Dear blogger,

You have such wonderful ideas to share!

Your content is excellent; it’s just that I find myself skimming your posts, because, to be frank, your posts are … kind of hard to read.

It’s not that your writing isn’t “correct”, it’s just that things have changed since you learned to write.

In fact, it might be time to forget a lot of what you learned about writing at school.

Can we chat about making your blog posts easier to read?

With thanks,
A hopeful reader

Getting a blog post together isn’t easy, is it? You have to put all the distractions on your computer aside and focus on one task: tapping away at the keyboard and organizing all your thoughts until your post takes shape.

So, of course, you want people to actually read your post. Whether your audience is students, parents, or educators, you have an important message to share.

There are many personal benefits to simply writing too. Many bloggers describe how writing helps them organize and develop their thinking. However, if this is the only reason you’re writing, you probably wouldn’t be publishing on a public blog, would you?

So how do you encourage your visitors to not only start reading your blog post but also stick around to the end?

Maybe the solution isn’t changing your words. Maybe it’s simply changing your styling and post layout.

Here are ten tips for making your blog posts easier to read. I hope you’ll share your ideas in a comment too.

1) Paragraphs and Sentences

Is there anything more off-putting than clicking on a blog post and seeing a great big block of text?

You want to read it but there is nothing for your eyes to grab on to. Try as you might, you find yourself skimming and not fully comprehending the content.

The truth is, a digital paragraph is different from an analog paragraph. The way we consume media online is different to the way we consume media offline.

There was a popular post on The Slate a few years back called “You Won’t Finish This Article“. It shares data demonstrating that most people don’t even scroll down after they arrive on your post; they leave your blog almost immediately. The data published in The Slate estimates that most visitors read about 50% of your content. 50% might even be optimistic when looking at similar statistics from other sources.

Short paragraphs make your posts more readable.

Instead of starting a new paragraph when the topic changes, consider keeping your paragraphs only a few sentences long and play around with length and rhythm. Sometimes you’ll have slightly longer paragraphs, and sometimes you might have a paragraph that’s only one sentence long for impact (that’s not what your teacher taught you at school, is it?).

When it comes to writing online, paragraph structure is more of an art than a formulaic science.

The same rhythmic variation works well for sentence structure and length as well.

Gary Provost demonstrates,

2) Fonts

There is a lot of debate and research out there about typography or font choice. Personally, I find a common issue is bloggers using a font that’s too small.

Professional bloggers generally opt to use larger sized fonts now as it enhances the readability of online text. Some bloggers haven’t caught onto this. Combining a small font with long paragraphs is a sure fire way to have readers skim a post and close their tab, no matter how good the content is.

If you’re using Edublogs, there is a handy plugin called Supreme Google Webfonts. It allows you to change the type and size of the fonts in your post. Have fun playing around but obviously look for a font that will be easy to read. Another useful tip is to stay consistent with your font choice.

3) Headings

Sub-headings are an excellent way to break up the text while enhancing the readability and comprehension of your post. This sounds like something we covered at school now, doesn’t it? Or maybe not?

I admit, it wasn’t until last year (after many years of blogging) that I discovered I was using headings all wrong. I thought the idea was to pick a heading based on size and appearance.

It turns out, there is another layer to heading choice on blog posts.

Heading tags not only enhance your blog post visually but help organize the content of your blog. This helps search engines like Google scan and categorize your information.

If you want to follow blogging best practice, you technically aren’t supposed to skip a heading level.

Heading 1 will already be used for your blog post title. When you’re writing posts (or pages) you should use Heading 2 for post sub-headings. Then if you nest other sub-headings under that, you’d use Heading 3 and so on. You probably wouldn’t have a need for Heading 5 onwards.

Structuring your post with this hierarchy can also assist blind readers who rely on screen readers to access your content (find out more about accessibility issues in point ten).

4) Lists and Bullet Points

Most writers know the value of bullet points. Listicles, or posts with numbered lists, are hugely popular too (hey, this whole blog post is a listicle!).

Here are five reasons why numbered lists or bullet points are great:

• They make your content easier to digest
• They break up information and offer more white space on the page
• They offer your eyes something to grab onto
• They keep you moving through the content, rather than skipping over a paragraph
• Readers can easily chunk or categorize information

Need I say more?

5) Links

Hyperlinks are one way that digital writing is very different from traditional writing. In fact, this is a topic that we could really invest a lot of time in exploring with our students. If you’re interested in learning more about hyperlinked writing, check out some of the posts by Silvia Tolisano (Langwitches).

From a visual point of view, hyperlinks or bold words are another good way to make key pieces of information in your post stand out. It draws you in when you’re skimming or scanning the page.

Of course there are other reasons why hyperlinks enhance your post:

• It’s polite and ethically correct to acknowledge your sources
• It can add depth to your topic if readers can go elsewhere to learn more
• Linking to credible sources can back up what you’re saying
• Your readers will hang around your blog longer if you link to other relevant posts you’ve written

Here are two things to remember about using hyperlinks:

• Try to make your links descriptive and weave them into your sentence, rather than saying “…click here, here, and here“. (Yep, I used to be guilty of the latter once upon a time).
• Don’t go overboard with links. Stay relevant and focus on quality over quantity.

6) Images

When you’re scanning posts, no doubt your eyes are naturally drawn to images. Breaking up your text with some visuals can definitely make your blog posts easier to read.

But not all images are created equal.

Firstly, make sure you’re not using copyright images. I’m sure you know, you can’t just use anything you find on Google Images. We have a post all about copyright, Creative Commons, and fair use if you’d like to learn more.

Also, make sure your images are enhancing your post and helping your readers to gain an understanding of what the post is about. Too many decorative or abstract images might be confusing.

Finally, remember that you can use more than simple pictures. You can embed all sorts of media in your blog posts such as comics, quizzes, polls, videos, social media, and more. We have a help guide about embedding media if you need more information about this.

7) Color

Color in blog posts is a contentious topic. Certainly on professional blogs, you’ll generally just see bloggers sticking to the traditional black fonts.

But what school teacher doesn’t like color? I used to use color a lot on my own class blogs.

Some teachers of very young students use different colors to type their students’ responses in a blog post. Then they could tell the student to show their parents the “blue comment” when they get home, for example.

Sometimes color is used for tasks on student blogs. For example, Zehra responded to a news video by using color coding for summary, facts, understandings and questions.

If you do use color, remember:

• Be consistent: For example, I used to always use red for my closing questions on a class blog post. It helped students know what to look out for when responding to the post.
• Choose colors wisely: Clearly darker/contrasting colors are going to be best. Yellow or aqua on a white background is not going to enhance the readability of your post.

8) Alignment

I’ve shared with you a few of my “mistakes” from my early years of blogging. Here is another one: I used to center align all of my text. Oh dear.

When I look at blog posts with center aligned text now I find them very hard to read. The starting point of each line constantly changes, so it’s hard work to keep track of where you’re up to.

Left aligned text is best as demonstrated below.

