Please note that you must take responsibility for any design changes you make to your blog. This document will give you ideas on how to redesign your blog, but we cannot provide support for these activities.

The basic look of your blog, from the page layout to the design elements, are controlled by the particular Style applied to your Movable Type blog. By default, your Movable Type blog uses the Vicksburg Style. You have the option to change the Style applied to your blog. This document will concentrate on this option.

Keep in mind that each Style comes with its own stylesheet. This stylesheet controls the design elements of your blog such as font sizes and colors, margins, lists, tables, etc. This is a standards-compliant stylesheet also known as a Cascading Style Sheet, or CSS. If you are CSS savvy, you can alter your stylesheet to control the look of your blog.

Your stylesheet is a template located on Templates page in the Indexes window. It is listed with the item "Stylesheet," and the template name is "styles-site.css".

ALERT! Before making any change to your stylesheet, copy it to a new template file for safekeeping. This way, you can recover from any changes you have made.

To make a copy of your original stylesheet, do the following:

1. Open your default stylesheet, styles-site.css.
2. Right click on the text editing window and select the option to "Select All"
3. Right click again on the text editing window and select "Edit"
4. Click on the Templates menu on the left side of the screen.
5. Click on "Create New Index Template"
6. In the blank text editing window, right click and select "Paste." The contents of your original stylesheet will appear.
7. Save the template with a new Template Name, for example "Stylesheet Original" or "Stylesheet Copy." You can leave the Output File blank.

Changing the Style of your blog

We have installed a plugin called StyleCatcher that allows you to select from a number of design choices and change the Style of your blog with just a few clicks. Here's how.

Please note that if you use this option, you will lose the ability to edit your stylesheet. StyleCatcher will use the @import command in your stylesheet template to connect your blog with the designated stylesheet on our server. You do not have access to this stylesheet. However, you can add styles to your stylesheet template to create custom styles over and above what is contained in the imported stylesheet.

1. Access the StyleCatcher plugin.

This may be found on a variety of Movable Type administrator pages. One easy way to locate it is to select "Templates" from the menu bar. Under "Plugin Actions," you will see the option to "Select a Design using StyleCatcher." (This option is available on any of the template pages, e.g., Indexes, Archives, etc.) Click on this link.

2. Select a Style

You will see categories listed on the left.

• Current Theme is the theme currently applied to your blog
• Saved Themes are themes saved on our server by other Movable Type administrators
• Movable Type Style Library will appear if you select the option to "Find Styles" to view other Style designs

  Select a theme from the Saved Themes collection.

  If you wish to see other options, click on "Find Styles." After a few moments, available Styles will be retrieved from the MovableType Style Library. You can view the thumbnail images for each one in the right hand window. Click on the style and then click "Show Details" for a larger view of each style while you're browsing through the choices.

  

  3. Select the desired Style.

  Click on the style you want to apply to your blog.

  4. Apply the Style to your blog

  Select your blog from the "Select Weblog" dropdown menu. Then click "Choose this Design."

  StyleCatcher will apply the design to your blog and rebuld your Stylesheet template. You will get an alert when the process is complete.

  5. View your blog to see the new Style applied.

  You may need to refresh the page or clear your browser cache to see the changes.

  If you don't like the new look of your blog, you can always restore it to the default Vicksburg theme. This is available in StyleCatcher's local Saved Themes collection.