It's Thursday again and we're really excited to bring you another awesome themes designer. This week's designer is
CynaraJanesThemes. Here are some of our favorite themes - you can find all of Lisa's themes
here:
X: How long have you been a Xanga user and how did you find xanga? I've
been a Xanga user since December 28, 2005. I joined Xanga to monitor what my
kids were doing here. I started looking around at others blogs, beyond my
children's blogs, made some friends here, and really started to enjoy blogging
myself. My main blogging site is CynaraJane. I maintain a separate site for my
Xanga Themes, called CynaraJanesThemes (previously cj2U).
X: Do you have
a design background or any previous experience in making layouts? I've
been doing layout and design off and on for over 20 years. I've been an artist
in general long before that. I started getting interested in blog layouts just
after I joined Xanga and wanted to make a custom layout for my own site. I
received requests for custom layouts from other Xangans shortly thereafter. I
have also made layouts and themes for other types of blogging sites, and still
do on occasion, though I enjoy making the Xanga Themes the most...the design
interface is just so user friendly, and the most versatile!
X: How do you
come up with your themes? What’s your inspiration? Sometimes I'll find a
photo on a royalty free photo site that I think will look good made into a
Theme, sometimes I'll use one of my own photographs, and other times I create
custom graphics for a Theme I want to do. I seem to be drawn to making season
related Themes the most, but I am always looking for good ocean/beach photos,
because I love the ocean and seashore. My Themes are always an original
creation. I do take custom requests from time to time, but not very often as I
can't always promise a quick turnaround because of other things going on in my
schedule.
X: What’s your favorite theme, out of the ones you made so far?
My favorite Theme is always the latest one I've done...until I do the
next one!
X: What’s your favorite xanga feature? I like that we
can post Protected here if we so choose. The new features are all great, too.
X: What do you like most about xanga? I love the close community
here. I also love the diversity. It keeps things interesting!
X: Tell us about yourself, what do
you like to do in your spare time- hobbies? interests? I enjoy
photography, and go on photo shoots whenever the opportunity presents itself. I
consider graphic design and making Themes a hobby, too, as I find it very
relaxing and enjoyable.
Thanks, Lisa, for being our featured themes designer of the week! And thanks to all the themes designers out there that constantly add to the great selection of
themes.
Comments (38)
Very nice themes. I'm already using the sunflower one.
I'm trying the sunflower one too -- I like her aesthetic style and the clarity of the graphics so this old stodgy Xangan is going to try something new for once.
I love this week featured themes.
You're really good at matching up colors. Not easy to do on the net.
She is amazing, and I added her theme to my site
wow, I think these are the best thus far. They are so sleek and stylish!
Those themes are so pretty!
Support Designer's work ^^" because i love to design also.
Keep Going !
CynaraJane is a great blogger and a wonderful designer.
Lisa rocks!
They're all very nice, but the second one (purple flowers) have a mystical feel to it. Awesome work, CynaraJane.
when you look at my public preview, you cannot scroll down on my page to get to previous entries. i've noticed this problem on other sites too, and since i use the old xanga on my other site (and honestly, wish i could use it for this one too, but i guess that's not an option
) i don't know much about editing or "remixing" the "themes".
so in short, how can i make sure people can see all of my page and not just some of it?
@jeanine - Thank you, Jeanine.
@Zvanoizu - Awesome! Thanks!
@phil_leafman - You are sweet.
@Lithium98 - I guess it would depend on what browser you're using and what your monitor settings are, but thank you...I try!
@antisoccermom - Thanks! (((Hugs)))
@lukefrog2002 - Wow! Thank you! I appreciate your comment.
@desert_roses19 - Thank you!
@judopiu112 - Did you do your theme? It's great!
@squeakysoul - Aww! And from a great blogger herself! I thank you.
@MamaInkWench - YOU rock too!
@JChardonnet - Thank you! That is one of my personal favorites.
@journeytobthin - Your site scrolls fine for me. Maybe it's your browser or display settings causing the problem?
@CynaraJanesThemes - yes i think it must be my browser. i prefer to use Opera, and i don't think it's fully supported. I'll try firefox. thanks for the quick reply!
@CynaraJanesThemes -
Yes ^^" I did two of them whahahaha
but i am not good at using xanga themes^^"
since 14 hours ago...it isnt showing up in the universal inbox when people (friends) post a new post.
I hope you are working on fixing it because it is how I know when my friends post something new. All that is showing up is when people comment on my blog
thank you Xanga for making my question featured yesterday! i was so surprised. :)
i appreciate it. haha
it was so cool :)
I would love to use a theme, but I have dial up and when I try to use one, it makes my page so slow I can't stand it... and then when I try to remove it, it freezes my computer... I actually had to call someone else and have them sign on as me to take off the last theme I used.... which brings me to my question....
Since I can't do themes, I do just the plain ol Look & Feel, with a color theme... I've been trying to change my colors (for spring) and it won't let me. The color pallet comes up and I click one, and it closes like I got it, but it actually changes nothing... Its been like that at least a week, and I had someone else test it on their site, and the same happened... does that mean we are stuck with our colors forever unless we use themes????? what about us losers with dial up?
Great themes! keep up the great work!
@bubblysox -
Hi there! I tested out look and feel on a non-theme page and it looks like everything is working fine. Are you able to hit the " save changes" button at the bottom of the look and feel page?
Those themes are beautiful! The first and fourth are especially spectacular.
*applauds* Yay! You absolutely deserve this! I know you've been a dedicated Xanganite for years and you're very talented graphically. Congratulations!
The blogrings are stuck again on "b"....won't let me see c and d rated members of blogrings, when I try to click to change it at the blogring.
@eugenia - Hey thanks.. I went back and changed a color, and although I couldn't see the change that moment, after I hit save I could... so it works...but its sort of a pain.. I had to hit save like 10 times as I was changing everything...because I couldn't see what I was doing as i was doing it... it used to be where I could see a small sample of what I was changing as I was doing it...
But its changed, so thanks for your suggestion!!
What Xanga needs is fewer themes and far more versatility and ease of use to make it simple and straightforward to do one's own. The problem with almost all themes is that they look commercial. I suppose that is an effective way to keep the masses blind to the fact that they are as manipulated as the themes offered. After all, how bad can advertising be if one has a blog that looks like one. Give us better tools (that work) and less crappy themes.