9) Widgets

In my experience, students love widgets! Many teachers do too.

Some widgets add a lot of value to your blog. They help visitors find relevant content and related blogs. They can offer families the chance to subscribe to the blog or stay up to date via a class calendar.

There are also a plethora of fun widgets out there: jokes of the day, virtual pets, music widgets, weather widgets, random facts … the list goes on.

If you want visitors to be reading your blog posts, you probably don’t want them distracted by too many widgets on your sidebars. Furthermore, excess widgets can slow down the loading time of your blog.

Like many aspects of blogging, it’s worth considering how you can strike a balance. Maybe less is more.

10) Alternative Text And Accessibility

You want to make your blog posts readable for everyone, including visitors who are vision impaired. This is an issue that is overlooked by many bloggers.

You might not realize that vision impaired visitors to your site may be using assistive technology like screen readers or other software which reads the page out loud.

This software will read the alternative text (alt text) instead of the image.

You can see how it would be difficult for a vision impaired visitor to take in your content if it is full of images that they can’t access.

Adding the alt text is easy. When you upload an image, there is a box where you can write your description before pressing ‘Insert Into Post’.

You can describe what you image looks like. Or write a brief description of the content if it’s a graph, chart, or other visual.

Alt text is just one way you can make your blog more accessible. The American Foundation for the Blind offers more tips for making print more readable, including selecting appropriate fonts and colors.

There are also more barriers to consider apart from vision impairment, including language and other physical restraints.

You can read more about making school websites accessible in this CampusPress post by Rachel McCollin.

When it comes to styling, a lot of ideas come down to personal preference. However, it’s always great to be open to trying new things and you might find yourself with a larger or more engaged audience as a result.

Maybe there are a few tips here that you or your students could try on your next blog post?

What can you add to this list? What sorts of things encourage you to read through a whole blog post? What do you find off-putting?

We haven’t talked about language. Do you prefer a conversational tone, or posts that are written in a more formal style? Share your thoughts. 

Fantastic news! Our Getting More Out of Widgets! post inspired community members to make adjustments or add extra widgets to their blog, plus motivated some to do “blog makeovers”.

Larry Ferlazzo suggested

Here in the U.S there’s a popular TV show where producers go into someone’s home, and completely redo a room. Crazy idea, I know, but it might be fun for you to offer to do that to a blog and as a teaching tool for the rest of us.

What an excellent idea Larry and here’s the best news!

As you asked for assistance, we choose your blog for the makeover and will be writing a series of posts on Larry Ferlazzo’s Website of the Day “Blog Makeover” to share blog design tips and additional info for customizing widgets.

But before we begin– Gail Desler, from Blogwalker blog, has shared with us her excellent Introductory manual for using Edublogs which is definitely worth bookmarking for future reference! Make time to go past Gail’s blog and write a comment to thank her for sharing!

Importance of Your Blog’s Presentation Theme

Your blog has two distinct groups of readers:

• Those that subscribe to your blog via RSS feed or email;
• and first time readers who view your blog via it’s web address.

It’s these first time readers we want to engage and get to subscribe to our blog. Unfortunate fact of life, we do judge a book by it’s cover! People are more likely to both read your posts and subscribe to your blog if it’s pleasing to their eyes.

Refer to page 12 & 13 of Gail’s Introductory Manual to Edublogs.

Larry’s Original Theme

For those unfamiliar with Larry Ferlazzo’s Website of the Day — Larry’s well known and very popular for sharing great information on websites for teaching ELL, ESL and EFL. His original theme was Batavia 1.5.

Nice simple theme but the beige background behind the text in his posts detracted from the great content he was sharing. Made worse by his long blog name that cluttered his blog header.

Larry’s Next Theme

Larry had already decided that there was better themes for his blog and was trailing them before we offered our assistance.

But there was two main problems with the new Copyblogger theme:

1. His long blog name was totally overwhelming the blog header. Solution was to shorten his blog name and use a theme that included a tagline!
2. Too many page links displayed along the top of his blog was making it cluttered and messy. Answer lies with Pages, Sub-pages and a widget.

Why Blogs have Taglines

The concept behind a blog tagline is to create a memorable phrase that sums up the tone and premise of a blog. Ideally all blogs should have a tagline since they instantly tell first time readers what your blogs all about and whether you write posts in topic areas that interest them.

Unfortunately not all blog themes include a tagline however a work around, if you’re good with Photoshop, is to use a theme with a customisable header and add the tagline to the image in the header e.g. check out the header on my personal blog and Graham Wegner’s Teaching Generation Z blog.

With Larry we changed his blog name from Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day for Teaching ELL, ESL & EFL to Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… and added the tagline … .For Teaching ELL, ESL & EFL.

Larry’s New Theme

He also decided to change from the theme Copyblogger but couldn’t choose between Glorious Day or Glossy Blue.

The trouble with themes is each has their advantages and disadvantages. Both the new themes included taglines but the background colour behind the text and the text styles was easier to read with Glorious Day.

Why Blogs Have Pages

Edublogs, because it uses WordPress, has the definite advantages of being able to customize and reduce blog clutter considerably more than Blogger blogs. Clutter distracts readers making them less inclined to subscribe to your blog. One of the best ways to reduce clutter is to use pages.

Pages, are similar to posts, except they can do more than a post. You normally use pages when you want to present information about yourself or your blog that you always want readers to be easily able to access. Examples of pages on this blog are: About and Want Automatic Notification.  For more information, read the differences between pages and posts.

Pages can also be organised into Sub-pages within your pages, creating a hierarchy of pages. For blog themes that display pages along the top, this is a great way of controlling what pages are displayed as only those with no parent are displayed. The Want Automatic Notification is located on a sub-page below the About page.

Larry’s New Look

Below is what Larry’s blog now looks like after creating pages, sub-pages and using a widget to link to the sub-pages.

Our next post will show how to create widget that link to sub-pages, a widget for photos and provide tips for decluttering your side bar.

General Tips for doing a blog makeover

Here are some tips for doing a blog makeover that will make your site look and feel new again

1. Identify your goals: Before you start making any changes, take some time to think about what you want to achieve with your blog makeover. Are you looking to increase traffic, engage readers, or improve your branding? Knowing your goals will help you make informed decisions about what changes to make.

2. Choose a new theme or template: The design of your blog is one of the first things that readers notice, so it’s important to choose a theme or template that reflects your style and brand. Look for a design that’s easy to navigate and visually appealing.

3. Update your logo and branding: If your blog has been around for a while, it might be time to update your logo and branding. Make sure that your logo is clear and easy to read, and that your branding is consistent across all your social media accounts.

4. Clean up your sidebar: Your sidebar is a valuable space for showcasing your content and promoting your brand. Remove any clutter and make sure that your most important widgets are easy to find.

5. Improve your navigation: Make it easy for readers to find the content they’re looking for by improving your navigation. Add drop-down menus or a search bar to help readers quickly find the information they need.

