To create the new header for my blog I downloaded and installed the font "Lazy Days" from the 1001fonts.com site. I chose this font for its hand drawn style. I enlarged this font to a size of 99 and applied a noise filter at 25%. I like the way this filter enhances the handmade feeling of the font. I changed the font color to a deep muted blue to match the "about me" section of the blog. Since the bog title is the same as my name this helps to establish the relationship.

I am having a couple of issues with my blog and would love any answers from carolyn or anyone else in the group. First I don't see any option to change the size of my post titles. I would like to change them to a larger font. Also at the bottom of each post there is a list of graphics for various social networking sites and for comments. I think these are leftover from a discarded template. I would like to modify these and possibly delete some but cannot find where to edit them.

Other headers of interest I found on the web are listed and described here:

1. DBKP : this blog uses graphics and text for its header. Although the choice of graphics is a bit creepy for my tast, it is indicative of the subject matter and therefore an appropriate choice.

2. Green Earth Friend uses a very large header, effective but perhaps a bit too large...

3. Earth Savers blog uses a bright green header which helps convey the eco friendly content of the blog. It also uses bold colorful symbols that are repeated throughout the blog posts as ways to identify varying eco friendly characteristics of the post topics.

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This site shows how to make an origami shirt from a dollar bill. It uses many photographs in the form of very small JPG files. The page downloads very quickly as a result. Each file is about 8KB in size!



here is the url:
http://members.cox.net/crandall11/money/shirt/

This site uses GIF files to display a long list of available fonts. Since there are a minimum of colors required GIF is an excellent choice of file type for this application.



here is the url:
http://www.typenow.net/themed.htm

This site uses PNG images. It is a very small 47K file.



here is the url:
http://www.corporateoppression.com/

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This dahlia was modified using Image Preview within Fireworks. The 32 color gif has the advantage of a small file size while retaining the range of color required.

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This picture was cropped using the pen tool within Fireworks. It was quite a challenge to select around the curved part of the sign. Perhaps this was because I am using a laptop?

The image was then optimized in Fireworks using 4up comparism. The JPG file size is 56K and it downloads in 8 seconds.

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This photograph was modified inside fireworks. It was cropped and optimized as a JPG. The file size is 50.57K and it will download in 8 sec @ 56kbs .

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It was fun cruising around and visiting some blogs. I am amazed at how many there are!!

This blog is an example of monochromatic color schemer.

This blog is an example of analagous colors:

This is an example of a blog with complimentary colors:

This is an example of saturated colors.

This is an example of a blog with unsaturated colors.

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I chose a monochromatic color scheme for this blog. Since this is a blog with a lot of text these colors will make it easier for the viewer to absorb the material. The base color is white for similar effect and easy reading. The colors are warm. I used tints for visited links and shades for titles headers.

Color is a useful tool in creating emtion on a website. The shades of orange I chose are casual, cheerful ad energizin. By creating a monochromatic assortment of colors the use of this bold color is subdued and easy to comprehend.

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