Keeping your Widgets Tutorial

Many of you asked for a tutorial on how to do some of the things I have done to my blog, so here it is! But, listen. I have no idea what I'm doing really. I read some things online, played around a little, and finally came up with how I wanted my blog to look. I created a "test" blog but I didn't end up using it. I just always made sure to PREVIEW and exit out without saving if I didn't like how things were looking. Let's take a look, shall we?


The first thing you should do is download/save a copy of your current template just.in.case. To do this, go to Customize, Layout, Edit HTML, Download Full Template. Then save it to your computer.

Now, while you're in the edit HTML screen, let's take a look at your widgets. If you scroll down, nearly to the bottom of the screen you will see a bunch of lines that look like this:

Here's what I did and you could too. Copy and paste those "widget lines" and put them in a Word document, or in an email to yourself so you have them. (Make a note as to WHERE they came from so you know where to put the widget code in the new layout.) Then delete all the old HTML code from your old template. Don't worry...it isn't really gone until you hit save.

Find the new layout you want to use. Paste in the new code for the new layout. Find the spot in the new code where the widget codes should go. Paste in your widget codes. Click Preview...and see what happens. If you're lucky, like me, you should see all of your old "stuff" in your new layout. If so, then you can go back and Save Template. But be sure you really want to save.

2 goofy things happened on mine that I had to fix but were very easy.

My post history and "about me" section ended up being in my sidebar twice. (They must carry over from the old blog but because I copied the widget code, they came twice.) Anyway, all I had to do was go to Customize, Layout, and delete the duplicates.

The other things was my Sitemeter. It is the only widget I have at the bottom of my blog. So, to save you a little HTML headache...if you have anything at the bottom of your blog, move it to your sidebar before you get started. It's much easier to move it when you're done than try to get the correct code.

Well, I just read that and I hope it makes sense. It seems a little wordy, but I swear it's easy. Let me know if you try it and if it works for you.

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