6. Update your content: A blog makeover is a great opportunity to update your content and make sure that it’s fresh and relevant. Remove any outdated posts and make sure that your most popular content is easy to find.

7. Optimize for mobile: More and more people are accessing the internet on their mobile devices, so it’s important to make sure that your blog is optimized for mobile. Choose a responsive theme or template that will look great on any device.

A blog makeover can be a lot of work, but the results are worth it. By following these tips, you can create a blog that looks and feels new again, and that attracts new readers and engages your existing audience.

FINAL THOUGHT

We’d love feedback on Larry’s blog makeover, please check it out and provide your thoughts on further improvements. And if you’re in the process of a blog makeover let us know so we take a look!

Other posts in our “blog makeover” series include:

• How To Add Your Photo to Your Blog Side Bar
• Creating Hyperlinks Using HTML
• What To Consider When Choosing Your Blog Theme

If you are enjoying reading this blog, please consider Subscribing For Free!

Many readers express interest in widgets, so we have decided this is a good place to start!

What are Widgets?

Web terminology makes it so much harder when people are starting their online journey; suddenly you’re being bombarded with all these foreign terms, and widgets are a classic example! In simple terms, widgets are mini web applications that you can put onto your website; e.g. the Clustrmap on the side bar is a widget.

How To Embed A Widget

People use widgets to add extra features to their website. But be warned! Choose widgets for your blog wisely because they can clutter your side menu which will distract your readers. My list of “must have widgets” on a blog include:

1. Search – so readers can easily search your blog
2. Email subscription – for readers who prefer to be notified of new posts by email
3. RSS feed – not all feed readers are able to detect the RSS feed from the site URL; this is why I add a Feed burner feed to my sites to make it easier for readers to subscribe
4. Categories and Tag Cloud – to make it easier for readers to locate posts on your blog. We will be writing a post soon to explain the difference between categories and tag clouds; and why/how each is used

I also like to add a widget that links to information on how to be notified of new posts; to make it easier for new people to understand how to subscribe to blogs.

Could I Mess up My blog Embedding Widgets?

Don’t worry! Widgets won’t break your blog. Any widgets you add can easily be removed, and won’t effect existing widgets in your side bar.

To try out widget, go to Appearance > Widgets, click the [+] sign in the widget area / sidebar where you want to add a widget. Search for the one you want in the sidebar and click to add it. Then click Update and view your site.

To remove a widget, click on it and, under the ellipsis icon at top-right, click the Delete option. Then click Update to save your changes.

What Widgets Should I Add To My Blog?

Widgets are PERSONAL. We all have our favourites.

Many educators like to add Clustrmaps, especially those with younger students, because the students loving seeing the red dots grow as their readers from around the world visit their site.

Other common widgets bloggers use include:

• Meta – shows your latest updates from Meta/Facebook
• Flickr – shows the latest photos you have uploaded to your Flickr Account
• Twitter – shows your latest updates from Twitter

Not all widgets can be embedded in Edublogs because some types of code and code that includes Java Script can cause problems. For example, when adding a Clustrmaps widget, you’ll want to copy the embed code and paste that in a Custom HTML widget in your sidebar.

FINAL THOUGHT

For those struggling to embed widgets we hope these “how to” tips have helped! For everyone else we hope that you find these tips useful when demonstrating to new people.

Please leave a comment to let us know how you go, and if you need any help with widgets I haven’t mentioned.

If you are enjoying reading this blog, please consider Subscribing For Free!

We know all teachers work hard to ensure every student and member of their community is catered for, but creating accessible web content might not be something you’ve ever considered.

In order for your class blog to be valuable, it must be accessible to all students. This includes individuals with visual impairments or disabilities that require them to use a screen reader or other assistive technologies.

Fortunately, there are a few strategies you can implement to make creating accessible content for your class blog straightforward. By formatting and structuring your posts with these tips in mind, you’ll make them more available and useful to all your students.

In this article, we’ll explain the importance of accessibility in content creation. Then, we’ll provide seven techniques educators can use to make their class blog content useful for all readers, regardless of ability.

Let’s get into it!

The Importance Of Creating Accessible Web Content

Web accessibility refers to sites that everyone – including users with visual, hearing, motor, and cognitive impairments or disabilities – can access and use.

Creating content that’s available to all establishes inclusiveness and makes it easier for any user to navigate the web.

By creating your class blog with accessibility in mind, you increase the number of students and other visitors who can read, understand, and interact with it. Not only does this provide more meaningful user experiences, but it can also result in better design. And for those hoping to generate more traffic to their site, it can help with Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

Plus, accessibility isn’t just an added benefit – it’s a requirement. For example, in the US, Title II of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits schools from discriminating against students with disabilities by preventing access to their programs, activities, and services. Sections 504 and 508 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act have similar laws.

Put simply, failing to make your web content accessible can result in legal ramifications. In fact, studies have found that the number of ADA accessibility-related lawsuits in the US were up almost 200 percent last year.

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) outlines Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) that serve as a foundation for most laws established by countries and states. Under this guidance, web content – including your class blog – must be perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust.

Helping your own students realize that accessibility matters is also very important. Knowing how to create high quality content is an excellent skill for students to develop. Ensuring that content is accessible is essential.

How To Create Accessible Content For Your Class Blog (7 Key Techniques)

As you can see, accessibility for class blogs or any website is a must. If you’re not sure where to start, we’re here to help!

Here are seven key techniques you can use to make sure your content meets the necessary standards.

1. Use Proper Heading Structures

Navigation is a major factor in web accessibility. One of the most important aspects of this component of your site is how your pages and posts are structured.

Some bloggers make the mistake of breaking up different sections by bolding text or changing fonts. However, screen readers and search engines don’t take such stylistic aspects into account. In order for these tools to register a new topic, you’ll need to use headings with proper tags.

There are six levels of heading tags you can use, from <h1> (the largest) to <h6> (the smallest). It’s best to use these tags in a way that reflects the organization of your page. For example, the screenshot below shows how we have used <h1>, <h2>, and <h3> headings in a blog post.

Each page should only have one <h1> tag, which is the main title. Then, the various sections of the page should be wrapped in <h2> tags, with sub-sections in <h3> tags, and so on.

Adding heading tags to your posts is quite simple. If you’re using WordPress, just select the Heading block, then choose the appropriate size.

This is what it looks like to select Headings using the (new) Block Editor.

Or, in the Classic Editor, select the best option from the dropdown menu as shown in the image below.

Alternatively, you can add the tags manually by editing in HTML.

This latter method also works if you’re using a different platform to create your class blog or website.

2. Add Alternative Text To Images

Alternative or ‘alt’ text is used in web content to describe non-textual elements, such as images and graphics.

By adding alt text to your posts, you can help screen reader users interpret and understand what’s on the page even if they can’t visually perceive it. This text is also displayed if the file doesn’t load.

It’s best practice to add alt text to images as you upload them. This reduces the likelihood that you’ll forget to go back and add it later.

If you’re using WordPress for your class blog, you can find the Alt Text field in the right sidebar of the Block Editor after you upload an image.

