New layout!

[bennet_7]

My name is Bennet and I'm addicted to customising my layout. It's been five minutes since I last adjusted my style sheet.

If you've visited my journal in the past couple of weeks, you might have caught some of the layout craziness. I became kind of bored with my layout so I decided to branch out a bit. Having seen it used really well in other journals, I downloaded halffling's Opal customisations. I had loads of fun customising it and it looked pretty good.





But it made it difficult to read my flist - and even worse, it made it boring.

So I said goodbye to that layout and went back to the old one. (I momentarily flirted with Component by I found it difficult to customise in css.)

Then I saw this layout by enamour in paintedlayouts. While not really caring for the graphics, I did like layout. After some customisation:





I love those pics of Jason/Logan. He's got this whole OPJ devil-may-care thing going on and that is  the perfect t-shirt for him.

*sigh*

But I didn't like that layout much either. I couldn't get the header right and it was too soft - not really me.

Then, thanks to babsonite and afrocurl I saw the pilot for Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and I was hit with a wave of Sorkin-love and got really excited about the show. So I adjusted the colours and changed the header.





And voila! A layout for a show that isn't even on yet!

However it felt like I was tempting the fates with this layout, cos seriously, the show IS NOT ON YET! (I have gone outside, spun around, cursed and spat so the fates should be placated.)

Anyway, I decided that I would have to change the layout again. I had recently joined peoplemachines which offers free layouts. I looked around there and found one I liked.

It started out looking like this. As you can see, I have really customised it.

The header? I went hunting through cap_it and began pulling out caps that might make good bases. I had stuff from Wonderfalls, Anne of Green Gables and Pride and Prejudice (Colin Firth version because I loathe the 2005 version).

And then I found caps for the Disney movie Fantasia by peacefully. (Remember the film? The one with the classical music and the dancing hippos). And they were gorgeous. It reminded me of when Disney was so good at producing quality cell animation and wasn't all focused on crappy CGI movies. I love those Disney movies - I'm a proud owner of The Lion King 2 disc special edition. When we were really young (like before we had a younger brother) my sister and I had a copy of Fantasia on tape. We watched it so many times we killed the tape.

So yes. Love Fantasia. Just looking at the caps was soothing. Here are some of my favourites:





















I was also bitten with the urge to make icons. Take them if you want, just comment and credit please.

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Ahem. May have gone a bit overboard with the icons.

I'm still not sold on the header - I may alter it a bit in the next couple of days (I know, I know, it's an addiction and I've got to stop). But I do love the layout. When I started lj-ing less than a year ago, I had no knowledge of html and didn't even know css existed. So yay! for me learning stuff.

And if any of you like what I've done with the layout, I'm always happy to help you with customisation.

Comments

[afrocurl.livejournal.com]

Oh--Fantasia! I think that has to be one of my favorite Disney movies, even though it doesn't have a plot.

The cap that you used for the header is beautiful. Man, I miss old classic Disney movies, too.

I might take you up on helping if I get the urge to customize my LJ even more. CSS is something I've yet to master.

[bennet-7.livejournal.com]

When I first started messing around with CSS I was so confused! But now I can alter them pretty well - can't really make my own yet but I'm getting there.

If you ever need help then just ask ;-)

[vintagejoy.livejournal.com]

Oooh I love it. I love all the caps from Fantasia, and especially the icons, which I will snag in abundance and credit you for, of course. I have no knowledge, ability or time to alter the layout of my LJ. One day, I might perhaps take you up on that offer of assistance. Because even though black is possibly my favourite colour to wear, it's so friggin dark on my laptop.

[bennet-7.livejournal.com]

My emo!sleeves layout was black, and though I loved it, it did get annoying after a while. And if you ever want help, just let me know. There are also some great communities which offer free layouts - graphics included.

[miniglik.livejournal.com]

I'm so impressed.

[bennet-7.livejournal.com]

Aww. Thanks hon ;-)

[kiaforrest.livejournal.com]

what beautiful caps & icons to just gaze at as I had my cup of soup. Thanks for sharing! ----- ::visiting from koalathebears LJ::

[bennet-7.livejournal.com]

You're welcome!

[jazmin22.livejournal.com]

These icons are all so beautiful! So, of course I saved a whole bunch and promise to credit when I use them. A friend and I were just talking about Fantasia the other day so I'll hav to point her this way. I am here via koalathebear's LJ.

I will most likely be taking you up on the customization help. I am starting to get quite bored with my own layout but I am afraid that I really don't have any of the skills needed to change it and make cool and unique.

I hope you don't mind if I friend you, though if you would like to unfriend I will.

[bennet-7.livejournal.com]

I love making new friends so I've friended you back! ;-)

I'd be happy to help you out with your layout. Just be warned that I am by no means an expert and that I am terrible at making graphics (the icons were done by simple cropping and resizing and thats pretty much how far my artistic talent goes ;-)) so if you want something complicated you'd have to make that yourself or find someone else with ability.

Do you know what you want to do with your layout? I use mine as a kind of homepage - it has all the links I need etc. What do you need in your layout?

I use Flexible Squares because I find it very easy to customise and easy to read. But I'm always looking to play with other journal styles.

You might like to check out these communities: peoplemachines, paintedlayouts, _freeljlayouts. You might see something you like pre-made, or a style that you'd like to base yours on that I can help you further customise from there.

My email is bennet_7@hotmail.com. Once you've got an idea of what you'd like, feel free to email me.