Once you have chosen your theme (which can be a tricky task in itself!) it is possible to customise the look and feel of your blog further. Some themes have extra options, which allow you to configure the colours and graphics for the theme. This depends on the particular theme that you’re using and some are more flexible than others. As there are over a hundred here on SchBlogs.com we can’t go through them all, but we’ll take a look at the default theme (twenty ten) which is a good place to start. It would be a good idea to take a look at the theme your using and see what it has to offer.

Two of the most common theme options allow you to change the background and the header image.

The background is the area of space to the left and right of where your posts appear. Usually it will be a neutral colour but you may want to make it brighter or more distinctive to make your blog stand out! Be careful though, you don’t want to make it hard or annoying for your readers to read your blog, or give them eye strain!

The header is the image at the top of the blog, either above or below or sometimes part of your title. Many themes allow you to choose from a number of images or to upload your own picture. When uploading your own picture be sure to resize the picture to the correct dimensions (height and width) specified. Also try and choose something that’s relevant to your blog and that will spark a visitors interest when they see your blog for the first time.

Access Theme Options in the Appearance section of your dashboard.

Theme options may depend on which theme you are using and are only available in the Advanced Admin Interface.

if you look under the appearance section of your Admin Interface you may see extra theme options. You can see to the right that we are using the default theme ‘twenty ten’ and have the options to change the header and background image. If you don’t immediately see anything under the Appearance section try clicking on the little down arrow next to the word ‘appearance’ to slide down the panel.

Clicking on each option will take you to another page where you will be able to configure that for your blog. It’s a good idea to try different settings and see which combination you like the best. Or why not ask your readers to submit their comments and opinions and get them to choose your colour scheme!