You can also add alt text via the Media Library.

When creating alt text, the goal is to keep it simple. It should inform users who can’t see the image or graphic what is on the screen without being overly long and detracting from the main content. Keep in mind the alt text is not a caption, but rather a concise description.

3. Write Out Abbreviations

Acronyms and abbreviations are often used in educational content. However, to make your class blog accessible, it’s best to spell them out so readers – especially those using screen readers – don’t get confused.

Abbreviations can be tricky for a number of reasons. Some have multiple meanings. For example, ADA stands for both the Americans with Disabilities Act and the American Dental Association.

Additionally, some acronyms spell out other words, which can make hearing them confusing. For instance, OWL stands for ‘Online Writing Lab’, but may sound like a reference to a nocturnal bird when said aloud by a screen reader.

On the other hand, continuously spelling out the full meaning of each acronym can become redundant. A best practice is to include the expanded version at first mention, followed by the abbreviation in capital letters wrapped in parentheses.

Each subsequent mention can use the shortened version alone. It’s also recommended to include a link to a resource that either defines or further explains the acronym.

4. Make Text Colors Stand Out

Strategically using color on your blog can help enhance its design. However, when done well, it can also improve your site’s accessibility.

For people with visual impairments such as color blindness or low visual acuity, sites with high color contrast are easier to see.

Typically, using a dark font color on a light background is a safe bet. The goal is to prevent the text from blending in with the rest of your site. It’s wise to avoid using the opposite combination (light text on a dark background).

Combinations with limited contrast, such as blue text on a green background, can also be difficult to read. If you’re not sure about your color scheme, there are a handful of ways you can test the visual elements on your blog, such as the Colour Contrast Analyzer.

You can use this tool to examine the text and visual elements of your page. It also tells you whether the legibility is in compliance with WCAG standards.

5. Include Transcripts And Subtitles For Video And Audio Content

Video and audio files are a powerful way to enrich your class blog. However, they need to be formatted and configured so people with hearing impairments are able to access and understand them.

An effective way to go about that is to include subtitles and transcripts for any content that relies on sound. This will provide a text version of the video or audio that you can display alongside it.

Some bloggers simply add the text on the same page under media player. Another option is to create a separate link for the transcription to open in a new tab.

Transcripts are also helpful for SEO. Search engine crawlers can use these text files to understand the content of the video. Plus, captions and subtitles have even been shown to help improve literacy.

Some platforms – such as YouTube – automatically produce transcripts and captions with videos. You can click on the CC button to turn on subtitles or click on the ellipses button and select Open transcript.

If you do use the auto-generated transcripts and captions from YouTube, it’s a smart idea to double-check them to ensure they’re accurate. Should you need to, you can edit them by going to your Video Manager and clicking on Edit > Subtitles and CC for the relevant video.

6. Create Descriptive Links

Similar to how you can include alt text for images to enhance blog accessibility for people using screen readers, you can also use descriptive links to let people know where a link is pointing.

For example, rather than using ambiguous words and phrases like Click here or More, it’s better to use a relevant, descriptive phrase that hints at where the link will take users who click on it.

This doesn’t require a lengthy explanation of the linked resource. You only need to give the user an idea of where you’re directing them in the appropriate context. For instance, using the anchor text “this article on climate change” tells your students that the link is to a scientific text.

Although you can audit the links on your blog manually, this can be time-consuming. You may consider using a web accessibility checker tool such as WAVE.

After inputting the page you want to analyze, this tool scans your site and checks for any errors. It flags items such as redundant links, and you can filter the details by WCAG 2.0 requirements.

7. Choose WordPress As Your Content Management Systems (CMS)

The platform and tools you use for your class blog can have a major effect on accessibility.

WordPress, for example, is a CMS that takes accessibility very seriously and has built-in features that can improve your blog content in this regard.

We’ve already mentioned some of these features in this post. For instance, WordPress makes it easy to add alt text to images and to incorporate heading tags, even if you’re not well-versed in HTML.

Similarly, using a learning platform such as CampusPress can make creating an accessible class blog simple. CampusPress hosted sites come with accessibility-ready themes that are compliant with WCAG 2.0.

You can use CampusPress to host and manage your entire WordPress class blog. Our platform can also help you create ePortfolios and individual student projects that meet accessibility standards.

Conclusion

All teachers strive to make their course materials accessible to all. Some educators don’t realize this also includes your class blog or other content you publish online.

An accessible blog is structured and formatted in a way that’s easy to both understand and navigate, regardless of your readers’ abilities.

This post shared several techniques you can use to create accessible content for your class blog. Proper heading structures, alt text for images, and video transcripts all make it easier for students (and other readers) with disabilities to interpret content.

Plus, platforms built with accessibility in mind make WCAG 2.0 compliance simple.

Want more? Check out our complete guide to accessibility and WordPress here.

Questions?

Do you have any questions or comments about creating accessible content for your class blog? Let us know in the comments section below!

This is a guest post from Stef Galvin.

Stef is a Year One teacher from Melbourne, Australia.

Her class blog is called Room 10 Wonderland and her professional blog is Little Bookish Teacher.

Stef spends her free time making and uploading videos to two YouTube channels (Noveltea Corner for books and craft videos, and the recently started Little Bookish Teacher for teaching videos). She also loves reading a lot of books.

Stef has been blogging, in various forms, for over fifteen years, and loves connecting with people on Twitter.

The old phrase “first impressions count” is very true in all areas, including when it comes to your blog. A blog doesn’t have to look very fancy– but there are ways to dress it up to make it appealing to visitors that are quick and easy (and free!).

This tutorial will focus on using PowerPoint to create a simple header image for your WordPress/Edublogs/CampusPress blog that will draw your visitors’ eyes.

Before You Begin

Many of the Edublogs themes allow you to add a custom header image. However, before you start, you might want to check if your theme allows this.

Go to Appearance > Customize in your dashboard.

Click on Header Image in the Customizer to reveal the theme’s header options.

• If you don’t see the Header section in the Customizer it means the theme doesn’t support the use of a custom header image.

A Word On Tools And Operating Systems

While I’m using a Mac computer and PowerPoint Version 15.4, you’ll find the Windows variations to the steps listed where necessary. Adjust the steps to best match your tools.

If you have access to image editing software and you’re comfortable using it, you can skip the PowerPoint steps and create your image and then follow the upload process.

Step One: Find An Image

Remember to keep in line with copyright rules and find an image that either you have taken yourself or one with an appropriate Creative Commons license available.

For this demonstration, I have used Unsplash and found an image by Mike Fox.

Some other great sites to find free images include Pixabay and Pexels.

Step Two: Find Your Dimensions

Knowing the dimensions of your header image will make it a lot easier to customize your header from the outset.

Simply log in to your dashboard and go Appearance > Customize

Once you reach the Customize screen, click on Header Image

You will find the dimensions for your header image in pixels.

We’ll need to convert the pixels to centimetres (or inches) in PowerPoint so make sure you note down the pixels and use a converter, like Unit Conversion, to help you out.

