It’s my seventh blogiversary! Well, one of these days. I forget the exact date. Anyway, to celebrate each year, I like to do a personal sorta post, something about me that relates to reading or blogging. This year, I’ve decided to talk about some of the things on my blog, the design, why I chose the things I chose, etc. Will it actually be interesting to anyone? I don’t know, but I’m doing it anyway!
I think I always had the idea “Metaphors and Moonlight” in mind, but I waited a bit to commit to it when I first started. I chose the name because, well, I like alliteration, but also because “metaphors” represents words and books and reading and writing, and “moonlight” represents my love for the night and also has a nice sci-fi/fantasy association. The only thing I don’t like about it is that it can be hard for people to remember (Which word comes first? Which one, or both, is plural?), but I figure that’s not a huge problem with Google and bookmarks and feed readers and all that.
Originally my color scheme was black, red, and pink, simply because they’re great colors and make a great combo! But eventually I changed to this black, teal, and beige/tan color scheme. (Every color scheme I’ve used or thought about using or will use includes black because it’s a good neutral color that matches everything and also goes with the moonlight/night theme.) There are an infinite number of color schemes that can be beautiful, so when I decided to change it, I thought about the two best nights of my life and what colors I associated with them. The one that lost was going to use pink, green, and orange, all sort of neon (it’s not as bad as it sounds because they would’ve just been for links, buttons, small things), based on the night I went to Dayglow in college and spent like 4 hours dancing to techno/electronic/house/whatever music with friends and strangers, getting covered in paint. The one I ended up going with is based on another night I spent dancing, and then walking around the beach and not going to sleep until the sun came up (dark teal and beige for the water and sand). It’s the more peaceful option of the two, but who knows, I may decide to switch it up one day!
Amazingly, despite having lots of indecision about other things when I started and making quite a few changes since then, my fonts have stayed the same! That was the one thing I really wanted to get right, so I put in some time and effort to find the fonts I wanted. I wanted fonts that were pretty, that worked well together visually, and that suited the blog name I was pretty sure I was going to use (the script one goes with “metaphors” because it’s all pretty like handwriting, and the other one goes with “moonlight” because it looks cratered like the moon). Actually, the more I think about it, the more I’m not sure if I actually chose them with the blog name in mind or if that was a happy accident and something I’ve made up after the fact (if so, I did at least choose which font to use for which word based on the reasoning I gave), but it sounds nice, so let’s go with it regardless!
Something that may or may not be readily apparent about my blog is that it has A LOT of customization. Lots of coding to add features I wanted and make them exactly how I wanted them. Like the extra tags included in book reviews that give extra info, separate from the normal tags. Like the whole way book reviews are set up (I don’t use HTML for all that, I have custom fields and whatnot). Like how the Books with Disabilities list is its own entirely separate thing, not part of the main blog feed. A lot of stuff on my blog is somewhat automated (for example, I have to check the appropriate box for what series a book is in, but once I do that, it automatically displays that link in the info at the start of the review and the tags at the end, as well as the links to the reviews for other books in the same series). Honestly, I don’t know if I recommend doing things this way. I’m a perfectionist, and when I have a vision for something, I want it to be exactly that way. And I enjoy the challenge of getting an idea and then figuring out how to do it (though I do break my website A LOT, you just don’t notice because I undo it right away lol). And I’m so indecisive that I like the freedom to be able to change certain things globally, rather than having to go back and change posts individually. But doing things like this is a commitment in and of itself, and it does make certain things more complicated (especially when I changed my URL).
Nothing else about my blog design has a whole lot of meaning or thought, it’s just what I think looks pretty, and it’s changed a bit over the years. And I think the features are pretty self-explanatory. So, because I suck at wrapping up posts… I guess that’s about it!
Happy 7 years! You must have been very young when you started. I enjoyed hearing how you chose your colors and fonts.
Thank you! I guess I was 24 when I started, so pretty young, but I’ve seen younger bloggers!
Happy blogoversary! I enjoyed getting to know all the secrets behind your blog’s name, colours and details.
