YEAH!  The "NEW" AR Blog Customizer was released over the weekend, and is now up and running.  Thanks to Brad Carroll over at Dakno, the AR Blog Customizer was birthed a few months ago, and added to the network allowing members to customize the headers and backgrounds of their Blogs. In fact, it was such a hit, we ended up taking too much space on Brad's company server. 

So, we have had to move all the data and information over to our own ActiveRain servers.  You may have noticed that if you were using the 1.0 version, you would get a "temporarily unavailable" message.  Not any more, you will no longer have to go to ActiveRainCustomizer.com.

The ActiveRain Blog Customizer:

5 EASY STEPS:

1.  Go to your "My Home" page and you'll see the "CUSTOMIZE" Blog link:

2.  Click "Browse" to find and select your Blog Background Image on your Computer

Your current Background Image will be displayed - We added a "NEW" delete option
(Your Background Image will "Tile" if too small, "Cut-off" if too large - you'll need to just experiment)

3.  Select your Custom Colors to match your Design and Blogs' Personality

4.  Next, Import Your Header or Customized Image

(Best Header/Banner Size is 950w x 125h)

You can create custom headers and images easily at Picnic.com,

or by using your own photo or image editing software.

5.  Click "Save Changes" and you're DONE!

REMINDER: You no longer have to go to ActiveRainCustomizer.com
YOU CAN REMOVE THE SCRIPT FROM YOUR BLOG DESCRIPTION BOX NOW >>>>>

The "NEW" AR Blog Customizer is very easy to use, and very stable.  No more logging in or passwords.  You can now make modifications and changes to your Blog as regularly as you like.  You WILL need to be logged into ActiveRain in order to use the New 2.0 Customizer.  Thanks for your patience while we made these upgrades and changes, I know many members will be excited about this post and the new customizer. 

I know where you're going next...  LOL~  

HUGE Kudos to Jorgen Hahn, VP of product development, who has been working non-stop these past couple weeks to get this completed.  Please take a moment to thank him, you have no idea what he goes through on a daily basis just dealing with technical issues and staff like me.  (ha-ha)  It can be a thankless job at times, and I truly appreciate all his hard work and efforts keeping the "Rain" up and running "Raining!"

BTW - As an added bonus today, you'll notice Jorgen also cleaned up all of our "Tag" clouds by creating a pull down menu on your side bar.  This keeps our Blogs neat, clean and tidy.  Wasn't sure if anyone noticed this new feature, I think it looks and works great!  Thanks Jorgen. 

Here are the Details regarding the "TAGS" and "SEO" for the curious.  :-)

My ActiveRain Blog sidebar has forever been a hosting ground for widgets, gadgets, gizmo's, buttons, and anything else I could place there that didn't break my Blog or the AR Network. LOL  Most of the buttons there were just links to other Blogs and sites where I participate.  The others were just on-line tools and services I wanted to share.  There are so many Social Media Networks and great sites out there, it was getting really hard to decide which ones I should have on my Blog's sidebar.

Today, I got rid of them all!  All except the ones I still need for subscribers, tracking and promoting events and information.  They have been replaced with REtaggr.  It's one small step for a widget, one BIG step for Social Networking and Bloggers.  If you are already on sites like FaceBook, Twitter, LinkedIn, MyBlogLog, etc., there's no need to add those buttons to your sidebar or website anymore.  Just use the RETaggr widget or chicklet, it's FREE.

The best part of RETaggr is that if you don't see the service, network or site you're already on, just add it.  You can add any website, Blog, or Internet site you chose by using the "ADD" feature you'll find on their site.  They even have an ActiveRain Icon listed as an option to add as one of your Blogging sites.  There are some really great features and other benefits of using RETaggr, but just the fact that it allowed me to cleanup my sidebar a bit made it worth posting about.  haha!  Check it out, I think you'll really like it, I do. 

To the right is my REtaggr widget, just hover your mouse over the chicklet and the card opens up.  Then click on the "more" link to see all the buttons, widgets, and gizmo's I was able to remove from my sidebar today.  YEAH!  Adding other Blogs, Websites and Widgets to REtaggr is unlimited, and the widget gets updated Real Time as you add or make edits.  No cutting and pasting the code every time you make a change.  REtaggr, you're it!  :-)

  A Great Tool for Blogs, Websites, Email Signatures, and On-Line Business Cards.