If all you want is an image without any additional text, you can simply upload your image here and crop it by following the prompts on screen. If you want to customise it further, follow on to the next step.

A Word On Text

If you are planning to add text to your header image, you’ll also need to go to Customizing Site Identity and make sure you de-select the option Display Site Title and Tagline for a cleaner look.

Step Three: Open A Blank PowerPoint Document

Once you have your blank document open, we need to change the dimensions of the slide by clicking File > Page Setup

Note: On a Windows computer you will go to Design > Slide Size > Custom Slide Size

In the page settings, you will need to type in your converted pixels to cm dimensions.

Once you hit OK, your slide dimensions will be adjusted and you now have a blank canvas to work with!

Step Four: Insert Your Image

This is where we really get to have some fun. Drag your image file from wherever it is located on your computer onto the blank slide. Alternatively, go to Insert > Pictures

Adjust the size so that the picture fills the whole slide, and move it around.

Tip 1: Image Crop

The image is likely to go off the edges, so use the Image Crop button in the menu to keep things manageable!

Tip 2: Slide Viewer

Increase the width of your slide viewer on the left-hand side. This will show you which part of the image is in frame and you can adjust on screen.

Step Five: Add Text

The next step is to add text (if you want to).

I love adding titles– and sometimes all I have is text, rather than images. Get creative!

Because we’re working PowerPoint, we’re using text boxes which means it’s very easy to add, edit, and move around the title.

Just go to Insert > Text Box then draw your text box. Type in your text and choose the font, size, and colour you’re after.

Once you’re happy with how it looks (again, check the slide viewer on the left if you’re unsure) we’re ready to save our image.

Step Six: Save Your Image

The easiest way to get a high quality image is to highlight the entire slide (just click and drag your cursor over the whole screen). Right click and select Save as Picture. Follow the prompts to save your image.

In Windows go to Save As and choose to save your header as a JPEG or PNG image.

Step Seven: Upload Your Image

This is when we go back into our blog’s dashboard to our Customize Header Image screen.

Click on Upload and select your image file.

Let the file upload, select it, and then click on the blue button that says Select and Crop.

Depending on how accurate your dimensions were in PowerPoint, you may need to adjust your header a little bit on the screen, but once you’re happy with it, hit Crop Image.

If the image looks pixelated, you may need to go back into PowerPoint and adjust the slide size again.

Remember: It’s okay to play around with it until it looks right; don’t be discouraged!

All that’s left to do is hit Save & Publish at the top of your screen and your new header image is all ready to go!

Don’t forget to save your original PowerPoint file (as a PowerPoint file, not an image) in case you ever want to change your header in the future.

We thank Stef for sharing this fabulous tutorial with us.

Leave a comment and let us know if you have any further questions.

We’d also love you to share the URL of your blog to show off your header. Perhaps you could share a blog with a header that you admire too.

Do you have any other tips on creating headers? Let us know!

One of the most exciting parts of starting a new blog is choosing the design elements that make your blog unique to you and your personality.

But often times, it can be a little disorienting figuring out what looks best for your blog. You’ve seen websites that you think look attractive, but you’re not sure how to design your own.

This guide is created to help you make aesthetic decisions about your blog including advice on how to choose the right theme for your blog and how to tweak it to meet your needs. You don’t need to know how to code to achieve a beautiful design. With all of the themes and plugins that Edublogs has to offer, you’re sure to find something that meets your needs.

 What is the purpose of your blog?

It might seem a little strange to start with a philosophical question about the nature of your blog as opposed to diving into design elements head-first.

But it’s important to think about the nature of what kinds of information you hope to share with your readers.

Is this a class blog that is designed to showcase different projects that your students work on in class?

Do you hope to gain a global reach and share insights with other teachers from around the world?

Your purpose ultimately will dictate the design elements of your site, so it’s important to think about your audience as you go forth. What might seem cool to a class of third grade students might not look professional to an audience of teachers and administrators, so keep this at the forefront of your mind as we progress through the elements of design.

Choosing the best theme for your blog

A few years ago, it might have been the case that it was difficult to find the perfect theme for your blog. But with so many developers working on new themes over the past few years, the real challenge becomes sorting through all of the themes that are available to you.

We’re fortunate here at Edublogs to have a wide selection of themes. At the time of writing this guide, we have 289 themes that you can choose from for your blog. Sue wrote an awesome post showcasing how easy it is to sort our themes by category.

Though we have lots of beautiful themes to choose from, in each section I’ll highlight a few of my favorites.

Responsiveness

More and more school districts are implementing 1:1 device or BYOD policies, and several studies suggest that mobile (phones and tablets) makes up 27% of all web traffic.

When I search for a new theme, I always start by searching for a theme that is responsive for mobile devices.

It’s important that your audience has the same viewing experience on your blog, whether they are on a cell phone, tablet, or computer. By making it more accessible on every device, your users are much more likely to engage with your blog.

Not all responsive themes are created equal. Some look great on a tablet, but not a phone, and it’s important that you have the ability to test out what your website looks like, even if you don’t own every device that your audience does.

Thankfully, sites like mobile.me can help you visualize what your website will look like on different devices. Though I have an Android phone and an iMac, I don’t know what my website looks like on an tablet. This website shows me exactly how my blog looks to a visitor who is on an iPad.

Recommendations for responsive themes

• Hum: A minimalist theme with a soft menu to emphasize your content.
• Responsive: As the name implies, this theme was designed for all of your devices. Want to see it in action? Our Edublogs Help site runs Responsive.
• Writr: A theme with a beautiful splash of color that highlights your author avatar.

White Space

As Web 2.0 tools became increasingly popular for educators, so too did embedding them as widgets in blogs.

In our Edublogs Teacher Challenges, we encourage teachers to experiment with widgets, but it’s important to remember that the more widgets that are added, the clunkier your site will appear.

It all comes down to the purpose of your blog. Do you want your audience to read insightful posts? Do you want an interactive learning environment for your students? 

Utilizing white space is common in modern themes. With this minimalist approach, your audience will focus more on the content (your writing) and less on novelty widgets.

Recommendations for themes that utilize white space

• Family: Simple with a clean background and elegant typography.
• Highwind: Even flow with header image and sidebar.
• Independent Publisher: Like Writr, this features your author avatar, but with a more minimalist approach.

Emphasis On Text Or Images

Instinctively, most of us know whether we’re image-focused or text-focused bloggers.

That’s not to say there isn’t a fair amount of overlap between the two approaches, but most blog themes are created with one or the other in mind.

Do you plan on showcasing student work in ePortfolios? You might want to consider taking high quality photos and utilizing a theme focused on images.

Do you want students to hone their writing skills and comment on each other’s blogs? You might consider a stripped-down theme that doesn’t distract from the text.

Recommendations for text-oriented themes

• Book Lite: A beautiful header and crisp black text on white background.
• McKinley: Like Book Lite, but with a larger area for your blog title and navigation menu.
• Mog: An incredibly minimalist theme.