“when I decided to change it, I thought about the two best nights of my life and what colors I associated with them.”
That’s creative LOL.
“I like the freedom to be able to change certain things globally, rather than having to go back and change posts individually. But doing things like this is a commitment in and of itself, and it does make certain things more complicated”
But at least you can be sure that every change you make reflects on the whole blog. I like that (what with being, you know, a perfectionist myself). I guess you’re self-taught when it comes to coding? If so, it’s even more awesome!
Thanks!
Yeah, I have made changes and been glad to be able to have them reflect on the whole blog, even if there are times when I’m like, “Why did I do this to myself?” Lol. Self-taught, mostly through Googling and then trial and error. I wouldn’t know enough to just, say, create an advanced plugin from scratch (esp one that other people can use, since I just tailor everything to my blog). But I can follow tutorials and/or do smaller things. Search for code for what I wanna do, find something similar, mess around with it, adjust it to suit my needs, look some other things up, and eventually get something working (usually)!
Happy blog birthday! I love how each piece of this blog is so meaningful!
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed hearing about it!
Happy 7 year anniversary!
Thanks for sharing the story of your blog. I love the fonts you chose, they work so well with the site and I always think your graphics are great.
Thank you!! I’m glad other people like my fonts too 🙂
Happy 7 Years!! My blog doesn’t have a fancy name. It’s Jessica’s Blog 45. But I love pink and I chose a pink rose for the cover of the blog. I haven’t changed the font of mine either. But I may next week because I found another font I like while I was making a Christmas card for my best friend last week.
Thank you! My blog started as just my name. Pink is such a great color! It is fun to switch things up sometimes, so switching fonts is cool if you’ve found one you like.
Happy blogoversary!
I like getting to know why bloggers chose their names and set things up the way they did.
Thank you! I like learning that stuff about people’s blogs too!
I like the idea of customizing one’s blog to fit one’s own preference and needs but it take a lot of work. I applaud you for doing things just the way you wanted.
I have stopped here a couple of times. I have seen your blog change though I think the one noticeable change is your sidebar photo. I still sort of remember the photo of you smiling kind of awkwardly and I had wondered why you choose to use that particular photo.
I like hearing how you decided on your blog name. You have a purpose while I just pick a name because I simply like it. As for color schemes, I don’t have a scheme but as I always ends up using the similar colors, I don’t need to have particular ones maybe I should. But black definitely goes with everything. Anyway, happy seventh blog anniversary.
Have a lovely day.
Thanks! It is a lot of work, but I think ultimately I’m glad I’ve done it my way. Yeah I did change the photo a year or two ago, since this one feels a little more professional, for lack of a better word, and has books in the background 😁 Nothing wrong with picking a name just because you like it! Thanks, you too!
Congrats on 7 years of blogging! That’s wonderful. I really like how you have the blog set up, but I do imagine it takes a lot of time and trial/error. Love the blog name too, and thanks for sharing the story behind it.
Thanks! It definitely takes lots of trial and error every time I try to do something new lol. Thanks 🙂
Hey, look at me commenting on *this* year’s blogoversary post. LOL! I’ve always loved the font on your blog header. I agree that they fit the title quite nicely (especially Moonlight). So, however you came up with them, I’m a fan. Oh, and I will confess that for a very long time I could never remember which part came first (Metaphors or Moonlight), but you’re right that I was always able to find it because I just had you in my feed or a link somewhere. Oh, and I just tried it and found that even if I only search for “Moonlight Metaphors” via Google, you’re my second result. Guess Google knows you’re what I’m looking for! 🙂
Lol you found it! Thanks 🙂 You know, I do sometimes get visitors looking for moonlight metaphors, and I always figure they must’ve been disappointed 😅 Perhaps some of them were actually looking for my blog and just didn’t know the order of the words and weren’t disappointed after all!
Happy 7 years blogging!!!
I love hearing the backstory to blogs and their origins.
Karen @For What It’s Worth
Thank you! I enjoy that too, so I’m glad people enjoyed mine!
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Congrats on 7 years Kit!!!!!!!!!!! Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🙂
Thank you!!