How to Create a Blog Signature

I spent all day one day determined to figure this out, so thought I'd share my wisdom. :)

First, you'll need a program such as Photoshop, or Gimp. Here's the quick version for those who understand how to use a program like this: First create a new file about 150px x 70px and make sure it's transparent. Use the text tool to create your signature. Play with the color and rotation of your signature and when you're done, then save/export file as a .png to maintain the transparency. This is to make sure your signature doesn't have a white box around it when you post it to your blog. (if your blog template has a white background, you wouldn't see the white box.) Upload your file to an image hosting site (I use photobucket) and copy the HTML code to the file. Then in blogger, go to setting>formatting, scroll to the bottom and paste the HTML code in the box next to "post template" and save changes.

Now, that's how you do it, but what if you don't like the fonts on your computer and you want a cute one for your signature? There are a lot of sites where you can download fonts for free. It's easy to find cute fonts if you do a google search for free scrapbooking fonts. This is the site I used: http://www.kevinandamanda.com/fonts/. The heart in my signature is from the Pea Betsy Doodle font. Here is a great tutorial on how to use the fonts once you find one you like. *a little side note: I just found this tutorial on how to use these cute fonts in your blog for titles and such which I'm going to do next! yaay!

All right. So if you're still wondering what to do, then here's the longer version, for those who don't already have Photoshop or Gimp, or know how to use them. I'm going to be using Gimp for this tutorial because it's what I have, and, it's free! Download version 2.6 here. Once downloaded, open the Gimp program. Go to file>new and create the following image:
Set the width at 150 pixels and the height at 70 pixels. Click the + sign next to advanced options and change the x & y resolution to 150 pixels/inch. Click the drop arrow next to "fill with" and select "transparency." Then click OK.

Next click on the text tool in the toolbox. It's the letter A.

Then type in your name or whatever you want for your signature to say.

Now select the font you want your signature to be. *Note* see my second paragraph of this post about cute fonts and be sure that your font is installed before you open the Gimp. If you installed new fonts after opening the Gimp, simply close it down and start over. Your new fonts should show up in the font menu.

Change the size of your signature by clicking the up or down arrow or typing the the size you want. You can watch your font changing as you play around with the sizes.
After you've got the font and size you want, click in the middle of your signature and hold down to drag it to the center of the checkered square.
Now for the color! If you want your signature to match your blog then open up your blog and take a picture of the screen. Take a picture by pushing the "print screen" key on your keyboard. This copies the image of your screen. Open up Paint and ctrl+v to paste. Then save the file as a jpg. You can close Paint. Back in the Gimp, click the box next to the word "color" and the text color box will pop open.

Now go to file>open

Find where you saved the image of your blog, highlight it and click open.
Click on the eyedropper and then click wherever you want to on the picture of your blog and it will suck up that color.
Click the little black arrow to add the color to your color history and then click OK.
Now go to file>save
And type in the name for your signature.

Click on the + sign next to select file type and scroll down the list to find PNG image. Highlight it and then click save.
This box will pop up, just click Export.This box will pop up. Click Save, and you're done with the Gimp!
Now to get your signature on your blog, upload your file to an image hosting site (I use photobucket) and copy the HTML code to the file. Then in blogger, go to setting>formatting, scroll to the bottom and paste the HTML code in the box next to "post template" and save changes. Now your signature will pop up in your compose box each time you create a new post.

And, if you don't want it to say "posted by..." at the bottom of your posts then go to the Layout tab in blogger and click "edit" on the Blog Post box and uncheck the post page option that says "posted by..." and save your changes.

I'll be looking for some more signatures out there on your blogs now!