Recommendations for image-oriented themes

• Magazino: A beautiful slider and featured images showcase your images in style.
• Mixfolio: A portfolio theme with an awesome customizable header.
• Noteworthy: An attractive sidebar meshes well with a great feature box to display your latest content.

 Color

While it can be tempting to change the background and text colors to match your school’s colors, consider that it is a more effective design choice to use color sparingly.

Using bright colors for your paragraph text or your background can strain your readers’ eyes. Research has shown that participants could read 26% more accurately with dark colored text on a light background.

Focus on themes with white backgrounds, dark text, and a splash of color for important Call-To-Action buttons or hyperlinks. This will help your audience know exactly what you want them to do on your page – read more, get in contact with you, or sign up for an email subscription.

Recommendations for color-designed themes

Hemingway 2014: The search button and hyperlinks add variety to the large header image and white background.

Radiate: Top of the page navigation, magnifying glass, and hyperlink color make this page pop.

Sparkling: Bold use of color and great theme options to customize in the dashboard.

Tweaking Your Theme

Choosing your blog theme is the first big step in designing your site. Many of our Edublogs users are perfectly content with using one of our themes right “out-of-the-box.”

But as you continue your journey in designing a beautiful blog, you’ll soon realize there are little things on your blog you’d like to change.

Maybe you like the way the header image appears on your blog, but the text is difficult to read. Maybe you wish you could change the color-scheme of your blog.

With these easy to implement tweaks, your blog can be customized to look the way you want it to.

Menus

Helping your visitors navigate your content is one of your most important tasks to keep users engaged on your blog.

For those of you that have professional blogs, your visitors are much more likely to leave your website and go in search of information elsewhere if they cannot quickly find what they’re looking for on your blog.

For those of you that blog with students, your students are much more likely to become frustrated and will rely on you to help them navigate where to go on the blog.

By creating a custom menu, you can show your users how to quickly get to the most important content on your site.

I stress with new bloggers the importance of limiting your navigation menu options. Any more than four or five items across your top navigation start to get cumbersome. If you need to add additional layers of information, you can always nest sub-menu options underneath menu options, or add an additional menu to your sidebar with the custom menu widget.

Paragraphs

Information processing is largely influenced by the structure of your paragraphs on the page.

Imagine if you had read this entire blog post so far with out any line breaks, images, or paragraph headings.

Not only would it be boring, but it would be incredibly difficult to read!

Here are some quick tips to help maximize the flow of your information:

Keep ’em short

It’s a matter of personal preference, but if you follow many bloggers, you’ll notice that the trend is to type ultra-short paragraphs.

Each complete idea often receives its own line. If you scan quickly through this post, you’ll notice that most of my paragraphs contain only one or two sentences.

I’m proud to say I didn’t fail English in high school; while I utilize traditional paragraphs in formal papers that I write, it’s easier to quickly scan ideas when they’re broken up by line breaks.

 Use subheads

Ever notice that drop-down menu in your post editor that lists Paragraph as the default choice?

If you click to open the menu, you’ll notice that you have several heading options (H1-H6). Think of this as a way to outline your text with your main points followed by supporting points.

Right now I have the blog title set as Heading 1, “Tweaking Your Theme” set as Heading 2,  “Menus” set as Heading 3, and “Use subheads” set as Heading 4. 

Utilizing this structure makes the content easier to read and is super helpful in crafting the perfect blog post before ever writing in the supporting paragraph text.

Include relevant links

Adding useful links in your paragraphs is an easy way to keep your visitors on your site longer and share additional useful information.

Additionally, since hyperlinks are usually styled in a different color, they provide a focal point when people scan your text.

Typography

Font size

As user experience advocates continue to shape the future of web design, many bloggers are starting to gravitate towards larger font sizes.

On The Edublogger, we use a font size of 18px to make our articles easier to read.

Ultimately, larger font sizes result in additional scrolling, but that’s often a small price to pay for accessible content.

Supreme Google Webfonts Plugin

By enabling the Supreme Google Webfonts plugin, you’ll have access to a variety of fonts and sizes for any of your post and page text.

A word of warning: don’t go too crazy with a variety of fonts. Like colors, simplicity is often best; reserving a unique font for your headings or subheadings.

Designers are intense about their typography, but you should be able to succeed by focusing on simplicity and readability.

CSS

If you’ve implemented all of these tips and you’re still craving more, having a working knowledge of CSS will help you make any additional changes you want to your theme.

Even if you’ve never learned code before, there are great learning resources at your disposal – for text-based, check out HTML Dog and for awesome interactive tutorials, check out Codecademy.

By enabling our Custom CSS plugin, you’ll be able to edit your theme in no time!

Try it out!

All of the themes and plugins mentioned in this article are available to Edublogs Pro and CampusPress users (and many of them to free members, too). Let us know what you think and any of your design preferences in the comments below!

When I first started blogging in 2007, I only needed to worry about what my blog looked like on my computer.  There wasn’t that many readers using mobile devices.

How life has changed!  Sales of mobile devices continue to see incredible growth and with this there has been a major shift in the consumption habits of our readers.

In fact, nearly 20% of all visits to blogs on Edublogs.org come from mobile or tablet devices! And the number has doubled in the past year!

Now I need to worry what my blog looks like on a computer and mobile devices.  And I have this annoying voice in my head going — you can only change the theme if it is responsive….it must be a responsive theme.

PS. The annoying voice is my colleague Ronnie Burt – and he is right

Responsive themes are designed to display nicely on all devices, including phones, tablets and desktops, whereas non-responsive themes are best viewed on desktops.  With a responsive theme you can customize it to your heart’s content knowing that it’ll look good on all devices.

Let’s look at why using a responsive theme is a good idea if you want your blog to be mobile friendly.

What is responsive theme design?

A responsive theme is designed to automatically adjust to fit the device you’re reading it on;  it adapts the content and layout to suit the resolution of the device.

Non-responsive themes don’t adjust to the resolution of devices.

If you view a non-responsive theme on most modern phones it will automatically zoom out so that your entire blog can be seen.   This means your readers need to zoom in to read your content.

Responsive themes and reader experience

Responsive themes are designed to be mobile friendly;  they serve web pages at lightening fast speed on any device and in a format that doesn’t require the reader to adjust by zooming in or out to read.

Most major websites now use responsive themes as it means they only need to have one version of their website to work seamlessly across all devices while providing the best reader experience for all visitors.

Check out the following examples of what a non-responsive photo blog theme vs a responsive photo blog theme looks like on an iPhone.

Non-responsive theme

Here’s what my AutoFocus demo blog, which is a non-responsive theme, looks like on my iPhone.  You can see the entire blog but need to zoom in to read the content.

Responsive theme

And here’s what my Hatch demo blog, which is a responsive theme, looks like on my iPhone. The text and images (and videos if I had added any) are served at a size that allows the reader to immediately start reading.

Theme layout and responsive themes

A non-responsive theme uses the same layout regardless of the resolution of the device whereas a responsive theme changes layout depending on the screen resolution.

