

Post is included in group: Technology
Post is included in group: It's all about them (ThemThem)
Post is included in group: Dedicated Bloggers
Post is included in group: Almost Anything Goes
Post is included in group: Active Rain Newbies

39 Comments on Who Spilled the Paint Too? ActiveRain Gets Even More Colorful

APR

2008

great post Mahalo Jeff

Jason ~~ These blogs look fantastic! Thanks.

I will work on my, but have to do it in a couple of weeks.

Jeff - I wish I could say Mahalo to people :)

Marzena - as if AR didn't keep us busy enough reading and writing? Thanks for stopping by -

Wow - those are pretty cool - I saw Jonathan Washburn's custom header just today and thought it was pretty cool, but I figured it was because he was special:) Thanks for the resource.

http://www.activerain.com/maxwell

http://activerain.com/blogs/lisaheindel

Thanks for highlighting all of of these great designs...I'm sure we will see alot of customization and changes in the next few days!

Jason - I'm having so much fun with this. I love looking at everyone's blogs!

Check it! TulsaMetroBlog.com

My custom header doesn't float behind the AR logo. Tip?

The customizations continue!

Anthony - not sure why... it took a few size adjustments to get mine to fit (most of the time). I think the size of images inside of posts can "force" the blog a little wider. The first time I tried it, I had a gap at the right, and I widened my top banner a bit to compensate. I noticed on some of my older posts without images within, the header gets chpped a little.

I'm sure there will be lots of refinements over the cover weeks - hope that helps a little.

APR

2008

Comment Love!

http://activerain.com/blogs/mikemueller

but...

I found a bug!

Mike Mueller

All I can say is WOW !!! I wish someone can do this for me. I read these blogs to try to learn techie stuff. Someday I will catch on.I will not give up learning!

Jeff - Thanks for the links I Had my webguy/hubby play with it for me for a little while but it interfered with some of the colour I used in my listing posts so were going to wait and see if that can be fixed. What a great tool to have

Thanks Jason for the valuable information! I'm off to practice making great blogs

Jason, nice ThemThem to Brad and his accomplishment. I tried it, but was unable to figure out how to install the back ground image.

Mike - Nice work on the beta testing

Windy - Wow is right! It does take a little playing with and it took me a few attempts to get things right. I think Brad is hard at work on an an even newer version, but his contributions and skills have impressed me to say the least :)

Kathy - I was wondering about listing flyer posts - like vFlyer - they seemed to fill the content area anyway... I'm sure that's being looked at. I had some content issues that pushed my screen about 100 px wider than it should be, and i had to compensate with a wider header image

Klarque - my pleasure, thanks for subscribing

Duane- I thought this would be appropriate for the Them Them group! Lots of great members featured above

Thanks to everyone for stopping by - and those that linked - appreciated and noted .)

I have seen this and haven't built mine yet but have the site bookmarked. See what happens when people find out there is another color besides yellow.

Jason.. these are really cool.... The stand out from the rest.

Yours is looking prety nice Jason. I need to spend a little more time getting my header put together.

APR

2008

Hi again Jason, I really like the compilation and presentation you're doing of the new AR blog styles.

I also just noticed that you're in Halifax, nice to "meet" another fellow Canadian here in the Rain.

APR

2008

Jason- this is so cool, I really like how you highlighted the blogs that are customizing their backgrounds and adding banners. It really looks like a piece of their own. Thanks for sharing. Katerina

APR

2008

Ross - your blog is looking pretty sweet - great job!

Roland - lots of cool blogs popping up on AR, thanks for stopping by

Thanks Michael - I think your is blog looking good. Sometimes it's tough to pull off black on the web, but you do it in a classy way. The header, grey nav bar compliments it, flows nice with the suit in your photo, and a black widget... all works well together. Good branding.

Hey Marti - I was trying to think of a uniquely Canadian greeting... do we have one? Bonjour can do for now. Appreciate the comments.

Nestor and Ketrina - this new ability really does open the door to creativity and making our AR blogs a little more our own. I also wanted to mention that your CBS interview story was great and on point. Should be required reading around here.

Didn't I just post a comment on another blog by you on this topic? Well, in case it disappeared into cyberspace, I got mine up and running yesterday. My goal was to make it consistent with my outside blog design, but different, and I think I'm done experimenting. At least for another week.

I did mine last night, but I still may change it up later again with some photos/graphics.

It's a pleasing when I read a post with such a professional look. I'm anxious to try it myself hopefully sooner than later.

Margaret - Yours is looking great. You're right on with it being consistent, but unique. Great example of good branding in action

Hi Steve - a header image will take it to the next level, but even adding the new colors as it is now is giving your blog a unique look - and thanks for subscribing - appreciate it!

Bob - Thanks for the kind words. The creativity of members is coming through with this new feature. Looking frward to seeing what you come up with -

- Cheers All, Jason

Yours looks outstanding... mine could use a little bit of touch-up.

I always seem to have these problems with technology. I can't get mine to work! Any help would be great! I would never make it on "Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader"...lol

Hi Jason: This is all so much fun. These designs are really great. All I have to do is figure out how to do it. Thanks so much for sharing.

http://activerain.com/blogs/missycaulk

Go Big (Blue) Missy!

I would fade to white the top right hand corner of the banner image so the AR logo looks better.

This is almost like a Meme - we get to find out so much about someone just by their images.

Mike Mueller

Jason~Thank YOU so much for mentioning my blog again. You're the best! This has been a lot of fun and I could go on forever with this. Have a fabulous week!

APR

2008

Thanks Chuck- either you've updated your blog since the comment, or you're modest - great job

Kelly - I sent you a sitemail, maybe we can figure something out

Hey Karen - it does make surfing around the site a lot more fun - and there is probably such a small percentage of the site that has been customized. This will go on for awhile!

Nice Missy- Yours was one of the first blogs I noticed - featured here

Mike - very nice background... I see people are starting to figure out some of the tricks for "working the system"... there are a few tip I'll probably post about for getting "fades" from the top, horizontal elements etc. to get unique, but tasteful backgrounds. Nice job on yours though!

My pleasure Julie - it has been a lot of fun - maybe this will turn into a monthly "best customizations" round up. They're coming to fast to keep up with them all now, and the designs are getting better every day -

Great post with lots of good info but who has all the time to dress up a post

Jason....this is really great, thanks for the info and I will need to set aside some time to learn this!

Hi Jason - Thanks for the heads up - I jazzed my blog and I love it. You always point out good stuff!

Wow I've been out of town for the past week and missed this. I am going to spend some time spicing up my blog.

Those are some great looking blogs. Congratulations to all! They all are so unique and makes it more personal.

APR

2008

Hi Jason, I have a new design... check it out. When is a good time to talk?

APR

2008

So glad I found this post...I just saw a blog with custom colors and wondered how they got it like that! =) Perfect timing. I quickly did mine to resemble the colors from my website. When I have more time I'll play around with it... THANKS!!!!!!!!

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Jason Todd

Halifax, NS

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Compelling Media + Design

Address: Halifax, NS

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