If you are reading this post on a desktop browser just gradually make your browser window smaller.   You’ll see the images, videos and content column shrinks, the sidebar disappear and the layout change from two column to a single column of content with the widgets displayed at the bottom of the theme because The Edublogger is using a responsive theme.

Here’s what my personal blog, which uses Yoko – a responsive theme, looks like when viewed on an iPhone, iPad and desktop.

Examples of Responsive themes

You can check out the entire list of Responsive themes on Edublogs here.

See some of them in use on the following blogs:

1. Hatch (photo blog theme) – Hatch demo blog
2. Hum – Lisa and Tim Photography
3. Magazino – Miss Kelly’s Science
4. Responsive – Edublogs Help and Support
5. Yoko (clean looking white theme ) – Teacher Challenge blog (without image header)  Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day (with custom header image)

There are variations in how blog platforms handle being mobile friendly but if you have an option to use a responsive theme — use the responsive theme!

The aim of the post is to help educators and students with their personal blogging.

For my responses to student blogging questions refer to What You Wanted To KNOW About Student Blogging.

Want my blog to be well read and have a great appearance

Here’s my thoughts including recommended widgets:

1. Always put the most important widgets at the top of your blog
2. Search widget – top of blog or top of sidebar
3. RSS feed using Feedburner – here’s how to add it to your blog
4. Subscribe by email using Feedburner – here’s how to add Feeburner email subscription to your blog
5. Effectively use both categories and tags on your post to make it easier to find posts – here’s the difference between categories and tags
6. Place category widget above tag widget in your sidebar
7. Consider all widgets you add very carefully.  Do you really NEED them?  Do they help or distract from your blog appearance and content?
8. AVOID excessive use of bold, italics and colored font in posts
9. Use headings, number listed, bullet lists, short paragraphs to break posts into manageable chunks– here’s my first five tips for writing better blog posts
10. Use images effectively to engage attention –- read these posts:
    • Copyright and Using Images in Blog Posts
    • Finding and Adding Creative Commons Images To Your Blog Posts
    • Uploading Photos From Digital Cameras Into Blog Posts
11. Avoid blog themes with strong colors or text that is too small that distract the reader from content and make them not want to read it
12. Choose a blog title that is immediately meaningful and relevant to first time visitors – this can make or break their decision to become a subscriber.
    • For example, the original name Mobile Technology in TAFE for my personal blog is a classic example of a REALLY bad blog title

Here’s what to consider when choosing a blog theme.

And think about using your own custom image header like I’ve done on my personal blog – here’s how to upload custom image headers

Do a first time reader audit on your blog

A good approach to improving your blog appearance is to “Do a first time reader audit on your blog” by:

1. Following Darren Rowse’s Run a First Time Reader Audit on Your Blog instructions to observe how someone who has never read your blog navigates it
2. Contacting a few experience bloggers and ask them to do a quick audit of your blog to give you advice on what works and what doesn’t

How you see your blog and what you write about is often totally different from how viewed by others

What experienced bloggers spot differ from someone who normally doesn’t read blogs.

Can you tell how many times your blog has been viewed?

Knowing how many times your blog has been view doesn’t give you a true reflection of your readership.

Blog readership is made up of two totally separate components:

1. People who visit your blog site
2. Readers who subscribe to your blog using RSS or email subscription

The number of people who read your blog by visiting your blog site is generally considerably lower than those that subscribe by RSS or email subscription.

To understand your readership and changes you need to:

1. Set up Google Analytics for your blog
2. Set up Feeburner RSS and email subscription

PostRank is also good for monitoring other engagement factors.

How can a blogger attract more readers?

Hard question because it’s a combination of factors including:

1.  Your blog’s appearance

Some bloggers write great content but:

• Their blog theme and sidebar clutter distracts readers from appreciating the great content
• Lay out of their posts makes their posts hard to read –  here’s my first five tips for writing better blog posts

2.  Type of posts and how frequently you publish posts:

Bloggers like Stephen Downes, Larry Ferlazzo and Richard Brynes all have high readership because they all:

• Have high posts frequency (post several posts per day)
• Publish posts that provide great information for their readers

As a general rule high posts frequency combined with great content increases readership faster than low post frequency with great content.

But you don’t always need high posting frequency to have high readership.

For example, some one like Vicki Davis posts less frequently but  has high readership because of her great content and amazing support of the educational community.

It’s worth checking out Post Rank’s Education list even though their list is based on engagement factors (as opposed to readership) — to check out different edublogging approaches.

3.  Connecting with others

Being a blogger isn’t just about publishing posts.

It’s also about reading others posts, taking time to comment on their posts (in meaningful ways), engaging with your readers by commenting back when they leave comments — being a good blog citizen.

A natural part of connecting with others means that more people are likely to become aware of your work.

Don’t forget that linking to someone else’s post is an important part of blogging.  Why?

Because reading posts that talks about other bloggers or their posts but doesn’t include links to them is really frustrating for readers. Readers like to follow the links and check out the information in more detail but without the links they can’t!

And when you include links to another bloggers post it sends a pingback to that blogger.  Most bloggers check out pingback to their blogs.

Here’s more information on What’s A Pingback? And How To Write Links

But please note — I can’t stress meaningful ways enough when connecting with others, writing comments or using pingbacks.

4.  How you make people aware of your posts

I know other bloggers feel uncomfortable about this as myself.

But nowadays increasingly readers are reading blog posts by links shared on twitter rather than RSS.   So it is now a good idea to tweet when you’ve written a new post.

If you’re not currently using twitter – here’s how to get started.

Bloggers are also using Facebook to connect with more readers – here’s how you do it.

How do you get more people to read your blog and comment?

Increasing readership doesn’t necessarily lead to more comments.

As a general rule if you publish several post per day readers are less likely to comment on posts than if you publish posts two or three times per week.

Scheduling posts several days apart gives readers time to process your posts and means they are more likely to write comments.

However, it does all depend on how you’ve written your post.  Has your post invited a response?

There are skills to writing posts that make readers want to comment — my Comment Count post should give you some ideas.

What are your best practices to ensure uninterrupted publishing posts?

We’re all always busy — so time can be a challenge.

The key is work out what routine works best you and set up a system that helps you.

For example, decide how often you want to publish posts?  Several times daily, once daily or a few times a week?

As a general rule writing a post 2-3 times a week is more achievable for most educators.   So how you do it is decide that Tuesdays and Thursdays are the days your posts will publish.

And to make life easier you can write the posts at the same time and then schedule to post on those days.

Some bloggers also find using a calendar where you plan the topic of your posts helps.  While I’ll also use Google Document which I update with new post ideas.

How do you determine “worthy” topics to attract readers

Really gets back to the reason why you blog.

For many edubloggers blogging is a bit about their readers and a lot about their own personal needs to reflect on what they are learning or what they want to share.

One of the commonest mistakes I see made by new blogggers is focusing on what they think their readers want to read.

My advice is forget about your readers and focus on your own needs.  You’ll be more passionate and it’ll come through in your posts.

And never assume that someone’s already written what you’re saying.

Have bloggers block.  How do I get going again, post length, finding my voice etc

Don’t feel alone — we all suffer from it at some stage.

Some find having a break helps.

Whereas breaks don’t help me and the best solution is to force myself to write the post (any post) to get back into my blogging routine.

Post length

Post length is an interesting topic.  As a general rule shorter posts are more likely to get comments while longer posts are more likely to be bookmarked.

It’s really about what works for both you and your readers.

For example, this post is definitely too long but I didn’t want to break into a series of posts because I normally post twice weekly.  Would it have been better as separate posts for each question?  Probably!

Finding your voice

Each blogger has their own distinct writing style which we often call their voice.

Once you’ve got your blogging routine back I’m sure you’ll find your voice comes back with it.

Final thoughts

Thanks to everyone who submitted questions.

Would love to hear your thoughts!

1. What did I miss in my responses?
2. Do you have any other questions on blogging you would like answered?

If you are enjoying reading this blog, please consider Subscribing For Free!

1. Those that can’t be altered to themes that are “extremely customizable”
2. Standard blog themes to very unique themes including photoblog, magazine, newspaper, twitter and Facebook themes.

Which is excellent!

Important Theme Changes

And we’ve made some important changes to the themes:

1. Threaded comments – All themes now support threaded comments and any user can activate this feature.
2. Custom Image Headers – almost all themes now allow you to upload your own custom image header.
3. Comments on Pages – most themes now support comments on pages
4. Full posts on Category page – most themes now display full posts on category pages for those users who are using their blogs as photoblogs

You activate the threaded comments feature as follows:

1.  Go to Settings > Discussion.

2.  Select Enable threaded (nested) comments

3.  Scroll to bottom of page and click Save Changes

Please disable threaded comment plugin before enabling threaded comments via Settings > Discussion.

Categorizing the themes

Since you can spend considerable trying to find the “perfect theme” we’ve helped make your task easier we’ve categorizing the 137 themes based on:

1. Layout – number of columns
2. Color Scheme and how customizable the theme is
3. Ability to upload custom image header – those that allow are shown as recommended header image dimensions, in pixels, to upload (written as width by height)
4. Presence or absence of links to pages as navigation tabs at the top of the theme – as shown in page link column as Yes/No
5. Presence or absence of tagline in blog header – as shown in display tagline column as Yes/No
6. Uniqueness

ONE COLUMN THEMES

Single Column themes have a central post area with no sidebar.

These theme appeal to people who like to keep their theme simple by preventing the clutter often created by sidebar widgets.

All widgets are located at the bottom of the blog on one column themes.

TWO COLUMN THEMES WITH LEFT SIDEBAR

Two Column themes normally a wide column for content with a narrower sidebar.

These are the most common theme layout and location of the sidebar (left or right) is personal preference.

TWO COLUMN THEMES WITH RIGHT SIDEBAR

Two Column themes with right sidebar are the most common theme layout so we’ve separated these themes based on color scheme.

White themes

Grey themes

Brown Themes

Pink themes

Green Themes

Blue Themes

Dark themes

Themes with easily changed color scheme

THREE COLUMN THEMES WITH LEFT AND RIGHT SIDEBAR

Three column themes have either:

1. Sidebars side-by-side on one side of the blog
2. Sidebars on either side of the wider content column

THREE COLUMN THEMES WITH RIGHT SIDEBARS

The most appealing aspect of three column themes is the ability to place more widgets in the sidebar.

Sidebars side-by-side three column themes on one side of the blog allows you to use this aspect well.

FOUR COLUMN THEMES

Four column themes have one content column and three sidebars.

The content column is often the same width as the other columns. This type of layout tends to be cluttered looking and less suited to reading lengthy content.

VARIABLE COLUMN AND/OR SIDEBAR LOCATION THEMES

Some themes are extremely customisable providing the ability to change the number of columns and/or the location of their sidebars.

UNIQUE THEMES

These are the specialist themes designed to suit features such as photoblogging, magazine blogs, newspaper blogs, research blogs, group discussions and custom homepages.

Themes like WPMU Dixi, WPMU Nelo and WPMU are the most customisable of all themes and well suited for a wide range of purposes.

If you are enjoying reading this blog, please consider Subscribing For Free!

Given there are 100 Edublogs themes to choose from ranging from those that can’t be altered to themes that are “extremely customizable” you can spend considerable time testing themes to find the “perfect theme”.

So to help make your task easier we’ve categorizing the 100 themes based on:

1. Layout – number of columns
2. Color Scheme and how customizable the theme is
3. Ability to upload custom image header – those that allow are shown as recommended header image dimensions, in pixels, to upload (written as width by height)
4. Presence or absence of links to pages as navigation tabs at the top of the theme – as shown in page link column as Yes/No
5. Presence or absence of tagline in blog header – as shown in display tagline column as Yes/No

ONE COLUMN THEMES

Single Column themes have a central post area with no sidebar.

These theme appeal to people who like to keep their theme simple by preventing the clutter often created by sidebar widgets.

All widgets are located at the bottom of the blog on one column themes.

TWO COLUMN THEMES WITH LEFT SIDEBAR

Two Column themes normally a wide column for content with a narrower sidebar.

These are the most common theme layout and location of the sidebar (left or right) is personal preference.

TWO COLUMN THEMES WITH RIGHT SIDEBAR

Two Column themes with right sidebar are the most common theme layout so we’ve separated these themes based on:

1. Ability to upload custom image header
2. Colour scheme

With custom image header

Without custom image header

Black, White and Grey themes without custom image header

THREE COLUMN THEMES WITH LEFT AND RIGHT SIDEBAR

Three column themes have either:

1. Sidebars side-by-side on one side of the blog
2. Sidebars on either side of the wider content column

THREE COLUMN THEMES WITH RIGHT SIDEBARS

The most appealing aspect of three column themes is the ability to place more widgets in the sidebar.

Sidebars side-by-side three column themes on one side of the blog allows you to use this aspect well.

FOUR COLUMN THEMES

Four column themes have one content column and three sidebars.

The content column is often the same width as the other columns. This type of layout tends to be cluttered looking and less suited to reading lengthy content.

However this category includes themes like CommentPress which is very unique.

CommentPress is ideal for writing collaborative documents or for providing resources because its Table of Content Skin places the oldest post at the top table of contents and your readers can comment paragraph by paragraph!

MOST CUSTOMIZABLE THEMES

These themes provide greater opportunity for customizing if you want to change color of your blog based on font color code or change font type.

1. Roundflow – One Column. Can change the colors on the blog, width of column and type of font used.
2. Simplr – One Column. Able to change width of column and type of font used.
3. Striped plus – One Column. Able to change colors on the blog and type of font used.
4. Mandigo – Two Column. Extensive range of image headers to choose from and able to change colors on the blog using font color codes.
5. OceanWide – Three column

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